after action report: DICK CHENEY/Bill Jones in Riverside: "Support Our Troops" rally (7/27)

DICK CHENEY/Bill Jones in Riverside: "Support Our Troops" rally on TUESDAY (7/27) - 5pm ^ | July 27, 2004 | RonDog [and FRiends]

[DoughtyOne]

Yes, you are right. This nation needs a good nationals middle of the road to conservative newspaper.

[curiousb29]

Hey there RonDog. I just wanted to send my thanks for your support out there this afternoon in Riverside. i was one of the many Bush/Cheney supporters. I wanted to comment on the rally, it being my first of many. I was repulsed by the bad guys, but why wouldn't I be right? The bad guy's hypocrisy was comical and just further provided ammunition to prove our points. In the end, the rally took a turn for the worst, chaos ensued. I wish you could have been there earlier like you wanted.... things would have been different, if not better. I did not appreciate the other's sides aggressiveness and out right savageness that was directed toward myself and my friends. i especially do not appreciate the woman who grabbed me, she's lucky that was all she had a chance to do. Thank you Elizabeth for pulling me out of that situation.
There was a sign from the other side that asked, "where did all the money go?" Obviously not toward deodorant!!

[California Patriot]

People who were there, and for that matter anyone who lives in the area, should call up the TV stations and SCREAM at them for their blatant bias in reporting this story.

[California Patriot]

No. It was today and it didn't happen, apparently
for some kind of security reason. Took me a while
to drive out there, and I was disappointed. But
that's how things are in campaigns.

I hope Dick will be out in this area again. Especially
after today's event in Riverside, where we were
reportedly outnumbered by the enemy, we owe him
and/or Bush a BIG turnout at an event. BIG and
AGGRESSIVE, or more aggressive than ever.

[RonDog]

Welcome to Free Republic, curiousb29!

Thank you for your FReep report!

Perhaps some OTHER folks will also register to post here (for FREE!):

www.freerepublic.com/perl/register

...and give us THEIR impressions of this event.

[RonDog]

From curiousb29's profile page:

Member since Jul 28, 2004

Hello, I am a college student in California and I am a conservative Catholic Republic!!!!

GO Bush/Cheney '04!!!

[RonDog]

See also THIS thread:

What is Free Republic? How does it work? What's in it for ME?
[Practical advice for beginners.]

[Angelwood]

Those Kerry signs are irritating -- he's not going to be president of anything -- he hasn't quit his day job yet so he isn't even confident of his chances.

Thanks for posting this report and photos and for being there to support Bush/Cheney and Jones. I'll check back later to see more pictures from the event.

[RonDog]

Thanks for the kind words, Angelwood!

My goal is to someday write a FReep report like THIS one:

Ann Coulter: Put the Speakers in a Cage (Spiked USA TODAY Article)
FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | 7/27/04 | Ann Coulter
Posted on 07/27/2004 3:45:05 AM PDT by kattracks

The following Ann Coulter column was supposed to be printed in yesterday's USA Today, which agreed to have Coulter cover the Democratic convention and Michael Moore cover the Republican convention in New York.  Coulter's first column was killed because it was "unusable" and "not funny."  We present it here so you can decide for yourself -- The Editors.

Here at the Spawn of Satan convention in Boston, conservatives are deploying a series of covert signals to identify one another, much like gay men do. My allies are the ones wearing crosses or American flags. The people sporting shirts emblazoned with the "F-word" are my opponents. Also, as always, the pretty girls and cops are on my side, most of them barely able to conceal their eye-rolling.

Democrats are constantly suing and slandering police as violent, fascist racists – with the exception of Boston's police, who'll be lauded as national heroes right up until the Democrats pack up and leave town on Friday, whereupon they'll revert to their natural state of being fascist, racist pigs.

A speaker at the Democratic National Convention this year, Al Sharpton, accused white police officers of raping and defacing Tawana Brawley in 1987, lunatic charges that eventually led to a defamation lawsuit against Sharpton, and even more eventually to Sharpton paying a jury award to the defamed plaintiff Steve Pagones. So it's a real mystery why cops wouldn't like Democrats.

As for the pretty girls, I can only guess that it's because liberal boys never try to make a move on you without the UN Security Council's approval. Plus, it's no fun riding around in those dinky little hybrid cars. My pretty-girl allies stick out like a sore thumb amongst the corn-fed, no make-up, natural fiber, no-bra needing, sandal-wearing, hirsute, somewhat fragrant hippie-chick pie wagons they call "women" at the Democratic National Convention...

CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread

[GVnana]

"John Kerry President" (as if he already were so)

In his mind, you know he is.

[GVnana]

Hooray So. Cal Freepers!

[PeoplesRep_of_LA]

Bill Jones, who is he? /sarcasm. Get an issue Bill!

[RonDog]

We should EVENTUALLY get some more precise numbers from the folks who got there EARLY, but it appears that the FReep timeline went something like THIS:

4:00 pm - 40-50 "good guys" - 5-10 "bad guys"

(Vice President Cheney arrives, the media go indside.)

5:00 pm - 50-60 "good guys" - 75-100 "bad guys"

(RonDog finally arrives.)

5:30 pm - 75 "good guys" - 200 "bad guys" - who begin to overrun our position

(We "declare victory" and fall back to a nearby McDonald's.)

It appears that the reporter from the local paper got there even later that **I** did, and missed seeing the BULK of our forces.

Here is a SHORT EXCERPT from Press-Enterprise story:

Protests outside

Kurt Miller / The Press-Enterprise

A Bush supporter argues with John Kerry supporters in front of the Mission Inn in downtown Riverside Tuesday.

The room's stained-glass windows were largely obscured by drapes and a Jones campaign billboard, preventing the $1,000-a-ticket, wine-sipping donors from seeing the protesters gathered outside. The muffled sounds of the activists, however, made their way into the room.

More than 300 people - most of them protesting actions of the Bush administration - gathered at about 5 p.m. at Orange Street and Mission Inn Avenue. Cheney was meeting in a private reception with donors who had each raised $5,000 as the rallies outside got under way.

The crowd outside included small children with parents, tattooed teens, businessmen and seniors.

Amid the slogan chanting, shouting and sign waving, a handful of heated arguments erupted between opponents and supporters of the vice president. Police, some wearing riot helmets and armed with batons, said a man and a teenage boy were arrested after one such quarrel turned into a brief brawl. Police cited both for disturbing the peace and released them, officers said.

"Bush and Cheney have lied to the American people," said Robert Merrill, 42, of Riverside as he held aloft a sign denouncing Cheney. "I don't like being lied to, and people are dying."

Nearby, 59-year-old Jack Suttles said he felt compelled to show his support for Bush, explaining: "I believe in everything he is doing. Anything against him is a slap in the face of our forefathers."

Kurt Miller / The Press-Enterprise

"I have tremendous confidence in Bill," Vice President Dick Cheney tells supporters of U.S. Senate hopeful Bill Jones, right, in Riverside.

Protesters, some carrying "Kerry for President" signs, yelled "Bush lied, thousands died" as Bush supporters tried to drown out the noise by shouting "Four more years."

Lively rally

As the crowd swelled and spilled into the street, people moved into the Riverside Main Library's parking lot, where demonstrators of all ages danced, played drums, shouted into bullhorns and staged a rally against Bush and Cheney. Periodically, one of a handful of Bush supporters waded into the gatherings and argued and exchanged insults with protesters. By 7 p.m., the crowd had thinned considerably...

[RonDog]

It seems that the reporter for the L.A. Times was at our rally somwhat EARLIER...

Here is a SHORT EXCERPT from their (still wrong) article at www.latimes.com:

Outside the hotel, a small group of Republican supporters was overwhelmed by a group of about 50 protesters bearing bullhorns and posters.

Although the protests were mostly peaceful, there were at least two arrests. A man who identified himself as Steve and a teenager marching with a protest group began throwing punches and kicks at each other and were taken away by police.

Despite the sometimes confrontational atmosphere, most people seemed to enjoy the opportunity to be there.

-- snip --

Cheney supporter Rose Bond, 57, of Thousand Oaks said some of the protesters poured water on her head. She said she had come to support her son, who is on his second tour of duty in Iraq. "As long as there are boys over there in the war," Bond, 57, said, "we're supporting [the president]."

[The Right Stuff]

Good job, Ron Dog - any idea why the leftists showed up in strength so late?

[vivabushchick]

Good job! I would have loved to be there...that time will come when my granddaughter is in preschool.

[WestCoastGal]

Anything on the scanner about a problem in Ontario today?

[heleny]

they had to put one of the lone Kerry supporters in the FORE-ground, and the Bush-Cheney folks in the BACK-ground.

It's clear where the AP photographer stands on this topic!
(with the Kerry supporters, literally and politically)

Perhaps he (as a person) was needed to swell the Kerry-supporting ranks?

[BurbankKarl]

today, or yesterday?

I didnt hear anything major.

[WestCoastGal]

Today

re: Cheney visit......see post #13