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2007-03-18 Home Front: Politix

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Posted by Bobby 2007-03-18 07:41|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 A slightly modified version of what I posted yesterday afternoon, including a couple of hooks into the WaPo piece.
Rantburg News Service WASHINGTON, D.C. March 17, 2007

Your reporter arrived at the Vietnam War Memorial at 1:15 pm, having seen scores of departing vets, and a few protesters, on the way down from the Foggy Bottom Metro Station. Most of the protesters were under the age of 25, but two older gentlemen were carrying Impeach Him signs. Perhaps they naively expected everyone else to know who they wanted impeached.

War protestors left a mess of broken sign pickets and trampled signs as they pushed down a snow fence on their way to the Pentagon. Veterans and American flags were everywhere around the Memorial, and the Park Service had set up metal detectors to insure no one brought cans of any deleterious substance into the Memorial. Crowds at the Memorial proper were typical for a March day, but thousands of vets milled around outside the screening station. Several were engaged in animated one-on-one conversations with protestors,

Your intrepid reporter continued to thank vets for their service, including one distinguished-looking older gentleman at the Lincoln Memorial, who replied, It was my privilege. It was my responsibility. Most vets offered a simple, yet heartfelt, Thank you. My companion suggested some of the vets might be here to protest the war, but your Reporter dismissed that concern; they served their country, too.

Shunning the large crowds headed toward Foggy Bottom, your reporter left the scene and traipsed up the Mall, braving the chilling winds which apparently defeated many of the protestors, to the Smithsonian Metro Station, where a seat was easy to find. But the crowds seemed to have dissipated by 2:45, and few got on the Metro train at Foggy Bottom.

One young man got on the train at Foggy Bottom, on the way to Pentagon City, dressed in desert camouflage pants, and smiled when your reporters companion remarked about the numbers of protestors on the platform at Arlington Cemetery. They all seemed to be going back into the Capitol. The young man said, They bussed in a bunch of kids and just dropped them off.

Where there many at the Pentagon? He shook his head, with an impish grin.

More vets than protestors?

Oh, yeah! I drove 13 hours from Massachusetts last night to get ahead of the storm. I heard they were going to desecrate the Vietnam Memorial. I wasnt going to let them do that.

Did you serve?

Yes. I was with the 3rd Infantry Division on the initial push. We thanked him for his service, and he said he was going back to hotel to sleep, having been up all night to continue his service by honoring and protecting his Countrys memorials.

When he got off the train, a young women and her father got on, and sat in his seat, the father carrying an Impeach Bush sign. A women across the aisle asked the two how it went.

Oh, not too many, said the father, Probably less than a hundred thousand.

Quite possibly a lot less.

Posted by Bobby 2007-03-18 08:21|| 2007-03-18 08:21|| Front Page Top

#2 Maureen Dooley of Melfa, Va., who first marched on the Pentagon when she was 18; now she is 58.

And hasn't learned a damn thing in 40 years.

Posted by Redneck Jim 2007-03-18 10:22|| 2007-03-18 10:22|| Front Page Top

#3 jeered along the way by large numbers of angry counter-protesters.

Not Snark,
Heroes Every one. To willingly stand in the face of danger. I salute you, each and every one.

Posted by Redneck Jim 2007-03-18 10:25|| 2007-03-18 10:25|| Front Page Top

#4 "I was like everybody else. I trusted the people who ran the country, and I'm tired of being lied to," Miller said.

Did you Vote? Are you a democrat? Just exactly who are you accusing of "Running the Country?"
If the answer is not "Congress" you haven't been paying attention.

Posted by Redneck Jim 2007-03-18 10:29|| 2007-03-18 10:29|| Front Page Top

#5 Yet attendance at yesterday's march was noticeably smaller than one held in Washington in January, police said.

Yep warm weather protesters, the lot of them.

Posted by Redneck Jim 2007-03-18 10:31|| 2007-03-18 10:31|| Front Page Top

#6 They had survived the 22-hour bus ride as well as the insults of the counter-protesters, only to be defeated by the bitter cold.

Now that's commitment to the cause.
Any kind of Lefty Purple Heart they can be awarded?

Posted by tu3031 2007-03-18 10:44|| 2007-03-18 10:44|| Front Page Top

#7 Some youths who carried traffic barrels cut in half and painted red and black as shields...

Er, isn't it illegal to go armed in public like that? And, yes, shields are weapons.

Posted by Rob Crawford">Rob Crawford 2007-03-18 11:36|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/] 2007-03-18 11:36|| Front Page Top

#8 San Diego - the Union Tribune's local news headline : Local protesters seeing more support . Note that the article has absolutely no info backing that up. In fact, turnout was smaller than usual, and the St. Pats parade in Balboa Park had between 5X and 10X as many participants. Losers

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2007-03-18 13:04|| 2007-03-18 13:04|| Front Page Top

#9 The WaPo and other news outlets are reluctant to go into the numbers on this one. The counter protesters far out numbered the protesters. Possibly by as much as 3 to 1. These Sheehan types are tired, old, bitter and longing for the days of their 60's past. Too bad for them its a different time now. We are not subject to a 100% media monopoly on the dissemination of information. If libs had there way there would be no Burg.

Posted by Intrinsicpilot 2007-03-18 13:16|| 2007-03-18 13:16|| Front Page Top

#10 There were a few protesters trying to march in yesterday's Colorado Springs St. Patrick's Day parade. Here's what happened to them (link won't last):

Seven war protesters who tried to march in Saturdays St. Patricks Day Parade in downtown Colorado Springs were accused of refusing to cooperate with police and arrested. One of them was injured as she was dragged off the road.

Police halted about 45 people with the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission just steps into the parade where it began at Tejon and St. Vrain streets. They wore green shirts with peace signs and carried signs that read Kids Not Bombs and End This War Now.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2007-03-18 13:50|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2007-03-18 13:50|| Front Page Top

#11 "I was like everybody else. I trusted the people who ran the country, and I'm tired of being lied to," Miller said.
Then stop electing Democrats, Bugwit.

Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues 2007-03-18 13:52|| 2007-03-18 13:52|| Front Page Top

#12 Now that's commitment to the cause.
Any kind of Lefty Purple Heart they can be awarded?

I nominate a new medal, "The Pinko Pussy".

Posted by Redneck Jim 2007-03-18 17:17|| 2007-03-18 17:17|| Front Page Top

23:56 Verlaine
23:47 Verlaine
23:12 Mike
22:58 Mike
22:46 JosephMendiola
22:42 Alaska Paul
22:41 DMFD
22:38 DMFD
22:34 JosephMendiola
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22:27 JosephMendiola
22:24 DanNY
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22:06 whatadeal
21:59 Anonymoose
21:59 Lanny Ddub
21:58 gromgoru
21:55 gromgoru
21:39 the Prophet
21:29 USN, ret.
21:27 Frank G