Posted on 04/07/2004 10:25:07 PM PDT by RonDog
Sandal whappers serenade Kerry
By Gregory Korte and Cindi Andrews
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![]() Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is swarmed by admirers during his Tuesday appearance at Sawyer Point downtown. One of the homemade signs hoisted there read: "Outsource Bush." The Cincinnati Enquirer/STEVEN M. HERPPICH |
John Kerry had seen the tactic before - it emerged on the campaign trail last week - but few others seemed to understand what was going on.What say YOU?Young Republicans wearing cheap sandals got in the front row and started clapping them together almost as soon as the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Sawyer Point on Tuesday.
Their message: that Kerry has flip-flopped on the issues.
"There's nothing I like better than talking to a great bipartisan crowd," Kerry joked. "You want to talk about flip-flops? This president said Condoleezza Rice wasn't going to testify, and the next day, she's going to testify."
Some union workers quickly surrounded the dozen Republicans with Kerry signs. Some elbows were thrown - as were some sandals - until two Cincinnati police officers broke it up.
The Hamilton County Republican Party disavowed any knowledge of the tactic, and Rep. Rob Portman - forced to field a question about the tactic in the official Republican response - seemed befuddled by it.
"I'm not sure hitting yourself in the head with a flip-flop makes a particularly compelling case," he said...
Should we FReep John "Flip Flop" Kerry with REAL "flip flops" - all across the USA?
John Kerry had seen the tactic before - it emerged on the campaign trail last week - but few others seemed to understand what was going on.That would be in Cincinnati (4/6), Kansas City (4/1) and now SAN DIEGO (3/31) - from The Associated Press:Young Republicans wearing cheap sandals got in the front row and started clapping them together almost as soon as the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Sawyer Point on Tuesday...
Kerry targets high gas pricesRALLY: At a campaign stop in San Diego, he blasts Bush's energy policies. The president fires back.
06:52 AM PST on Wednesday, March 31, 2004
SAN DIEGO - Sen. John Kerry took his presidential campaign to the nation's hotspot of high gasoline prices Tuesday, again pledging to pressure oil-producing countries to provide more oil and to temporarily stop filling the nation's strategic oil reserves.
Kerry laid out his plan for fighting soaring gas prices during a rally before several thousand supporters - and a few dissidents - at UC San Diego. With banners made up to look like gas station price marquees displayed nearby, the Massachusetts Democrat lashed out at President Bush for not doing enough to control the cost at the pump. The city has the nation's highest average gas price of $2.12 a gallon.
Bush's highly criticized plan to drill for oil in an Alaska wildlife refuge would not do enough to increase the nation's supply and bring down the cost of gasoline, Kerry said.
AP photo Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, with his daughter, Vanessa, at a rally at UC San Diego, called for more work on developing renewable energy sources. "The United States of America cannot drill its way out of this predicament. We have to invent our way out of it," said Kerry, the Democrats' presumptive nominee for president. "We need an energy policy that's real and honest."
Bush took to the airwaves and the podium Tuesday to attack Kerry, releasing a TV ad set to air in 18 states that contends Kerry supported a 50-cents per-gallon gasoline tax and voted 11 times for higher gasoline taxes. At a campaign stop in Wisconsin, Bush criticized "some in the other party in Washington" who support raising taxes.
In the ad, the speaker says Kerry likes taxing gasoline as a way to get people to drive less.
"If Kerry's tax increase were law, the average family would pay $657 more a year," the speaker says. "Maybe John Kerry just doesn't understand what his ideas mean to the rest of us."
Kerry responded to the ad during the rally, contending that the president should reveal more about his administration's ties to oil companies instead of releasing new attack ads.
Kerry once was quoted in a newspaper as supporting a 50-cent gasoline tax increase but has never offered legislation for such a tax and has since said he does not support such an increase. He voted for former President Bill Clinton's economic stimulus package that included a 4.3-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase that was meant to reduce the deficit.
