The Other Side

After marching Saturday, yesterday I went down to the Mall again to check out the prowar rally, which was organized by the same folks who brought you the “You Don’t Speak for Me, Cindy” caravan last month, including Move America Forward and Free Republic.

Not surprisingly the rally was somewhat whiter and maler than Saturday’s antiwar march. Also, it was a lot smaller. The smallest estimate in the media for the number participating in the antiwar march was 100,000. The largest estimate for the prowar rally was 400, and I think that’s about right — as long as you’re counting all the observers, curious tourists, and antiwar protesters who were gathered around too.

The speeches I heard included a mention of a letter of support for the rally from Senator Lieberman, a reference to participants in the antiwar march as “100,000 radicals” whose views don’t represent those of real Americans (that was from Senator Sessions, who was one of the speakers), and a call for the marchers to be shipped to Iran. I didn’t stay very long, and from StealthBadger’s report I apparently missed some excitement, though he’s pretty vague about it.

Photos follow.

The white sign in the middle reads “Shoot the Traitors: Cindy Sheehan, Jane Fonda, Phil Donahue, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Jessie [sic] Jackson.”

As you can see the crowd was pretty sparse. This was not that far from the stage. The orange shirts in some of these photos are Club G’itmo shirts sold by Rush Limbaugh — one sad indication of how far today’s Republican Party has moved from anything resembling moral values.

At this point the crowd, such as it is, appears to be mostly observers.

At the front, behind a fence, were a couple of dozen people, presumably the speakers and other VIPs.

These banners were collected by Move America Forward during their anti-Cindy road trip.

The woman in the blue helmet is wearing a sign that says “Armor Our Troops — Our Vets Need the Best Health Care!” She was wandering around among the crowd, who weren’t sure how to react to her. She also had a “War Is Not the Answer” bumper sticker, but it wasn’t very visible.

This group of antiwar folks stood at the side quietly and the crowd seemed to be ignoring them. I spoke to the guy with the “Stop the War” sign briefly. He had come from Washington State. He hadn’t heard of Drinking Liberally and was afraid we were promoting alcoholism.

I left during Sessions’s rant and headed down to the opposite end of the Mall to check out Camp Casey. It was pretty quiet.

This is the (transplanted) field of crosses that the guy in Texas decided to mow down with his truck. Among the crosses are a few stars of David and crescents.

This is a field of boots with votive candles and name tags. The banner in front reads “Mothers Say No to War”.