Are Anti-GOP Protests Fizzling at the RNC? (Bonus: Video of Dancing Anarchists)
- Posted on August 27, 2012 at 6:55am by
Jason Howerton
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Demonstrators walk with others during a protest march, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (Credit: AP)
TAMPA, Fla. (TheBlaze/AP) — You can’t see them. You can barely hear them over the din of the wind and rain swirling in the skies above from Tropical Storm Isaac. Protesters are here but it‘s highly unlikely they’ll come close to crossing paths with Republicans for the presidential nominating convention.
Protesters are being kept blocks away and, so far, they’ve gathered in groups of several dozen to a few hundred. But the worries of massive protests that might bring violence and a cacophony of chanting have been elusive.
With Isaac making its way northward toward the Gulf Coast, brushing Tampa Bay, the Republican National Convention has been pushed off to a later start. Protesters might also be staying away because of the storm, whose path and intensity has been difficult to predict. Isaac’s outer bands were already bringing intermittent rain and gusts of wind but no downpours, and the usual August heat and humidity was being kept relatively at bay.
Sunday’s protests ran the gamut from unionized labor and Occupy Wall Street to a hearty band of 30 who criticized presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney for putting his dog Seamus in a crate atop his station wagon on a long-ago family vacation.
“If somebody is going to treat their animal inhumanely, how are they going to treat our country?” said Kim Swygert, 37, a law student from Tampa, who came with her Great Dane.
Several carried anti-Romney signs including one that read, “Don’t roof rack me, bro.”
Take a look at some of the sights from the anti-GOP protests:
Demonstrators walk with others during a protest march, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. Hundreds of protestors gathered in Gas Light Park in downtown Tampa to march in demonstration against the Republican National Convention. (Credit: AP)
Protest marchers move with a puppet depicting Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney during a march, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (Credit: AP)
Protest signs sit on the ground as people gather before the beginning of the Republican National Convention on August 26, 2012 in Tampa, Florida. (Credit: Getty Images)
A demonstrator holds a sign before a protest march, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (Credit: AP)
Those who turned out said they were hoping for more demonstrators, but they claim lousy weather kept people away.
“A lot of people were afraid to come out because of the approaching rain and thunder,” said Sarah Kilker, who was accompanied by a long-haired Chihuahua and a mixed chow and terrier.
The streets of Tampa didn’t resemble St. Paul, Minn., in 2008, when thousands of protesters packed the city for the last Republican convention. Some smashed cars, punctured tires and threw bottles in a confrontation with pepper-spray wielding police. Hundreds were arrested over a few days, including dozens of journalists. Authorities in Tampa say they learned from that convention and Congress allocated $50 million for security.
A few hundred protesters braved the intermittent rain and wind at a park about a half-mile from the convention site of the Tampa Bay Times Forum. They were watching large blocks of ice that spelled out the words “middle class” melt, saying it represented the erosion of the middle class in America. The art installation was planned for Monday but moved up because of the weather.
Fifty-two-year-old Donald Butner says he’s been sleeping at the Occupy-Tampa camp for a few months and that “we’re here, baby, rain or shine. The weather is going to do what it is going to do.”
Marchers chanted “we are the 99 percent” and carried homemade signs. The 99 percent refers to the group‘s claim that the rich don’t share their wealth — with them apparently.
In a YouTube video, protesters can also be heard chanting “arm the poor, eat the rich”:
That message rang true for 52-year-old Tom Gaurapp and 54-year-old Cheryl Landecker from Freeport, Ill. Both worked for Sensata Technologies, owned by Bain Capital, in the city of some 25,000 people. They say 170 jobs there, including their own, were outsourced to China.
Gaurapp and Landecker said that just a few years ago, they never would have considered joining such a protest.
“But then again, we wouldn’t have dreamed our jobs would have gone to China,” Gaurapp said.
For months, protesters were gearing up for scores of people to converge on Tampa the day before the convention began to showcase their laundry list of beefs and key messages.
Neither protesters nor the GOP, however, could foresee Tropical Storm Isaac, which is expected to become a dangerous Category 2 hurricane by the time it makes land over the northern Gulf Coast sometime late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Tampa won’t bear the brunt, but winds, heavy rain and perhaps flooding are expected Monday.
