Suggestion for alternative to the Crawford rally.

Welcome to FreeRepublic.

Don't let the snide comments from some of the more rude members get you down. I think your idea is a worthy one, but it will only work if you can get quite a few Californians to help. The other problem is that she is not in residence at the moment. I would hate to disturb the more sane members of her family.

Texans can pull off a protest like this because they have a huge and active Free Republic chapter. I don't know how many conservatives you can raise around Vacaville.

Only the left protests at someone home.

JVB. Now, now, now...I remember reading about a few protests at the White House, at the old Naval Observatory when Gore would not get out ("Get out of Cheney's House"), and at Gary Condit's condo...

Don't mislead a newbie... ;^)

The White House and the VP residence are official residences, not someone's personal residence.

Protesting at an official residence is quite different than at a personal residence. For one thing an official residence is also a place of business and is paid for by the taxpayers. For another thing, it is often the site of official functions.

The only time when it should be acceptable to go to a personal (i.e., non-official) residence is when you're protesting something taking place at that time. Thus, if Senator Phil A. Buster is having a fundraiser at his personal residence, it's fair game to protest there during the fundraiser.

Among other reasons, the neighborhood will have the influx of contributors and you will not be interfering with their quiet enjoyment much, if any, more than the commotion from the contributors.

At times when Buster is not hosting a fundraiser, Sen. Buster and his neighbors should be allowed to enjoy the quiet of their neighborhood. To disturb a regular residential neighborhood on occasions when it would normally be quiet (i.e., no event at Buster's house) is classless and crosses a line that should not be crossed.

StandinginaDitch registered and posted an incredibly bad idea on the very first day. Other than two short replies days ago, he is gone.

I'll repeat what I said to him at #55. Keep in mind that Cindy Sheehan and her people are camping at a ditch by the side of the road.

--- QUOTED PART OF #55 ----

Is Cindy Sheehan in that same ditch that you're in? The ditch is the same ditch that Sheehan is camping next to, right?

Your choice of screen name and posting a very bad idea on the first day after registration makes it clear (now that I've caught some sleep) that you are indeed an agent provocateur.

I think you (and some others on this thread) were way too hard on Standing in a Ditch. You may think that his idea was incredibly bad, although I've seen far worse ideas lauded on this board. I sincerely doubt that he could have raised a crowd for a protest at Cindy's personal residence, so the question is moot. For one thing, she isn't even there -- so a protest would be pointless.

But BillF and others jumped all over this new poster and accused him of ulterior motives when there really isn't any evidence of that. His comments seemed sincere to me, although impractical. To jump down someone's throat because they made a suggestion you don't like on their first day is rather unfriendly. Most people lurk for quite a while and only register when they have something to say.

My comment directed at JVB was tongue in cheek, as I have stood next to him at some of those rallies mentioned and was merely reminding him of that fact. Cindy has made herself a public figure through her publicity tours, so she is fair game for protest, just as any elected official is.

Actually, at this point the news media (and the Crawford neighbors) are no longer differentiating between Cindy's crowd and the anti-Cindy crowd. They'd just like to see everyone go home.

I think you (and some others on this thread) were way too hard on Standing in a Ditch.

My first post (#37) on this was skeptical, but not that hard on Ditch. That post to Ditch partially quoted below was critical, but friendly.

I hope that you were just not thinking things through when you posted (I've made that mistake). If upon reflection, you really still think that this is a good idea, maybe your name is Ned (click here). :)

Then, I noticed his screen name corresponds to the location that Sheehan is at. He is "StandingInADitch," whereas the articles about Sheehan all refer to her and party camping out at a ditch, leading to my post #55.

Do you believe that Ditch's screen name is only coincidentally related to Sheehan's location? Or is the screen name an indication that most likely he is in the ditch with Sheehan either really or metaphorically?

Relative to JVB, I explained at #63 the difference between an official residence and a personal, non-official residence. Sheehan may now be a public figure, but so is Senator Buster in my #63. It still doesn't justify disturbing an otherwise peaceful residential (non-official) neighborhood.

I'm usually pretty friendly even to newcomers, but this time I believe that there is strong reason to believe that the person is an agent provocateur, a troll trying to embarrass FR. Please explain why, if you still think that I'm wrong about that.

Further on the ditch idea, below are some quotes from the leftist DUmmie William Rivers Pitt on the same day as StandingInADitch's registration and post. The quotes are from http://www.truthout.org/cindy.shtml (copy and paste into the URL box in your browser, I didn't want to give them the link):

Remember, there is very little available space for people and cars. We were all in ditches.
[snip]
It was an honor to stand in that ditch, to watch these Americans demand accountability from the public servant over the hillside. [emphasis added]

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