Look! Activists finally showed up…oh, it’s freebie concert-goers again
Well, the moonbats are all atwitter about the turnout of “thousands” for a purported anti-war march into downtown Denver tonight.
What it really was was 50 anti-war diehards glomming onto the after-concert crowd that attended the free Rage Against the Machine performance. 50 anti-war diehards plus lots of people taking a sight-seeing walk on a beautiful Colorado night.
Look beneath the surface:
A column of people three blocks long, led by members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War, streamed from the Denver Coliseum on Wednesday in an anti-war protest march to the Pepsi Center, where the Democratic National Convention is being staged.
As many as 50 soldiers wearing army fatigues led the noisy but peaceful protest into downtown and toward the Pepsi Center as police and bystanders watched.
“We are the veterans! The Iraq War veterans! The anti-war veterans!” they chanted. “We are soldiers! Anti-war soldiers!”
Crowd estimates, generally around 2,000, were fluid as the group lost and picked up people along the way.
A sit-in was planned at the convention site.
Iraq Veterans Against the War wants Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to agree to an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. They also want full health care benefits for returning troops and veterans, and reparations to the Iraqi people for damage caused by the war.
The group sent a letter to Obama on Monday.
The protest march began after a reunited Rage Against the Machine ended a concert that drew an estimated 9,000 people to the coliseum.
Hmmm. Where have we seen piggy-backing off of free concerts to boost political crowd numbers before?
Oh, yeah! There:
From CNN to the New York Times, the media hyped Barack Obama’s Portland, Oregon rally on Sunday, some comparing him to a rock star.
Unmentioned in national reporting was the fact that Obama was preceded by a rare, 45-minute free concert by actual rock stars The Decemberists. The Portland-based band has drawn rave reviews from Rolling Stone magazine, which gave their 2005 album Picaresque four and a half stars (out of five), and another four and a half stars for 2007’s The Crane Wife.
How many of the people showed up to hear Obama, and how many to hear the band?
Here’s how the local paper The Oregonian, which estimated the crowd at 72,000, reported the rally:
“Obama was the biggest star at Sunday’s gathering — though a popular Portland band, The Decemberists, provided the warmup act. With blue skies and temperatures in the 80s, many in the crowd said Waterfront Park was simply the place to be.”
CNN headlined its 10 p.m. segment on May 18 with “Barack Obama: Achieving Rock Star Status in Oregon.”
The New York Times, which ran a color photo of the crowd, estimated the throng at 75,000, noting that it was “the largest crowd of his campaign so far.” There was no mention of The Decemberists, and the Times described the weather as “an unseasonably hot day.”
Gateway Pundit and PPC have on-the-ground reports.
See what others have said
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50 people dressed in camo tonight led a march in a metro area of 2.5 million people! The staggering numbers of protestors, many of whom were also at home asleep is “testament” to the drawing power of Obama.
Wow…50 members of Iraq Veterans Against the War. 50. A whole 50. Out of how many that have served in that conflict since 2003? Yup…they are a mighty force…they most certainly are the majority and thus the Dems need to stand up and take notice. The Dems and The Golden Calf need to do what they say or else they stand to lose 50 votes come November and angering….dozens.
Now, my question, and my friends who are vets here will have to forgive me for my cynicism…how many of these 50 are actual veterans, let alone veterans who served in Iraq? Out of those, how many of them were front-line troops who actually saw action and not just in the rear or over here?
Again, I have nothing but the utmost respect for all people who are serving or who have served in the military, no matter what branch. I have often felt bad about not being able to have enlisted due to health reasons, which lead to my joining the fire department. However, there have been too many phonies out there, besmirching the name of those who have served by pretending to have served, or who sat in an office thousands of miles from where the action was, and coming out speaking poorly of those on the front lines, of the President, of the entire thing.
I can’t help but think there was a certain number in those 50 who rate that.
And even if there aren’t, the vast, VAST majority of those who have served and who are serving now that do not appreciate what they are doing, what they are saying, and the message they send to the country and to our enemies, and I support them 100%.
They may have served, but that does not make them right. And to glom onto people like this, only shows just how dishonest they are, how despicable they are, and how they are not able to be trusted.
Those Rage Against the Machine people are absolutely correct. I yell at my computer all the time. And you don’t want to be within earshot if my car has trouble starting.
