After Action Report: Patriot's Rally V on the Steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Dee Cee

Self | 3/23/03 | Sauropod

[sauropod]

G'day,

It was a beautiful spring day today at our Nation's Capital. The cherry blossoms are just coming out now.

I arrived about 12:45 at the Lincoln Memorial. The sound stage was already set up.

Promptly at 1:00, Kristinn opened up the rally. Taxman did the Pledge of Allegiance Red Skelton Style, and Angelwood's daughter sang the Star Spangled Banner.

Speeches were given by James Parmalee, Aziz Al-Taee, Rep. Steve King (R-IA), former Rep. Bob Dornan, former Rep. Bob Livingston, and several Iraqi nationals.

The crowd today was about 1000. There were at least 500 people at the rally at any given time.

There were several infiltrators from The Other Side. One woman insisted on being very loud and obnoxious.

She said "F--- Bush!" to a foreign camera crew (Japanese or Chinese, not sure which. She stated that Bush murdered Iraqi babies.

Several of the pro-Iraqi Liberation folks around her became incensed at her. I had to intervene and separate her from another woman.

I asked her what she was doing there. She stared at me. I asked her, don't I deserve the dignity of a response? She replied that she had every right to be there. George Bush was evil. I asked her to leave. She said, go call the police. I said, I will.

I went to look for U.S. Park Police. Several other folks got the attention of one policewoman who came to see what all the fuss was about. The "peace" woman said that she would be quiet.

The Park Police left, but I did not. I attempted a dialogue with the woman. I asked her why she was there again. She said, "You think I'm misguided, I think you're misguided, do you really think you will change my mind?"

I replied, no but I was willing to listen.

She went into her rant about Bush being evil again. I stopped her and asked her how come she was supporting a mass murderer (Saddam). I told her about Aziz Al-Taee's cousin who was cut into little pieces, delivered to his house in a bag, and the family was presented with a bill for the bullets. If the family complained, someone else would be shot.

She then said that I was a moron. I and everyone else attending the rally were morons.

At this point I said (in a very loud voice), that I and everybody else had just been identified as Morons. Must be that public school education. Congressman Billybob would be proud. Bigg Red witnessed this altercation so I will let her add to it.

The broad was asked to leave at this point by the Park Police.

I got to meet many old friends, including, but not limited to, Kristinn, CaL, Angelwood, BufordP, Leadpenny, RodgerD, ned13, GunsareOK, Tgsltakoma, daughter of Tgsltakoma, Taxman, nicollo, tabi katz, your ad here, (1st time meeting), and some others who i am certain i have forgotten.

[Xthe17th]

Speaking of the cheese-eating surrender monkeys, you Iowan's might want to consider changing the design of your state flag:

[Bigg Red]

Thanks for the great reprort and for the ping, my friend.

I was very glad that you and some others stepped in to talk to the "F- Bush" woman. I had to walk away because I was truly tempted to strike her or to let loose with some vulgar words, something I am usually too ladylike to do.

Before 'Pod's dialogue with her, I had told her, as she was screaming "F- Bush", that she should leave because this was our rally and that we had a permit. I told her that if she did not shut up I would notify the police. She said, "Bring it on, b-ch!" whereupon I asked GunsareOK to send over the police. By the time the gendarmes showed up, she was arguing in a normal voice with those around her, so the police did not get to witness her yelling. Sauropod tried to engage in some rational conversation, but she was just incapable of reason, apparently. Of course, the infuriating thing was that the TV cameras immediately moved over to her making her the important story -- one foul-mouthed chick among the hundreds of us. I guess we are just too well-behaved to make a good story for them. Next time, we strip for war, okay?

[Bigg Red]

I saw your signs. They were great. You were not too far from us in the crowd.

[sauropod]

I'm still working on that cellulite...

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

As we were gathering the gear, cleaning up and reviewing the events of the day, we decided the next rally will be in Baghdad to celebrate a Free Iraq.

Believe Aziz Al-Taee agreed to cover transportation costs.

The usual DC Chapter suspects (kristinn, Angelwood, Freethe Hostages, a friend from out of town, TGSLTakoma, daughterofTGSL) worked overtime to pull this off. This was the fourth weekend in a row that the DC Chapter has been in the streets either holding "Rallies for the Troops" or returning fire on Code Pinkos and ANSWER.

Next weekend God willing we celebrate the Liberation of Iraq!

[sauropod]

I so hope you are correct! For Aziz's Sake!

'Pod

[kaffee32]

Hello! This is my first post on the board, but my husband, our wee daughter and myself attended the rally today and I thought I would share our pictures. We were only there for about an hour and a half, because the wee one was getting restless, but we had a lot of fun and it was wonderful to see so many people out to support the troops and our President. Thanks to those folks who put this together. It was our third Free Republic event (We joined the protest at the VP's mansion back in 2000 and attended the FR Inaugural Ball as well) and we hope it won't be our last. You can see the rest at: More pictures here

[Bigg Red]

Thou flatterest me my wench....

Hey, what are you doin' flirting with the other women?

