I flipped the bird at G.W. Bush…and he pointed at me

mongo

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Mon Aug-30-04 02:26 PM
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I flipped the bird at G.W. Bush…and he pointed at me

Here is my account of the protest at the Bush rally in Wheeling WV, Sun 8/29:

We met up with the Steel workers, mine workers, and electrical workers at a union hall about 1 mile south of the rally at 12:30. There were over 50 of us. Signs in hand, we marched to the Rally, where there were already other protesters gathered right across the street from the entrance to the Wesbanco Arena.

Most of the crowd was already inside when we got there, but we traded words and chants with the Bush supporters as they waited to get inside. By this time our crowd numbered around 100 people. One of the union guys (I am so terrible with names), was a great chant leader and kept our energy high.

When things outside the arena quieted down, we walked out to Main Street to await the Commander in Thief’s motorcade. He went right by us. I have to admit, I kind of missed the moment, as I had called Daisygirl who had to stay home, just to give her a taste of the ambiance of the protest. But other people saw him in his limo as he went by.

After W passed by, we walked to the other side of the Arena, where he was sure to see us when he left. The street was opened back up, and we got a lot of thumbs up from the cars passing by, and a few thumbs down. Someone was talking on their phone to a person watching on the local news, where it was reported that there were NO protesters at the rally.

Traffic was again stopped, and we knew it would soon be time for the (P)resident to leave. People were starting to leave the rally and we were trading words with many of them as they walked by. The motorcade then left the parking lot, and we were set up right at the exit to the lot, where they had to turn slowly onto the street. Sign in one hand, as soon as I saw the limos, I started to give them the finger. I saw Bush in the back of his limo, and he looked straight at me and pointed. He was less than 15 feet away from me.

Throngs of people leaving the rally were now heading down the street, right by us. Words were exchanged back and forth as they passed. One person threw a plum at us, who was then grabbed by the cops and escorted out of the area. Another woman was getting in our faces shouting, “Are you SAVED? You can’t be SAVED”, but a cop came up and put his arm around her and convinced her to go on her way. One of the TV stations set up their cameras and a union leader got to talk for about 5 minutes about what Bush had done to our country.

After things quieted down, about 30 of us marched up to the TV station that had said there were no protesters. No one from the station would come out, but someone called them and we were told that they would not come out, but they had film of us from earlier, and we would be on the six o’clock news. We walked the mile back to our car, my feet very sore, and my face sunburned. But I have to say it was worth it.

Today, I checked the Wheeling paper for an account. NO mention of protesters. The only thing I could find was an article in the Pittsburgh paper which ended with this sentence: West Virginia State Police trooper J.M Andreas said more than 100 Kerry supporters had rallied outside the arena during the event.

One more note: There was a photographer (sorry, no description) in a tan fishing vest with mesh pockets. He took hundreds of pictures of us, from all angles. I don’t think he was with the local paper. He spent way too much time and film on us. Be on the lookout for this guy at other protests. I may be tin-foil hatting here, but I think he must have been some sort of government agent.