Here's another report on the Jacksonville protest emailed to me by Swift vet Pete Webster:
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Kerry came to visit us today. Just heard about it last night and we sent out an immediate alarm, "One if by land, two if by sea...." We rallied our forces and were there to welcome him, about fifty of us with a bull horn. We hit him pretty hard. We stuck our Kerry Lied signs right in his face. He ducked down behind the seat, as he went past us, in his big black Tahoe, the SUV he doesn't own (just uses), so we couldn't get another photo of his face looking all pissed off. Some town meeting. Only the loving faithful were allowed inside. The tickets were only sold to registered democrats who voted in the last primary. Not exactly what I'd call an exercise in democracy. Then, he hid inside the auditorium for over an hour after the meeting was over to try to out wait us. I can't believe he is so afraid of a few Swifties. The most impressive factor was the public support.
We had 8-12 folks who passed by give us the Kerry salute; you know, the extended middle finger so often seen expressing male disgust. Another half dozen yelled at us from across the street, but the multitude of folks driving by constantly flashed a thumbs up and honked at us saying, "Way to go," as they drove past. Their numbers were legion. Quite satisfying. We had some Vietnam vets, a couple black vets, Some marines, some women, and a few college kids; quite a nice mix. We were constantly being interviewed and made all three evening news programs. My wife's big banner was the centerpiece. She made a huge replica of the Vietnam campaign ribbon with big black letters across the front saying, "Kerry Lied." It was a hit.
The media reported it was "sold out" and "SRO," etc Well, I stood out side the main entrance for five hours, from two hours before it began until an hour after it was over, and watched the audience come and go. They could not have numbered more than five to seven hundred folks, total. What happened was just this. The tickets were totally controlled by the Democratic HQ who knew how many they had sold, or disbursed. They then determined the size of the room they would need, to ensure it would be crowded, and had the partitions adjusted to fit. Clever! If they had opened the entire convention center up, they would have bounced around like a pea in a cavern. What a fraud. We were a hit anyway, but man, I'm exhausted from standing on the concrete, side walk. We gave real meaning to Operation Street Corner. Baby, we owned that street corner. They got me a chair about half way through, but I was still on my feet too much for my liking.
-- Pete Webster
Thanks for posting this. I was fortunate to talk with Pete yesterday. He gave me his card and dang it, I left it my truck and didn't have his name when I posted this. I didn't know he had arranged busses to come to from JAX to DC for the Kerry Lied rally. Had I known, I would have gladly taken one of those seats instead of driving for 26 hours round trip!
I showed him the Swiftee sticker and told him how much money we had raised for swiftvets with it, but he wasn't interested in one. I think he said his truck was 'stickered out'. I did see a pickup with LOTS of AGAINST Kerry stuff maybe that's his in the thread!
Please email him this thread link, as I know you have already.