Breaking: Protestors storm Rove Speech

[newsguyatl]

drudge reporting now... god, i would have loved to have been there...



Protesters stop White House Karl Rove's speech at College Republican Convention in DC Friday Night /// Some 25 protesters hiding at Capitol Hilton burst into frenzy and tried to storm the stage where Rove was addressing the crowd, sources tell DRUDGE. Organizers were not prepared and Rove was forced to stop in the middle of the speech... Developing...

[caledesi]

1. I want more...this sounds good

[Clete]

2. Oh, Oh.

The revolution begins.

[leftyandproud]

3. oh oh...

watch mr spinmeister turn this on us...painting all democrats as extremists who hate free speech...blah blah blah

[Yentatelaventa]

4. Sounds cool but

What if a gaggle of repukes crashed a DNC party? Other than pious defense what would the difference be? Sometimes a snake is just a slithering reptile.

[rudeboy666]

8. Storm Troopers

That is what it sounds like to me.

Protesting loud is great(and required!)

But using thug tactics(going by the initial reports) is not a good thing.

[bahrbearian]

76. Is it something like busting up a recount?

[Beel2112]

12. I agree...

Shutting up the opposition is exactly the WRONG kind of tactic, and no matter how ya slice it, that's what this was. I must admit I enjoy having Rove shut down, but in the long run, this is wrong, and has a high probability of backfiring.

[Muddleoftheroad]

38. Yes

Sounds just like the politics we complain about -- fascist brownshirt tactics.

[diamond14]

13. reTHUGlicans did watergate break-in....

they also sent that bush* tape to Gore (as a trap)....

reTHUGlicans also crashed into the election-county offices in Florida with threatening gestures and threatening words...it closed down the recount...

time to STAND UP and take our government back...you're not going to get it back just sitting on a couch and complaining about activists...

lead, follow, or get out of the way....

Re-Defeat bush* in 2004....

[peacetalksforall]

44. What about repukes crashing a DNC party? Do you remember

DeLays' boys pounding on the door of a government office in Miami for the purpose of stopping the recount? They succeeded. Employees of the government in Washington down in Miami and they succeeded. They pretended that they were FL voters. They were all identified from the photo of them. Now if that is not crashing the party, what is?

There have been plenty of crashes - they are reported on here nearlly every day. They are crashing DU.

This crash got some attention, but it couldn't have been as deceptive and vile as the Miami door pounding and shouting. Never forget that day. It was real bug man.

[Buns_of_Fire]

72. Lest anyone forget...

[JanMichael]

45. If it weren't for the Invasion & sElection you might have a point.

Too bad.

[Skittles]

50. the difference is KARL ROVE IS A MEMBER OF BUSH INC

who is currently DESTROYING THE COUNTRY AND GETTING SOLDIERS KILLED EVERY DAY.

[newsguyatl]

5. it's time for more aggressive progressives

the angry liberals need to come out in hoards... :bounce:

[otohara]

6. More Discussion On This Thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=35093&mesg_id=35093&page=

[newsguyatl]

7. this thread started first though:-(

lol

[Melinda]

9. Hey news guy - can you get us video? We must see!!!

Can ya? Huh? Pleeeeeassssseeeee? ;)

[newsguyatl]

10. heh

wish i could melinda, not at work though :shrug:

[Melinda]

14. Well get thee hence! I-85 is smoking fast tonight!! LOL!!

[Rose Siding]

11. He's got a Constitutional right to speak

Just as we do. Disrupting an indoor activity is counter productive and could even be dangerous.

[ewagner]

15. Agree

This could backfire...badly!

[BurtWorm]

16. It's a symbolic act.

It shows the Bushists we aren't kidding. We'll fight them on their turf.

[newsguyatl]

19. AMEN BURT WORM!

n/t

[Ivory_Tower]

36. I can understand the symbolism, but

the problem is the potential of creating an image of intolerant thugs "shouting down" an oh-so-helpless poor little speaker. The right-wing is very good at hypocritically playing the "we're just victims" angle, so people have to be careful about things like this back-firing.

I'm reminded of one of the early chapters of Brock's "Blinded By The Right" -- he claims that a pivotal event that led him to the "dark side" was the shouting down of Jeanne Kirkpatrick at a college lecture she was giving. He felt that proved the liberal community was intolerant.

Granted this was an RNC event, not an open college forum, so the parallels aren't exact (and as far as I know nobody threw fake blood on the stage during Rove's speech). Plus, this is Rove, who I can't stand, so it's hard for me to feel sympathy for him. Nonetheless, I'm not going to encourage this sort of thing, either.

