The Cool Blue Blog

Counter-Mainstreaming

Dean Esmay writes about the mainstream press' attempt to mainstream the protestors at the RNC.

What follows are pictures I took of the people I saw and the signs they carried. We report, you decide...

The Real Thing

The Democrats are very interested in claiming that the Republican Convention is a charade; that the speakers at the convention are presenting a more moderate Party than the Republicans really are. The LA Times reflects some of this sentiment:

Party leaders are happy to present Schwarzenegger as Exhibit #1 as they seek to portray the Republicans as encompassing moderate social views, despite the conservative tenor of the platform they approved Monday.

This is pretty disingenuous given that a Boston Globe poll taken of Democratic Party delegates found that 95% oppose the war in Iraq and that 80% said they opposed it from the start all the while making a muscular foreign policy the centerpiece of their convention.

But strangely, while the Democratic convention was a masqurade party, the Republican Convention is not; it really has become a party of moderates. The fact that the far Christian Right has not noticed that they have been effectively marginalized matters not one whit.

True, most Republicans are anti-abortion, but there will not be any legislative moves to ban abortion in the foreseeable future.

True, most Republicans are against Gay marriage, but you will see them accepting Civil Unions as a state perogative.

And if you are looking for the elimination of the Dept. of Education any time soon, forget it; Not gonna happen.

The fact is the Democrats, and the media that supports them, would like to believe that the Republicans are staging a convention that is discordant to their true nature, a myth that many Conservative Christians may share, they are all wrong.

The Republican Party has, in fact, moved to the center.

The seeds of this lie with what used to be called Ford Republicans named after former President Gerald Ford. The ranks of these were augmented by defectors from the Democratic Party brought in by Ronald Reagan. And finally, these were further enhanced by Liberals like Christopher Hitchens who left the Democratic Party when it became clear to them that the Party had drifted dangerously close to the Neo-Marxist left. All of these, collectively, are called "neo-conservatives" people who are not "conservative" at all. And they have become numerous enough that they have moved the center of gravity of the party.

Isolationism is conservative; not Democratic globalism. And it is telling that Charles Krauthammer (among a few others) is the intellectual force behind Republican geo-political thought and not Pat Buchanan.

Don't get me wrong, there is still a Libertarian-ish, market-based, self-reliant core within the Republican Party. They still do believe in smaller government and is faith-based. There is a cohesive core that is consistent and has a vision. But it is not what used to be understood as Conservative by any stretch of the imagination. On the other hand, the Democrats are no longer traditional, John Kennedy, liberals either.

The funny thing is, that there is some stealth going on at the Republican Convention, but the masquerade is not for the American people, but for the far right members who seem to have been placated by a platform catering to them; a platform that has no meaning whatsoever politically.

There has been, over the last 40 years coups of both the Democratic Party by the far left, and the Republican Part by the "moderates".

The Republican Party is already the majority party in America.

And after this election, they may likely be the only party.

No other sound is quite the same as your name
No touch can do half as much
To make me feel better
Let's stay together
I'm so
So glad we got the real thing, baby
So glad we got the real thing
Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby
Ain't nothing like the real thing

-Marvin Gaye

They don't vote the economic numbers

According to news reports

Shoppers spent more freely in July as consumer spending rose slightly, though tepid growth in personal income raised concern about whether the trend will continue....The appetite to spend was led by a rebound in demand for big-ticket goods, such as cars, helped by buyers' incentives... The 0.8 percent rise was slightly better than the 0.7 percent increase some economists had expected.

And according to news reports

Consumers' renewed worries about job prospects led to a bigger-than-expected drop in confidence in August and provided more evidence of the fragility of the economic expansion.

But does a drop in consumer confidence really translate into evidence that the economic expansion is frail?

I don't think so.

I think that a fall in consumer confidence is more the result of a biased news filter than it is representative of anything. When people are told day after day by the Kerry campaign and other media outlets that the economy is tanking, people might believe that it is true.

However, people spend or don't spend money based on their personal financial situation, not on the "consumer confidence" number or even the jobless rate which is to be released on Friday morning.

And this is also true when it comes to voting.

To the extent that the economy is an issue over national security to an individual voter, that voter will consider their own economic situation when they pull the lever or punch the chad. They will consider their own job situation; is it a good job is it secure?

The fact that consumers are spending money argues for a generalized feeling of personal economic security regardless of how they feel about the general economic situation.

If you think you are about to lose your job, you don't go out and buy a car or other big ticket item.