Marvelously the Denver PD corraled them through the city and into a maze of cyclone enclosures. Bicycle riding riot teams flanked them and protected parked cars. Behind came an armored car and sheriff buses. Ahead SWAT teams riding sideboards lead them. Most were undoubtably tourists. They simply melted away. Enthusiasm wasn’t in them. True, riot squads were positioned on every block. The horse troops were impressive. They’ve face guards and ankle protectors and hail from the far counties of Colorado and Wyoming.
ReCreate 68 has been abysmal in performance. All their publishings have been wrong in regard of place, time and participants.
Well…that’s Anarchy for you.
Whoo…free concert, oh wait, now a protest. Nevermind.
I agree with much of what you said. The ArmyTimes has done a good job of exposing phonies in the past few months. If people want to really support the troops, they may be interested in what I wrote here. (Hint: It’s not just by saying “We Support the Troops” or putting a yellow ribbon magnet on your car.)
RetFireman,
In Bremerton, WA this group was not allowed to parade in the Armed Forces Day parade (quite rightly for not obeying previous rules of the parade). The group attempted to garner public sympathy by lawsuit and local media attention.
The “official” representative for the Iraq veterans against the war conceded on air that membership has an extremely low percentage of actual veterans, but consisted mainly of “friends” and “friends of friends” of people in the military. Hat tip to John Carlson at KVI radio in Seattle.
This group exhibited not only a blatant disregard for truth in advertising, but a total lack of contact with reality. Speaking for myself, a veteran of both Persian major expeditions as well as the three minor ones,I believe this group is way off the mark.
Free concert, free publicity, but more probably the free ganga of earlier this week…
Pit Snipes Forever
This would’ve been a perfect opportunity to employ the heat-projecting cannon.
Well the band plays on and everbody gets a free ride. Keep lighting up and keep the faith…we’ll pay the tab.
This is the New Hope America.
And Bill Clinton Approves!
Bill Clinton Used Car Salesman of the Year.
How about using the Mars Attacks stratagy.
Blast them with Slim Whitman.
Bill Clinton Used Car Salesman of the Year.
Rage against the machine? What machines? In my days it was sewing machines.
As for the protesters, this is why tear gas and rubber bullets were invented.
Respectfully,
eric aka the Tygrrrr Express
Slim Whitman?
Now THAT is funny.
eric aka the Tygrrrr Express
Rage Against Losers. Has this band ever had more than one hit?
Speaking of Rage Against the Machine and their “one hit” (h/t puhiawa, they did have a couple more, but not many) reminds me of my year in Korea. I spent it at Camp Stanley in Uijongbu, and there was a rock-n-roll bar out in the ‘ville that would play “Killing in the Name Of” (Rage’s one hit) pretty often. There was nothing better than seeing a bunch of Army guys screaming “F— you, I won’t do what you tell me!!!!!” (the bridge to the song) at the top of their lungs, and taking off to be home for curfew so they could get up to report for PT in the morning.
The irony was delicious!
But seriously, all Rage’s concerts should be free, cuz they’re the most obnoxious, pretentious band around, and their ‘music’ is awful.
that’s how he suckered Germans to the Brandenberg Gate too.
Their next ploy will be to start marching in front of the crowd as they are leaving a Colorado Rockies game. That should present a steady stream of “supporters” for the TV cameras…
Democraps, masters of deception.
A bit off subject, but has anyone noticed any American flags on the stage of the Democratic Convention?
Actually, I think the real story here is:
“After a long hiatus, the band ‘Rage Against the Machine’ reunites for a free concert at the DNC…however they were only able to attract approximately 2000 fans. This appears to show that no one cares that they reunited, much less know who they are anymore.”
*GASP!* Are you questioning their patriotism? That has nothing to do with it.
The lack of flags was intentional. This way, no one will be able to criticize and infer things when The Golden Calf does not put his hand over his heart when saluting one.
On August 28th, 2008 at 3:11 am, blacktygrrrr said:
Slim Whitman?
Slim Whitman?
Now THAT is funny.
riggword
go to your login profile and put your blog/website address in the “Website” space that is under “contact info” … that will make your id into a link to your blog …
Thanks DesertLover,
I thought I had already done that; guess not.
Let’s see if it works.
By the way what about that Hillbilly Used Car Salesman Bill Clinton?
He Kinda reminds me of Junior Samples of Sampes Sales fame…Hee Haw!
Bill Clinton Used Car Salesman of the Year.
