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Special Report
The Mob Who Came to Dinner
Eyewitness as Occupy DC attacks the Tea Party summit.
“WE! ARE! THE NINETY-NINE PERCENT!”
“WE! ARE! THE NINETY-NINE PERCENT!”
The rhythmic chant, kept in time by the accompaniment of a drummer, eventually deteriorated into chaotic shouting as the mob crowded around the entrance to the Washington Convention Center. A young woman held aloft her homemade 11-by-17-inch sign: “OCCUPY” with three red stars, a crude simulation of the District of Columbia flag. Flashes from dozens of digital cameras intermittently illuminated the frenzied scene by the glass doors, which were guarded by Metropolitan Police officers attempting to prevent the Occupy DC protesters from shoving their way inside.
“Peaceful! Peaceful!” some of the mob members shouted, as the self-declared “99 percent” were clearly on the verge of a full-scale riot Friday night outside the venue where the Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Foundation was holding its annual Defending the American Dream Summit. Before the evening was over, elderly women attending the “Tribute to Ronald Reagan” dinner would be shoved to the ground and three Occupiers would be struck by a car, but those incidents transpired later, after the protesters attempted to storm the doors of the Convention Center.
This onrush was not spontaneous. This allegedly “leaderless” movement indeed has de facto leaders, and one of them had given the signal for this sudden — but obviously pre-planned — mass assault on the venue of the AFP Foundation event. Nor was the target of the mob’s attack chosen at random. AFP is one of several free-market organizations that have received contributions from Charles and David Koch, the energy industry moguls who have been widely demonized as funders of the Tea Party movement and other activism that liberals would categorize as part of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. Since September, the mainstream media have portrayed the “Occupy” protests as analogous to the Tea Party and here — on the plaza outside the Convention Center in downtown D.C. — the two movements were quite literally face-to-face, a stunning study in contrasts.
Twenty minutes before the mob rushed the doors, I had been inside enjoying dinner at a table near the rear of the cavernous main ballroom on the third floor, listening to a speech by Andrew Napolitano, the former New Jersey judge turned Fox News personality. Seated with me at Table 137 were two Pennsylvania women, Jennifer Stefano and Katy Abrams, who are leaders of their state’s AFP chapter. Both Stefano and Abrams were stay-at-home moms who joined the Tea Party movement in 2009 and their emergence as influential volunteer activists soon brought them to the attention of AFP. These Pennsylvania housewives are classic examples of how AFP has helped turn the Tea Party movement into an effective political force: Identifying leaders, providing training, funding and other organizational resources, and connecting these scattered citizens into a cohesive nationwide network of citizen-activists. For these grassroots foot soldiers of the Tea Party, the annual Defending the American Dream Summit in D.C. is a chance to learn and teach, to communicate and socialize, and the “Tribute to Ronald Reagan” dinner is a can’t-miss-it celebration of their common cause.
We were finishing our entrée — roast chicken with rice and vegetables — at Table 137 while Napolitano was on the distant stage discussing infringements of Fourth Amendment rights under the USA Patriot Act. The judge’s libertarian dissertation caused me to remark to my tablemates that Napolitano’s philosophy seemed influenced by Murray Rothbard. Just then, at a table some 70 feet nearer the stage, a man suddenly stood up and began shouting. Security personnel converged on the obstreperous protester, and I excused myself from dinner, regretting the necessity to pursue my journalistic craft. The disrupter turned out to be Ricky Lehner, a 23-year-old member of Occupy DC’s “Action Committee” who, in an interview with the Washington Post three weeks earlier, had said of the demonstrators encamped in McPherson Square: “We’re trying to get a bit more organized.” Given his leadership role and his avowed purpose of organizing the protests, Lehner’s disruption at the AFP Reagan dinner was obviously planned, rather than being a spontaneous response to anything Napolitano had said. The police dragged Lehner out of the ballroom and I followed them out. Lehner lay prostrate while the police patted him down and emptied his pockets. Other reporters, some of them with cameras, witnessed the scene as the police pulled from under Lehner’s suit jacket a folded white banner he had never gotten a chance to unfurl. We couldn’t see what was written on the banner, but we heard Lehner quietly repeating like a mantra, “I did not consent to this search,” as if disturbing the peace at such an event did not constitute reasonable grounds for the police to make sure he was not armed. Lehner was not handcuffed or brutalized, but was escorted from the premises.
