Posted on 08/30/2004 3:03:23 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter
NEW YORK — The marchers streamed past Madison Square Garden for more than four hours on Sunday afternoon, a snaking throng of Bush protesters — many of them pausing in front of the site of the upcoming Republican National Convention to either raise a hand in the peace sign or in an obscene gesture.
"Of all the reasons to be here, the main one, in a word, is Iraq," said Doug Hofeling, 30, a restaurant manager from Salt Lake City, who came to New York to protest. "It's the difference between being angry and taking to the street."
Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets shouting "No More Bush," holding a myriad of protest signs and bearing scores of flag-draped mock coffins.
The messages ranged from the angry ("Give Bush Four More Years . . . In the National Guard") to the silly ("Dick Cheney is an evil robot"), and they hit a spectrum of complaints from the environment ("Emissions Accomplished") to the incomprehensible ("When W Goes to Sleep, he's a Viking").
But mostly, they complained about the war in Iraq.
Mildred McHugh, 44, of Pennington, N.J., held a sign bearing the photo of her son, pictured in his Army uniform, under the words: "Bring My Son Home."
"He's in Iraq now," said McHugh, who hadn't ever been a protester until now. "My son offered to defend his country, but what he's doing now isn't defending his country."
Barbara Langan, 85, of Montclair, N.J., couldn't see very well where she was walking, so she hung on to her husband Tom's belt with one hand as she walked with an American flag in her other hand.
"My eyes aren't so good anymore, but the rest of me is fine," she said. "I could care less about the economy. I am against the war, and I am heartbroken what's happened to my country."
Alice Farley, of Manhattan, walked the parade route on stilts, dressed in a flowing green gown as an 8-foot Statue of Liberty. Instead of a torch, Farley held a conch shell in her hand, blowing a mournful sound through the shell as she walked.
"I'm the Statue of Liberty calling for peace," she said.
Farther behind her, the Ross family of Hastings, N.Y., were walking with their family project — a foam insulation re-creation of an Army tank commanded by George W. Bush as a lone person stands blocking the tank's way, reminiscent of the famous standoff near Tiananmen Square.
"My husband said, 'Why don't we do something big?' " Amanda Ross said. "And so this is what we came up with."
The march, sponsored by the group United for Peace and Justice, had been part of a long-negotiated agreement between the city and the protest group. The group wanted to gather in Central Park, rather than on the rambling route up Seventh Avenue, east on 34th Street past Macy's and down Fifth Avenue to Union Square Park.
While police were ever-present and in large numbers, the protesters were vociferous but docile, following the sanctioned parade route and causing only isolated problems.
They booed as they passed by convention hotels, and went delirious with revulsion when they passed the oversized television screens on the side of the Macy's building, which were tuned to Fox News.
"Fox News sucks! Fox News sucks!" they chanted. At the time, the cable news station wasn't showing scenes of the protest, but was instead doing a piece on terror preparations for the average citizen, including the best way to survive a "dirty bomb" attack.
There was no shortage of bizarre behavior on the street. A few women were dressed as elephants, claiming to represent the leader of the elephant world, President Pachyderm, who wanted to break off mascot ties to the Republican Party.
Shawn Schwartz, of New York, showed up at the protest with a sign that both condemned Bush and asked female marchers to remove their tops.
"We were hoping to find some 'Protesters Gone Wild,' " Schwartz said.
Instead, he found a lot of angry feminists.
"The women behind you think your sign is sexist," a woman told Schwartz.
"So then they should hold a sign that protests my sign," Schwartz answered.
Another marcher, David Ross, 29, of New York, was just there to play his alto saxophone on the street.
"It's a chance to practice," he explained.
Greg Packer, 40, of Huntington, on Long Island, is a Republican who marched with a sign offering to volunteer for the GOP convention.
"I signed up, but they didn't pick me," he said. "They don't even have to pay me."
There were the usual assortment of protest entrepreneurs, including Paul Fourie and Alan P. Cross, a couple of TV comedy writers who were hawking their book WWWD (What Would W Do?)
A sample: What would W do if he were Gilligan? The answer: Lower taxes, but only for the Howells.
"Some people do coffins draped with flags," Cross said. "But we think humor is the best weapon."
The humor cuts both ways. One small band of Republican sympathizers marched along the route as part of a parody group called Communists for Kerry.
New Yorker Brian McCarthy was one of them, dressing as Fidel Castro and carrying a sign that showed Democratic nominee John Kerry with the words: "Foreign Policy? Ask France First."
McCarthy complained about the other protesters not respecting his right to protest them.
"I just got hit in the head with a carrot," he said.
There were a few counter-protesters who lined the route as well, but not many.