How truly socialist of SnObama to give the “little people” a free concert to help to forget about how terrible their lives have become and how if they only worship at the Temple of the Obamassiah, they will be SAVED from their detestable existence!
His campaign philosophy seems to be working, give the people something free and they will gladly vote away their rights!
That’s my 2 American Cents.
How about luring them in there, locking the door, and playing nothing but Barry Manilow, Milli Vanilli, and Vanilla Ice? Or would that be cruel and unusual punishment?
There are probably a lot of moonbeams who are wishing they hadn’t given all their money to Barry, cause now they don’t have enough to travel to Denver.
Nah, these guys deserve Puberty Love by Ronny Desmond
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puberty_Love
riggword … the used car comparison works … always liked Jr Samples skits on Hee Haw …
No surprise for me here. THis is how the liberals have always done things to inflate the numbers of people they claim to support their (candidade, platform, program, entitlement, policy, appeasement, surrender).
And, to be perfectly honest, I never cared for “rage against the machine” in the first place. They go on my list as one of the “no hit wonders”.
How about some concerts in MN … Charlie Daniels, Martina McBride, Toby Keith, etc. … Hannity Freedom Concert time …
MO’s interview on CNN talking about her “career in community development” and faux and sudden interest in “support for the troops” was nauseating, as well as several reports trying to create the illusion that military families are thrilled with the One and his promises (such as, he claims that active duty military won’t have back to back deployment….evah. Snort.
The “housing rescue” bill didn’t address any of the issues faced by military families with forced moves in a tanking market….silence from Obama, and Democrat Jim Webb.
Let’s not forget the cynical co-opting of a cherished non-partisan symbol, the “Blue Star” for political purposes and exploitation. There is a legimitate charitable non-profit, “Blue Star Families” of Richmond, Va, which states that this is impacting their ability to fundraise to for troop morale. So, even military families get thrown under the bus in the
name of political expediency.
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1816191/
I know for a fact that there HAVE been several complaints to the Obama campaign about the use of “Blue Star”, including an official complaint to the DoD for unauthorized and unapproved use of the Blue Star, but the Obama campaign states it’s a “gray area” and then continues to publicly state there have been “no complaints”. Ha.
Silence from Obama regarding the rollback of reimbursement rates from Tricare, which makes it increasingly difficult for military families to find a physician who will accept Tricare.
Absolute *crickets* from the One and Jim Webb regarding the roll-back of COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) for military members stationed in Monterey, CA, one of the highest cost duty locations within the US. Not a peep as they took away COLA for military while funded and increased the same for civilians working on the same posts 32%.
Welcome to the “Obama” support for military.
Friends of US Marines will be on the National Mall this weekend with banners of support for people to sign this weekend for people who are interested in genuine troop support. The banners and care packages go to forward deployed troops. They will be near the WWII memorial on 17th St.
Sorry for the off-topic rant, but the continual inflation of support (numbers, values, etc) is really getting to me.
I am a military spouse, and I approved this message.
In the mid-90’s I arrived at a band rehearsal to find the singer going on and on about some band he’d discovered, and how “…THIS is what we should be playing!”
He popped in the CD……………..and it was RATM.
The rest of the band was listening intently……nodding every now and then.
I kept quiet…….thinking: “There is no way in hell that I’m gonna play this sh1t.”
I left that band and enrolled in computer school…….guitar went on hiatus during this time.
A wise move.
I’ve now got a career, great salary and benefits, and 20-plus guitars……and I can pick/choose whom to play with.
After all those (30-plus) years of playing music, it was RATM that made me finally say: “That’s it. I’m done. It’s just not fun anymore.”
And now you do what they told ya
*DUH-NUH-NUH-NUH!*
And now you do what they told ya
*DUH-NUH-NUH-NUH!*
And now you do what they told ya
*DUH-NUH-NUH-NUH!*
And now you do what they told ya
*DUH-NUH-NUH-NUH!*
(Repeat the above 2 more times)
And I’m sure that the members of RATM (anti-corporate, anti-capitalist scions that they are) each live in a nice 2-bedroom walk-up, and take public transportation to and from their free gigs.
Already its a clusterflub at Invesco…
lol, good luck being there. fools following a fool….
Thank you, Michelle for exposing the truth and exposing the MSM lies.