To one of the AFP staffers standing nearby I joked that it would have been nice if the protester had waited until we’d all finished our entrées. His disruption was not much of a story. Being credentialed as a blogger for the event did not require me to report such a trivial incident. Having covered the speeches that afternoon by Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Herman Cain, I figured I’d already done the journalistic minimum necessary to justify my free dinner. So I decided to go outside for a post-prandial smoke, intending to return later for dessert and coffee. As soon as I went out the front door, however, it was evident that an entirely different story was taking place on the streets around the Convention Center. Police cars with their lights flashing had cordoned off Mount Vernon Place, establishing a security perimeter. The protesters had erected a giant inflatable figure emblazoned with the slogan: “Koch Bros.: Fat Cats for Prosperity.” Walking down to the corner, I saw that the intersection of 7th Street and New York Avenue was “occupied” by a sit-in protest of sorts. A couple of young reporters — Chris Moody of Yahoo News and Michelle Fields of the Daily Caller — were standing next to the police cars observing the spectacle. The Occupiers were doing a ritual they call “mike check,” in which individuals recite their grievances in call-and-response fashion, the crowd loudly parroting the speaker’s words. A bearded fellow recounted how, at age 37, his application for Social Security disability benefits had been rejected — his disability was presumably psychiatric in nature — and his family kicked him out. He ended his recitation with an obscene remark about his parents, which the crowd obediently echoed in unison. To the two young reporters standing nearby, I was muttering something sarcastic about this deranged idiot’s self-pitying victimhood when our conversation was interrupted by a shout from the crowd: “Road trip!”
This seems to have been a pre-determined code signal for the pre-planned assault on the Convention Center, and the tatterdemalion hippie horde went rushing past us, hell-bent on shoving their way through the front doors. Reaching into my coat pocket, I pulled out my small digital camera and recorded video of the scene. At first, police held the doors open to continue admitting guests of the AFP event while physically blocking the Occupy mob. That response quickly became problematic after the crowd surged forward, however, and the doors were closed to everyone — including me, despite the official credential hanging from a green lanyard around my neck. Somehow, I managed to work my way through the compressed throng and found my way to one of the glass doors. Several of the protesters around me began pounding on the glass, and I held my credential up so that the police and AFP personnel inside could see that a “friendly” was trapped among the hostile Occupiers. But the people inside just shook their heads: No chance of my being rescued at that point, so I resolved to make the best of it.
Turning around, I saw that I wasn’t the only friendly stuck there amid the menacing mob. Right next to me, in fact, was a picturesque tableau and I switched my camera from video to photo mode to capture the scene: A policeman at the door confronting a couple of AFP activists from Michigan who smiled as they displayed their event credentials while, standing to their right, the Daily Caller reporter looked out with a concerned expression at the surrounding crowd of angry protesters. None of us — not the policeman, not the Michigan couple, not the Daily Caller reporter and certainly not me — had expected to find ourselves swarmed like this. Yet here we were, like frontiersmen at an outpost besieged by savages, wondering when the cavalry would arrive.
Within a few minutes, the standoff was stabilized long enough for the doors to be opened and admit those of us with credentials, and I made my way upstairs, cursing my ill fortune. Having accidentally been on the scene when news happened, I now felt obligated to report it — good-bye, coffee and dessert! Immediately, I posted a bulletin on my blog (“I was in the middle of the scrum of smelly hippies when they stormed the doors”) and quickly updated to add videos and photos. By the time I went back outside to get more video (of protesters chanting “Whose streets? Our streets!”), more news had happened: Old ladies were shoved to the ground, and a silver luxury car — driven by a resident of neighboring Prince Georges County, Maryland, who had no connection to the AFP event — struck three protesters blocking an intersection. After I’d finished filing my online updates, I packed up my laptop computer and headed over to the Renaissance Hotel, where most of the AFP summit attendees were staying. One of my friends, a professional Republican operative, bought me a beer at the lobby bar and laughed as he told how he’d been standing in front of the Convention Center talking to the protesters when David Koch exited the Reagan dinner. My friend recognized Koch, but said nothing while the allegedly evil billionaire passed unrecognized through the crowd. It was only after Koch was gone that my friend told the Occupiers that they’d just missed the villain whose presence at the Convention Center had inspired all the chaos. My Republican friend summarized his opinion of the mob: “I’ve never seen so many losers in my life.” And another Republican, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, had said in his speech at the AFP summit, “Barack Obama owns the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement. It would not have happened but for his class warfare.”