[BurtWorm]

43. It's one thing when you shout down an invited speaker at a public forum

like a university auditorium or commencement. In that case, you can easily make the argument that the speaker's right to be heard, and the audience's right to hear the speaker, were trampled on. But when Bush's brain is speaking to the robots telling them how he's going help them kick "Democrat" butt, that's war. In that case, you're shaking those bastards up, and if anyone deserves to get shaken up, it's those bastards.

Look: if they can disrupt a Hillary Clinton booksigning, we sure as hell can disrupt a Karl Rove programming session. No more playing nice. Time to give as good as we get.

[bushisanidiot]

80. Damned Right! It's Time We Got Loud And Proud!

If these protesters asked politely if they could protest HogMan they'd have been given a street corner a mile away and told to go at it.. I say we get in their face! Phuck 'em!

[newsguyatl]

17. i couldn't disagree with you all more

that's what's wrong with liberals and democrat -- too fucking nice... FUCK rove! any chance at bringing him any discomfort is music to my ears...

you guys are talking about "freedom of speech for mr. rove" FUCK THAT... look what he and cabal have done to our country...

we need MORE aggressive progressives!! (as is sadly evidenced by this thread)

[SEAburb]

20. No safe harbor for Bushies to spew their crap!!

This is great, it gives the Bushies something else to worry about. When their plate is already full.

[sangha]

21. So do the protestors

and the Constitution only prohibits the govt from censoring people. You might want to read it before getting offended by imagined intrusions of your rights.

[Rose Siding]

29. Imagine this

If a couple of dozen ditto heads had rushed the stage where Brazille was speaking in 2000, what would you have thought of that? Would it have served to motivate you even more? Might it have solidified support for the candidate?

Protest, shake rattle and roll. He gets to talk so you can.

[diamond14]

28. read about the 68 Dem Convention...people changed the country

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/1553/c68chron.html

seems like young people today just sit around chat boards and whine about the activists...

if you don't feel like helping change our current dismal situation, at least stop discouraging those who do want things to get better...

America was built on revolution....and bush* and his minions will not give up power if you all just sit and whine....and YOU will be killed as a draftee in the upcoming and current bush wars* if you won't take action, or at least support and encourage those brave Americans who do take action...

read about the activists in Chicago...they changed the whole country...got up on the bandshell and took down the American flag in protest as the cops attacked them, and raised a bloody shirt...fought for their lives...poets, singers, artists...everyone helped....

Martin Luther King didn't get Civil Rights in America by whining about things...he stood up and protested...that's how it changed...


at the Democratic Convention 1968, there was creative protest, including the Youth International Party (YIPPIES), nominating a PIG for their candidate...now if only young people today would get creative and get involved...protesting can be creative and make an impact...

http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/7484/ftr/pigasus.htm

[Rose Siding]

31. MLK wouldn't have condoned this

When did he advocate rushing a speaker with whom he disagreed?

[SEAburb]

41. Who knows, he's not here today

Are you qualified to speak for him?

[Rose Siding]

48. I don't mean to speak for him.

I alluded to the spirit of his methods. Nothing more. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

[diamond14]

65. MLK disagreed with a lot of speakers...and he blocked bridges

and highways and made the whole country pay attention...MLK disrupted the WHOLE COUNTRY....he was so loud for so long, and he wouldn't shut up, so they felt the need to kill him...

so look at MLK, and realize that's the way you change things...

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort but where he stands at times of challenge and discovery." MLK

and

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is tat you end up being governed by your inferiors." Plato

[General Discontent]

73. Is that Panty Line or Party line?

Not sure. Trying to be polite. :)

[diamond14]

84. Hi DWolfman...welcome to DU....

:toast:

:toast:


:toast:

:nuke:

[General Discontent]

74. Is that Panty Line or Party line?

Not sure. Trying to be polite. :)

[bpilgrim]

32. true and it is only natrual to reap what you sow... he sowed a whirlwind

and it is just gonna get WORSE :bounce:

peace

[JanMichael]

46. Bah! They stole the Power.

They own the Media.

Because of that they lose the ettiquette demands.

Fuck carl and the horse he stole to ride in on.

[Skittles]

52. THANIK YOU JM

WHAT'S WITH THESE PEOPLE WANTING TO PLAY NICE WITH KARL F***ING ROVE? HAS PLAYING BY THE RULES AND BEING DECENT GOTTEN US ANYWHERE EXCEPT THE HELL WE FIND OURSELVES IN?????

