So you want a revolution? -- First hand observations from an 'anti-war' rally

"Stop bitching and start a revolution" read a group of mass-produced t-shirts at today's 'anti-war' rally in downtown D.C.

Despite a night of heavy drinking last night (with my boss, no less,) I decided to push through the hangover, roll out of bed and make my way down to the White House to observe this 'revolution' first hand. In an attempt to ensure that I wasn't mistaken for someone actually attending the rally, I showered, shaved, and put on my Israel Defense Force t-shirt before walking downtown.

As I got closer to the site of the rally, I felt myself going back further and further in time. One I made it to the actual site of the rally, it was officially 1969.

There were several speakers on a stage set up on what's called 'the Ellipse,' which is a large field (appropriately elliptically shaped) slightly southwest of the White House, northwest of the Washington Monument and Capitol. I decided I'd play journalist while I was there, so I brought my notebook with the intention to write down the more outrageous things I saw or heard. In less than an hour, I'd already managed nine pages of material.

The first sign to catch my attention read 'I want my country back. Impeach Bush now.' This was quite curious to me, as I don't remember a time when the extreme left ever 'had' this country. It would be more accurate to say that they just want 'their' country. But I digress.

Many liberals get defensive when the 'anti-war' movement in this country gets labeled as 'anti-American,' but precious few conclusions can be made when their representatives take to the microphone and say things like 'With your help, American society will collapse!' to which the attendees answer with enthusiastic cheers.

To call this rally an 'anti-war' rally would be a misnomer. In typical liberal fashion, it was actually a general protest with many targets, with George W. Bush being the largest one. There were also PeTA pamphlets being handed out, protests against Israel, the IMF, the Cuban blockade, the occupation of Haiti (huh?), pro-abortion signs, gays rights supporters, and people protesting for 'affordable housing.' Again -- huh?

The Iraq war wasn't even mentioned until about the third speaker I saw. The second speaker I heard, which was actually the first one I heard from beginning to end, went into a 60's-style rant about the 'occupation' of 'Palestine' (I use quotes because there is no Palestine, and thus it cannot be occupied.)

She went so far as to say 'when we march, let's say 'free, free Palestine!' and 'I want an intifada!' For those of you that don't know, the 'intifada' is the terrorist campaign waged by the Palestinians against the Israelis that mostly targets civilians.

The speaker also shouted 'George Bush is the devil!' and the crowd cheered in approval. I laughed, if nothing else at the sheer absurdity of it all.

The next speaker was a member of some Muslim American advocacy group. He lamented the fact that the U.S. can 'get troops quickly to Iraq, but not to New Orleans.' I had to take issue with this, as from the experience with my various family members being deployed to Iraq, I know that it takes at least 3 months from getting orders to setting foot in Iraq. So no, we can't get troops quickly to Iraq, and certainly not any faster than we can get them to New Orleans.

He went on to say that 'we who believe in freedom cannot rest until [Bush is stopped].' I find this a curious statement, as only the most delusional leftists will claim that places like Afghanistan and Iraq were bastions of freedom before America showed up.

Among his other odd statements were 'Muslims in America live in a concentration camp of fear,' which in and of itself is befuddling, as it is my understanding that fear does not cause forced labor and genocide. He also used the liberal stalwart saying that 'we support our troops, we want them to come home.' I've never understood what this is supposed to mean, as fighting wars are what troops are for. Saying you support them, but not their purpose is like saying you support dentists, but not fixing teeth.

Then perennial Presidential candidate and general kook Ralph Nader took the stage. By this time, the crowd around the stage had diminished considerably, as they were anxious to start marching around the city. But I stuck around for a few minutes before I went to observe the march myself.

The craziest thing I heard Nader say was that this government had been 'hijacked by a small fleet of war mongers...' Yes Ralph, hijacked by a small fleet of warmongers. Not elected with 59 million votes, no no, hijacked.

I wasn't sure where the march was going to start, but I inadvertently stumbled upon it just as it was starting. Near the beginning of the march route, there was what appeared to be a Marine (as there is no such thing as a former-Marine) standing on the sidewalk with a sign that read 'Peace sucks. Join the Marines. Uurah!' I approached him and told him he was doing a fine job, he approved of my shirt and we exchanged handshakes and pats on the back. During our exchange, many of the marchers directed their attention toward us with their hands extended with two fingers upright, saying 'Peace not war...' The Marine and I kindly informed them that the hand gesture they were using was actually 'V for Victory, not peace.'