By focusing on the big numbers, and using these to attempt to convince people the economy is bad, the only people they will convince to vote for them on this issue are those whose actual situation is reflected in these statistics.

The fact that the unemployment rate is almost exactly the same as it was when Bill Clinton was re-elected in 1996 combined with the fact that consumers are spending on big ticket items suggests to me that the economy simply will not be the issue for the vast majority of voters in November.

To me, it is yet another sign that the Kerry campaign is unwilling and unable to put forth ideas that might actually be able to defeat the President: a viable and compelling alternative to addressing the war against Islamic terrorists.

This is the issue that interests most Americans:

Are we proceeding in the most effective way possible?

Without a clear alternative in this area, I predict that people will vote for the person who has a clear vision over one with double vision.

And I think the only numbers of concern to most voters is the Sept. 11 body count.

And the resolve that we will never have to count that number again.

Fill my eyes with that double vision
No disguise for that double vision
Ooh, when you get through to me
It's always new to me
My double vision gets the best of me

-Foreigner

Who cleans up the terrorist mess?

Coalition Medics Respond to Afghanistan School Bombing

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2004 -- Coalition special operations forces medics, along with Afghan National Army personnel, rushed to help Afghan victims of an Aug. 28 explosion that ripped through a school in Zormat, killing 10 people, including a man, five teens and four young children. About 15 other people were injured.

"The coalition is determined to assist local authorities in bringing the perpetrators of this horrific act to justice," said a coalition official at the scene, according to a Combined Forces Command Afghanistan news release. "Whether a criminal act or a terrorist action, this tragedy underscores the need for continuing to focus on bringing security to Afghanistan."

The coalition medics, experts in treating battlefield injuries, left some team members behind at the nearby coalition clinic to treat patients and coordinate medical evacuation of personnel to nearby hospitals, the release said.

Daily Dish

The Islamic fascists hate all people equally

The French appeasement bubble bursts

Defeated in Najaf, and nearly wiped out in Sadr City, Sadr makes a U-Turn demonstrating the wisdom of the old addage "If ya can't beat 'em, join 'em"

Now that the UN deadline has expired for Sudan, it's time to review where we stand

IAEA muddles through

When Damascus speaks, Lebanon stands at attention

They hate even the whiff of Democracy

Accentuate the negative, eliminate the positive, don't mess with Mr in-between

Bank robber gets address wrong, asks directions

"Doctor, I lost my wedding ring, and this giant tumor has grown where it used to be"

Celebrating the 1,424th birthday of toilet paper, the most significant event in civilization since the invention of beer

Kris Kristofferson gets inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He's come a long way from bein' busted flat in Baton Rouge

He's not travelling, he's a mummy

Fags for Bush

One of our intrepid group was a gay guy who wore a T-Shirt that said Fags for Bush. While we were counter-protesting in Herald Square, a gay protest marcher engaged him. Candy Girl relates:

Gay protester to guy in "Fags for Bush" t-shirt: "You're not a real fag." "Fags for Bush" guy: extended show tunes sing 'n dance. Gay protester guy: "Okay, enough, you're gay!"

People are awesome.

What she failed to tell was this guy wound up leaving the march when he saw how the protestors trampled on Prtotest Warriors' right to express themselves and joined our side!

And while I'm surveying blog coverage related to Protest Warrior, Glenn Reynolds has this about one of our fearless leaders and Da Goddess, writing about a Protest Warrior action in San Diego, has some evidence that my observations in New York are not isolated

Tolerance? What's that?

The Washington Post covered the protest march that took place in New York City on Sunday.

more than 200,000 protesters peacefully swarmed Manhattan's streets on the eve of the Republican National Convention to demand that President Bush be turned out of office.

Strange, but my experience of the protestors was that they were anything but peaceful.

This image, for instance, brought to you by the Black Bloc anarchist group, shows the beginning of an event that nearly caused a wide-spread riot in Herald Square.

From our vantage point, we couldn't see anything but the smoke from what turned out to be a paper-mache dragon that when burned started an assault by the anarchists. People began running in all directions. The NYPD quickly cordoned off the area and stopped the march by putting barracades on both sides of the affected area. The mounted police were brought in as were a number of officers on motorcycles and foot. The anarchists, dressed in black and red, were eventually brought under control and arrested.

What saved this from a complete and bloody riot was quick action by the NYPD.