Though jobs and uneven distribution of wealth were strong messages, those who did show up didn’t seem to have a universal theme.
For example, there was a group of dancing anarchists — without a message of any kind really. “Dance for that anarchy,” they chanted. Take a look:
Some came to oppose just Mitt Romney as a candidate. Others didn’t seem to care for Romney or President Barack Obama.
A more spirited but still tame protest of 500 to 1,000 people was held for about an hour in St. Petersburg, about 15 miles away, at the Republican kickoff party at Tropicana Field. The relations between protesters and police — who were on foot, bikes and horses — was amicable. One protester was spotted chatting with an officer under a palm tree about the track of Isaac.
Though protesters vow to stay put, if the weather threatens their safety or that of visitors on the streets, police officers will use public address systems and go person-to-person to warn them to leave, said Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor.
Castor said if “it becomes an issue of public safety, we will order people into shelters.”
At least one arrest was made. A man that police said had a machete strapped to his leg was subdued after he resisted officers, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
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Comments (79)
Herokidstar
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:56amI think the $725 is 7.25 as in min wage. Which really sucks min wage should be 0 or close to it. It would let businesses hire more of the “foot in the door” jobs that people use to have that would help build experance and loyality to a company
Report Post »Man-On-A-Mission
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 11:31amYea….getting paid $0.00 dollars an hour for working is called slavery…..
We had it hear for over 300 years…..and your right…it is a great way to get rich…..if you were white.
Vegascelt
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 11:40amSure Man on a mission. If you take a job at $0.00/hour. The point is that the wage should be a point of negotiation. But thanks for injecting race.
Report Post »kevin77355
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 12:32pmMan-on-amission, I think you should channel your anger at the coastal Africans who sold the inter- continental Africans for money into slavery first. Slavery is wrong any way you cut it but, really ask yourself would you be better off if you were born in Africa. You are typing on a computer, ask yourself how many Africans have a computer currently. Let’s all be Americans and move forward together.
Report Post »Mr. H.
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 3:03pmYou are exactly correct. Minimum wage was never intended to be a living wage. It’s a starter job wage where the young learn about having a job, how to budget money, and what they do NOT want to spend their life doing. If you want a fun job, and a good wage, go to school, serve an apprenticeship, get a degree, earn the credentials needed for the job and you will find one. High School just doesn’t do it any more, and a lot of college degrees don’t either! If you are going to spend the time and money, make sure you can earn enough to pay for it.
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:42amAHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA What a motley crew! There are more cameras than people. Is that all they could find from all over the entire USA? WOW, how embarrassing! Where‘s all those hundreds of thousands’ that were going to show up. Maybe a free tent wasn’t worth it with all the rain? FLOAT AWAY NOW MORONS! HAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAA The dance made my day. Thanks!
Report Post »barber2
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:48amDance ? That was a dance ? I think the choreographer forgot to show up .
Report Post »JAMACAMECRAZYMAN
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 2:31pmTypical Obama voters………………………. Sad
Report Post »myway
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:40amWhere are the Black Panthers? Dance fools dance no one is watching. Roll another one.
Report Post »JohnQTaxpayer
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 12:09pmIt is easy to sit behind a camera and rant about violence and killing white people.
However the reality of “what me do that” no, I was telling all you black sheeple to go and do that.
My offer stands;
Here kitty, kitty, kitty, come at me with your threats of violence, death, and murderous rants.
I got something for ya
Report Post »objectivetruth
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:33amWeath war class disparity exc/Dont you know that the enemy within, uses these tactics to conceal themselves.As long as you fight amonst yourselves, you won’t be able to come to the conclusion that the goal is the same ,with just a differenct set of tactics being used.
Report Post »objectivetruth
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:30amI get a hoot out of those who think anarchy works.Anarchy only means the survival of the fittest.Out of the rubble, the rulers rise.In essence ,out of chaos comes control.Its an oxymoron of the highest order.
Report Post »Sirfoldallot
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:49amNoice how all of them r young.
Report Post »Rats56
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:27amGoing to be interesting to see how these 15 minuters handle Isaac.
Report Post »Lucky3000
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:25amThose people from IL that say they lost their jobs because they were outsourced to China…wonder who paid for them to go to Tampa….
