On today's LIVE show we talked about the anti-war protests this past weekend re the 4th year since the war in Iraq began. San Francisco saw about 3,000 protesters and New York about 1,000, with smatterings of gatherings in other cities.
What is interesting is all the 'rent-a-mobs' and other 'causes' represented at the protests...(you know, organizations hire protesters, don’t you?)Other groups used the occasion to protest their causes such as calling on the United States to abandon its military bases throughout the world, especially in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Philippines. And Native Americans called for an end to “more than 500 years of illegal occupation of North America by people of European descent."
According to the AP - New York protesters included union members, representatives of the Jesse Jackson's Rainbow-PUSH Coalition. Actor Tim Robbins, spoke at a rally organized by the New York chapter of United for Peace and Justice, told the crowd that getting Congress to cut off funds for the war "would be a good way" to get the troops home.
One war protester in NY said she sent a gas mask to her brother, a soldier soon to be deployed to Iraq, but was concerned that cutting funds was not the right way to bring the war to an end. "If they cut off funding, does that mean I'm going to have to send a bulletproof vest and care packages?"
Demonstrators carried signs reading "Impeach Bush.” Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi-Palestinian blogger, said, "There are Iraqis who can rebuild their country. They don't need someone to come from thousands of miles away to tell them how to treat their neighbor. They are the only ones who can end this violence."
(Excuse me? Whether you agree with the war or not…They are killing each other now…what would it be if we left? The insurgants don’t want a new government in Iraq…whether we are there or not).
President Bush was at Camp David for the weekend. Spokesman Blair Jones said: "Our Constitution guarantees the right to peacefully express one's views. The men and women in our military are fighting to bring the people of Iraq the same rights and freedoms."
This week, the House plans to vote on a bill regarding continuing to fund the war which includes a troop withdrawal deadline of Sept. 1, 2008. Pres. Bush has threatened a veto.
**Michelle Malkin has lots of pictures of those who came out to support the troops here.
Plus Barack Obama, was in Oakland, one of California's largest African American communities, over the weekend and delivered a call to end to the Iraq war, to a reported crowd of about 12,000.
He told the crowds, "we can't continue this occupation" because America has got "business right here at home." He said, "I am proud of the fact that I opposed this war from the start, that I stood up in 2002 and said this is a bad idea, that this is going to cost us billions of dollars and thousands of lives." And noted that he has sponsored a bill calling for drawing out troops beginning on May 1st, that "we've got to send a signal to (the Iraqi government) that America's not going to be there forever."
However, Obama was not a U.S. senator at the time of the vote authorizing the war in Iraq.
John McCain and Mitt Romney have already been to the state and Hillary Clinton is next to come to do three back-to-back fundraisers on March 25. But Obama’s visit came the same week in which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill giving California an early Feb. 5 presidential primary which we’ve been talking about on the show.
It is estimated that it costs about $3 million a week in ad time to make a dent in the state of California...only those candidates with the big bucks will be able to do that. And with California a big deal in the primaries for 2008 now we Californians can expect to see alot of Hillary and Romney for sure.
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