DEMONSTRATE AT EVERY ALLEN APPEARANCE

By: aes
Published On: 8/16/2006 7:28:11 PM

Webb volunteers (on their own and with no connection to the Webb campaign) should put demonstrations together at every Allen appearance throughout Virginia for the duration of the campaign. There should be signs questioning his racist past, his lies and etc. It will drive him crazy as well as keep this issue alive for the media will cover it. Any thoughts?

Comments



Great Idea (Alicia - 8/16/2006 7:40:16 PM)
We will not let his racism and lies die!


I know you mean well (Matt in VA - 8/18/2006 9:48:45 AM)
but that sentence construction leaves something to be desired ;)


If you do this... (Lowell - 8/16/2006 9:32:49 PM)
...make sure you bring your video camera.  You never know what George Allen will say or do!


RE: Ah, but we do . . . (JPTERP - 8/17/2006 12:43:13 AM)
He'll probably say something that's extremely offensive in foreign language that he speaks fluently.  He will then disclaim all knowledge of said insult claiming that it had some reference to a hairstyle.  Meanwhile his campaign manager when asked for comment will tell the questioner to go F-off.  You know, your basic run of the mill Senatorial type behavior.


I've been looking for his public itinerary (RayH - 8/17/2006 10:56:59 AM)

I haven't found much publicity for anything after August 10.


Bush will come to Allen's private fundraiser (RayH - 8/17/2006 11:14:19 AM)
It is planned for August 23 at the Fairfax County home of Ed Gillesp!e, a PR Consultant and former GOP Nat. Committee Chairman, who is Treasurer of Allen's PAC.


RE: Can we get a diverse group . . . (JPTERP - 8/17/2006 10:11:47 PM)
of protesters?  I think a silent protest with signs would be sufficient.  We could have signs along the lines of "Racism is Not a Virginia Value"; "Macaca's For Webb"; it probably wouldn't hurt to have a sign in French reading "Racism is Not a Virginia Value"--I think Allen may be able to understand that one. 

If we can get a diverse group of a couple hundred cutting across ethnic and demographic lines doing a silent protest I think this would send a strong message.  The key is to minimize the public annoyance factor--I suspect this is going to be in a residential area.



I would think that you could get a good crowd (Susan Mariner - 8/17/2006 10:27:00 PM)
We got a good turnout with almost no time to get the word out, and many people who wanted very much to attend had already committed to other events.  Given some advance notice, I bet you could get a lot of people to attend.


Understand this is a "private" fundraiser at a private residence (RayH - 8/17/2006 11:04:58 PM)


Private residence (Arturo - 8/18/2006 3:06:40 PM)
on a public street.  How about holding up signs on the public street, that read "George Allen, Welcome to America".


Got the street address and hour of the fundraiser? (RayH - 8/18/2006 3:27:40 PM)


That's exactly what happened last night (Susan Mariner - 8/17/2006 9:39:47 PM)
No connection with the Webb campaign.  No mention of the Webb campaign even.  This was all about Allen.

DanG posted a diary about it, but here's an email I sent to folks:

At last night's "Veterans for Allen" event in Norfolk was a peaceful demonstration.  It was great.  We got no hassle from anyone although many police were present because of Allen and McCain's presence.  Moreover, Allen's supporters appeared to be too scared to bother or insult us at this point.  I think they may have learned that they'd better be careful about the things they say to us because it just might have consequences. 

Here is a synopsis of what occurred:

All together just over 20 people showed up for our gathering (not a bad turnout considering that the event wasn't organized until around 6:00 the night before.)  Unfortunately most of the people attending Allen's event entered through the parking garage, so we didn't get to hand out as much literature about Allen's dismal voting record on veterans issues as we would have liked to.  Some of us stood with our signs on the corner near some mostly very young, very Republican looking Allen supporters who were stationed there holding veterans for Allen signs.  Most of us stood across the street. 

We all had signs, and here were the signs I made multiples of:

  Allen is
NO FRIEND
  to VETS

  RETIRED
ENLISTED
  ASS'N
  gives
  ALLEN
a ZERO (with big red letters on the ZERO)

  ALLEN'S VOTES:
V.A. -  UNDERFUNDED  (red letters on the underfunded)
Haliburton- OVERFUNDED  (red letters again)

  VETS,
  DON'T BET
  on ALLEN-
  CHECK HIS
VOTING RECORD

A guy showed up with a Veterans for Peace Banner.

Another guy showed up with a poster with a yellow ribbon that said to support the troops, not Haliburton.

Yet another guy showed up with a sign about no war, no occupation, and something else.

A homeless vet came up and asked if he could have a sign.  Someone gave him a sign, and he participated.  (Did you know that in 2001 Allen voted against enacting a tax credit to employers that hire homeless vets?  Unbelievable but true.)

Two news channels got the protest on video, and the Virginian Pilot took numerous pictures.  The news crews actually asked us to stand in a row behind the reporter so that they could make sure to have us in the background.

Allen had about 10 people out there on the street in front of the Marriott holding Veterans for Allen signs.  As I mentioned, most were pretty young, and they didn't look like veterans to me, so I yelled out to them, "Hey are ANY of you veterans?"  No response until "Well, I'm going to be a veteran some day."  To which I responded, "Well our bunch is filled with veterans."  There was an older Allen staffer guy there who said "What. Are YOU a veteran?" really sarcastically.  I said "No.  My husband is a veteran.  And she's a veteran.  And he's a veteran.  And he's a veteran. And they are veterans..."  He didn't like that answer and got really mad.  In my opinion, the young people seemed a little freaked out that veterans were staging a demonstration about Allen's voting record on veterans issues.  I guess they hadn't gotten the memo that Allen puts the interests of the wealthiest Americans above the interests of vets.

And then the "Wow" moment happened.  A 20 something Indian-American man showed up with a sign that said this:

Allen is a RACIST.
  "Macacas"
  4
  Webb

With him was another 20  something man who had a sign that read

Hey Allen, remember Vietnam?
  McCain and Webb can
  tell you all about it.

Then a 70 year old Indian-American woman showed up and held a sign that read

  SIDARTH is
NOT a MONKEY.
  HE is a
HUMAN BEING

The TV crews didn't get pictures of those signs because they arrived too late, but the Virginian Pilot did.  A picture of the signs held by the Indian-Americans appeared today in the Virginian Pilot.

The people driving by were very supportive of our message.  People kept honking and giving us the thumbs up.  Nobody, literally nobody, honked or waved at Allen's people. 

In any case, all of us felt very positive about what attention we did get for the cause.  And, we had a blast.  I don't think the same can be said about Allen's people.  It must be hard to be an Allen supporter at this point.

I heard that Allen's event was boring, BTW, and the room was only half filled in spite of a huge phone push.

Final note, I still have about 375 copies of information about Allen's voting record on vets issues.  I am going to make sure that every single one of them is put to good use and that people get the word.  Veterans whose main concern is veterans issues should not support George Allen.  It's as simple as that.

Pictures of the event can be seen here:

http://www.flickr.co...



RE: The VA Pilot photo (JPTERP - 8/17/2006 10:13:52 PM)
I saw that this morning--it was a very powerful image. 


what I would do (Matt in VA - 8/18/2006 9:51:12 AM)
if I had a t-shirt press - wear a tshirt with big block letters saying "GEORGE ALLEN IS A RACIST" and bring a video camera.


and some friends, (Matt in VA - 8/18/2006 9:52:11 AM)
because i'd rather not get into a fight over something like that.