Posted on 03/15/2003 7:48:18 PM PST by SeenTheLight
Okay folks, without further ado, I'm starting an After Report for the 3/15 San Francisco FReep!
It wasn't a huge crowd today, on either side of the political fence. But as usual, we made our presence known. We had about 15 people, coming and going throughout the day, and the appeaseniks had about 5000 people. Of course, wait for the news reports, saying that 200,000 people showed up!
Thanks to the following FReepers, friends, and random people for showing up:
AmericanPreservative
nastypumps
Rogue Yam
CounterCounterCulture
Stratman1969
PulpitofTruth (new FReeper, met at the last rally)
SeenTheLights Mom (thanks for filming Mom!)
sfmom (not sure if I have that screenname right?)
mvpel (great signs!)
The lady who joined us last time (Shirley)
Young cute couple in matching camoulflage
Guy in the green sweatshirt, who, while clearly disturbed, meant well!
Several other guys that I recognized, but don't know their screennames.
John and friend (remained very calm under fire)
2 guys that started out at the "peace" rally, got turned off by all the lunatics, and joined us. They said they felt more comfortable with us----no surprise here!
If I forgot anyone, feel free to add their names.
Overall, I'd say we attracted even more than the usual crazies today, even for San Francisco. For the most part, we kept our cool and sense of humor, and let the lefties flip out. They did not disappoint.
A favorite insult throughout the day was to call us "Chicken Hawks" and demand that we immediately join the military. And it seems that everyone at the anti-America rally had "served" in the military before---at least to hear them tell it. Very amusing.
People were obnoxious and abusive today, even more than usual! Lots of profanity and insults directed our way. This one nutty woman started yelling at us while walking away, and then she just kept coming back and continuing her rant. She called us every name in the book, which I will not be repeating here.
On the extremely extreme side, our American flags were called "Nazi flags," by a guy whose sign said "Death and Terror to America" on one side, and "Bombing the Pentagon is an Act of Peace" on the other. He also yelled "Death to America" on several occasions. At least he was honest for a change! Then there were the signs that said "Impeach Adolph Bush" and the usual "Israel/Jews are the root of all evil" type signs.
As for the Indyterrorists who threatened us on their web sites beforehand, all I can say is, Puleeze! The best these fools could come up with (at least those who I thought fit the bill) was to try and get the crowd to chant "Chicken Hawk" at us (didn't work), yelling out "they're Nazis, they're the KKK," and a bit of silly street theater. You'll see the photo, but basically, the guy had on a rumpled suit, fake blood all over him, cash coming out of his pockets, and a sign that said "Everything is Fine." Pretending to be one of us (great "infiltrating!"), he faced the crowd and did his bit. The problem was, the lefties didn't get it and some of them started arguing with him. Need I say more? Not exactly the brightest bulbs...
Think that just about covers it! I'll let these photos tell the rest of the story:
In the beginning...
That's me chatting with my sign facing out (less work that way!), and CounterCounterCulture doing his thang:
Some of our "fans" reading our signs...
Old Glory rising above the rabble...
CounterCounterCulture encountering a little hostility...
More of our signs...
Good one AP!
Their signs...
Our "infiltrator"....
Wish ther was some provider that'd let you post pics without all the ads and complications - anyone?
SF after-action FReep-ping! : )
Add jiggyboy to the FReeper Honor Roll above. Great to see everyone. Mega-FRudos to those FReepers who travelled great distances to come to Baghdad-By-The-Bay today.
I would say we had 22 to 25 people altogether.
The weather was windy, but, the rain held off, and the sun came out....but, then so did the Leftists out of the woodwork and wherever else. : )
I arrived @ 9AM. I was surprised not to see Lefty buses like last time ringing the blocks, but, they did arrive later. (I heard one account later that said the Lefties had about 100,000. I don't know about that, but, the Plaza did fill up.)
As usual, the Lefties couldn't bear for us to have even one little patch of ground, and one woman with a "Not in our name" sign came and occupied the granite platform in our area for a time. And, then there was a guy for a while.
The police did not come out for quite a while. And, this time there were only a few, and they stood off to the side. We were glad they were there....just in case.
Thankfully, everything physically was OK. Just the verbalage (is that a word?)
I did see some snipets of our side on the News. Hey, Pulpit of Truth, you were on Channel 5! : )
As STL said, there were a couple of characters who joined our group. What can I say, at least they were passionate in their beliefs. : )
We left the FRassy Knoll about 1:30. This time we were too pooped to party afterwards, so everyone went their separate ways....maybe next time.
Speaking of....there's the Rally For America in Sacramento next Saturday, and then, a big pro-America rally on Saturday, March 29 in San Francisco....so, mark your calendars and maybe, we'll see you out there! : ) FREEP ON! : )
Thank you again! : )
Hi nully! : ) Everything, thankfully, was AOK. Thanks for thinking of us. You were missed.
The verbal abuse was unrelenting: we were called "nazis", "bigots" "babykillers" and expletives which I will not repeat here. Someone from the Santa Rosa paper interviewed me and when I would not give my name (I gave my Freeper tag) she was incredulous when I said that I had to protect myself from harm [by not giving my name]. Those who claim that San Francisco is a tolerant place have never attempted to stand up for any view not completely ultra-left. I was really glad that I could see police nearby. I arrived via Muni and didn't letter my poster [FREE IRAQ] until I got to the Freeper Knoll, just to be on the safe side.
The young couple in fatigues which STL mentioned consisted of a US Army veteran, (with spouse/girlfriend) who had just finished a five year stint overseas and the last seven months in Kosovo! He didn't look older than 21. The crowd tried to heap abuse on him, but he told me it didn't bother him "I'm a soldier. I'm brave."
I asked the experienced Freeper demonstrators if it was always this bad, and they said that "This is not as bad as other demonstrations!" I really had to admire the Freepers who stood up to this vile so-called "peace" crowd in previous counter-demonstrations: the hatred toward the USA and Bush were simply seething from their foul mouths. As one of our more impish members said to a woman whose only uttered word was f---, "NOW I know what you are: a liberal! Only liberals talk like that." When the crowd started to march away, one Freeper claimed victory: "Look! We got them to retreat!" The "peace" crowd was overwhelmingly grey and overweight. Aging hippies. There were two souls who actually tried to be human beings...one was "anti-war" but also troubled about Saddam. The other was anti-war because he was convinced that it was a war for oil. Then he conceded my point that it was a war to counter religious fanaticism. We found some common ground: both our fathers had survived the ETO in WWII. I was happy to meet some of the Freepers whose posts I had read.
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