Live from DNC: Denver Is a Riot
Vodkapundit reports on the wildlife surrounding the DNC. Latest: How the PJM film crew caused a mini-riot.
UPDATE — August 26, 00:24 PST — Denver Is a Riot
My instructions for covering the Democratic National Convention were clear: “Show us the stuff we can’t see on TV.” Fun! So when I heard that a group called “Shake Your Money Maker” were going to attempt to levitate the Denver Mint with happy thoughts, I knew we had to be there.
The PJTV video crew, plus blogger (and PJM contributor) Charlie Martin, Michelle Malkin and myself gathered — along with the more police and press than protestors — to do what we thought would be a fun little puff piece. And the pieces were certainly all in place: there was a guy wearing a silver and knock-off Oakleys, and his parter in metaphysical crime under the purple wizard hat. Then came the drums, the chants, the confetti, and — surprisingly enough — a continuing just-standing-there by a rather large and solid stone building. Let the snark begin!
Then things got ugly.
9/11 “Truther” and all-around rabble-rouser Alex Jones was there, and recognized Michelle. Soon he was in her face, easily five times her size, shouting and threatening. He wasn’t alone. Charlie got an elbow in the kidney. Our Intrepid Video Dude, Andrew Marcus, got right in the middle of it, and got some great video.
But the shouting and shoving got worse, the cops did little, and the best we could do was to make our way out without further escalation.
In the end, no one was hurt — or even much rattled. But we did have an interesting, exciting even, five minutes. And the Denver Mint never even so much as shrugged.
August 25: A Walk on the Wild Side
PJM’s Stephen Green lives in Colorado so he seemed a natural to cover the convention for us, giving our readers the local angle. Today, Stephen observed the imported wildlife that showed up for the convention in various venues around the city. Judging by what he found, zoologists may have to come up with a few new genera in order to properly categorize his observations.
In this photo essay, Mr. Green reports on this invasion as only he can.
Our first bit of local color comes from the management of this fine establishment. A quick look inside yielded no sign of Eliot Spitzer.
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Stephen Green writes, broadcasts, and enjoys the occasional lovely adult beverage at the home he shares with his wife and son in Monument, Colorado.
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36 Comments
1. Big Country:There used to be this bit waaaaay back in the beginnings of the Comedy Channel… it showed a bunch of stoned Metalheads being asked ‘The Topic of The Day’ to which they’d all start chanting “LAME! LAME! LAME!” or “That wallows in Lameness!!!” I’d say that about sums that whole march up nicely…
Aug 25, 2008 - 4:37 pm 2. Steve-o:“One report said that Recreat68 and the rest of the brats could only muster 5% of the crowds they’d promised us. A promise — or a threat?”
I heard on KOA that a “major” protest scheduled for 6:00PM this evening has been cancelled.
Pffffft…
Aug 25, 2008 - 5:08 pm 3. M. Simon:I cut off all my hair in ‘68. Does that count?
Of course I was hanging out with the above type folks then so maybe not.
Aug 25, 2008 - 5:27 pm 4. ZEITGEIST:[...] A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: Stephen Green in Denver. [...]
Aug 25, 2008 - 5:28 pm 5. Darrell:I thought Vodkapundit lived in Colorado Springs. Did he move???
Aug 25, 2008 - 5:47 pm 6. jaymaster:Well, I’ve still got my ponytail. And beard.
And I’ve voted about 90% (R) since 1980.
And I’ve felt welcome at every Republican event I’ve ever attended.
Funny how that works.
Aug 25, 2008 - 5:55 pm 7. jvon:One suspects that most of what these people want to recreate from 1968 can’t be done in public anyway. The rest of them were presumably off screwing and smoking dope. Those things never really went out of style, of course, we just stopped pretending there was something profound about them.
Aug 25, 2008 - 6:27 pm 8. Herr Morgenholz:In ‘68, folks could handle their weed. Now? Not so much.
Aug 25, 2008 - 6:28 pm 9. Letalis Maximus, Esq.:I just grew a ponytail. After all, when its out of style is when you do it. Which is why I don’t have a tattoo. When suburban moms and daughters are going down to the tattoo shop to get matching butterflies on their ankles, or (God forbid) matching tramp stamps, there is only one thing left to say: It. Is. Over.
Due to my profession, I can’t smoke dope anymore. Having a few drinks and screwing is still a nice way to spend an evening, though.
Aug 25, 2008 - 6:42 pm 10. Let The Games Begin! | D.C. Thornton:[...] the Pepsi Center, both Zombie and Stephen Green filed reports of the usual radical contingent attempting to recreate the Chicago atmosphere from 40 [...]
Aug 25, 2008 - 7:11 pm 11. Secession news:[...] for visiting!Secession—it’s not just a Southern thing any more. Perhaps these fire-eating DNC protesters have been reading Professor Somin’s exegesis on the [...]
Aug 25, 2008 - 7:13 pm 12. david levavi:What a disappointment. Crowds of crazies didn’t show. The entertainment some of us were eagerly looking forward to never happened.
What a waste. Thousands of cops all dressed up with nowhere to go. Huge chainlink holding pens standing empty. Pity.
I suspect that, for all our anticipation, the convention itself will turn out to be a bore, too. The Clintonistas will roll over. Turn up their other cheeks and forgive. Obama will get the conventional convention he’s praying for. No protesters in the streets, none in the convention hall. Ayers, Rezko, Wright, and Pflegger far, far away.