Driving home Saturday morning, I thumbed through the stack of business cards I’d collected during the AFP event and saw the card of Michelle Fields, the Daily Caller reporter who had shared my experience of being trapped among the clamoring horde. I called and asked her if she’d felt the same sense of menace that had struck me at that moment. Indeed she had, and worse. Fields explained how she’d spent three hours Friday being stalked and harassed while attempting to cover the Occupy DC demonstrations. “I actually did not feel comfortable, because at one point there were a whole group of men surrounding me saying, ‘F—Michelle Fields,’” she told me. Her video of the event provided abundant proof of the obscene hostility she endured Friday. Her experience fit an emerging narrative of the six-week old movement, which has been plagued by sexual assault and other outbreaks of criminality, including one Occupier arrested for arson in Colorado. The Occupy movement’s claim to represent the economic grievances of the American majority was belied by their thuggish behavior. Their convergence at the AFP event only accentuated the contrast between the protest mob’s barbarism and the civilized behavior of their targets. The Tea Party represents the law-abiding, tax-paying, middle-class mainstream while Occupy DC represents an unpopular radical fringe. Despite their chants, the Occupiers are not the 99 percent, and perhaps not even 9 percent. In a nation of 300 million people, however, even an estimate of 0.9 percent would provide the leaders of the mob with 2.7 million witless savages to follow them lemming-like off a cliff and into the abyss of anarchy, which is all they deserve to occupy.
About the Author
Robert Stacy McCain is co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party (Nelson Current). He blogs at The Other McCain.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (84) | Leave a comment
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TC@LeatherPenguin | 11.7.11 @ 4:23AM
TESTIFY, Brother Stacy!
Alan Brooks| 11.7.11 @ 12:31PM
This is a msg. to Clint:
I have never commented here under a different name than my own.
irish19| 11.7.11 @ 12:48PM
Good for you!
Clint| 11.7.11 @ 12:56PM
This is a msg. to Brooks.
You picked your feet in Poughkeepsie?
irish19| 11.7.11 @ 12:49PM
He really shouldn't hold back. It's not healthy. McCain should just say what he feels and stop trying to sugarcoat the whole thing.
Alan Brooks| 11.7.11 @ 1:17PM
"You picked your feet in Poughkeepsie?"
The skag was in the rocker panels.
Please remember, I am not out to to get you Clint, though some here are. Contact AS computer guy and find the IPO of who is bugging you.
I do not ever post undr a different name, so stop writing "ObamaBoy Brooks, is that you?"
You are paranoid- I am not that clever.
Look at the comments in question, they are from someone more eloquent than me.
Clint| 11.7.11 @ 3:29PM
Apparently, If They're Out To Get Me, As You Say ObamaBoy Brooks,Then Either I'm Not Paranoid Or You Are.
However, You're Faux Humility Is Faux Humblin'.
Are You Sayin' That You Are Not An ObamaBoy Brooks ?
Aaaaaand You Picked Your Feet In Poughkeepsie.
We'l Be Back In An Hour.
Alan Brooks| 11.7.11 @ 5:09PM
"Then Either I'm Not Paranoid Or You Are."
They're coming to get you Barbara. Look, there's one of them now.
Clint| 11.7.11 @ 7:13PM
Now I'm gonna bust your ass, Brooks for those three bags and I'm gonna nail you for picking your feet in Poughkeepsie.
Alan Brooks| 11.8.11 @ 10:53AM
Yeah, but that Frenchie TV guy Angelvin will get his pretty ass in the can, too.
Alan Brooks| 11.8.11 @ 10:57AM
"Angel wine"
is the translation of Frenchie's name.
Anyway, I'm not so savvy as to read all your comments and know how to respond. I just looked at the posts in question, they are from conservatives who are on the ball. I'm not. I swear.
tnxplant| 11.7.11 @ 6:39AM
As my 1960s vintage English teacher used to say,
"Ninety-nine percent WHAT?" (actually, "pure WHAT?" when referring to the Ivory soap claim).
How many of us can tell our stories of graduating from college in the early 70's with real degrees that meant something and working as, say, internal auditors (counting cans for a grocery chain) for far less than union store clerks made?! Or of living in an unairconditioned place in GA in the 100 degree heat? I could go on and on...
I just don't want to hear it from the spoiled ones. Things today are not worse than they were then - if anything, they are better.
chuck| 11.7.11 @ 8:01AM
I say, wait for the really cold weather to hit, then break out the fire hoses, and give them a much needed shower.
Mike Rogers | 11.7.11 @ 9:42AM
Yeah, baby, but better - pump warm water from the fire engines for the greater shock when it freezes.
John McG| 11.7.11 @ 9:46AM
Exactly! Where *are* the hoses? In this weather, a simply dousing would work. Should they become violent, a bit more water pressure would scatter them and save the police from hand-to-hand combat with these clowns.
