Posted on 10/29/2008 8:22:33 PM PDT by BIOCHEMKY
Look in later today for our On the Road piece from Wilmington, North Carolina. We're a bit ahead of our coverage, which occasionally happens out here with the long distances, input, output and timing demands. Tonight we'll be at the Obama-Clinton rally in Kissimmee, Florida, and we're breaking in from Miami, where John McCain just concluded his "Joe the Plumber" rally at Everglades Lumber.
After the rally, we witnessed a near-street riot involving the exiting McCain crowd and two Cuban-American Obama supporters. Tony Garcia, 63, and Raul Sorando, 31, were suddenly surrounded by an angry mob. There is a moment in a crowd when something goes from mere yelling to a feeling of danger, and that's what we witnessed. As photographers and police raced to the scene, the crowd elevated from stable to fast-moving scrum, and the two men were surrounded on all sides as we raced to the circle.
The event maybe lasted a minute, two at the most, before police competently managed to hustle the two away from the scene and out of the danger zone. Only FiveThirtyEight tracked the two men down for comment, a quarter mile down the street.
"People were screaming 'Terrorist!' 'Communist!' 'Socialist!'" Sorando said when we caught up with him. "I had a guy tell me he was gonna kill me."
Asked what had precipitated the event, "We were just chanting 'Obama!' and holding our signs. That was it. And the crowd suddenly got crazy."
Garcia told us that the man who originally had warned the two it was his property when they had first tried to attend the rally with Obama T-shirts was one of the agitators. Coming up just before the scene started getting out of hand, the man whispered in Garcia's ear, "I'm gonna beat you up the next time I see you." Garcia described him for us: "a big stocky man wearing a tweed jacket." He used hand motions to emphasize this was a large guy. We went back to look for the gentleman twenty minutes after the incident but didn't find him.
The two Obama supporters had attempted to attend the event with tickets printed from the McCain website. Both were clad in Obama T-shirts, Sorando in a blue "Obama '08" shirt, and Garcia in a white "Obama-Biden" shirt. They were told that the event was being held on private property and that wearing the shirts or carrying the signs they would be asked to either remove the shirts or not attend.
For an hour during the rally, the two had stood across the street from the lumberyard on public property holding yard signs. Some drivers honked in support, and others honked in disapproval. When the rally ended and the crowd spilled out, the disturbance began.
Garcia had a message for his stocky, tweed-clad threatener. "You tell that guy he can find Tony Garcia down at the West Dade library every day from 7 to 7 helping people early vote. I'll be there from 1 to 5 on Saturday and Sunday. You tell him if he wants to kick my ass that's where he can find me. Come beat me up."
Not thirty seconds later, John McCain drove by in his SUV and waved at Garcia on the sidewalk, who was happily waving his Obama sign.
The change seemed to be missing. :^}
If McCain supporters were treated that way we would find it unacceptable.
BTW your screen name is one hell of a car.
GMA in Orlando Thursday morning at Cheyenne Saloon . Spread the word as the Obamabots will be there in full force . Show up and support McCain ...
So we will get ugly with them wherever we find them!
Payback at thier rallies. Bring the avortion with pictures signs!!!!
Abortion sorry miss print
I direct you to #19. I thought something smelled about this report.
Thank you MFH! :)
“FIVETHIRTYEIGHT are a regular organization hosted by Keith Olbermann on a nightly basis...including this evening and they are a full on leftist group. Why bother reporting this garbage here?”
#1) I wanted to alert people that Obama supporters will be outside McCain-Palin rallies and trying to crash McCain-Palin rallies in the days ahead, “baiting” McCain supporters to “act out” and if we know that in advance perhaps we’ll behave better.
#2) I also wanted to show how even though the Obama supporters were the ones on someone else’s turf, the story was written sympathetic to their viewpoint not that of the McCain-Palin supporters.
Face it: Our republic was founded by violence against ruthless tyranny, and it can only be defended and preserved by violence against the ruthlessness of the communists.
My main concern is not that we stoop to their level, but that we might be too late in finally realizing that WE MUST.
Neither mild-mannered milquetoasts and politeness-mongers, nor even fiery orators and sabre-rattlers, will do what is necessary. We send our red-blooded boys to shed their blood overseas, while the enemy creeps amongst us by day. Blacks riot and rampage and murder and rape almost without restraint, while border agents are jailed for attempting to do their jobs amidst an all-out drug war.
Brainwashed PC denizens cry out for civility as the jackboots of socialism are being cobbled in our current season.
This is what the commies call a pseudo-event.
I have seen some here on FR also trying to mobilize people here to crash Obama or Biden rallies.
It is pointless. Stupid.
And both sides should just put a stop to it.
If people from either side get knuckle sandwiches for doing these kinds of things, you wont find ME calling the Whaaaaambulance...
I have seen some here on FR also trying to mobilize people here to crash Obama or Biden rallies.
It is pointless. Stupid.
And both sides should just put a stop to it.
If people from either side get knuckle sandwiches for doing these kinds of things, you wont find ME calling the Whaaaaambulance...
true...I woulda just shot both of them between the eyes with a .45....but Im pretty callous and don’t put up with idiots anymore...I’m a bit jumpy...so please excuse my behavior :)
This guys description in the comments of the differences between the Republicans and Democrats is hilarious:
Jeff NYC Dem said...
Inkstain, the differences between the parties is vast. Its the difference between the basic ideology of success.
** Republicans for the most part seek to succeed by tearing down their opponents. Democrats seek to succeed by building hope in its constituents.
** Republicans want to focus on telling people what they can’t (or shouldn’t be able to) do. Democrats want to focus on telling people what they can and should be able to do
** Republicans aim to deny people the opportunity to vote by enacting stricter identification laws under the spectre of “voter fraud”. Democrats want to make sure EVERYONE has the right to vote, regardless of their ideology or political affiliation
** Republicans preach strict interpretation of the constituion, yet conveniently ignore that the constitution does not leave room for religious ideology in the interpretation of laws. Democrats seek to interpret the constitution in a way that does not deny fundamental liberties to anyone based on arbitrary criteria
** Republicans use fear, hatred, misunderstanding and mistrust to divide people. Democrats preach diversity, tolerance, understanding and hope in an effort to bring people together.
Our people forget sometimes our true history and what it took to win our freedom. And it seems every generation has to learn again the hard lessons of history. That Might may not make Right, but it is a necessary condition for the Right to be preserved against evil. A little tar and feathers during the Revolution went a long way in molding public opinion to support the Just Cause of Liberty!
I see nothing in this article that suggests that the reporter/blogger made any attempt to speak with a pro-McCain individual involved in this incident. We're only getting one side of the story.
Someone great once said something along the lines of, “The Tree of Liberty must, from time to time, be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
“Some drivers honked in support, and others honked in disapproval.”
How can one tell?
Garcia and Sorando need to go to Cuba and stay there. I’m sure Hugo would be glad to have them, too.
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