The San Francisco Chronicle reported today:

The most effective — and disruptive — protest may have come from the anti-war group Code Pink, which obtained 16 tickets to the inauguration from their members of Congress. Eight female activists, including Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin of San Francisco, obtained seats in the VIP section.

They took their cue during Bush’s speech — when he spoke about the rights of people living under dictatorships to “free dissent” — and unfurled banners reading “No War” and “Bush Mandate: Bring the Troops Home.” Police confiscated the banners but did not remove the women.

A few moments later, the women stood up again, but this time they shouted, “Champagne is flying while soldiers are dying” and “Out of Iraq now.” The pro- Bush crowd began chanting, and Bush momentarily paused. Police pulled the women off their chairs and escorted them out of area.

Two of the women were still being held late Thursday — Benjamin and Diane Wilson of Texas — but the others were released after the speech was over.

Wonder which members of Congress supplied the tickets? Jim Angle of FOX News reports that it was congressional Democrats from New York and California.
Shame on them. If they wanted to disrupt the president’s speech, the Democrats should have had the guts to do the dirty work themselves instead of hiding behind Code Pink’s skirts.

Cowards.

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Code Pink on “the other side”

A closer look at Code Pink