Clinton closes book tour with Vineyard stop (Freepers protest mentioned)

VINEYARD HAVEN - The first two in line, sisters-in-law Kim and Marcia Quitadamo of Worcester, showed up outside the Bunch of Grapes bookstore at 5:30 - that's 5:30 a.m.

Within two hours, enough others had shown up for a 4 p.m. appearance by U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that Tisbury police asked bookstore manager Robby Bick to open his doors at 7:30 a.m., 90 minutes early.

"We have about 1,500 books in the store," Bick said early yesterday afternoon. "Or we had 1,500 books in the store," he said alluding to brisk sales.

The final stop on Clinton's book tour for her memoirs, "Living History," came yesterday on the Vineyard, a favorite vacation haunt of Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

The pair arrived by plane early yesterday afternoon, without their daughter, Chelsea. They are staying for a week at the Chilmark home of actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen.

By 3 p.m., the line from Bunch of Grapes stretched 50 feet north to Centre Street, then down the road at least 150 yards.

Several people were asked why "Living History," a book that drew lukewarm reviews but sells 50,000 copies a week, is so popular.

"She has been able to weather the storm," said Debra Bullock, a Democratic activist from Baltimore and one of a group of seven. "I just think she has strength as a woman that is incredible."

"I just give that woman a lot of credit," said Bernardine Urquhart of Mashpee, a retired nurse. "I don't know if I could have held up."

Urquhart's husband, Bruce, who had bought a book about the 1919 molasses flood in Boston, said he was not surprised by the success of "Living History."

"I think she is a very interesting woman and a lot of people want to learn more about her," he said.

But not everyone who turned out was so enamored of the junior senator from New York.

Across the street stood a half-dozen demonstrators wearing masks, holding anti-Clinton signs and blaring the Rolling Stones song "Sympathy for the Devil" and Hank Williams' "Your Cheatin' Heart."

One of the protesters, Roger Bannon of Palm Key, Fla., wore a Satan mask and held a sign reading, "Bill Clinton married my sister."

But the Clinton foes were outnumbered, as evidenced by the huge cheer that went up when Mrs. Clinton arrived a few minutes late in a green Suburban.

Given the expected crowd, a few conditions were in place. A limit of 1,000 books would be signed, with no inscriptions and only two per customer. The store had been checked out several times since Wednesday by Secret Service agents, a protection accorded Clinton as a former first lady.

At the head of the line was Oak Bluffs resident Bonnie Meras, Class of '53 at Wellesley College, Clinton's alma mater.

"Yay, Wellesley," Clinton said after Meras introduced herself. "Have you been back?"

Clinton recognized another woman from previous visits to the island and the two hugged. "How has your summer been? You look fabulous."

Bookstore clerk Avia Moore said she noticed several women wipe away tears after Clinton greeted them and signed their books.

One woman told Moore she bought two books for her granddaughters, "because I want them to have books signed by the first female president," Moore recounted.

Clinton was still signing shortly after 6 p.m. when the Secret Service intervened and called it a day, according to Jon Nelson, who manages the bookstore with his mother, Ann Nelson, the owner. By then, about 950 of 1,000 tickets were gone.

After the last book was signed, Clinton posed for photos with bookstore employees who had just worked what they described as the busiest day they've had.

I finally had a few minutes of quiet time to spare, so I’ll add my recollection of this event here.

The key to this “road trip” was how to get onto Martha’s Vineyard. Race Bannon advised that traffic on the bridges to Cape Cod was sure to add hours to the trip. For a while, we discussed hitting the Cape the night before and taking the Woods Hole ferry the next day. The alternative was to take a ferry that launched from some point prior to the backups. New Bedford seems the likely choice, but the more we looked at the Rhode Island-Vineyard Fast Ferry from Quonset Point, the more I liked that option. It seemed that the total time for driving and the ferry ride was shortest using the Quonset Point ferry. Adult fare is $48 round trip. It’s fairly easy to find. Just follow the directions to Quonset State Airport.

Ultimately, Race went up the night before and bunked at an old USMC buddy’s place. I decided that firebrand and I had to make it a “day trip” for a couple of reasons.