Drunken Sailor| 11.7.11 @ 11:44AM
If these parks have sprinklers it sure we be effecitve to set them to go off at 2-3 am every morning.
Al Adab| 11.7.11 @ 12:36PM
Remember DS, this is a privately owned park. The corporation which owns it got bailout money and Mayor Bloomburgs' concubine sits on the board of directors. Any wonder this keeps going on?
c. j. acworth| 11.7.11 @ 1:01PM
And I hope it keeps going on. The longer these nutjobs make themselves unpleasant the blacker the eye they give to any who foolishly sounded support for them, right up to the fraud who currntly squats in the Oval Office. I do feel sorry for the residents of the area though, and the small businesses that are suffering through this.
Drunken Sailor| 11.7.11 @ 2:02PM
Ahh Al but a man can dream. And in my dream the park has a "Green" sprinkler system that waters the lawn with reclaimed "Grey water". The smell would probably be a improvement.
Al Adab| 11.7.11 @ 2:28PM
Ahhh, es verdad. LOL
jpelligrino| 11.8.11 @ 1:33AM
I have to walk by it every day and every time I do I send a flame mail to Bloomburg's office. He's a RINO and wants to be Obama's next Secretary of the Treasury so this is how he curries favor. What a useless tool.
Teaghan| 11.8.11 @ 11:26AM
I listened to a reporter today who took her life into her own hands and spent the night in that park in NYC. She had to share a tent with 5 others and said she never shut her eyes once. She said it is a dangerous place, especially for women and children. Rampant drug use, derelicts and folks just coming to party. And here's the kicker~they are bringing in 4x8 pieces of plywood to build structures that they can live in throughout the winter.
I wonder if they will have to apply for building permits. Hello Mike Bloomberg!!!!!!!
smitty| 11.7.11 @ 6:41AM
I'm sure that #OccupyResoluteDesk is personally almost moved toward a vague unease by the growing anarchy.
Kenny| 11.7.11 @ 6:49AM
Parasites act poorly when their food bowl is at risk..
All the more reason to cut government spending at the local, state and federal levels.
Mike Hawk| 11.7.11 @ 6:56AM
These are the Community Organizer in Chief's base. Make no mistake.
Mike Rogers | 11.7.11 @ 9:43AM
Let us make sure that fact is communicated so well and so clearly that no-one else will stand with him.
His real base is the very rich and the very stupid.
Teaghan| 11.8.11 @ 11:29AM
This anarchy is exactly what obama wants but be sure that his fingerprints won't be on this mob, except for his "endorsement of them". No, ACORN, Soros, SEIU are funding these dirtbags with free food, tents and sleeping bags Absolutely, these are obama's people. I say, take his bride and kiddies down there for a gander and let us know how that goes.
jpelligrino| 11.8.11 @ 1:34AM
I call him the occupier in chief now. It has a certain ring to it.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 11.7.11 @ 7:11AM
The Occupy Movement is the 1%.
The 1% who refuse to work and would rather engage in criminal activity as opposed to something worthwhile.
Like your friend stated, they are all losers.
Mimi| 11.7.11 @ 7:25AM
YES .......The President of these United States OWNS this OCCUPY MESS!
It was frightening just reading about citizens attending a dinner and dare not go outside because of a frenzied MOB.
The "O" has repeatedly complained about the KOCH brothers and America for Prosperity....because of their support for FREEDOM.
We have been on to his motives since before 4/15/09, We have dished out a MAJOR defeat at the voting booth in Nov. 2010.
We NOW have more POOR than ever....More loss of wealth by the middle class...MORE money transferred to "HIS" supporters than ever...and WE ARE ON TO HIM!
Aaron Klien ....Author of "RED ARMY"a recent scary, factual read, documents it all.....we have a fight on our hands to save the country. WE MUST have the STRONGEST individual to dig through the laws , bureaucracy, and pull out the weeds of this BY the roots! We have willingly elected enemies of the PEOPLE....we were lied to!
Nancy in NC| 11.7.11 @ 8:27AM
I was there Friday night along with Mr. McCain and 2,000 other people that want to make this country better for all and about a 100 or so that are destroyers and want to take away our right to do so.
We paid our way to Washington to hear inspiring speakers and attend informative programs to learn how to achieve our goals. We paid tribute to a man we all admire.
For our trouble, we were prevented from free movement and lost our sense of security and freedom. We were cursed at, pushed and harrassed.
I would do it every day if people in this country would wake up and see we are losing our freedom, but we are winning the war of ideas.