[sauropod]

What can i say? You're taken. BTW, your hubby cuts a most imposing figure....

We did not get enough time to yap...

[sauropod]

Awesome pics!

[CAbornAmerasianinDC]

Great Pics!!!

[nicollo]

Thanks to you and the great DC Chapter for a great, meaningful event! I'm so glad I was able to make it today, and the reward was itself. I did my best to herd people into the event. I think I snagged a few.

Our Iraqi (now American) friend did a stupendous job. I had to get back to work, so I'll look forward to seeing a tape of the entire jig. During his speech, I approached the WMAL reporter, Joan Donniger (sp?). I told her that his attempts to lead chants wouldn't work because the people there weren't used to protesting. I explained to her that these people hold day jobs, that they didn't major in protesting in college, and that they didn't know how to chant and rhyme. It only embarrassed them. She thought this was great and turned on her tape recorder and asked me to repeat it. I did. Only I blew it.

If you've ever been interviewed, you'll know what I mean -- when the interviewer hears what he/she wants to hear, the ears perk up, the microphone moves closer to you. I did great, and she was laughing with me as I described the normal Americans there who were driven to protest for the first time in their lives for most of them there. Then I lost it when I said that it was my second protest, the first being at the VP's house during the 2000 election. She said, "Oh, that was so awful, all those people chanting 'Get Out of Cheney's house.'"

Oops. Oh well, at least I know what WMAL thinks of the 2000 election...

BufordP, it was a joy to speak with you. Congrats on your retirement, and God love you for your service.

JVP, you're the best!

[WVNan]

Glad you decided to chime in K. Great pictures. That Katie is a Kutie. Give her a big hug from this old gramma.

[countrydummy]

Wonderful as always! Great rally news from all over the country! 100,000 at Bristol Speedway today!

[sauropod]

TY. You were missed!

[BufordP]

Hey, it was great meeting you too. Hope to see again at future freeps...when the need arises.

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Glad you were able to come out and get some fresh air. Always good to see you!

[kristinn]

It was a great day! Great crowd, great speakers and great weather.

[BillF]

Great to see you at the rally yesterday. Thanks to all who did the hard work to put the rally together!

Could somebody please ping this to the full DC Chapter. I don't think it has been yet. (At least it hasn't been pinged to me.)

This was my dog's first FReep & she started getting hungry & tired. I left about 2:45 when B1 Bob was speaking. Nothing against him, but I heard him at Patriots Rally IV and had to get the dog to her food.

What did Livingston say?

Here are video files of various local broadcast outlets from yesterday's Patriots Rally in DC.  I've deleted the beginnings and ends of some reports to hold the sizes down.  I have included all portions dealing with the FR activities.

Local channel 5 WTTG didn't seem to have anything about the rally.  I forgot to check and tape WTOP and WMAL radio for any reports.

If anyone has video tape of Fox, MSNBC, CNN, or other sources or audio tape of other radio reports that mention the FR activity and is willing to loan the tape to me, I can digitize the reports and post them to the web.

Angelwood gives a great interview in the channel 7 report.

================

These files are for non-commercial, educational, and political uses only and are reproduced under the fair use provisions of the copyright laws.

More information about the news outlets that originated these files are at their respective web sites, listed and linked below.

Various formats are used for the reports as noted.  File sizes are listed..  If you have a slow or dial up connection, you probably should use the smallest files, even though the quality is generally lower. 

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Patriots' Rally V of Free Republic DC Chapter March 23, 2003

WRC 4 TV Mar 23, 2003 527 K ASF format	same WRC 4 TV Mar 23, 2003 3.2 M Real Player RAM format	same WRC 4 TV Mar 23, 2003 17.6 M MPEG format
WTTG 7 TV Mar 23, 2003 614 K ASF format	same WTTG 7 TV Mar 23, 2003 3.8 M Real Player RAM format	same WTTG 7 TV Mar 23, 2003 20.7 M MPEG format
WJLA 9 TV Mar 23, 2003 164 K ASF format	same WJLA 9 TV Mar 23, 2003 1 M Real Player RAM format	same WJLA 9 TV Mar 23, 2003 5.5 M MPEG format

Washington, DC area stations (links to web pages of sources of above reports)

WRC  TV 4

WJLA TV 7

WUSA TV 9

[Taxman]

Taxman here.

I am responsible for leaving the words "Under God" out of the pledge of Allegiance.

I did it on purpose. For the shock factor.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional because it includes the words "Under God," and is therefore a prayer, violating the bogus "Separation of Church and State" prohibition.

I got heckled because I left the words out. I intended to shock my fellow conservatives at the Rally.

I then read the last paragraph, as follows:

"Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country and two words have been added to the Pledge of Allegiance... UNDER GOD. Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer and that it would be eliminated from schools too? God Bless America."

Following the cheers "USA! USA! USA! and FREE IRAQ! FREE IRAQ! FREE IRAQ!", I left the podium.

For the record, I strongly disagree with the Ninth Circuit, and hope and pray that their opinion will be overruled by the Supreme Court.