Inaugural Parade & W2 Ball Report, Audio, and Photos (large file warning)

January 23, 2005 | BillF

[BillF]

SKUNKS AND BLUE BRACELETS AT CHECKPOINT CHARLIE

The 7th Street security checkpoint ("Checkpoint Charlie") for the inaugural parade was closest to the American Sector established by the DC Chapter of Free Republic.  Waiting there, I coincidentally ended up near DC Chapter member, bmwcyle, and Flora McDonald, a Richmond-area FReeper of long-standing. As we waited in the crowd (it wasn't orderly enough to be a line), pro-Bush people mostly tried to stay quiet in the face of some leftists (maybe ten percent of the crowd) occasionally and individually shouting anti-Bush or anti-war slogans. However, numerous Bush supporters and people who just came to watch a parade would shout back every now and then.

On one occasion the crowd started singing God Bless America.  The song's title has three words, each word representing a concept antithetical to many of the leftists.

I told one leftist waiting in the security line near me to "swim to Cuba, free healthcare, free education," much to the amusement of most nearby people. (Some of the other, regular parade-watchers started chiding leftists. I heard one later say "go to Cuba" to another leftist.)

In response to my "swim to Cuba" line, he said "why did you come to annoy us today?"  The leftist was serious.  He and many of his leftist friends truly believe that the world revolves around them. It's all about them.

I said: "Get real. We won. You lost. We're here to celebrate and watch a parade. You are the skunk at the parade." Seeing his discomfort at that characterization, I started referring to all of them as "skunks at the parade."

That particular skunk, stung and not used to being verbally challenged, retreated about 25 feet from his original location that was a couple people away from bmwcyle and me.

When I laughed at another skunk, he complained that he had a right to criticize "Bush," but said that I was violating his First Amendment rights. After laughing at that absurd comment, I said, "I'm not interfering with your rights. I'm just using my First Amendment rights to criticize and ridicule the way that you use your rights."

Bmwcyle and I left after waiting for about 20 minutes at the security checkpoint, but Flora McDonald decided to stay. BMW and I didn't think that we would get in because there had been little movement towards the entry gate.. Also, there was an ugly incident when some leftist was shouting slurs against President Bush into a news camera and a conservative (not a FReeper as far as known) quickly charged 20 feet through the crowd, getting into the guy's face. It had not gotten physical, but appeared to be on the verge when we left.

We later returned and waited again at the "Checkpoint Charlie" that was a couple blocks north of our intended American Sector destination. Some of the sound files which are linked below are from the first time waiting and some are from the second time waiting, but I'm not sure which ones go with which time.

Click here for a SOUND FILE (regular left click to play the WAV-format file, right click if you want to download it for later listening;  188 K, 17 sec.). This is some leftist saying "stop the Nazism, we don't need another Hitler." In response, bmwcyle says, "Yeah, Clinton is out of office." More back and forth is in the audio.

Click here for a SOUND FILE ( 853 K, 78 sec.) that begins with bmwcyle and a leftist arguing ("sore loser" vs. "sore winner") and ends shortly after I tell a guy wearing a Che Guevara button that he should "swim to Cuba."

Click here for a SOUND FILE (679 K, 62 sec.) that begins with a woman telling the leftists "if you don't like it here, you can leave" (paraphrase). Later the audio has a guy who had not voted for Bush.  The guy wanted to see the parade, but was disgusted at the leftists. He was asking a leftist "where is your political cadre." However, the guy told me that, as disgusting as the leftists were, it was appropriate for the leftists to be exercising their First Amendment rights there.

Although I agreed that the leftists had the right to demonstrate (i.e., be skunks at the parade), I argued that it was not appropriate.  It was uncivil, rude in the extreme. Suppose a Democratic Senator had led a filibuster of a Bush Supreme Court nominee, it would be our First Amendment right to protest on public property adjacent a wedding reception for the Senator. I'm sure that FReepers would not hold such a classless protest, despite it being within our rights.

As bad as the leftists' conduct was, I believe that the leftists are digging a hole for future Dem candidates. Like the guy who didn't vote for Bush, but was disgusted by the leftists, many Americans will turn away from the Dems upon becoming aware of such conduct.

A leftist climbed up a Jersey barrier and stood 3 feet higher than the crowd. He started shouting leftist inanities to the crowd.  Ridiculed by bmwcyle, me, and others, the leftist soon realized that the crowd was overwhelmingly against him. He abandoned his perch.