Al Adab| 11.7.11 @ 12:38PM
Nancy,
Just wait thill they show up in Charlotte for the DEM convention. Board up the windows as, after all, those buildings are mostly banks.
Deborah D | 11.9.11 @ 8:49AM
North Carolinians don't care much for people who do not obey common courtesy. We'll see how they do in Charlotte. Should be interesting...they do want a repeat of Chicago '68 -- you know they do! I'm sure that will help The One (not!)
They'll probably do it in Tampa, where the 2012 Republican convention is...
Mollie| 11.7.11 @ 12:28PM
Puts me in mind of what my husband says: Always carry a gun.
Teaghan| 11.8.11 @ 11:31AM
Get your carry permits people!!!
martin j smith| 11.7.11 @ 7:33AM
These are the creeps that the Establishment Republican Party refuses to deal with because it is Obama himself. They are cowards and we need new leaders.
As for your shindig--I would have thought with the Ocupiers in town there would have been more ( forgive the expression)-beefed up security.
But beware we are one year before the election. These goons are just practicing their violent methods and I do say this seriously. What I fear is that many do not take this dangerous seriously enough. Oakland should give all of us reason to pause and consider the security needs. And especially in an election season.
Mike Rogers | 11.7.11 @ 9:47AM
We have seen the leaders, and they are ready. Check out the Cain-Gingrich partnership discussion in Texas on Saturday. You cannot call it a debate, it was the introduction of a ticket. (And the candidates joked about that possibility, too.)
John Navratil| 11.7.11 @ 10:01AM
Mike Rogers,
I taped it, but I had to watch LSU (almost not) beat Alabama. One must set priorities.
Teaghan| 11.8.11 @ 11:32AM
I could go with that ticket. How 'bout you all?
edward| 11.7.11 @ 7:36AM
March of the Moochers continues in all its "glory".
Tenn Slim| 11.7.11 @ 7:40AM
OWS Command and Control, exemplified.
The DC, NY, Oakland centers are the C and C Hubs of the Spokes of the C and C wheel.
The Article provided on the scene experience of the ends of this "Spoke". Follow the development of the OWS via obscure leftist sites. Progressive dems, Underground dems, Dem Strategist, all contain direction and information that the OWS regularly draw upon.
This movement is far from being beigen, foolish or to be ignored.
Thier goals are clearly stated, in their Sept Lists of Demands, thier General Assembly dailies and other pubs.
Ignore them at our peril.
Semper FI
Fast Johnny| 11.7.11 @ 7:41AM
All I can see in this movement is a 'rage against the machine' attitude. I don't know, maybe these people think they are deserving of something that the rest of us had to work for or maybe they just think they are special in some way. All I can say is that everyday I see more and more reasons to abhor this movement.
Doctor Right| 11.7.11 @ 7:49AM
When this rebellion-chic type of street theatre first seared itself into the public consciousness in the 1960's, most Americans (the fabled 1%) were stunned into submission by the audacity of the youthful malcontents and their brazen demands.M
Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for the malcontents, their phony protests just don't resonate like they used to.
Whiny, complaining, know-nothing young punks and their incessant demands for more freebies at the expense of those who work are NOT the exception, anymore - they are the rule, and their act has grown stale.
You fools dont shock anymore, you bore. The 1% are tired of your crap, losers, and we're not taking it anymore.
It was one thing to watch you squat on public property and make inane, ignorant comments. But when you start crashing our events, and threatening violence then the gloves are off.
This ain't the 60's. If you fools really want to rumble, let's roll.
Ret. Marine| 11.7.11 @ 7:58AM
Losers, I think not, a more apt word would be "parasites" this country is in need of shelving if not for the coward-n-thief known as obamas bin ly'n, their pResident, bought and literally paid for by the puppet master himself moneybagman, G. swartz, aka, sorros. These are his "people" ready at the drop of a hat to create such havoc on the population as to need that "crises to good to let go to waste". Parasites without a host are nothing but a bug awaiting a ride, this one, who the hell knows where they are attempting to ride to but to individuals responsible for the continuation of our Republic are going to give them a one way ticket to their hell they are attempting to create. This mob rule, called democracy in action, is not the America I fought for and am now disabled because of. I am so fricken mad at the cowards, especially the so called news outlets for not reporting the truth, our so called leaders for having given tactical approval of this, and especially those ahead of these mobs who are not right at this moment being charged for inciting violence and civil unrest. Damn, if these fools do not wise up soon, they will simply be targets of opportunity once their revolution is underway. I can't for the life of me feel pity, sorrow and anything else for these misguided children of satan's spawn. If they think there is trouble now, they haven't seen crap yet. Steady boys steady, we'll get our chance through elections but if this fails us, all bets are off the table and hell will be coming their way, intentionally. Don't go ah think'n I'm the only one with the solution to their problem, I'm not. I am just one answer for the continuation of our Republic with more of a following than they can imagine or care to acknowledge. Semper Fi.