Whenever Kerry spoke out against the Bush administration or presented a viewpoint his antagonists thought was inconsistent with his record, a small group of Bush supporters clapped flip-flop sandals together high in the air near the stage. A UC San Diego freshman from Sun City was among those Republicans.
"About a third of the things he said (he supports), he's voted against," said Michael Goltner, a mechanical engineering major. Goltner said the Bush supporters weren't allowed to bring in signs, so they symbolically clapped their flip-flops as a commentary on Kerry's record...
Ping for a hilarious idea. Check this out - great idea. Fun way to FReep with a really serious message.Ping for a hilarious idea. Check this out - great idea. Fun way to FReep with a really serious message. See also, from AFP:
TECH NEWS
Politics and the internet game
Posted Mon, 29 Mar 2004
Colourful US boxing promoter Don King has thrown himself into the political arena by lending his voice to a Republican internet "game" attacking Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, the Republican National Committee has announced.
The "game," found on the web at www.gop.com/kerryvskerry, shows King in a boxing ring announcing a fight between Kerry and Kerry.
"Ladies and Gentlemen Welcome to Kerry versus Kerry, the battle for the Democratic Party," King announces with his trademark toothy smile and grey mane.
Two likenesses of Kerry one in blue trunks, the other in red appear on the screen for "30 rounds" with gloves that say "flip" and "flop". Each round represents a different issue, from the war in Iraq to Israel's security fence.
Republicans have accused Kerry of taking two sides on several major issues.
A person using a computer can make the lanky-looking "Kerrys" punch each other by clicking on the flip-flop gloves as King shouts comments like "That's below the belt!"
"Ladies and Gentleman, what you have just witnessed tonight is some of the greatest dancing, bobbing, weaving, sticking, moving and ducking by Kerry. It was certainly entertaining," King says at the end of the "fight".
But in the last image, it is the gloved hand of a grinning President George W. Bush that King holds in the air.
"So the decision is no surprise. Because of his commitment to the right decisions, his steady leadership round after round. In the blue trunks with the red top: President George Walker Bush!"
AFP
After a Freeper suggested that the flip-flops were too small for his big feet.....there were posted on 3/6/04
I emailed many groups & individuals in an attempt to promote the use of flip-flops to protest Kerry.
It is wonderful to see them catching on!
On 4/2/04 After being alerted by kristinn, I posted this photo of the first report (I am aware of) of the use of flip-flops by anti-Kerry protesters.
Looks like you have the record so far - Congrats! This should be another historic "Sore-Loserman" Free Republic trophy indeed!
The "game," found on the web at www.gop.com/kerryvskerry, shows King in a boxing ring announcing a fight between Kerry and Kerry.That would be:
www.gop.com/kerryvskerry
THANK YOU, JulieRNR21!
I **knew** that I had seen it posted here - SOMEWHERE!May we use that image to make LARGE POSTERS to bring to the anti-Kerry rallies?
Perhaps three foot by four foot posters with that image woucld NICELY complement our use of "flip flop" sandals......and help to communicate our message more effectively.
Great Sign! This, coupled with everybody waving flip-flops at Kerry, could be the defining protest theme about the Waffler, for this campaign season.
Heck yeah!
Probably not; but aren't there a few large, union FReepers who could help "educate" them? Also, the FReeper video cam has to be in a secure enough location to record the assaults without being targeted.
A crucial and excellent point. We cannot and will not respond in kind, so our only protection has to be our ability to publicize the kinds of thuggish behavior these sanctimonious hypocrites demonstrate at their "peace" rallies. And who knows? - We could capture the defining moment of the Kerry campaign...
And rather than having just a single video camera at a single location, Freepers should have multiple concealed cameras in bags, purses, hats (in big Flip-Flops?) ready at a moments notice, to start rolling. There are several small and inexpensive digital cameras available on the market with video capability, which can be very easily concealed.
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