Posted on 12/09/2005 1:06:23 AM PST by Albion Wilde
Washington, December 2, 2005—With a powerful wind chill factor placing temperatures just a few degrees above zero in a dark night of December, once again Free Republic squared off against the failure-prone Code Pink "vigil" at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. And again, FReepers outnumbered the wacko Pinkos almost three-to-one.
Since March 2005, ever since a conglomeration of DC radical leftists under the Code Pink banner decided to protest the Bush Administration outside Walter Reed every Friday night, Free Republic's DC Chapter has faced them off across the street.
There's something so obnoxious, so distasteful, so just plain mean about protesting the war and its Commander-in-Chief in front of a place of refuge for wounded U.S. troops that even in Washington, DC, a city where liberalism has tenacious roots among the populace, Code Pink just can't rally enough supporters to outnumber Free Republic.
They whine and moan with long, dramatic faces about Halliburton, how terrible Bush is, what a failure the war is, how the troops should be brought home "without DeLay" -- and then disingenously claim that their vigil is a non-political action supportive of the troops.
Free Republic whistles and cheers the soldiers, their families and Walter Reed workers coming and going from the hospital grounds. We wave signs of support for the mission, the President and the bravery of our men and women in uniform, and have a great time doing it. It galls the Pinkos that we should provide such un-60s contrast to their loony left malcontention. They prefer the glass half-empty, the false promises and dire restrictions of socialism to the prospect of Republican-inspired victories and the growth of freedom and prosperity in Iraq, Afghanistan and the United States of America.
As usual, mostly their die-hards showed up, with a handful of newbies. It was too cold for the likes of DC Code Pink's leader, Gael Murphy, a paid agitator who makes the rounds of anti-Bush activities like this summer's leftist mosh pits in DC and in that ditch in Crawford, Texas, in support of... what's her name? I forget. So has the MSM, it seems.
Speaking of Mother What's-Her-Name, the head banshee visited Code Pink's vigil this fall at Walter Reed, entered the hospital, went to the reception desk and apparently inquired where to find the Ladies' Room, went upstairs, entered the Ladies' Room, exited a few minutes later, descended the stairs, left the building and drove away in a car. Total time elapsed: twenty minutes (Walter Reed has a large campus). As far as we could tell, there were no reporters following her except our FReeper undercover agents. It was a Code Pink propaganda failure, just another in a long string of Code Pink failures associated with their Walter Reed "vigil".
First, the widely-criticized vigil itself: it was one thing when the story was disseminated by conservative CNSnews, Rush Limbaugh, several FoxNews sources and a contingent of local bloggers last August. But even later, when the story was publicized by the left-leaning Washington Post in the fall of 2005, even the Post reporter couldn't bring himself to sound enthusiastic about Code Pink's demonstrations in the faces of the wounded, and so gave Free Republic equal time. Results of these two spates of publicity? More patriotic Americans turned out to support the Free Republic side of the street, and our numbers have remained constantly higher than theirs ever since, week after week -- even the week of the Hard Left's national rally in the Capital at the end of September.
Second, Code Pink's early, repugnantly political signs have disappeared in favor of socialist whines about veteran benefits and bringing troops home. And Gael Murphy bald-facedly claimed in the Washington Post that "some people occasionally show up with signs that don't reflect the respectful tone of the vigil" -- as if she had no idea that it was her "regulars" there week after week with objectionable signs. Free Republic calmly posted photographic proof on our national forum, showing vigil regular Kevin McCarron holding one of the rotten signs. We call to them across the street every week now, saying, "Hey, Infiltrators! Hey, Bruce! Hey, Kevin! Where's your 'Maimed for a Lie' sign this week?" They say nothing, because there is nothing to say when your nose has already grown halfway across six-lane Georgia Avenue.
Third, the art of point-for-point counterprotesting honed by the DC Chapter over seven years of experience in the Nation's Capital is always a deft demonstration of victory over leftist fantasies through superior intellectual firepower. This Friday, an insurgent-lover showed up with an altered American flag with a peace sign where the stars should be. We soon trotted out our "Footprint of the American Chicken" sign, which explains what the peace sign, a bisected circle with the two downward diagonals, actually resembles. In minutes, they placed a real American flag in front of their quisling peace flag, letting the howling wind blow it to the rear so that only the authentic American flag showed.
Two of the newer lefties had "nyah-nyah" signs: one female war protester claimed to be a veteran herself, and an old 60s-leftover guy held a sign that said, "They gave 110% -- what did you give?" FReepers on the corner directly facing them had a field day with these signs. "We're almost all veterans on this side of the street -- where did YOU serve?" we yelled. "Name your rank and unit!"
No rank nor unit information was forthcoming, but the woman put down her "I'm a Veteran" sign and grabbed something else, while the old guy just looked trapped with his hand in the cookie jar. Didn't name a unit. Couldn't name a unit. Wouldn't have joined a military unit to save his own children, is my guess.
But I digress. Back to our discussion of Pinko failures. Then there were the two weeks in the fall when the Mother What's-Her-Name tour bus with Bring the Troops Home Now" painted on the side bore down Georgia toward us. We thought for a moment that a busload of "vigilers" would offload -- but the bus was empty! Nobody inside that greasy-windowed giant gas guzzler but a white-haired old hippie driver! The first week, he got stuck in a side street and FReepers had to help him get the bus out. The second week, he parked illegally in the hospital zone and FReepers held a sit-in in front of the bus until the police came and saw it for themselves. Just one Code Pink stupid human trick after another, all failures.