Mimi| 11.7.11 @ 9:06AM
We all know WHO is doing this! I heard their PAYING 600.00 a week!
They decided long ago maybe after 11/2010 that could could no longer stay in POWER at the POLLS and elections they came up with this tactic...It's the OBAMA way.
After this fiasco they should start getting arrested... maybe they should do some showing up at SORO'S front door...to answer some questions! This dangerous IDIOT should have been put out of the country LONG AGO!
The paid kids arn't going to last thru 'til the ELECTION.... Enough already decent folks have had it & this one is off the table!
Petronius| 11.7.11 @ 9:57AM
Thinks Mimi
Now we know why Joe Biteme said he won't take No for an answer on the "jobs bill." $600 a week to get in the world's way. Let him pay them. They're his mob.
John Navratil| 11.7.11 @ 9:02AM
Such insolence! These sensitive souls put themselves in harms way by blocking traffic and then look for the trappings of the very civilization they seek to destroy to intervene when someone is run over. How can these imbeciles be taken seriously?
Indiana Alex| 11.7.11 @ 9:03AM
It's a wonder the public isn't introduced more formally to this side of the left.
Louis Jenkins| 11.7.11 @ 9:18AM
The OWS crowd needs a dose of reality. How much longer will their transgressions go unreported? The arson, public exposure, public defecation, sexual assualt, drug use, etc.? I'd be proud to be caught in a Tea Party Demonstration, but an OWS crowd? Shameful public behavior. And they're proud of it? Get a life.
William L. Gensert| 11.7.11 @ 9:29AM
I truly admire the bravery of the author, not only did he admit to going outside for a cigarette, he acknowledged having a lanyard around his neck. If he had confessed to having the pork medallions as an entree and driving to and from the event, he would have become an urban legend, and a hero to us all.
VonMisesJr| 11.7.11 @ 9:48AM
The 1% that the OWS unwittingly protests is Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Schmer, Frank and their friends Blankfein, Immelt, George Kaiser from Solyndra and other crony capitalist.
As Hayek explained in "The Fatal Conceit" chapter titled "Our Poisoned Language," the mal-educated and civic ignoramouses of OWS do not understand that it is misnamed. These people have nothing to do with capitalism. It is crony socialism, or to be more precise: fascism.
They are just confounded that the fascist in government (who are the flip side of the same coin as the so-called crony capitalist on Wall Street) have not bailed out them on their student loans and not given them the $20/hr they demand from the Welfare State.
Mike Rogers | 11.7.11 @ 9:52AM
Fabulous reporting. As a part time blogger at the event, I was in awe of real shoe leather reporting in action. I feel privileged to have shared some time with "Stacy", and in some small way to have abetted his efforts.
Go to www.theothermccain.com and hit his tip jar to keep this great writing coming!
martin j smith| 11.7.11 @ 10:43AM
many of you get who they are and that is fine and dandy but what to do about them is the real question. because as time gets closer to the election they will get more violent and their goal is to disrupt the election. any one who doubts that is at best dangerously naive. bear in mind they are under the direction of obama and the socialist. so fellow freedom lovers what should be done ?
Delta Zelda| 11.7.11 @ 11:33AM
Florida has an “imminent danger/stand your ground” law. If an OWS thug attacks a civilian who is carrying, live ammo will come into the equation. The OWS, like the Kent state protesters in the 60s, will learn that live ammo kills and a dirt nap lasts forever. Welcome to Florida!
Teaghan| 11.8.11 @ 11:36AM
Arm yourself~
nohussein| 11.7.11 @ 10:44AM
America's trash on a hussein backed rampage, what a shock.
Riff Raff| 11.7.11 @ 10:48AM
"The scoops are on their way! The scoops are on their way!"
sparch| 11.7.11 @ 11:28AM
Lord of the Flies.
Life imitates art.
Richard Rogers| 11.7.11 @ 11:52AM
Can't some journalist at Oama's next press conference put the question to him fair & square: does he support the F lea Party? Yes or No,.
Cookie Sewell| 11.7.11 @ 12:27PM
Um, anybody ever do an on the ground recce of the OWS site in New York? We drove by it on a tour bus on Saturday and I could swear the entire "encampment" is only about 100 x 500 feet at most. So much for a "clamoring of thousands".