Report Post »Comeandtakeit
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 12:16pmI was wondering the same thing. How do these “poor” people all afford airplane flights or transportation and hotels to go to Tampa? Not surprising few would show up for the demonstration, either- after all, that would take effort and be too much like “work”.
Report Post »Quasimofo
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:09am“We are the 99 percent” No hell you aren’t! you’re the 53% that don’t pay any taxes and have to be carried by people like me!
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:25amAmen Mofo, amen. If they did represent 99% of this country, we would be begging for a bailout from Greece!
Report Post »Wango
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 11:46amSo, 53% of Americans don’t pay any taxes. Is that what you’re saying?
Report Post »Cry_Havoc
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 2:34pmWANGO: Yup, I checked. It’s in English too. Pretty sure that‘s what he’s saying.
Report Post »Wango
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 4:01pmTHE CLUELESS CREW…First, get your whines right. YOU are the 53%, remember? You had that little campaign that was going to change everything . . .”We are the 53%!”
Now, to the 47% you actually meant (you’re welcome) who pay no Federal income tax – they pay plenty of other taxes – sales taxes, excise taxes, property taxes, payroll taxes or state income taxes. Who are these deadbeats? The vast majority are young people, families living under the poverty thresh hold ($20K for a family of four), the sick, and old people on fixed incomes (like Paul Ryan’s mother). And don’t forget wealthy taxpayers who escape income taxes through itemized deductions, preferential treatment for capital gains and dividends, education tax credits and other specialized tax breaks.
This is usually where some equally misinformed conservative chimes in with “5% of the households in the U.S. pay 60% of the taxes! Waaaaa!’ Well, that same 5% of the households in the U.S. held 63% of the wealth.
Don’t expect me to do all your thinking for you fellas. You gotta grow up some day, Might was well start today.
Report Post »Lucky3000
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:08amAll the time I was watching this I was struck by what a slovenly bunch of slobs American society has become….Not all, but too many of us……No class………..
Report Post »EWRoss
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:06amRepublican and Democratic national conventions once were exciting and unpredictable. The nominees may already have been determined, but you never knew what might happen. Now they’re all about production values and absence of controversy; but will at least one of the conventions that will take place during the next two weeks be a throwback to a bygone era? http://ewross.com/echoes_of_the_1968_democratic_national_convention.htm
Report Post »DEMOCRATS.ARE.EVIL
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:02amI don’t see a lot of diversity in the photos. Looks like “typical white folks” to me. Sorry, Barry.
Report Post »KoolAidDrinker
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:11amSame song and dance as the 1960′s crowd…
Report Post »barber2
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:46amKOOL: Yeah. Looks like the same anarchy / Bill Ayers Weatherman crowd : losers and boosers . ( has Obama looked at these kids ? bet he wouldn’t want his daughters hanging with this crowd! )
Report Post »Wango
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 11:47amBABAR2 . . I’m so sick of these people and their violence. I agree with you . . .shoot them!
Report Post »BlackCrow
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:01amCome to Illinois and save jobs…..that’s funny!!!! The only way to save jobs in Illinois is to run the communists out of government. You are protesting at the wrong convention!!! Idiots.
Report Post »LoadNLock
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 8:59amProbably the only shower they have had all year…
Report Post »00gabooga
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 8:54amEat the rich!?! Once again liberals, go back to math class. How can you feed 99% of the people on only 1%? There won’t be enough rich-meat to go around! Plus, what will the vegans eat? That’s a very anti-vegan stance.
Report Post »Redwing1
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:07amFunny post. I am cracking up. Witty indeed. Keep it up. I need to get up from my chair. Still chuckling!!!
Report Post »KoolAidDrinker
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:10amSo true….their puppet looks good…
Report Post »biohazard23
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:13amThey’re veganphobic! Hate group alert!!
Report Post »barber2
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 8:48amThe usual parroted , scripted , phony phrases: “99%”…blah..blah..blah. The same old “ dog on the car” story parroted again.( Maureen Dowd has been running that routine in the New York Times since the 2008 election. ) Blah..blah..blah.. A six foot silver spoon with Mitt Romney’s name on it. More of the Obama class division and smears…blah.. MIC check repeat : .“Walker hates workers” interrupting his speech..blah..One slightly new touch: the old professionally made signs have been replaced by more hand made versions ! But did notice the professionally made tee shirts ! Our Democrats: bullies and parrots . Blah..blah..blah..
