Donald Rumsfeld recently went to the White House Correspondents Dinner (9th of May 2009). So did the Code Pink ladies.Here's what happened next. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDmRdfyAUio
I'm trying to figure out their goal here. Was it to make him feel bad? Was it to convince others he's a war criminal? Was it to convince Obama to stop the war? Was it to get Donald Rumsfeld arrested? Did they actually accomplish any of them? At least from watching the video I'm reminded how awesome it is to be free. Not all countries can one be borderline psycho hateful against someone in government and not get shot for it.
I feel it was unwarranted harassment. There are other lines of communication than to harass someone as they are going to dinner etc. Honestly I would ask for an officer and file a harassment complaint or something similar because to be honest, besides crying babies... this was the worst thing I have heard. Shrill women dogging someone going to someplace. Yes, it is legal to do - until it becomes harassment. Just put yourself in the shoes of someone else, and understand the kinds of feelings you're going to generate. Irritation, irrationality, and possibly determination. You're not going to accomplish a damn thing.
Totally agree, Jackuul. I was astounded. And regardless of the merits of their aims (I've got zero good to say about Donald Rumsfeld, well, except his calm during this accosting - see below), I couldn't help feel they are more concerned with self-aggrandisement than anything else. Pure ego, at the threshold of psychotic mania. Couldn't care less about actually making a difference. Gives a momentary rush, like cocaine - and left just as empty the next day. This was my impression, anyway, and I do have to hand some "cool" points to Rumsfeld and his wife - god knows I'd be hard pressed to keep my cool if someone was violently flailing their arms and hands that close to me or mine. Very much reminded me of my time at Berkeley. The Sproul Plaza protests, in some weak, wistful imitation of their 60's forebears, over whatever issue was hot that particular week (and as easily dropped when something else more "cool" came to the fore). Always bugged me. You want to do some good? Walk a few miles next door, to Oakland - and go to work. Instead, they trashed the plaza with their placards, and left it all to be cleaned up - by the true working class heros, the bent-back janitors who had been there, ever and always.
I don't feel sorry for him, however I do bet quite a few will when they see that. Honestly I am a fan of protesting and civil disobedience - if it actually makes a point and is not some fickle attempt and self aggrandizement. I feel that, better than protests, political or issue based rallies are much more important, where you bring people who may not know about the issue into the fold in a friendly, and of course charged, atmosphere and disseminate why you are doing what it is you do. Carrying around materials to trash a place and just act angry is not exactly something that makes you friends. Having a semi-organized and somewhat coherent effort that cleans up after itself, as I have seen twice in my entire life, does. People who are not zealously screeching and acting like a band of enraged primates is always a good thing - whereas the opposite (God Hates Fags, God Hates America, God Hates XYZ because We Hate Tolerance) types of groups only make you enemies. It's a delicate business to be honest - but I will end this digression with saying that, although D.R-feld (my rap name for him) was instrumental in the Bush Doctrine (bleh) he was nowhere near the kind of planning at the upper echelons of power. Complicit, absolutely, and probably pitched in ideas, but seeing how calm he remains here just shows how smooth and slick he can be, and how easily he handles stress or at least appears to - and for his position in the mechanics of that Administration he was a perfect fit. A well oiled gear that never faltered until the end, and if there was a mistake, a spindoctor to the highest degree. Ashcroft, who left earlier than that, was not nearly as "cool" as D.R-feld.
I admit, when watching that video, I did feel sorry for him and his wife. It just seems they could petition, write letters, or something productive, I don't know. Not that I'm a big Rumsfeld fan, but it just seemed like a senseless attack. Here's a funny quote by Rumsfeld: "I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think, and, well, I assume it's what I said."
as if anyone is going to see this hysterical attention seeker and think "hmm, what a well thought out, rational point she has made.... i now agree with her" people like this shouty lesbian do the anti-war movement no favours at all.
If I saw that vidoe without knowing his crimes, I would cry for him and his wife, but he was a criminal, so I don't care what the criminals face of problems.
When I see the video I feel two things: A) America is great. B) "Code Pink ladies" need to learn some manners. I can't believe I never visited the states yet. Next year I come to have a look. Who comes for some texas hold'em in Vegas against me and a beer?
I like videos like this. It lets other Moonbats see just how idiotic the look when they do stupid crap like this.
Well, I have to agree that what we have here is a wasted opportunity. Instead of being prepared with pointed questions and engaging in a dignified, if impromptu and one-sided, debate about Rumsfeld's actions, these ladies screamed their emotional slogans over and over. I suppose they expected to be cut off immediately, so didn't prepare any legitimate script for the confrontation. Rumsfeld does indeed have a lot to answer for, and I have no problem with his being confronted at a press dinner. However, this action was poorly planned and accomplished nothing. A real victory would have involved getting Rumsfeld to admit his complicity in a wrongheaded war.