Not that we expect them to stop coming to Walter Reed. When it comes to pond-scum jokes, leftists are the new lawyers: there seems to be no bottom to the things they will do. And clearly, most of their leadership is getting paid by leftist "foundations."
Just this week, after months of outrage on Code Pink's web site that the evil Bush administration's policies are responsible for U.S. citizens not being allowed to travel to Cuba, the embargoes against Cuba that were instituted in 1962 by Presidents Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy (and upheld by every U.S. President ever since, Democrat or Republican) finally caught up with Code Pink, which received a "Cease and Desist" order from the Treasury Department advising Code Pink to can their widely-vaunted plans for a gala Christmas in Communist Cuba. Their web site has announced that the Cuba trip is, indeed, scuttled. Yet another failure.
FReeper signs point out that even the DemocRats supported a vote on the war, 403-3, during the preceding week. Click here to see Appleblossom and (Mrs) Trooprally and here to see Iraqikurd. Photos by bmwcyle.
But Free Republic and our compatriots from Protest Warrior, Rolling Thunder and many walks of private citizenry should not and will not become complacent; not while Code Pink continues to flack their fruitless vigil at the gates of Walter Reed while our wounded are inside.
The honor roll of 29 December 2nd attendees included tgslTakoma, (Mr and Mrs) Trooprally, Landry Fan, Fraxinus, Christopher Lincoln, Plea Deal, Beandog, BufordP, Albion Wilde, 2ndClassCitizen and his two children, All Right All the Time, bmwcyle and daughter, lurkers Joan and Bill from Maryland, Coop, Appleblossom and daughter, Maica, lurker Oscar, Iraqikurd, TomtheRedhunter, Black Republican, Kristinn, Andi from Andi's World milblog, and last but not least, canine-American Rocket, who guarded the FReeper coffee/tea commissary.
The Pinkos, who dribbled in late by ones and twos and skulked away a good forty minutes earlier than we did, have learned to leave early to avoid being flipped off by soldiers who return to the hospital around 9:30 from a night on the town. The busdriver usually turns on the lights so we can wave and cheer, and this night was no exception. We had captured all four corners by the time the troops arrived.
The passersby toot and cheer for us approximately ten-to-one over the lefties. Early this night one African-American woman in an SUV on "their" side of the street leaned on the horn while waiting at the light, beeping over and over. Because of the cold, her window remained up and we were unsure which side she was on. Just as the light changed, she powered her window down and and shot us a mittened thumbs-up out the window as she accelerated through the intersection, yelling out, amid clouds of steam as her breath hit the freezing air, "Yeah!! YEEAAAHHH!!! My daughter's over there in Iraq!"
I would have made more notes and written more about the actual events at this remarkably unwarm FReep, but within the first forty minutes, the ink in my pen had frozen. So hear this: a wounded soldier who was brought to Walter Reed on a prior Friday night told Justanobody that he could see us FReepers waving our messages of encouragement from his ambulance window -- if he had only seen Code Pink's doom-and-gloom signs, he said, he would have felt abandoned by the American people.
So, FReepers, come stand with us -- Uncle Sam Needs You!
Links:
For Gunnutt's outstanding blog about this FReep, click here and scroll down to Dec 3.
To view all of bmwcyle's great photos from this FReep, click here.
To read about this FReep at Andi's World military blog, click here.
Read Landry Fan's excellent blog about this FReep by clicking here.
Outstanding comment. You put it all in perspective.
Thank you so very much...well done!
I wish I could send some warm air up to you all!
"I'M BACK, BABY!"
Eggnog was stronger than I realized.
Almost 900 miles for me and I have made it several times...come-on try it once...or fly!
I love you all for doing this! If it weren't for geography, I'd be right beside you. Keep it up!
How about this one from wildties.com?
Or this one from absoluteties.com?
Whatever you choose, don't forget your lapel pin from cafepress.com!
We miss you, Joy! But we'll gladly accept a UPS shipment of balmy breezes!
All Texans welcome!
"I'll leave that one for you to do. You handle the kindness, I'll handle the constant mocking ahd shaming. My voice usually recovers by Sunday morning, and it's well worth it to watch the swollen, anti-American, pus-filled scabs squirm uncomfortably as they desperately avoid eye contact with the humans across the street."
Stop with the diplomacy speak and give us the truth, darn it.
Got some urgent aging parent issues as a priority right now, but when that all calmes down, I look forward to joining all of you in the cold on the corner. Probably be tied up until Christmas or so. Yell a few creative insults for me, please.
Or you could wear this appropriate tie?
Unfortunately, due to the inclement weather in the DFW area the last couple of days, I will not be there tonight. You guys are getting the ice and snow we've had recently.
I'll try again in January. Freep on for me!!!
bump
Thanks for the challenge. I may have to try now.
The first tie in #113 made me recall your comment about your little black dress. If it's anything like that, I can see why you don't want to wear it to a FReep til summer. :)
Sorry that you can't attend the FReep tonight, but I know that you'll try some other time.
Let us know how you're doing at new locale. General info can be posted, but save details for FR mail, as usual.
well...sadly, mine doesn't fit quite like that! LOL!
I wish I could be there tonight and I'll be thinking warm thoughts about you guys while you're holding the line!!
Give em heck!!!
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