NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Republican Party adds its support to the grassroots movement growing nationwide in opposition to the Obama administration’s relentless march to enact endless “bailouts” and “economic stimulus” packages that are pushing America trillions of dollars deeper into debt while putting the American taxpayer on the hook for the bill for hundreds of billions of dollars in pork projects and payoffs to liberal special-interest groups.

This Friday, Middle Tennessee will join a growing list of locales around the country where Americans will gather to protest and hold symbolic “Tea Parties,” inspired by CNBC reporter Rick Santelli, whose anti-mortgage bailout rant from the floor of the Chicago Commodities Exchange sparked the nationwide modern-day version of the Boston Tea Party that helped spark the American Revolution.

The Middle Tennessee Tea Party is scheduled for noon to 1 p.m., Friday, February 27, 2009, at Legislative Plaza, located at Sixth Ave. and Union Street in downtown Nashville.

“A decade ago, thousands of Tennesseans from all walks of life gathered at Legislative Plaza for a series of protests that ultimately led to the defeat of a proposed state income tax. Tennesseans know that public protest has the power to stop bad policy, and this Friday Tennesseans again have the opportunity to stand up and make their voices heard in protest of the reckless fiscal policies of the Obama administration,” said Bill Hobbs, communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party.

“This is not about political parties or partisanship,” Hobbs said. “It is about the future, and whether we will continue to heap trillions of dollars in debt on our children and grandchildren.”

The Middle Tennessee Tea Party is organizing via the Internet, with a web page on Facebook.com.

The national Tea Party movement is online at www.NationwideChicagoTeaParty.com.

The Williamson County Republican Party is offering its headquarters at 104 East Main Street in Franklin as a staging area starting at 10 a.m. for sign-making and arranging carpools.