Some guy, who had been given a blue wrist bracelet (i.e., Blue State emblem), asked if anyone wanted it. The man was a Bush supporter and didn't really want it, but apparently had accepted it from a guy handing out dozens and dozens of them. The man had previously not felt confident enough to "out" himself as a Bush supporter by turning it down.  After he heard several of us ridicule the leftists, he realized that he was not in enemy-occupied territory.

I warned the nearby leftists that the blue bracelet might be misinterpreted as a sign of willingness to perform a sexual act.  I explained that National Review online had linked to a site which explained the sexual significance of various bracelets. As delicately as possible in view of the young ears not far away, I said that Monica would have worn the blue bracelet to go with the blue dress that was the legacy of our last President.

When a leftist accepted the blue bracelet, I suggested that he should avoid the possible misinterpretation of the bracelet as a sex signal. Instead, I said that he should have a blue letter "L" tattooed on his forehead.  He didn't like that idea.

With the one exception when the conservative interrupted the leftist's interview, this was great fun.  Nothing had come close to physical confrontation, probably because the leftists were so outnumbered.  Most of my comments were made with a laugh and a smile.  Indeed, bmwcyle shook hands with one of the better behaved leftists.

This was a great day to celebrate. Our side had won and could afford to laugh at the pathetic losers.

BARBARIANS AT THE GATES

Between our first time waiting at the security gate and our second time, bmwcyle and I drank some beer at a brew pub a few blocks away.

[Click on a photo to see a full size photo in a new window, except where noted. PROBLEMS SEEING PHOTOS OR HEARING SOUND FILES? You may want to try TEMPORARILY turning off Zone Alarm or other firewall and trying again.]

As I drank, I looked out the window and saw a black wave moving down the street.  Like the hordes of barbarians or Vikings that storm establishments in the Capital One credit card ads, the anarchists had taken to the streets. Grabbing my camera, I went just outside the door of the restaurant and  took these photos. Two waitresses from the brew pub had stepped outside to watch the garbage pass. One said, "that is so cool." Obviously, she was highly sympathetic to them. I could have taught her a lesson by shouting "hey, this chick here is a Bush supporter," but it would have been wrong. The anarchists looked like they were spoiling for a fight. Hundreds, possibly over a thousand, moved by very quickly and turned the corner on the way to the security checkpoint that bmwcyle and I had left 20 minutes before. A few police cars trailed the anarchists.  A short time after they had passed, at least ten police cars and ten police motorcyles zoomed by. They were going a different way, but apparently planned to head off the anarchists.

ANARCHISTS , OFTEN CALLED  "BLACK BLOC" DUE TO THE BLACK CLOTHING [CLICK ANY PHOTO TO SEE FULL SIZE]

Returning to my beer, I would later hear about the anarchists' further exploits from witnesses. The anarchists moved towards the crowd at the checkpoint, apparently hoping to create a stampede. The anarchists probably wanted the crowd to flee the anarchists by breaching the security gate. The anarchists could have walked across the bodies of the injured people and used the chaos to get into the secure zone without going through the checkpoint.  Fortunately, police vehicles swooped in to block the anarchists from getting too close to the waiting crowd.  The police vehicles protected the crowd from the anarchists, but some people at the edge of the crowd had to quickly get out of the way of the police vehicles. This created a big crush in the crowd, causing many to fear for their safety, especially those with small children.  Many of those people gave up on the parade and left the area as soon as they could. The anarchists got a Protest Warrior on the ground and kicked him. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured.

CAMERA-SHY GUY THAT YOU DON'T WANT TO MEET IN AN ALLEY

[THIS PHOTO, NOT HYPERLINKED TO LARGER ONE] SKULL AND BONES, BUT NOT IN HONOR OF THE PRESIDENT'S SECRET YALE SOCIETY

The anarchists threw snowballs at people. Then they took the signs and flags off their support poles.  When they threw the poles at officers, the police responded with a canon that fired pepper spray on the anarchists.

AMERICAN SECTOR

After about an hour in the pub, bmwcyle and I went back to the gate and started our second wait.  It took us about an hour to get in.  Separated from bmwcyle during the security processing, I made my way to the American Sector. Unfortunately, I missed President Bush by about 5 or 10 minutes, despite the fact that security concerns had delayed the start of the parade at least an hour. (The anarchists' lawlessness and near-riot described above MAY have been the security concern that delayed the start of the parade.)

At the American Sector, I talked with kristinn, trueblackman, staytrue, Flora McDonald, Rabidralph, the Sarce, BufordP and DCBryan1, among others.

Sad to say that my camera didn't work all the time. At the parade and at the ball, I "took" photos that never registered, but I didn't realize it until later. Some of the better parade photos are below.

