After-Action Report from Anti-Kerry Freep, NYC, Feb. 28

Feb. 28, 2004 | firebrand

[firebrand]

The protest rally against John Kerry went very, very well, thanks to the great organizational talents of the sponsors and the anti-Kerry enthusiasm of the Vietnamese-Americans.

At 11:30, the entire block across from Kerry's headquarters, at 373 Park Avenue South, was already crowded with Vietnam Vets and many, many Vietnamese-Americans. Freepers were at first lost in the crowd but we eventually found one another. Here is the honor roll:

NYC GOP Chick
Davide
Laserlock
Tabi Katz
Always Free (who came up from Baltimore and even took a NYC subway for the first time ever)
hellinahandcart
Coleus
Cacique
rmlew
Doctor Raoul
Clemenza
jmstein7
mich0127 (fellow law school student of jmstein)

We also were happy to see Alan Finger, of the American Flag Institute, Don Rosenberg, of the National Traditionalist Caucus, Alice from Woodside, and other constant activists from the area.

Rolling Thunder rode up, and the TV cameramen started jockeying for position. Then all the wonderful speeches, including our own Doctor Raoul, who pointed out that the flag in the ninth-floor window was backwards. Kerry, is that your office, and if so was that you, or another typical Democrat, who hung that flag?

People were interviewed by Reuters, NBC, the New York Times, and the New York Post, among many others. The rally was so big that it was hard to keep track of everything.

Firebrand handed out 200 flyers with material from the wintersoldier.com website and from elsewhere on FR. I never saw people so eager to take flyers as the people at this rally. They brought ice-cold bottled water and delicious sandwiches and flags and signs for everyone--and on top of that they read our material!

Freepers repaired to the Abbey Tavern afterward, where we ate and drank and talked freeper talk.

Big bunches of thanks to Jerry Kiley, the rally organizer, from Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, to the other people who worked so hard for this, and to the cooperative and protective cops of the 13th Precinct.

Many pictures were taken by freepers and will be appearing on this thread shortly. When they are up, I will ping everybody.

Thanks for being behind us in spirit, everybody. We couldn't have done even the small part that we did without you all.

[Mich0127]

Yay...I like those pictures!

[jmstein7]

Yeah!

How was the pub??? Sorry I had to miss that :(

[Dan from Michigan]

Benedict Kerry. What an apt name.

[Mich0127]

It was awesome..we had a lot of fun..wish you were there..missed ya!

[blackie]

Great job everybody ~ you make a difference!

We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists and the democrats are sad ~ very sad!

~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~

[jmstein7]

BUMP!

Great FReep today!

[Seeking the truth]

Great Freep...youse guys (a little Brooklynese for those outside the Tri-State area)

[AmericanMade1776]

New York-AP -- A crowd of Vietnam veterans and Vietnamese Americans in New York has been calling John Kerry a traitor.

They waved flags and carried signs that read "Benedict Kerry" at a protest rally staged by a group calling itself Vietnam Vets Against John Kerry.

Organizer Jerry Kiley says Kerry committed "a treasonous offense" by marching under the flag of the enemy while protesting the Vietnam War. Kiley says Kerry "stabbed his band of brothers in the back."

Kerry campaign spokesman Mark Kornblau (KORN'-blow) says Kerry "served honorably," and earned the right to "speak out against a war that he saw with his own eyes and believed was wrong."

Kornblau also says Vietnam veterans who actually served with Kerry are his strongest supporters.
http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=1675897
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[jmstein7]

All two who lived, anyway.

[Dan from Michigan]

KORN'-blow)

That's how his name is pronounced?????

[AmericanMade1776]

from reuters.... US Vets, Vietnamese Demonstrate Against Kerry
Sat Feb 28, 2004 06:52 PM ET
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Around 200 U.S. Army veterans and Vietnamese people demonstrated outside Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry's New York headquarters on Saturday to protest his opposition decades ago to the Vietnam War.
Waving American and South Vietnamese flags and singing the U.S. national anthem, they held up signs saying "Hanoi John," and "Kerry Betrayed Vietnam Vets."

"We won't sit by and let the American people think that we are going to stand by somebody who stabbed us in the back," said Jerry Kiley, a veteran and one of the protest organizers.

Kerry, a Massachusetts senator and probable presidential challenger to President Bush in November, became a leader of the anti-war movement after returning from Vietnam, where he was decorated with a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.

"John Kerry served his country honorably," said Mark Kornblau, New York spokesman for Kerry's campaign. "This protest is being organized by an individual who has made a career of profiting from tragedy."

Questions about Kerry's anti-war activities arose after some Democrats made an issue of Bush's service in the domestic Air National Guard, questioning whether he showed up for duty in Alabama in the early 1970s.

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=4461044&section=news

[autoresponder]

[firebrand]

Fabuloso pictures! Good work! I think I see Ted Sampley in one or two of them.

[freedumb2003]

Way to FReep, baby!

[firebrand]

These are great! Wish we had the bagpiper soundtrack to go with them.

[firebrand]

ZING!

[NRA2BFree]

Thanks for the great report and the fantastic pictures! You guys ROCK!!

[blam]

Excellent report...and thanks to all the participants.

[firebrand]

Tri-State Chapter folks.

[Mich0127]

Mr. Kornblow, or whatever the hell his name is...BLAH BLAH BLAH..that is what he sounds like!

Funny thing is none Kerry's lackies had the guts to say a WORD to us!