I zipped from Burbank to Century City and arrived just a little after noon. A couple hundred people had gathered with signs and banners to make some requests of our Commander-In-Thief. The "Ratebusters," an ad-hoc group including members of Global Exchange, carried a large banner demanding that Dubya put some federal price caps on the hyperinflated price of energy (thanks, no doubt, to energy producers based primarily in Texas.) Democrats, Greens, ant-police brutality activists, socialists, the Sierra Club, and the occasional lonely Republican were in attendance. No sightings of Dubya, who was inside the hotel at a luncheon with lots of rich people -- but there was a sign featured in a balcony high up in the hotel that read, "Bush Rocks!" We yelled back at them with a PA, from across the Avenue of the Stars, that in truth, Bush sucks.
Several times protesters tried to carry signs across the wide street to the front of the hotel. These protesters were turned away by police. It is apparently too dangerous to actually get a sign close enough to the President that he might actually be able to read it. But there's not much point in it anyways -- you could hand Dubya a sign with huge block letters, but his poor little brain wouldn't know what to do with it. Little monkey.
I stayed for about an hour. Now I'm back at "work." The turnout wasn't terrible I guess, but come on people. If we're gonna let this fool know just how illegitimate he is, we need THOUSANDS, not hundreds, at every one of Dubya's turns. See you next time.
Actually the balcony sign said "W ROCKS."
I think it really meant there was cocaine for sale.
The narrow strip in front of the theater complex across from the hotel always spreads these protests out, and (fortuitously) amplifies sound as well. It doesn't take a lot of people to look like a lot of people, and the area was pretty well taken over. Anyone driving by definitely knew something was up. It made the desired statement.
The Republican lady was pretty funny. She was taking on all comers at one point. There was some other pro-Butch bunch I didn't ever really identify (giving some idea how effective they were, all 4 of them). Of course the Nooz converged on them, but their sound tracks will contain a nice chorus of "MEDIA WHORES! MEDIA WHORES!" to try and edit out. Might as well make these, uh, whores, earn their money.
I had a good time.