Great proof about their exaggeration as to how many of their side were there!

I’ll be there when they show up in my town.

And I just took another look at the SDS page for the protest and noticed that the page is entitled:
Tacoma Mall Shut Down Protest w/ Pro-War Interviews

“Tacoma Mall Shut Down Protest”? How pathetic. They didn’t have enough people there to shut down a 7-11.

I wasn’t there for the dramas that Byron caught (shucks). Thanks Byron.

I got there at 12:30, yelled back at the protesters for a while until a biker gentleman, who looked like he knew a lot more about these things than I did, told us that that was a bad idea. Then I went home, got my camera, came back and started snapping pictures.

I tried to capture the comparative sizes of the crowds as much as I could to show how out maned the protesters were. It was just so awesome to see so many people supporting the troops who, for the most part, had found out about the protest from blogs and other non-traditional media. The protesters were organized and had (according to some patriots) brought folks in from Olympia, and yet we doubled their numbers and foiled their plans.

Due to the large patriot turnout, the protest completely backfired on the protesters. The recruiting station was never in any danger of being shut down. The recruiters weren’t discouraged, if anything they were encouraged by the large pro-military turn out, the people waving flags and the drivers honking their horns in support. And, due to the wall of patriots between the protesters and the road, motorists couldn’t even seen the protesters. In fact, for the most part, the only people who did see them were the patriots and the police. Anyone driving through the mall parking lot would have thought that the whole thing was a pro-military rally. And, after the protesters left three hours early, that is precisely what it was.

I don’t mind admitting that I was nervous about going. I’ve never been to something like this before and didn’t know what to expect. I thought that there would be a lot more protesters and that my presence wouldn’t make much of a difference.

But I’m so glad that I went. It was an experience that I’ll remember the rest of my life and if the opportunity presents itself again I intend to jump at it. I don’t know if my presence made any kind of “difference,” but I was one more person showing the recruiters that there are people who very much appreciate what they do. I was one more person showing the protesters that they are outnumbered. And now I have the opportunity to give a first-hand account of it.

The local press is reporting that there were 150 people (combined) at the protest. What they (shockingly) fail to mention is that there were 100 patriots and 50 protesters. And the SDS website is reporting:

Seeing as the ratio of protester to counter-protester in Tacoma was something like 2:3 we decided to ask them how they heard and why they came out. Tacoma has one of the largest JROTC and ROTC programs on the West Coast, with every high school participating. Many of the protest organizers were high school students, college students, veterans, teachers, and concerned community members, while the internets and radios organized the counter-protester protest.

Which is full of outright lies. The ratio was 1:2 not 2:3, there weren’t many high-school students on our side at all, I don’t know about the rest of the patriots (but most were middle-aged), and neither did the SDS “reporter.” And I know of no “internets and radios” organization of the counter-protest.

They are just playing down their low turnout and our high turnout. It was their side that was full of High-Schoolers (and younger), and that was organized (they had their own van, with DoD tags, strangely enough).

And now I can report those things, because I was there. And I have pictures to prove that what I’m saying is true.

I’m writing all of this to encourage everyone who reads this to GO. If you hear about something like this in your area GO. Please. You will be one more person encouraging the troops. You will , in turn, be encouraged by the presence of so many patriots, so many people who took time out of their busy schedule to stand up for our troops. You will also be encouraged by seeing, first hand, what a bunch of pathetic losers the other side is (it really was pretty sad). You won’t regret it, I promise.

And bring a camera. And report back.

Despite peace activists being so violent and issuing threats & vitriol against those whom they disagree with politically, the Gathering of Eagles rally took place without incident this past weekend on the National Mall in D.C. to show support for the…..