And while the New York Daily News printed this picture on pg 2 of today's paper, it's not easy to find on their web site (try clicking on the photo gallery it may still be there. Update: here's another picture)

Generally, what the Protest Warriors found was more honestly expressed by this sign I snapped a picture of

When the 200+ strong contingent of Protest Warriors marched into action,

We were originally cordoned in an area perpendicular to the main body of the protest march.

This was fun because the vocal group attracted the somewhat confused attention of the anti-war protestors.

The signs often took some time for processing and often held up the protest as the far-left attempted to engage all brain cells to decipher the signs and determine if we were for or against their cause.

Some never got it and just moved on.

Some did get it (well, we helped them by chanting things like "Four More Years" and "John F-in' Kerry, No F-in' Way". They got that clue)

Prior to starting our march, we had assigned each Warrior to a tactical group and over time, each group split off to infiltrate the march. The rules were that upon infiltration. we would do nothing more provacative but carry our signs.

My group was Group Six lead by Tom Paladino. At first we were accepted as one of their own (but with much better signs).

Then they noticed us.

The massive crowd started chanting "Fascists, leave our march!". Then our way was blocked by a number of individuals who linked arms and stood in our way. We were then physically assaulted. Two of our group of 15 were punched, their signs were taken from them and destroyed. Tom's megaphone (which he only use after we were attacked to try to calm people) was taken from him and destroyed.

I truly thought I was going to die.

The NYPD ran in to protect us. We identified the individuals who assaulted us who ran like cowards. I'm not sure if the police got them or not.

The crowd was now chanting "Fascist Police".

Things were getting very dangerous.

The NYPD asked us to leave the march and we complied not only for our safety but for theirs. Had we stayed, these guys would have tried to protect us and likely would have otten hurt as well.

Not to mention the whole out-of-control riot thing.

We left and regrouped in Herald Square with the other tactical teams who had met with pretty much the same response; in some cases without such a quick police response as we got.

Soon after we witnessed the anarchists move described above.

Once this was cleared up, we lined up our signs along the barracades and did our own chanting. One of our members was physically attacked with a broom stick by a man who managed to get it into the march. He was quickly arrested by the NYPD.

So while the march may been "peaceful" this was only because of the terriffic efforts by the NYPD. Had they not have been as prepared and well trained as they were, it would have been a disaster.

But don't let anyone tell you these people are for peace or Free Speech.

It's just not true.

Update: Another of our group blogs about it here and here's a video

Another Update: Citizen Smash recounts Protest Warrior encounters in San Diego's Balboa Park

I CAN

Providing for the children through “I CAN”

The Iraqi Children Assistance Network (I CAN) was established to allow American Soldiers the opportunity to work with Iraqi children and provide them with hope for a brighter future.

Through Operation I CAN, Soldiers distribute donated school supplies and toys to Iraqi children. Soldiers have distributed over 100 boxes of donated school supplies throughout the country. They are gathering more for the upcoming school year.

Army officials said the program works to bridge the perception gap between Iraqi children, their families, and Soldiers by providing the children with greater opportunity for hope in their future as well as the future of their country.

The Army Civil Affairs’ objective is the stabilization of Iraq through humanitarian assistance and development projects. Officials said achieving this goal allows the Iraqi people to function as a legitimate, prosperous and safe country without the further aid and supervision of the United States.

I CAN is part of the broader, Army-wide effort to revitalize Iraq’s infrastructure and invigorate its self-sufficiency and capacity for autonomy. It operates on a people-to-people basis at the grassroots level. It encourages positive and close relationships between Iraqi children and U.S. troops.

By distributing school supplies and toys to the Iraq children, Soldiers work directly against the aims of the Anti-Iraqi Forces that seek to discredit the U.S. presence.

Army officials said the ultimate goal is to shape the children’s and their parents’ perspectives on why the U.S. troops are here.

Operation I CAN allows Americans stateside to participate directly in helping win the hearts and minds of Iraqis. (Story by 1st Lt. William A. Diefenbach, 4-3 Air Defense Artillery)

Daily Dish from the RNC

The fight with the Mahdi "army" continues in Sadr City, Baghdad

Islamic fascists grab two French journalists in Iraq

Discredited former BBC head tries to discredit Tony Blair

The stage is set

Nearly 300 protesters arrested and things haven't even started yet

President Bush gives credit where credit is due: yet another lesson for Kerry

Catfish eats dog

Crop Circle Beer

Planning

The Generals of Protest Warrior,Kfir, Tom, and Alan, rallied the troops at a rooftop meeting at PW HQ.

And a good time was had by all.