There were some thought provoking signs among the marchers, the first of which was 'Peace in the world begins with peace in our hearts,' followed by 'Love your enemies.' It seems to me that this sentiment would be better directed at those strapping explosives to themselves and killing civilian women and children. But to each his own. (I apologize for the crappy quality pictures, I only had my cellphone camera.)



In the middle of the crowd, there was a guy with a bullhorn saying 'Fund levees, not war.' The political opportunism was almost staggering, as I don't think anyone was clamoring for such until last week. He then made a curious request of the marchers. After saying that this march costs a lot and no one else is paying for it, he urged the marchers to make donations and to 'be powerful with your money.' This kinda made me chuckle, first of all because it seemed to assume that liberals are used to spending other people's money, plus it was funny to me hearing obvious liberals, who routinely lambaste the influence of money, urging their own to do exactly what they despise. Mmm...hypocrisy is so delicious.

I followed the march for a while, before breaking off and making my way over to the front of the White House where I just walked around among the more stagnant crowd that had amassed there.

The stereotype that the anti-war movement is made up of aging hippies and rich white kids is absolutely true. What pissed me off the most were the young teenagers, no older than 16, with mohawks and bandana masks that were desecrating the American flag. A close second to this were the aforementioned aging hippies that would bring their young children to the rally. I saw a child in a stroller holding a sign to the effect of 'No blood for oil,' as well as a young girl no older than five wearing a pro-abortion button on her shirt.



The inherent and absolute silliness and absurdity of the anti-war movement in this country has never ceased to amaze me. There was a small 'marching band' parading around in a circle. Not too out of the ordinary, except for the uniforms, which consisted of short shorts and wife-beaters. One of the male drummers decided to enhance his uniform with white silk stockings with lace and garter belts.



Not far from this lovely sight was a rather overweight female wearing frilled panties with fishnet stockings. To her ample posterior a sign was taped that read 'Ruffled panties for peace.' Brilliant.

Floating around the crowd was an inflatable doll of George W. Bush with a Pinnochio nose, to which someone had maturely applied a condom.

A group of young men were walking around with balloon animal hats. Why? I have no idea.



As I mentioned earlier, this rally wasn't so much against the war as it was against the President. The level of hatred and vitriol was incredible, but sadly not surprising. There was a game being played called 'Pin the blood on the Jackass' in which people were invited to pin red drops of blood (construction paper) to an rather unflattering picture of the President.

There were also several signs that attacked the President personally, the most noticeable of which were:

"Abort Bush."
"Fuck the war and Fuck Bush"
"9/11 was an inside job"
"George Bush you're an asshole. Cheater. War whore. Thief. Smirking cokehead chimp. Dick Cheney's boy toy."
"Bush sucks Satan's cock."
"Rick Santorum is Bush's Monica Lewinsky"

After seeing these lovely contributions to the political discourse in America, I decided it was time to head back to my apartment. A block or so away from the crowd, there was a very intricate 'display' that involved 3 people. One person was dressed in a Satan costume and holding a marionette whose strings were attached to a person in a Dick Cheney costume holding a marionette whose strings were attached to a person in a George W. Bush costume wearing a crown and a sign that said 'the lying king.' Again...I thought this was an anti-war rally.

With all the short shorts, silk stockings, ruffled panties, balloon animal hats, costumes and vulgar placards, I found myself wondering if these people expect to be taken seriously. I certainly wasn't, and I don't think any reasonable person would, either. More importantly, I wonder if the reasonable members of the left in this country are pissed off that these people are out there making them look like fools.

Whether liberals like it or not, these people are becoming the standard bearers for their movement. If there was a similar scenario on my side of the political spectrum, I would be livid. After witnessing first hand the venom and lunacy present among the left when they think they're in safe company, I have to wonder if it shames what reasonable liberals there may be into distancing themselves from their loony brethren.

The last sign I saw as I left downtown put a smirk on my face. It read 'Feel the Love.' I smirked because it was quite symbolic of the rally as a whole. Not because it said 'Feel the Love,' but because it was appropriately crumpled and stuffed into a trashcan.