The Code Pink Elephant in the Room - Protests Against Pelosi, Boxer, and Michelle Obama, Hillary - Total Buzz

The Code Pink Elephant in the Room - Protests Against Pelosi, Boxer, and Michelle Obama, Hillary

August 26th, 2008, 6:04 pm · 2 Comments · posted by mschroeder

Newport Beach’s Mike Schroeder, former chairman of the California Republican Party, is a guest blogger at the Democratic convention.

for being too conservative……

First event to attend on Tuesday was the Emily’s List reception. Surprisingly, for an organization that prides itself on being progressive, it was closed to the press. No matter, there were a wealth of protestors outside the event, filling the sidewalks, to interview. Each group was separated from the other groups and surrounded by a phalanx of police on a hot summer day. Remarkably, there was no rancor between the groups. Lee Golden, a prolife demonstrator from Thousand Oaks, was “getting a chance to have his position heard.”

The group that was visually irresistible was Code Pink. This is a group that takes pink seriously. A pink bicycle towing a large pink sign “BIKES NOT BOMBS.” The rider in pink tights with a pink foam rubber tiara bearing a “No War” message. Another wearing a full length sequined dress (yes, before 5 pm). My personal favorite was another bike rider in a full length pink outfit, riding her bike while holding a pink umbrella (something that most mere mortals would break their necks doing). The umbrella was neatly stenciled with “No War,” “Peace Now,” and peace symbols.

The name for this “Action” was “Modern Day Suffragetted Woman say No to War & Yes to Impeachment.” The demonstrators were some of the nicest and most sincere people I have ever met. It was very much like talking with pro-life demonstrators. Pure true believers with out a trace of political guile.

Julia Field, a Code Pink coordinator from Chicago explained that they wanted “to move the Democratic Party to the left.“ She felt that they had been sold out and that Michelle Obama, Pelosi, Hillary, and Boxer had been too conservative and that the promises that had been made to the left in the last election had not been kept.

Nothing they were promised would happen in the current Democratic Congress in the first 100 days had happened. They wanted to send a message that unless these promises were kept, they would not be there for the Democratic Party in this election.

“Impeachment has to be on the table. The war has to end” Field said. “The rights of people around the world”. “You still want the Congress to impeach Bush now”, I asked? “Yes”, she replied, apparently happy to do this within months of the expiration of Bush’s term.

When located in ground zero for feminism, you might except to be in Hillary country. Nope, not so much. “We are not with Hillary at all”, Field said, we are with Obama because we want to move the Democratic Party to the left. Her pink clad friend echoed the comment “Hillary doesn’t support woman”.

Jean Stevens, the media coordinator for Code Pink ,was one of the most sincere open people I have ever met. With her pink baseball cap, brim flipped up with a neatly stenciled hand written note tucked into it saying “Media”, she said she was there and involved so that “woman can take power and be what you can be.”

I told her it was a pretty good guess that the Democrats in Congress were not going to do any of the things they wanted, so what would they do? It seemed hard to imagine to Code Pink members voting for McCain. She said if ”the war ends, awesome. We will have a big party”.

Awesome.

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