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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The Hillary Protest at Benaroya Hall: A 2008 Odyssey

posted by on October 23 at 11:50 AM

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.”

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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.

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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.

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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."

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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.

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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!"

RSS icon Comments

1

Obscene to the point that you don't feel comfortable repeating it here on the Slog? Really? Jeez, man, I shudder to think about how bad it must've been!

Posted by Hernandez | October 23, 2007 12:07 PM
2

Ryan, this was GREAT! Thank you for the report. I walked by the straggling Ron Paul'ers and was convinced to ask why there was no "Republican" on their main signs and ask why he didn't run as an independent instead, but it would have been too easy and boring.

Posted by matthew fisher wilder | October 23, 2007 12:17 PM
3

lots more video and photos here: Battle at Benaroya.

Posted by patrick Bell | October 23, 2007 12:21 PM
4

lots more video and photos here: Battle at Benaroya.

Posted by patrick | October 23, 2007 12:21 PM
5

The “"Ron Paul is a cult!"” guys is just jealous that he is taking up all the wacko spotlight away from LaRouche.

Honestly out here in Kitsap the only Presidential race signs that you see are for Ron Paul and they are all over the place. I would not be surprise if he gets some delegates from the Washington State Republican.

“the youthful group of roughly twenty Republicans calling themselves MoveRed” If they support the war so damn much why are they still state side? When my father was their age LBJ and Nixon drafted him. I’ll have to sign up for a MoveRed event and then hand out military recruitment flyers to the young Republicans. I mean if they mean what they say I should have a 100% of them sign up right?

Posted by Jake of 8bitjoystick.com | October 23, 2007 12:25 PM
6

One wonders why so many draft-age eligible young men are protesting against Sen Clinton when they could be serving in combat units in Iraq ...

Just saying.

But, hey, I served. They just swerved.

Posted by Will in Seattle | October 23, 2007 12:29 PM
7

Are you sure they weren't chanting "RON PAUL IS OCCULT"?

Y'know, if Kucinich is holding 10-minute nonverbal dialogs with space aliens (the ones in the triangular ships - not the saucer people), Ron Paul may be working on a metaphysical campaign counterpunch.

Posted by RonK, Seattle | October 23, 2007 1:17 PM
8

I'm baffled by the Ron Paul supporters.

I can see why some disaffected Republicans might be initially drawn to his anti-war stance, since he's the only anti-war Republican running. But even the most casual scrutiny reveals him to be a complete nut job.

The rest of the anti-Hillery protesters are just a handful of the 24%-ers, and easily ignored.

Posted by SDA in SEA | October 23, 2007 1:57 PM
9

as one of the pro-hillary people out there last night (neither a grad student, nor a person in expensive evening wear), i was endlessly amused by the money laundry thing. that guy walked around for a while holding that dollar bill with soap suds dripping from it. my favorite anti- sign was "hillary is george w. bush in a skirt." clearly that person hasn't noticed hillary wears pantsuits.

Posted by Kim | October 23, 2007 2:11 PM
10

These college republicans are an untapped treasure. Someone needs to get an Army recruiter to these protests of their's and get these young patriots signed up!

Posted by Ian | October 23, 2007 2:24 PM
11

Forget the army recruiters. NAMBLA should send a van around....

Posted by NapoleonXIV | October 23, 2007 2:30 PM
12

Lol, good one, @11!

Posted by Will in Seattle | October 23, 2007 2:39 PM
13

Cracking good read!

Posted by Natalie | October 23, 2007 2:53 PM
14

MoveRed.org

This wasn't about the war. This was about stopping government spending. Hillary said on Oct 10, that she has a million ideas for this country, but we just can't afford them all. It shows a mindset that she has that is bad for this country.

We want a leader who will balance the budget, keep taxes low, and keep the government small. We want health care for everyone, but keeping it in the private sector will make it a better quality. We do not want the FEMA system in charge of our health care.

We believe in personal responsiblity, she believes in government responsiblity.

There are links to our Facebook and MySpace on www.movered.org

Posted by peter | October 23, 2007 3:14 PM
15

Yeaaaaahhhhh.

Good luck with that.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | October 23, 2007 3:22 PM
16

Anyone notice if Hugh Foskett was demonstrating? Wonder which Repellican he supports...?

Posted by RHETT ORACLE | October 23, 2007 3:25 PM
17

@14

Why don't you look at your own parties spending, you fucking moron.

Posted by Mr. Poe | October 23, 2007 3:26 PM
18

As a side note: Are semantics and critical thinking no longer taught in schools?

Posted by NapoleonXIV | October 23, 2007 3:36 PM
19

@17

Because, "this isn't about war".

Posted by some movered dumbass | October 23, 2007 3:44 PM
20

It's just about massive crushing debt.

And making sure America can't use the National Guard to protect itself.

Something I'm guessing at least one million Americans just made refugees in their own nation might not be too happy about ...

Posted by Will in Seattle | October 23, 2007 5:43 PM
21

We want health care for everyone, but keeping it in the private sector will make it a better quality.

We pay more money for less health care that covers fewer people compared to nearly every industrialized country in the world. The private sector had its chance and has failed.

Posted by Aexia | October 23, 2007 6:02 PM
22

Republicans are shiftless!!

Posted by Seto Pants | October 24, 2007 11:15 PM

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