TRUEBLACKMAN ON RIGHT AND ANOTHER (SORRY, I DIDN'T GET THE NAME) HOLD ONE OF BUFORDP'S GREAT SIGNS	PROUD MOTHER FLORA McDONALD HOLDS SIGN FOR A MARINE SPECIAL TO HER
BUFORDP HOLDS ANOTHER OF HIS GREAT SIGNS	LURKER (L) AND DCBRYAN1 HOLD SIGN
RESCUE DOGS AND HANDLERS MARCH AS POLICE SCAN CROWD	IMPRESSIVE TEXAS FLOAT
TWO ROWS OF BARRIERS (ONLY ONE ROW VISIBLE HERE) AND POLICE LINE SAFEGUARD THE PARADE AS POLICE (SNIPER-SPOTTER TEAM?) WATCH FROM BUILDING TOP	WYOMING FLOAT WITH STATUE OF COWBOY (INSERT DEAN SCREAM HERE) ON BUCKING BRONCO

W2 BALL

The Capitol Offense Band with Gov. Huckabee, the comedian/impressionist singer Billy Finch, the program, Sauropod's video, and Jimmy Valentine's brother as Saddam Hussein in prison stripes dancing onstage as the band played Jail House Rock, it was all great. Meeting old friends and making new ones and proving once again that FReepers are the greatest!

 

SIGNS NEAR THE MAIN ENTRANCE	PHOTOS OF VARIOUS FREEPERS AND RELATIVES IN OUR MILITARY
JIMMY VALENTINE'S BROTHER AS SADDAM HUSSEIN	PHOTOS OF PAST FREEPER ACTIONS ON WALL WITH GREAT SIGNS FROM STAYTRUE ("VOTE FOR BUSH") AND BUFORDP ("ROCKIN' FOR BIN LADEN")
KRISTINN INTRODUCES CAPITOL OFFENSE BAND	KRISTINN AND TGSLTAKOMA
TWO MORE SIGNS THAT STAYTRUE USED IN FREEPS THIS PAST YEAR	MUDBOY SLIM, HELMS, SAUROPOD, AND IRONMAN
MORE FREEPER SIGNS USED IN FREEPS	BUFORDP MADE THE SIGN ON THE LEFT AND USED IT IN A FREEP OF SeeBS News

[RaceBannon]

http://community.webshots.com/album/258441536qMMMpP

Here are my photos from the Ball and the Parade!!

[F14 Pilot]

bump

[Howlin]

Great thread, Bill.

[RaceBannon]

I am getting so fat!

[BillF]

Nice photos.

Is the person in the center of the photo r1988428807 being arrested by two uncover officers? Looks like they are restraining the person in the center.

Maybe it's just friends helping a friend up after he or she took the brown acid? The left is having a flashback, while stuck in a sixties quagmire.

[F14 Pilot]

lol

[nutmeg]

Fantastic report, sound files and pics, BillF! Thanks for all of the cross-referenced links to the W2 threads. Bookmarking this thread now...

My husband 'zelig' and I did our best to try to join you all in the American Sector just before the parade, but we got stuck way in the back of Checkpoint Charlie and the anarchists far outnumbered us. We were told by the DC police that we had to go to the back of "the line" waiting to go through the security checkpoint (the white tents). Trouble is, you couldn't tell where the line was, never mind where it ended.

The anarchists stood at the back of "the line" in a huge, tight block of hundreds of people, waving signs, chanting, etc. A few stood up on a table or podium, leading the group in chants, getting everyone going... obviously holding a rally. I asked a DC police officer if this was a rally going on, or were these people waiting in line for the security checkpoint. The officer told me they weren't holding a rally (they obviously were), they were "waiting in line". Then he rudely told zelig and I to "move along... no congregating here". We weren't "congregating"... we stopped there for two seconds, trying to gather our thoughts as to make a decision what to do next, check our DC Metro map and to ask the officer the question about what was going on. Geesh!

The anarchists did an effective job blocking off (or appearing to block off) some security checkpoints earlier at the swearing-in ceremonies also: Gold Gate and Green Gate, keeping good Bush-supporting folks out. We had tickets (standing only, way in the back) for the Inaugural and had to enter through the Green Gate, but gave up once we saw the hundreds of people (mostly anarchists) in front of us. We never would've made it through security in time for the ceremony. Fortunately we caught the entire ceremony live on TV in a nearby Hyatt Hotel bar.