A conservative Christian holding a pro-Bush sign with Bible verses on it elicited a "Who would Jesus bomb?" chant from the protesters.
At another location, John Alvarez, 38, of Syracuse, N.Y., was standing with his sign, "Bush Must Win for a Stronger and Safer America," and taking on the passing marchers with gusto.
"These people are just a radical tiny minority who don't represent the majority of Americans," Alvarez said. "They just play into the hands of the terrorists."
Farther on down the route, Kristinn Taylor, 42, with the conservative Web site freerepublic.com, was standing with a sign that said: "Criminals for Gun Control. Why should we risk the chance of being injured on the job?"
Just in case that didn't fully identify him as a counter-protester, he also wore a shirt that said "Fry Mumia," referring to convicted Philadelphia cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose fate seems to be a perpetual by-product of concern at peace marches.
"We know it's a successful counter-demonstration when we get the finger," Taylor said.
Steve Lang, 50, a sociology professor who lives near the parade route, stepped outside to watch the protesters walk by his apartment. Lang is sympathetic to their concerns, but he wasn't so sure that the huge march would do Bush any harm.
"I think this might actually help Bush," Lang said. "People in the rest of the country think of New Yorkers as a little crazy, and look at this."
LOL Kristinn!
You're a class act.
>>"I'm the Statue of Liberty calling for peace," she said.<<
"Look at me! Look at me!!! I'm a nutcase crying for attention!"
(Good job Kristinn!)
No wonder they didn't pick him. He's a notorious media hound (and not a Republican) whose main claim to fame was being the first in line to get a copy of Hillary's book!
42, Kristinn? You're just a kid!
I read your report. You be careful in the Big Apple.
Thanks for Freepin' 'em, Kristin - you are relentless.
"Fry Mumia" - what a gas !! ProtestWarrior, or your own design?
Great job Kristin and Protest Warriors. For once a balanced article.
I thought I recognized that name. Yesterday a RAT, today a Pubbie, tomorrow an anarchist. Next week he'll be a Giants fan who can't wait till Eli Manning gets his first start. Next month, he'll be a lifelong Jets fan....
Is this THE infamous Greg Packer, as in the "man in the street" guy who gets quoted by several papers almost as a matter of routine?
The Times' Designated Man in the Street (Coulter outs Times)
NewsMax ^
Posted on 06/12/2003 9:18:20 AM PDT by Republican Red
Thursday, June 12, 2003 The Times' Designated Man in the Street
When the New York Times needs to find a man in the street to interview they never have to look very far - they have one on tap suitable for every occasion.
Thanks to a sharp-eyed Ann Coulter, one Greg Packer has been outed as the media's designated man in the street - a role Mr. Packer has played more than 100 times, Coulter discovered.
His latest assignment for the Times was to be the average man in the street in line waiting to buy Mrs. Clinton's newest work of fiction.
Wrote Coulter, author of the forthcoming blockbuster "Treason": "Another average individual eager to get Hillary's book was Greg Packer, who was the centerpiece of the New York Times' "man on the street" interview about Hillary-mania. After being first in line for an autographed book at the Fifth Avenue Barnes & Noble, Packer gushed to the Times: 'I'm a big fan of Hillary and Bill's. I want to change her mind about running for president. I want to be part of her campaign.'
"It was easy," Coulter noted "for the Times to spell Packer's name right because he is apparently the entire media's designated "man on the street" for all articles ever written. He has appeared in news stories more than 100 times as a random member of the public. Packer was quoted on his reaction to military strikes against Iraq; he was quoted at the St. Patrick's Day Parade, the Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Veterans' Day Parade. He was quoted at not one - but two - New Year's Eve celebrations at Times Square. He was quoted at the opening of a new "Star Wars" movie, at the opening of an H&M clothing store on Fifth Avenue and at the opening of the viewing stand at Ground Zero. He has been quoted at Yankees games, Mets games, Jets games - even getting tickets for the Brooklyn Cyclones. He was quoted at a Clinton fund-raiser at Alec Baldwin's house in the Hamptons and the pope's visit to Giants stadium."
If the Times and the rest of the New York media don't pay this guy, he's getting short changed.
I thought the Statue of Liberty was about liberty.
That's in reference to Ralph Wiggum on The Simpsons. He said something like: Oh boy, sleep! That's where I'm a viking.
I thought that name sounded familiar.
Uh oh, our big secret got out somehow!
Ah hah, I thought I recognized that crazy Packer!!!!
I definitely gotta get me one of those. Nice work!
Way to go, Kristinn! My hero!
Who knows what this loon is registered as...but he ain't a Republican.
The NY Times has taken quotes from him more than once as indicative of "the man on the street". What does that tell you?
Thank goodness! That sure puts to bed any health concerns.
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