[Muddleoftheroad]

70. Thanks

Thanks for representing the "let's be just as bad" attitude.

Good strategy that. Nice way to show our superiority.

[BurtWorm]

77. What good does "superiority" get us?

A place in heaven? I'd rather have Dems in power in Washington.

[Muddleoftheroad]

81. If there is no difference

Why vote for us at all?

[BurtWorm]

82. If there is no spirit

why vote for us at all?

[QC]

18. Sounds an awful lot like the Rockford College commencement.

Except that we were all very angry about that example of a mob silencing a speaker.

Count me as one of the ones who does not approve of this sort of thing, even when my side does it. It denigrates free speech and makes martyrs of assholes like Rove.

[BurtWorm]

22. Free speech?!

He's got a bully puppet to do all the free speaking he wants! He's got a craven media that will bend over as far as he wants them to bend to get whatever message he wants out. He was speaking to an audience of converted robots who were going to agree with every word that fell out of his mouth.

This may seem like an extreme analogy: If Rove were Goebbals, would you defend his constitutional right to further the cause of Nazism at an SS rally? Would you tsk-tsk democrats who created a little guerrilla theater at Goebbals' expense?

[mitchum]

23. What he said (beautifully)

[newsguyatl]

26. burt worm, dude, you rock

right on!

[QC]

27. Yes, that's an extreme analogy.

So extreme as to be irrelevant to the discussion.

Besides, haven't you ever heard of Godwin's Law?

The point is not whether Rove has a public platform for spewing his bullshit. Of course he does. The point is that we cannot approve of this sort of thing and then complain when the reactionaries try to silence us, as they so often do.

That's a high price to pay for a chance to giggle about Karl Rove getting yelled at.

[BurtWorm]

34. What price is being paid?

People who criticize Bush are corralled into "First Amendment Zones;" fired from jobs as radio hosts, newspaper columnists, and even singers in bookstore cafes; harassed at airports; disciplined in the military...

We've already paid a price. It's time to get something for what we've paid.

(I shouldn't say "we" because I haven't been directly affected except as a protester corralled into barricades like cattle. But I support the people who broke through to Rove. They're anger is my anger.)

[QC]

39. Are you comfortable with letting the GOP be your moral compass?

That's the price I'm referring to.

If we do this sort of thing, then we are no better than they are, and we have nothing to say when they do it to us because we have agreed with them that whoever is loudest is right.

Nobody's talking here about protest. I love protest, and I love it loud. I was doing it back when Reagan was sleepwalking through the presidency.

But mob action is quite another thing.

[BurtWorm]

47. Enough taking hits and not hitting back

Enough being holier than they are. What does it get us? Bush II! One party rule!

[janx]

51. To be fair, we don't yet know much about the situation--

certainly not enough to call it mob action.

But in the second place, we're going to see a lot more forms of protest as the weeks and months go on. People are jobless, there's the trumped up war with soldiers dying each day, and the horrible economy...and the LIES.

So let's wait and see what happens.

[BurtWorm]

54. Agreed.

Let the Repubs spin it as mob action if they want. I call it direct action.

[BiggJawn]

75. Ohhhhh, We'll take the HIGH road, and Rove takes the LOW road....

And he'll be in DC before we,

and we'll be playin' nice,
but out of power evermore.
it's good Karl's got so many of us
Workin' for him!

Would I rather see this country restored to what the founders intended, and have to deal with the knowledge that I kicked a few scrotums along the way, or would I rather try to find solace in the knowledge that I "fought fair" against unfair odds while I sit in a tin shack in some re-education camp?

I'll tell ya, the fuckers better be wearing a cup!

[JanMichael]

49. Bingo! New rules.

They took it to these dangerous levels. It's up to us to bring them down by (m)any means necessary.

[Q]

24. I have to laugh at the mention of 'Constitutional rights'...

- Americans have few if any rights left. The Bushies don't respect OUR rights...so why in the hell would we respect theirs? We're supposed to have the same rights...yet WE are labeled as 'unpatriotic' for speaking out while the Bushies and Roves can say anything they want...even if it's a lie.

- Bullshit. The Bill of Rights has been cancelled and the Bushies are feeding us propaganda in the guise of public policy.

[QC]

30. Who said anything about "constitutional rights"?

Wasn't me. I suggest that you read more carefully before jumping on people.

My point, one that I never imagined I would have to explain to self-proclaimed liberals, is that you cannot approve of this sort of thing and then bitch when they do it. Either you believe that right is on the side of whoever is loudest, or you don't. I don't.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[kentuck]

25. Was this set up by Karl Rove ?

Sounds like one of his tricks to discredit Democrats - those that are against free speech?