Al Adab| 11.7.11 @ 12:41PM
It is since I wish to become part of the 1 percent that I support free markets and Conservative issues. Lincoln said, "That some become rich means that others may become rich." I will take my chances in the marketplace as against a government bowl of pottage any day.
Ron| 11.7.11 @ 12:55PM
Maybe they need to just go occupy a real job for a change...BTW, do the college student knuckleheads get flunked from their college classes for non-attendance?
Al Adab| 11.7.11 @ 1:37PM
The professors most likely give them credit for participating. They may even get "independant study" credit hours.
JFGalt| 11.7.11 @ 1:07PM
I am sorry to say that I first thought that the OWS movement was good. I hoped it represented people that were truly concerned at the criminal activities that have become commonplace on Wall Street and the blind eye that our government has turned towards them. Well, that hope has been smashed upon the rocks by the obvious co-opting of the movement by the leftwing lunatics that have declared themselves hellbent on destroying America. A couple of years ago, I felt as if we were about to relive the 60's and low and behold here we are. Even long hair is making a comeback. What I felt had started off as a legitimate protest which dovetailed with many of the Tea Party's complaints has gone amock and mutated into a Communitiy Organizer's Dream. Compare the first OWS protestors versus who's out there now. Some group saw an opportunity and has jumped in with both feet bringing in their corps of professional protestors. OBAMA!'s and his mentor Saul Alinsky's vision for America is coming to pass. I have no doubt that he views his term as successful especially now. What troubles me most is that as my son is learning "This Land is Your Land" in school and I got to listen to those lyricks once again and was reminded of the greatness of America at least in the land between the east and west coasts - but the fact that this divided nation is becoming more and more screwed up as time goes on because of the smart people that are supposed to know better. Our government is beyond out of control - so much so that every lunatic conspiracy theory seems plausible - why, because we just don't know what we can or cannot believe anymore. We have been lied to so much that we don't put it past our leaders to do whatever it takes to stay in power and just view us as either taxable pawns or cannon fodder. They throw the lives of our children away and then decry us as unpatriotic if we complain. Wall Street treats our money as theirs and operates with no internal restraints whatsoever. Our miltary is a revolving door with the defense industry and keeps us in perpetual wars that never end whether there is an enemy out there or not. Are there real enemies? Yes, but it takes us 10 yrs and thousands of our young troops lives to kill one a$$h### even after we had him in our sites and ordered our troops away from him. Corporate America has harkened to the call that Greed is Good with a vengence that it doesn't care if it eviscerates the American consumer that feeds it. They will gladly kill the Golden Goose in order to make this quarters bonus targets. Our universities are money making palaces that are prepared to enslave our children in debt in order to keep their little havens afloat while providing their clients with useless knowledge that can barely get them jobs filing away folders. The basic institutions of this country have become so heavily corrupted and worse is that so have the people. Everyone is just following orders. We enable these people to do this to us. Even our law enforcement personnel aren't so much concerned with our safety as with maintaining their version of order and god help you if you get on the wrong side with them these days. Every year it seems worse and worse but most people that I know or meet are still terrific Americans! It's obvious to me that these 99% protestors do not represent the real 99% of Americans and that is the problem. People need to start by voting out the encumbents. They need to constantly complain to the mainstream media that they do not represent them. Send them all packing and start anew. No more political contributions. Move your money to community banks. Hold your representatives feet to the fire on every issue out there. Otherwise the America we hold dear will pass and "Democracy will End to the Sound of Thunderous Applause". (and yes, that was from Star Wars!). It's happening now because we are letting it happen.
1ConservativeUSA| 11.7.11 @ 1:24PM
I attended this very AFP event as a grass roots activist. I am not tied to, or financed by any political group.
I can vouch for the criminal actions of the Occupy crowd, as described in this article.
I can also vouch for the thousands of truly patriotic and civil Americans who attended the AFP event, having met many of them. Having lived amongst the AFP group for two days, I believe I was with people who love our country, and who are preparing to restore it.
In addition to the assualt on both the AFP attendees and the Washington Convention Center, it is my opinion that the Occupy members could be charged with kidnapping, as we were held against our will. The menacing, screaming throng pressed up against and pounded on the glass windows and doors of the Convention Center and would not allow attendees to leave.
Among the AFP group that was trying to exit the Convention Center was a diabetic attempting to get back to his medication in his hotel room, and children.
Let it be known that I defend the Occupy movement's right to protest in accordance with the law, even though I believe its members are, by and large, (financed by George Soros and) utterly misguided. However, I find their actions against the AFP crowd this weekend to be criminal.