The critical step was not to miss the 1 PM ferry. So I left EARLY to be at firebrand’s at 8 am. Hitting a bit of traffic, I called ahead and announced my ETA was 8:15 to 8:30 am. Well it cleared up, I breezed through the tunnel and up the West Side Highway and arrived at 8:05 am. We struck out for Rhode Island with the plan that we’d minimize our stops. If we had extra time, we’ll spend it near the ferry and have lunch.

It’s a three hour trip to the ferry, but it passed like minutes because we spent the time talking about any number of things Free Republic. I decide to wear my “COMMUNITY SERVICE LITTER PATROL” t-shirt. That’s what it says on the back of a bright orange shirt. On the front, over the left breast, it says “PAROLEE” in smaller letters. In bigger letters on the front it also says, “FORMER CLINTON D.O.J. US ATTORNEY”. I tried to act casual when we stopped at the Welcome Center in Rhode Island for a pit stop and a map.

Quonset Point and the ferry are about 25 minutes beyond the Rhode Island border. The signs are that great, so look for the airport signs. We arrived at about 11:30 am. Parking was easy and close, though on grass. This ferry route had only been in operation about eight weeks when we used it.

Talking to the crew, an Indian tribe owns the ferry and leases it out. It had been used in Boston, Long Island and New Jersey. It was launched in 1995.

The terminal is a temporary building. It reminds you of the sales office you see on a development before the model homes go in. Folding chairs, air conditioning and a TV tuned to MSNBC comprise the waiting room. Tickets are sold from a folding table. The “dock” is two large barges moored in an “L” shape. Not bad, workable, but definitely “temporary”.

We ultimately boarded the ferry and it left 15 minutes behind schedule. We dumped our “luggage” in a designated area on the first deck and went up one where firebrand found us a “one sided” booth. We took that rather than monopolize a booth with two benches. The table came in handy because we had one sign that needed to be made. And I made two more, “Who’s Watching Bill?” and “When The Going Gets Tough, Hillary Vacations.” The later was a shot at how parts on NY state were still blacked out and she’s “Outta Town”.

The ferry travels a ways south to get to the coast, and then along the coast to a bit, so you see a lot of pretty shoreline. There are many, many sailboats, boaters, yachts and commercial vessels passing by. The ferry is a trip in itself.

Race called and reported that he’d probably be late because his ferry terminal’s parking lot was full and the bus trip to the alternate lot would make him miss his intended run. Turns out that he made the ferry and arrived at the book store about 10-15 minutes after we did.

Arriving in Oak Bluffs, we scoped out our options. Many 11 passenger vans labeled “TAXI” waited in the small parking lot by the dock. We found out that it would be only $6 for two, so we went with “YOUR TAXI”. The bus would have been $4.

We shared the van with an Asian lady in a straw hat and some minor luggage. I asked the driver if there were lines at the book store yet. He didn’t know about the signing so I explained. He explained how the Clinton’s presence pretty much screws up traffic at times. Our travelling companion knew of the signing and when it started. She seemed a Hillary fan. I didn’t see her reaction, but she was quiet after we told the driver that this was her 30th US book signing (35 overall), but that she made only 3 family funerals from 911.

Since we were a little early and Vineyard Haven is small, I decided to get off at “The Black Dog”. Bought a t-shirt and a coffee cup. Satan was going to work today in a Black Dog t-shirt.

From there we headed a block or so to the ferry dock at Vineyard Haven to perhaps meet Race or perhaps to get our bearings. Turns out that the bookstore is a hundred yards across the Stop and Shop parking lot, through a narrow, sandy alley. So we went to the bookstore.

A crowd of about 100 “Lookie Lous” awaited the train wreck called Hillary. Since the “sidewalk” on our side of the narrow street was painted hash marks about three feet wide on the asphalt and the police were trying to keep people out of traffic, we set up behind the “sidewalk”, on the sand, at the end of the alley. We were second or third deep, but we could be seen. It was more important that we didn’t block pedestrian traffic. Of course the “me first, screw you” attitude of her fans didn’t stop them from hogging the sidewalk and making people walk in traffic.

