Posted by Ryan S. Jackson

The tipping point of the demonstration against (and subsequent counter-demonstration for) Hillary Clinton last night in front of Benaroya Hall might have been when the youthful group of roughly twenty Republicans calling themselves MoveRed began what they called a “money laundry.”

The laundry consisted of a large bucket of water that was filled with washing detergent; when full, dollar bills were dunked into it to great cheers from participants. The soapy money was then displayed to Clinton haters, supporters, and people attempting to catch a bus on Third Avenue. I don’t know exactly what they were trying to convey, but the results of my informal poll of people trying to catch their busses home yielded a tally of one person whose opinion of Hillary was lowered, three people whose opinions were raised, and one person who called me a “fucking bitch.”

See the jump for Ron Paul cult accusations, shouts of “cum guzzler,” and Hillary’s praetorian grad-student guard…

Last night’s protest delivered on what MoveRed member Russell Johnson had promised me, which was a serious display of t-shirts and signs. Johnson picked me out while I was interviewing MoveRed chief Peter Cowman, who was enthusiastically explaining the Republican plan to make sure that Washington's electoral votes "would be no guarantee" for senator Clinton.

I asked the two of them whether there was an actual belief in the group that Hillary was on course to move us toward collective farming and Five Year Plans, as many of the signs of the group members seemed to suggest. I was treated to a presentation by Cowman about Clinton's plan to institute a five thousand dollar baby bond for newborn children to be a classic example of redistribution of wealth.

At this point a group of the Ron Paul contingent began to chant loudly from the other end of the street. I took my chance for an exit. As I left, Johnson chimed in behind me: "Those people aren’t with us. Remember, the only thing worse than Ron Paul's foreign policy is Hillary!"

For their part the Ron Paul contingent was out in force, numbering twenty five by my count.

I was spotted as press and waylaid immediately as I entered the Paul camp. After being asked repeatedly if I understood how good the turnout was for the congressman, I ended up discussing the Paul candidacy with a supporter identifying himself as Dan "Like the cartoon!" Motormouse, who had slipped to the fringes of the crowd.

The Motormouse story mostly involved an estrangement from what he called "the fucking neocons" and a belief that "no oil was worth so many people’s lives." He noted repeatedly that the line between conservative and liberal had become so blurred that a candidate like Ron Paul could seemingly appeal to just about anybody. The Paul supporters attempted to prove this, handing out information pamphlets with an almost religious zeal to anyone who approached them.

As the camera crew from FOX showed up to interview the MoveRed protesters, a large group of Hillary supporters issued from the depths of Benaroya Hall. A seething mass in expensive evening wear accompanied by what appeared to be a battle ready group of grad students, the pro-Hillary movement all seemed to mass at once with the cheer of, "Hillary's the one, she'll get it done."

I considered asking one of the them what in particular she was going to get done, when a Paul supporter and a bemused homeless fellow broke out in a particularly obscene anti-Hillary chant (obscene to the point where I don't feel comfortable repeating it on the blog of The Stranger, although I will say that it involved the phrase "cum-guzzler"). One of the praetorian grad students turned and snarled at him to watch his mouth in front of the children.

Soon after came the infamous Money Laundry.

Then the late arriver with the "No to Hitlery" sign, who the MoveRed protesters seemed to be trying to keep their distance from.

It was probably time to leave.

My last interaction of the night came with the group across the street, which numbered roughly five and held an enormous banner advertising a coming anti-war rally scheduled for Judkins Park. The only vocal member of the group spent the vast majority of the night screaming not about the anti-war rally, but about the Texas congressman's campaign, repeating over and over: "Ron Paul is a cult!"