We met many disappointed Bush supporters on the streets, in the Hyatt bar and on the Metro who had traveled long distances to attend the Inaugural swearing-in ceremony and/or the parade, tickets in hand. Many of these people had never run into crowds of unwashed leftists like this before, and seemed a bit shocked. Some were elderly or had little children with them. These vile anarchists scared them away from what should have been a joyful event last Thursday.

Anyway I made a few passing remarks to a some anarchists, such as "If you don't like it here, why don't you move?" and "So move to Cuba!" and I "accidently" kicked some guy's anti-Bush sign that he had leaned up against a curb, while he sat on the curb shivering.. LOL.

You guys in the American Sector did a better job with the "skunks" than I did, though. KUDOS to all of you! :-)

[nutmeg]

Check this out. BillF did a great job on this thread!

[luvie]

Some of the protesters looked waaaay too much like the insurgents in Iraq! Hmmmm, wonder why!

[luvie]

Thanks for the wonderful pictures and links to others! It is almost nearly but not quite hardly like being there! Hope I can make it in person next go-round--in FOUR MORE YEARS!!!!!

[BillF]

It was a pleasure to meet you and your husband again at the W2 Ball.

I am so sorry that your rights and your husband's rights were violated by the anarchists. Through fear and intimidation they blocked people from going.

I'm also sad and mad that the officer was rude. He may have been under great stress, trying to watch the anarchists. That's an explanation, but it doesn't excuse rudeness.

I'm wondering if a complaint to the police is not in order. Not so much about the officers comments as he may have been under great stress. More of a complaint about not controlling the anarchists and figuring out a security gate system that would not take so long or subject decent law-abiding citizens to mixing with the skunks of the left, people who came to protest and disrupt.

Where were you in relation to the rallying anarchists and the crowd trying to get in when the officer accused you of congregating? Was it close to the leftists, were you saying negative things to the anarchists?

Are you sure that they were the anarchists, wearing a striking amount of black clothing and quite a few wearing masks?

About what time was it that you were there at the 7th Street Checkpoint?

Did you see the anarchists throw snowballs at people, sticks or poles at police, kick the Protest Warrior, and get gassed by the police?

Were you there when the police cars swooped in to block anarchists from getting into the crowd, but creating a crush in the crowd from people at the edge suddenly moving out of the way of the police cars.

I don't envy the police as they had some very different challenges that day. Still, if we could think of a better way to handle these situations in the future, it's worth pointing out constructively where improvement is needed.

[cyborg]

You look good with the five o' clock shadow.

[nutmeg]

I have to sign off now and get to bed, but I wanted to give you at least a partial reply to post 51...

After reading your post, I think I've been using the term "anarchists" too broadly... I think what we saw on the streets and gathered in those HUGE blocks of humanity at security checkpoints were probably just the old-fashioned, run-of-the-mill "leftists" (anti-Bush, anti-war protestors) rather than anarchists. They had "Bush - Worst President Ever" and other signs, some more vile than that, but I don't remember seeing a big group completely dressed in black clothing as you've described. They may have been there, I don't remember. I mostly remember a pretty mixed group of people, most of them holding some sort of anti-Bush sign.

I muttered a comment or two a couple of times to these leftists, but it was mostly in passing them on the streets. No one may have heard me, for all I know. We witnessed no violence of any kind.

My questions to the one particular police officer were polite. We really just stopped there for a couple of seconds to try to make a decision what to do next, once we saw that familiar huge block of protestors gathered "in line". I think this police officer had probably HAD it by the time we got there, and he didn't look too crazy about standing out in the cold either. Oh well...

I'm wondering if a complaint to the police is not in order. Not so much about the officers comments as he may have been under great stress. More of a complaint about not controlling the anarchists and figuring out a security gate system that would not take so long or subject decent law-abiding citizens to mixing with the skunks of the left, people who came to protest and disrupt.

The security gate "system" was ridiculous, in our opinions, but what do we know about these things. Many Bush supporters whom we met on the Metro, in the streets, etc. who tried to attend the Inaugural activities also complained - some bitterly - that "it wasn't organized very well", etc. I'm not interested in filing any complaint to the police. I understand that - of course - heavy security was necessary. It just seemed to us that the sheer numbers of protestors standing in those blocks (and they seemed to be segregated from the "normal" Bush-supporting crowd) at every gate made it impossible for us to even get to the security tents. We were told we would have to get in line with/in back of the "protestors", and wait to go thru the security checkpoint. Since we were in back of hundreds (thousands?) of people, we could see that this would take hours, so we gave up and took the Metro back to our hotel.

I don't remember exactly what time we were at the 7th (and Penn. Ave.?) checkpoint. I'll check with zelig and let you know sometime tomorrow (Monday). He'll remember.

