The kooks were out in full force today. Since I didn't see any Protest Warriors in the crowd today, I instead took a friend and blended into the lib fest to take a whole range of snapshots. I arrived there just before Bush's motorcade came in, and actually was standing on the corner across the street from the events when the police shut down Balbo, the street coming towards the Hilton from Lake Shore Drive. Seeing the Presidential motorcade from that close was awesome! (My note: I saw his motorcade in 2001 when he drove past my office in Park Ridge--it is awesome.) When the President left, my friend said he saw the Pres in his limo and screamed out his name, to his fellow libs dismay, nonetheless.
Code Pink, DSAW, the anti-Bush gay organizations, and International Socialists (and all factions) were present with signs and the usual goodies. I attached a photo of a group of Bush supporters (or in their case, "W" lovers) that were chased away by a pack of roughly 30-40 lefties on first sight of the woman's sign. It was quite a spectacle to see them swarm the pack as if their territory had been endangered.
(My note...I thought these were peaceful protesters of the President?.)
Most of the 2 hours was spent on the sidewalk across the street from the Hilton on Michigan, letting the lefties do their "anti-W fashion show" of sorts. Non-corporate clothing was very popular, so baggy, worn, and even very dirty clothes were being worn by many. The drummers that played the "Bomb the White House" song from back on November 2 were back and better than ever, with cheaper buckets and sticks to beat on and beat with. I saw a dabble of Arabs who showed to promote the anti-Israel cause, as well as a few "Emos" (from what my friend confirmed them to be styling) rapping Anti-W rhetoric on loudspeaker.
There were about 5 Iraqi flags being flown during the few hours, including one waver riding a bike up and down Michigan, weaving in and out of traffic. I don't know what the purpose of this was as they were clearly part of the W-haters. Another pack was waving what looked like flags that signified the hurricane universal colors. A few police we spoke with even pondered this, and laughed to each other about the foolishness of the flags.
(My note...Any flags honoring the White Sox winning the World Series?)
At one point, a few protestors walked along the crowd (which was thinking that Bush was leaving with his motorcade, so we all lined up along hit route out) and we were informed that the President was speaking in a small room that was facing Michigan Ave. So the whole pack of wolves lined back up on Mich and started to chant and play the rap even louder, thinking the speech would be interrupted. It had no effect, but instead only showed their stale ferocity towards the man in a laughable way.
(My note: If someone of authority said the President was in a room facing Michigan Avenue, then he was probably in a room facing Wabash Ave.)
World Can't Wait was busy promoting their Jan 31 protest against the State of the Union. They are planning on congregating at Federal Plaza at 5pm to begin operations, for redux #3 in their efforts to take Bush down. The first two attempts were simply... failures!
(My note...At least World Can't Wait (Drive out the Bush Regime) showed up at an event that actually had something to do Bush. As noted here on this blog, WCW protested Bush at the Chicago Marathon, the Ward Churchill protest at DePaul, and at Evanston's New Year's Eve celebration.)
Here are the photos!
Technorati tags: Bush Chicago World Can/'t Wait Illinois
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