Ah well. We’ll have to wait for our entertainment until November and the traditional Democratic shock and disbelief at the election results.
Aug 25, 2008 - 7:15 pm 13. kat:Yes, Steve still lives south of Denver altho he moved to Monument a couple of years ago. But the martinis are in Denver this week . . .
Aug 25, 2008 - 7:17 pm 14. OnceaCop:So the Recreate 68 bunch claim the reason why the turnout was so small was because DPD had too many officers ready for them.
Bwahahahahahaha What a punch o’ pansies!
Aug 25, 2008 - 7:21 pm 15. Donna B.:david levavi wrote: “The Clintonistas will roll over. Turn up their other cheeks and forgive.”
Can’t I hope they’ll be yelling kiss my ass when they do?
Aug 25, 2008 - 7:35 pm 16. Rob C.:Twas watching an old, bad b-movie (from the 40’s when even the bad movies were better than some of the garbage we get lately) with my 10 year old daughter and there was a scene with a circus. When one of the characters walked past the side show barker he was yelling about the freaks such as the bearded-lady and the living skeleton, my precious little child asked me what a side-show freak was. Thank you for the pictures of the protesters at the DNC convention for it made the explanation so much easier!
Aug 25, 2008 - 8:14 pm 17. jaymaster:With respect to the “recreate 68” stuff, I wonder how many of the folks spouting that fluff know that the Republican candidate actually won in 68…. And in 72,too.
Aug 25, 2008 - 8:40 pm 18. Red Blooded American:I’m confused. The protest was tiny compared to expectations. The “wildlife” promised consisted of a few fringe-group marchers. There were no incidents or anything marginally interesting. And this is newsworthy?
Aug 25, 2008 - 11:49 pm 19. Toad:Oh well the week is still young. The liquor is flowing in the lobbyists suites, there may be hot and cold women there also. All the ingredients for a round robin booze driven cat fight between the PUMAs and the Obama Momamas. Maybe Pelosi will get into a whip fight with someone from the Code Stink crowd.
Aug 26, 2008 - 1:00 am 20. e.l.a.tom:Does this mean that they’re not going to be using “Gitmo on the Platte”? What a bummer!
Aug 26, 2008 - 1:10 am 21. Dan Collins:Disco? Flung poo?
Everybody was flung poo fighting!
That march was fast as lightning!
And it was a little bit frightening!
Alex Jones was in-face whining!
Oh, oh oh o-oh!
Aug 26, 2008 - 3:55 am 22. Lots of DNC Fun at Pajamas Media:[...] out Stephen Green and [...]
Aug 26, 2008 - 4:08 am 23. Kevin:The organizers must be old school. Actual left overs from ‘68. As if the students are going to skip their indoctrination classes. “If I fail another class dude, my oppressors are going to cut off the funds.” Besides, they also needed to go watch The Daily Show for their hard hitting news. And then to complain that the reason for not having the numbers was that police were out in numbers. Please. Like that would stop a truly committed believer. Of course those true believers should probably BE committed, but that is another argument for another day.lol
Aug 26, 2008 - 6:14 am 24. No Runny Eggs » Blog Archive » The Morning Scramble, Part 1 (’Rat edition) - 8/26/2008:[...] Stephen Green provides some more local color. [...]
Aug 26, 2008 - 6:33 am 25. Chuck Pelto:TO: Stephen Green
RE: Show….
….Me the Video!
’nuff said.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Aug 26, 2008 - 7:09 am 26. Fred from Canuckistan . . .:“Give peace a chance! Give Vermont to Canada!”
Only if you take Quebec in exchange.
Be careful what you wish for
Aug 26, 2008 - 8:05 am 27. convention coverage:[...] they filed for credentials on my behalf but never got back to me — and now it seems they have Steve Green of Vodkapundit downtown covering [...]
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:29 am 28. Andrew Ian Dodge:Trading Vermont for Quebec would not be a good deal.
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:37 am 29. gus3:“Give Vermont to Canada!”
Sounds like good payback for making us put up with Howard Dean.
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:40 am 30. TJ:Anyone know where to get a schedule of protest events?
Aug 26, 2008 - 10:23 am 31. Kurt:[Everybody was flung poo fighting!
That march was fast as lightning!
And it was a little bit frightening!
Alex Jones was in-face whining!]
Awesome take, Dan
There was little Nancy P, and tough-guy Joey B.
Aug 26, 2008 - 10:24 am 32. chad:They said, “here come the big boss, hyah, hyah, we call him Barack O’B.”
I’m betting that they’re all saving their energy to come to St. Paul next week and cause some real trouble with the ‘evil’ Republicans.
Aug 26, 2008 - 2:44 pm 33. Pajamas Media » Live from the DNC: It’s a Mad World (Day 2):[...] Read Stephen Green’s diary from Day 1 here. [...]
Aug 26, 2008 - 3:55 pm 34. richard:Anarchists ?? Hmmmmmmmmmm….I wonder if there is a bit of confusion among their ranks regarding who is in charge……
Aug 27, 2008 - 1:02 pm 35. Pajamas Media » PJM Political 8/27/08: Michelle Malkin & Co. Survive Denver–And A PJTV Preview!:[...] Steve Green, on special assignment in [...]
Aug 27, 2008 - 5:33 pm 36. Flamed Out Radical:Must be a sign of old age but damn, we had some excellent protest when Wallace spoke from the Capitol Steps. This bunch are too lame to be given any publicity. No Metro students vs DPD? Makes me barf!
Aug 27, 2008 - 7:04 pm