Report Post »TelepromoterNChief
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 8:38amMitt Romney is a bad man:
Report Post »1/23/1978 he took the last slice of apple pie at a church function
4/14/1982 I waved at Mitt from the other side of the school parking lot, but he didn’t wave back
11/4/1984 I brought shredded carrot, cabbage w whipped cream and raisins salad to the ward social and he did not have any of it.
3/22/1985 he did not pay taxes for an online purchase
LibertyGoddess
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 8:57amDid anyone notice they spelled Bain Capital wrong? The sign that really gets me is “$724 Sucks”…complaining about the amount of their welfare check. Who owes them 2 cents? That kind of gratitude will get you scorn every time.
Report Post »Redwing1
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:10amLibertyGoddess….enough said. Nice catch.
Report Post »biohazard23
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:15amThey spelled “destroy” incorrectly, too. Love that public school education….
Report Post »JACKTHETOAD
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 8:26amAsses on a hot tin roof fresh from a dumpster called desire.
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 8:16amWhy are liberals so homely ? That must be the root of their anger……….
Report Post »amerbur
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 7:50amWe have 36,000 to feed and assit those in need and a packed Cowboy stadium and no coverage,
Report Post »They have 15 people, dressed in black and bongo drums and the press covers them? The main stream media is worthless.
wellhangingchad
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 7:50amI applaud the police officers for using such restraint…
…from falling over and laughing at these losers!
Report Post »beatobama
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 8:01amMy thoughts exactly. A mobile tattoo shop could have made a fortune.
Report Post »starman70
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 8:29amIt‘s too bad Issac didn’t come a little closer. The heavy rains might have washed away their tents and given many of these clowns the first bath they have had in months.
Soap and deoderant sales have plummented in areas where the occupiers camp out.
Report Post »Angel_light
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 8:44amstarman70- i agree. I don’t think i want to be even a mile away from those protestors. I’d like to stay as far away as possible not just b/c of the stench but the obnoxiousness too.
Report Post »Spankster
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 7:35amYou know That it’s not going good for you when you have a protest march and nobody shows up but the reporters,what a bunch of losers.I will give them credit for one thing though,the drummer is obviously an Iron Butterfly fan because that sounded very much like the drum solo from Ina Gadda Da Vida.
Report Post »OhioRifleman
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 8:13amYou’re right, I was listening to that and I kept wondering when was the guitar going to kick in. Then I realized it’s just a bunch of marching anarchists (which is its own walking contradiction, lol).
Report Post »AJAYW
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 7:22amWhen you’re such a coward that you hide and cover your face when protesting. One has to wonder if its your true feelings or are you being paid to be there.
Report Post »americansfightingforcommonsense
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 7:21amThese people don’t know what they want except for NO government. They are anarchists. Hello. We need some government, just not the bloated out of control one we have right now.
Report Post »Mitt Romney is ten times the man that Barack Obama is and Mitt breath life back into this Great Nation. May God Bless Mitt and America1
Tomfang
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 7:21amWhat’s that, that Rush says about liberalism being a mental disorder ? Here’s your proof.
Report Post »infidelsaplenty
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 7:31amRush may have repeated it, but I believe it was Michael Savage who originated the “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder” line. It applies, whoever crafted it.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 7:41amConsidering that some Democratic sanctioned scientists claim that conservatism is a genetic defect; it would not suprise me to define Liberalism as a full blown insanity syndrome along the lines of narcissism and god complex and messianic complex – kind of like our President has.
Report Post »Lordcsmith
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 7:20amI think I will show up with a sign that says, “I LIKE TURTLES”. We’re not voting in a president as much as we are voting for a kindergarten teacher. Sigh…
Report Post »honestynow
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 8:02amDid you catch the “destory” sign? Spell check protesters!
Report Post »Redwing1
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 9:15amHonesty now…..LibertGoddess pointed out “capitol” now you “destory.” Two misspellings on the same sign. Priceless. Lets teach them how to feel good about themselves in school instead of the three r’s.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 10:05am“Destory”… ooops. That must be why the Democrats previously used professionally made signs !
Report Post »Wango
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 11:48amBABAR2. . . That misspelled sign is reason enough to follow out YOR plan . . .shoot them.
BABAR2 2012!
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