# Protests planned for Inauguration Day



## jamartinmg2 (Oct 7, 2004)

Too funny.... the lady who calls Bush illegitimate :lol:

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Wednesday, January 19, 2005 · Last updated 12:38 a.m. PT

Protests planned for Inauguration Day

By MARTHA MENDOZA
AP NATIONAL WRITER

While President Bush's supporters celebrate his inauguration Thursday, thousands of protesters around the United States aim to hit the streets with demonstrations and rallies against the returning administration.

"There are some in this country who are just not in the mood to let the president have his day in the sun," said James Hudnut-Beumler, dean of Vanderbilt University's Divinity School and an expert in protest movements.

Although Bush was met with protesters when he was sworn in in 2001, inaugural protests are rare historically, Hudnut-Beumler said. "Presidents are usually given an opportunity in their inauguration address to try to claim the affections and interests of the whole nation, including people who didn't vote for him."

But in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle, organizers expect thousands of demonstrators to gather on Thursday for speeches and rallies. In dozens of smaller communities - from Bridgewater, Mass., to Flagstaff, Ariz., - rallies, marches and demonstrations are also planned. Former Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern is the featured speaker at a demonstration planned for Santa Cruz, Calif.

For some demonstrators, the reasons to protest are simple.

"We're objecting to Bush being reinstalled as president of the United States. He's illegitimate," said Carol Brouillet of Palo Alto, Calif., who plans to spend Thursday in downtown San Francisco displaying huge panels of photographs of soldiers killed in Iraq. Brouillet, who believes Bush used the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as a pretext for an illegal war, has shown the photos at various demonstrations.

Others said they were seeking comfort in numbers.

"We don't feel that Bush's supposed mandate represents us. Maybe this is just therapy for us for feeling helpless and hapless," said veterinarian Paul Makidon of Ann Arbor, Mich.

In addition to street protests, some anti-Bush groups are calling for a daylong economic boycott, pressing critics to stay home from work and not spend any money.

"We've tried marching in the streets to stop the war, we tried writing letters, we tried initiatives on the Web, but Bush doesn't listen. It seems to us the only thing Bush and the Republicans will listen to is money," said David Livingstone of Detroit.

Tim Castleman, a Web site designer from Sacramento, Calif., began his protest almost a week before the inauguration, boarding an eastbound Amtrak train he dubbed the "Peace Train" to head for Washington. He calls for increased rail and public transit funding and relates this demand to the war in Iraq. "A person traveling by train," he said, "will consume half as much as a person on an airplane, with a corresponding reduction of pollution and funding of wars for oil."

His protest is to get Bush and Congress to "lead us out of our wasteful path," he said.

Police in many communities said they are prepared for the outcry, and have been working with protest organizers on march routes and other plans.

In Washington, where the largest demonstrations are planned, an anti-war group is suing the National Park Service, challenging what it called "the unprecedented exclusion of the public" from Bush's inaugural parade route. The lawsuit claims the park service is illegally blocking the general public from access to vast portions of Pennsylvania Avenue reserved solely for guests screened by Bush's inaugural committee.


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## Storm (Dec 8, 2004)

All I can say is "Thank God Bush won the election." :lol:


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## jamartinmg2 (Oct 7, 2004)

Me too, Storm..... It amazes me that some of these, so-called protesters, are so ignorant? Illegitiment? Please. If Kerry would have won the election, I would not have liked it, but I sure wouldn't be protesting it and he would still be "my" president. Easy to say, I guess, since the guy I voted for won. :-?


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## Militant_Tiger (Feb 23, 2004)

```
If Kerry would have won the election, I would not have liked it, but I sure wouldn't be protesting it and he would still be "my" president
```
Thats probably because he wouldn't have had time to make any of the class act mistakes that Bush made. I'm sure at his second inauguration you would have been out protesting like these people. [/quote]


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## jamartinmg2 (Oct 7, 2004)

:lol: You assume too much, MT! I may have been a bit too general with my critique of protesters. My beef is with the protesters that come out and say idiotic things, such as the woman in the article, who claim Bush is illegitimate. I support anyones right to protest whatever they like, but at least if you are going to protest I would hope you would be smarter than some of the folks that are described in the artlicle.


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## Militant_Tiger (Feb 23, 2004)

I suppose I do assume too much. I see where you are comming from now. I did a little research upon these protestors to see if I could find the people of which you spoke. I did not, but I did find this site http://www.counter-inaugural.org/index.php?name=calls . I think the funniest one is the organized anarchist movement. I feel bad that these people even support my side.


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## Storm (Dec 8, 2004)

Those protesters do more good for the Republican party than harm. I guess they had to cage them in yesterday and still use tear gas. Just like at the Republican National Convention in NYC last year. The radical protester all came out and did some pretty sick things, bacisally showed their true colors. This hurts the Democratic Party. I don't remember a bunch of wacked out Republicans making fools of themselves at Clinton's two inauguartions. And if Kerry would on of won, I can gurantee you there wouldn't be a mass of Militant Rebulicans protesting him to the point of being tear gassed.


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