A quick aside for fun:
Andrew Breitbart best described members of the Occupy mob to the AFP attendees, when he succinctly and explicitly set forth, "They're Freaks!"
Let it also be known that the concerned and law abiding citizens who paid their own way to peacefully gather at this AFP event will lead America back to being a nation where individual liberty and prosperity prevail.
jane | 11.7.11 @ 2:12PM
You cannot have a leaderless crowd and keep it controlled and meaningful! The inevitable unravelling of OCCUPY has become quite apparent!
Aces and Eights| 11.7.11 @ 3:37PM
This, of course, is based on the assumption that the OWS crowd has at one time or other been "controlled and meaningful." This would be a false assumption.
loulou| 11.7.11 @ 2:47PM
Whatever happened to "shoot to kill?"
k962| 11.7.11 @ 3:33PM
I have watched these criminals called protestors and it's about time the law starting cracking down on the violent factions who DENY other citizens their rights! They are STREET FASCISTS nothing more!
Seek| 11.7.11 @ 4:39PM
Where were the cops? I know it's an obvious question, but this thuggery was illegal. There are actual laws against false imprisonment and rioting. And this stunt constituted both.
Solo| 11.7.11 @ 8:08PM
The Cops are good ole dues paying Union brothers, don't cha know?
I've seen this before at starkly violent Union protests to which I've been witness.
Teaghan| 11.8.11 @ 11:40AM
I would bet that the police have been told to hold back and let the kiddies have their fun.
kiltmaker| 11.7.11 @ 4:55PM
I haven't heard of an report on how many of these "Occupy" groups are active in Republican controlled cities. Anyone have any information on that? I would bet that there are very few if any. They seem to be working in concert with the resident city establishment.
Bruce Majors | 11.7.11 @ 5:13PM
A pitiful 30 Occupy protestors block the intersection of 7th and New York Avenue NW in DC outside the tea party summit. One loon got in to scream at the dinner speaker, Judge Andrew Napolitano, who was criticizing the Patriot Act. I guess Occupy supports the Patriot Act now
Bruce Majors | 11.7.11 @ 5:15PM
http://i1140.photobucket.com/a.....6288e5.jpg
4a6288e5.jpg
A pitiful 30 Occupy protestors block the intersection of 7th and New York Avenue NW in DC outside the tea party summit. One loon got in to scream at the dinner speaker, Judge Andrew Napolitano, who was criticizing the Patriot Act. I guess Occupy supports the Patriot Act now
OregonBuzz| 11.7.11 @ 7:25PM
Has anyone given any real thought to the solution to this problem? Why don't we just scrape the crap off the streets and out of the parks and RESTORE ORDER!????
Solo| 11.7.11 @ 8:05PM
"the tatterdemalion hippie horde ..."
Buuwaaaahahaha! That's the best line I've read in a long time!
Good article, too! You are truly a courageous man! A strong stomach, as well.
:)
Nite| 11.7.11 @ 9:15PM
These Democratic radicals are the most intolerant demanding bunch of loons that I have ever seen. They showed their true colors at this event.
Tony in Central PA| 11.7.11 @ 10:14PM
It has been said the devil can't create anything. He can only ape what has already been created in his own twisted way. So the Tea Party led to Occupy Wall Street.
Dave| 11.7.11 @ 11:42PM
Please stop referring to these losers as hippies, they've almost nothing in common with those losers. There's a big difference, though, between protesting the Viet Nam war and actually being a communist.
Teaghan| 11.8.11 @ 11:42AM
Unless you're Jane Fonda/Hanoi Jane~
Russell| 11.8.11 @ 1:22AM
With 2.7 million witless savages willing to follow the editors lemming-like off a cliff and into the abyss of anarchy, wit is puzzling TAS publisher should continue to dun us for contributions .
Might he not instead placate the Occupying horde by roasting the pig that figures in his latest essay on the Altar of Liberty in their encampment?
POST American| 11.8.11 @ 3:15AM
"Understand, there is absolutely NO
reason why ANY country should be
borrowing money from ANYONE
-----EVER! --esp. the U.S!
This is a complete and utter CON!"
---WHO dared say that???
Osamas Pajamas| 11.8.11 @ 4:25PM
Time to put snipers on the nearby rooves and armed watchers in the crowds at tea party events, to kill any of OhBummer's hoodlums who try to take over and / or prevent the event. I advocate killing OhBummer's street thugs and gangsters, and then going to their headquarters, hideouts, and domiciles to destroy the rest of them.