Had a big science fair sized sign, “Hillary’s Priorities, Book Signig$ 30, 911 Family Funerals 3”.

Also had a “Winnie The Pooh For Prez” sign. I taped a second foamcore to it that I folded “up” and then let fall when I got some one’s attention. What you got was a “second verse” underneath that read, “No Pants, Caught With Some Honey”. People realized the parallel to Bill Clinton and laughed.

When I started with the Satan mask, the sign was “Sold My Soul To Hillary” and “Hell Yes Hillary Knew”.

Race arrived shortly after we did. His ferry docked a 100 yards from the store. He set up on the left and I set up on the right side of the alley. Meantime firebrand checked in with the police.

I had a small karioke machine that I also planned to use as a PA system. The street was so narrow that I decided a PA system was overkill. We did play all the Hillary Soundtrack songs. In fact, I had one tape that repeated the Blues Brother’s rendition of “Stand By Your Man” over and over. That came in handy later.

We did our thing for a while. They Hillary unexpectedly arrived and walked about 30 yards to the store. Why she didn’t stop directly in front, I don’t know. We booed her like we were NYC police and firemen.

Most of the crowd on our side of the street dispersed quickly after her arrival. It slowly built back up to half it’s original size over the course of the afternoon as people waited for her to leave.

We really only had three people to contend with, a black gentleman, a white foul mouth girly man and a female “history teacher”.

The first guy dropped a bunch of snide comments our way, so I started up a conversation with a Freeper on how the DNC have screwed all the black Democrats that sought leadership positions. He remarked, “Leave race out of this”, but later he had no problem shouting about “Dixiecrats”. Over time, it was less shouting and more dialogue and we were able to discuss things in a normal voice. I do think that we shifted his belief in the GOP and Dixiecrats. Ever one of the Dixiecrats went home to the Democrats after 1948 and Strom didn’t move over to the GOP till 1964-65 or so. Most Democrats take it as an article of faith that they all became Republicans. We just stood our ground. Mentioning that George Wallace, Lester Maddox and Bull Conner were all Democrats helps.

The foul mouthed girlyman couldn’t control himself. He’d lose a point in an argument and he’d go off screaming “assholes”, only to return. Race pretty much cleaned his clock with logically replies to emotional arguments.

The last problem child was a Hillary Cheerleader. Other than “Hurray for Hillary”, she had no message. I’d stand by her in the devil outfit and the “Winnie For Prez – No Pants, Caught With Some Honey” sign. That FORCED her to HIDE her “President Clinton” sign. She was too embarrassed by the parallel. I’d point at her and her sign and then to my sign. People would laugh at her and her sign.

Ultimately, she ran away front one of my signs. The one that read, “Clinton Springer ‘04”. You’d think it was garlic and she was a vampire. I offered it to her as a souvenir, laid it at her feet and she literally fled.

We had about four single finger salutes, which we countered with a chant of “Mean Spirited, Arrogant, Condescending Liberal”. Of course the “compassionate liberals ” found comfort in the mean spirited phrase the evil businessman in the silk suit said to the poor, desperate, hopelessly unemployed woman in that Bruce Hornsby song. You know the phrase. “Get a job.” So looking down on the unemployed and blaming them for their state is now OK by liberals?

ElectricStrawberry and BostonRightist arrived shortly after Race. Carrying American flags, they were easy to identify. BostonRightist wore the Rodham Hussein costume and did a landoffice business posing for photos. Great way to meet babes.

We did get a fair number of people who literally applauded us as they went by, or came up and thanked us. That’s par for the course. Happens every time we do this. Those people will be out with a sign next time. They’ve seen it done and know they are not alone.

The line to the store disappeared. We figured it was surely over and that Hillary had to have slipped away out the back. All was quiet on the Western front. But we stayed and talked between ourselves and with people passing by. Suddenly there is activity across the street. Not loud, not that obvious, but directions are being given and people are being moved. Hillary emerges and we boo her again. We would have been down the alley and unaware of her departure if she had waited 60 seconds.

With that, we picked up our gear and made our way back to the Oak Bluffs ferry dock and the way home.

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