Our main reason for coming to DC last Wed-Fri was to attend the FR Ball. We're not really all that disappointed that we couldn't get into the Inaugural swearing-in ceremony with our tickets. We arrived near the Capitol probably too late as it was (our hotel was pretty far from DC - we had a long Metro ride in).

I felt really sorry for the people we met who traveled even further than we did (from CT) whose primary objective was to attend the swearing-in ceremony and/or the parade (with tickets in hand), and were pretty much scared away by these leftists/protestors who appeared to block every security gate and weren't able to do so.

[BillF]

Thanks for the kind words.

My favorite exchange was the following:

In response to my "swim to Cuba" line, he said "why did you come to annoy us today?" The leftist was serious. He and many of his leftist friends truly believe that the world revolves around them. It's all about them.

I said: "Get real. We won. You lost. We're here to celebrate and watch a parade. You are the skunk at the parade." Seeing his discomfort at that characterization, I started referring to all of them as "skunks at the parade."

Only rarely do I debate merits (as opposed to ridiculing) with the leftists, unless it's for a neutral or balanced audience, because it's generally fruitless. Almost all of the leftists, especially those at demonstrations, fall into one of the following groups:

-- Too ignorant or illogical to debate the merits of anything.

-- They live in an alternate universe filled with "facts" that they believe so deeply in as to preclude progress. For example, in their bizarro world, George Bush is corrupt and the UN is not.

I do enjoy laughing at them to their faces. Humor or ridicule is a weapon that can be devastating to its victims.

Many times ridiculing them is quite risky, such as when 13 DC Chapter FReepers demonstrated on the sidewalk as 5 to 10 thousand ANSWER marchers walked by in the street. Probably 5 or 6 hundred of them immediately adjacent us were shouting "shame on you" at us. We shouted it back at them.

Meanwhile, the Black Bloc of 3 hundred or so anarchists at the tail of their human flotsam and jetsam parade were almost up to us when a line of bicycle officers swooped in to form a protective line around us. The police told us that they believed the anarchists were planning to "bust some skulls." (Thank you police.)

The situation waiting at the security checkpoint or gate was great because, for once, our side had the numbers. Not FReepers, but people who were pro-Bush or at least anti-leftist were in the clear majority during the times that I was waiting.

If we could get more FReepers and patriots showing up to counter-protest ANSWER than ANSWER has people in attendance, we could totally destroy the viability of those apologists for Saddam, fans of Stalin and Kim il-Jong.

Unfortunately, many (most?) FReepers are too conservative (referring to tactics, not ideology)to demonstrate. Demonstrating is an in-your-face expression of political belief that is foreign to most conservatives. They often consider protests or demonstrations undignified, rude, or intemperate. Sometimes demonstrations are indeed undignified, rude, or intemperate, but I think we do a good job of avoiding those pitfalls.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[Ol' Sox]

Nutmeg, you were right in refering to the demonstrators/tantrum-throwers at the 7th and D street checkpoint as anarchists. We were there and I saw the red and black flags identifying them as such.

The intersection has four "segments", if you will. South 7th, North 7th, East D and West D. The security checkpoint was at South D. I saw the anarchist flags and the snowballs flying from West D. Most pedestrian traffic was coming from the direction of the capitol, East D. The motorcycle cops came in from North 7th. My wife and I were square in the middle of the intersection and had to get our of the way of the first police car to arrive.

I could see over the tops of the heads of the crowd and it wasn't only snowballs that the anarchists were throwing - I saw one of those metal crowd barriers upended, as well as broken pieces of PVC piping that was jagged on one end being thrown.

My wife and I decided that the crowd was too large to get through the checkpoint (it was around 1:30 or so) so we headed up North 7th to E street, where we came across a couple of dozen police donning their riot gear. It was at that point that we decided to head back to our hotel.

[TaxRelief]

Some guy, who had been given a blue wrist bracelet (i.e., Blue State emblem), asked if anyone wanted it. The man was a Bush supporter and didn't really want it, but apparently had accepted it from a guy handing out dozens and dozens of them. The man had previously not felt confident enough to "out" himself as a Bush supporter by turning it down. After he heard several of us ridicule the leftists, he realized that he was not in enemy-occupied territory.

This one incident demonstrates so clearly why we must continue with the counter-protest mission.

[rabidralph]

Thanks, Race. You look like you had a great time the whole day! I have the best photo of you that I've ever taken of an enthusiastic FReeper. I will try and post them in the next few days.

[RaceBannon]

I was afraid of that...(groan)...

[windchime]

Great reports & pics. Thanks!