9000 people attend a free concert, and when the concert ends, 50 protesters try to act like they were “leading” and 2000 of the 9000 concert-goers were “following” them. (*snort*)
How do we even know that those 50 protesters were Iraq War veterans? The only “evidence” is that they were wearing army fatigues (which any Marxist protester could purchase to masquerade as a veteran).
As concert goers dispersed on their way to their real destination, it should have been obvious that they weren’t “following” these protesters. But the AP writers spin that as
Lost people? Yes.
Picked up people? I doubt it.
Ok, so why not report on the actual number of people who showed up for the “sit-in”?
Maybe because that number would have been…50?
This Associated Press story has all of the journalistic integrity of a Pallywood production, yet it made the front page of Drudge (”Thousands of war protesters march in Denver…”)
How many people were deceived by this story?
Thank you again, Michelle, for exposing the truth.
God Bless You and Protect You from those hateful, belligerent protestors in Denver.
There were the usual Impeach Bush Cheney posters with this group but their bullhorned anger was against Obama. They screamed he couldn’t be trusted to end the war.
The IVAW was setup in Cuernavaca Park right alongside the frauds of VVAW, Kerry’s old running mates. I doubt there was an honorable DD214 among them.
Great, one of my all time favorite shows.
I have a clip of Junior acting like Bill Clinton at my post today.
He is “As honest as the day is long”
Br 549…out!
“Bill Clinton Used Car Salesman of the year”
Has anyone heard from Michelle this morniing. I am worried about her. You have to see this.
MIchelle Malkin attacked by protestors.
I would have no way of knowing how many, if any, of the Iraq Veterans Against the War are phony, but it does happen. John Kerry’s first Political Action Committee, the Viet Nam Veterans Against the War was made up largely of phonies.
There are those who enjoy dressing up in combat fatigues and making claims that are not true. When children do it we call it playing war. When big people do it we call it STOLEN VALOR.
Senator Tom Harkins of Iowa is such a thief. Although he did serve in the Air Force and was a pilot he made elaborate claims about service in Viet Nam that were not true.
When you see a man wearing Combat Fatigues that did not exist during his war, wearing more medals than some battalions earned and claiming to be some kind of Super Secret Agent Soldier you just might have a phony. He belongs in Massachusetts or Iowa as a Senator. Yes Kerry did serve and that is why I hate him most of all.
—
Just another bitter American clinging to my God and guns (gas guzzling,
global warming pick-up truck too!)
Rage Against the Machine has gone downhill, if they’re only attracting 9000 now.
So, Obama’s “warmup act” was a band named in honor of Communist revolutionaries?
How apropos…
It sure looks like Obama is the nominee of the Communist Party USA, and he wants to lead us down The Road to Socialism USA.
Obama Nation: Using Racism In Order To Form A More Socialist Union
He’ll tell you tonight that he is the embodiment and fulfillment of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.
Obama vs. MLK’s Dream
And if you don’t vote for him, you’re a racist.
Differing Views on Racism: (Reagan & MLK) vs. Obama
Ok young men of the RIGHT isn’t it time YOU stood up hard for your country, women and those who can not defend themselves? These punks, thugs and loud mouthed goons have grown up getting away with this. Why?
LET THE POLICE HANDLE IT, DON’T BE LIKE THEM, BE NICE AND KISS THEIR CUTE MISUNDERSTOOD BUTT.
I am well over sixty and STILL do not back down from a hippy, leftist, “idealized youth” what ever you call the punk. I would rather take a beating than act like a coward or wimp.
MEN do things.
WHO WAS THAT LOST IN THE 60′S SINGER OF THE NATIONAL ANTHEM? I HAVEN’T SEEN AN OUTFIT AND HAIR LIKE THAT SINCE I HITCHIKED TO HAIGHT-ASHBURY AT AGE 16 IN 1968. LORD IT’S TIME TO GROW UP.
Amen Arizona.
ArizonaNeanderthal
Same here … last time I got confronted the guy didn’t know what him him … literally … I had just come out of the bowling alley and he got a 16 lb bowling ball up the side of his head … best strike I had all night …
what hit him … not … what him him … finger checks … grrr …
OK DesertLover just for you…..
ArizonaNeanderthal
LMAO …
…
I wonder where NYC is. The last time a thread on this issue was done, she was all over it being the music aficionado that she is, telling everyone how stupid they were for intimating that Obama himself did not draw the huge crowds. Counterfiet everyone of them.