[jpgray]

60. Yes

.

[Liberator_Rev]

78. That's what it looks like to me at this point.

Until there's PROOF, I would recommend that we not ASSUME that it was really opponents of Rove at all. These people are the descendents of Hitler, who justified his invasion of Poland as a response to an attack on a German radio station by German agents DRESSED AS POLISH SOLDIERS.

Let us never forget that we are dealing with diabolical sneaks and deceivers.
See http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/BushFamily for MORE.

[bushisanidiot]

83. Holy Crap. Good Call.

I didn't think of that.. Rove would have had better security, like everyone would have had to give the secret heil hitler handshake or something to get in. hmmmm..

[TacticalPeek]

35. maybe a pie in the face?

he's really conducting war on our Constitution and Union even. can't we at least have fun while the empire burns?

[demgrrrll]

37. There are so many things that they could be protesting it

is hard to figure out which insult might have been the main theme.
I am curious about what they said to Rove.

edited for clarity

[ewagner]

40. ?

Is Drudge the only one reporting it so far?

Nothing on CNN? MSNBC? AP?


beginning to wonder about the voracity of this story...we were left with "developing" almost an hour ago......

[Ein]

42. I think so.

I can see how people label this extreme.

But on the other side... I think they have the right idea. Bum the freaking criminal, who hates freedom.

[grasswire]

53. there's no mention on freerepublic

...and that's kind of strange.

[janx]

55. YES there is...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/952874/posts

[newsguyatl]

56. note

the violence in their language on the thread at the freerepublic... then they diss the folks who protested rove for their "hate" and "violence"...

amazing! just amazing

what a bunch of idiots...

[janx]

59. Yeah...like the woman who wanted to BULLDOZE

the protesters.

I wish I had the labeled pic of the bused in thugs in Florida. So many times I've needed to post it, and this is one of those times.

[newsguyatl]

61. don't

leave out the one about how they should be "taken out with fire extinguishers"

typical imagery from a group and a party defined by such inherent racism...

[janx]

62. Look! This freeper was THERE!

"To: So Cal Rocket

I was there and the protestors were only a minor disturbance, lasting only about 30 seconds before being chased away. The crowd of 1000 enthusiatic College Republicans responded by chanting "we love Karl" and "USA! USA! USA!"
The protesters were seated with College Repulicans and would have had to pay for the meal in order to be there. I wonder if they considered it worth their time and money to make complete asses of themselves.


35 posted on 07/25/2003 10:12 PM PDT by NorthDakotaRepublican
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies | Report Abuse "[br />_________________________

So it wasn't a mob by any means. It was a formal protest--and well done, from the sound of this.

[BurtWorm]

57. Get a load of this piece of shit

Ahhh, the loving, compassionate, tolerant left. So glad they are not hypocrites.

Liberalism must be crushed!

[janx]

63. Oh those wacky freepers...

They get all riled up. :smoke:

[janx]

64. Crushed...or bulldozed, I suppose...

.

[jpgray]

58. These were Rove's boys

Remember the story about the telephone he bugged himself? No Democrat activist with his/her head on straight would disrupt a speech to this point.

[Isome]

66. I wish I had...

The picture that identified the GOP operatives who bumrushed the Miami recount, but this picture will suffice.



Those of us in the know noticed right away they were too white-bread to be a true Miami crowd.

[aquart]

67. Do we KNOW the protestors were Democrats?

Or are we simply assuming?

Seems to me that Republicans have very good reasons to be annoyed with Rove right now.

Particularly warrior-age ones.

[gardenista]

68. Could this be another Rovian trick?

Think about it. They need to energize their base by making them feel they're being attacked by populist democrats, (Dean supporters?). The repukes take this kind of thing *very* personally, because they so prefer to feel they're insulated fromt the real world.

I say, look for more of this kind of thing. Wish we had video/photos of the disrupters to check on their authenticity. They could be low-level repuke staffers, just like that mob in Florida.

[QC]

71. Excellent point.

Conservatives love to see themselves as an embattled minority.

[Liberator_Rev]

79. absolutely ! See my post # 76 above

.

[janx]

85. Please see post #62

.

[LibertyorDeath]

69. Karl Rove & Free Speech. Oxymoron if there ever was one

As so aptly said by Burt Worm

"Would you tsk-tsk democrats who created a little guerrilla theater at Goebbels' expense?"