Cowboy hats block the view as nose-ringed protesters vie with the women in

[emad]

Times
Tim Reid reports from Washington
All American life was here as thousands queued to watch the inaugural parade



CHANTING protesters, flag-draped coffins and anti-war placards competed with a vast cheering crowd and the relentless beat of 70 marching bands as President Bush rode through central Washington yesterday.

Waving from his tinted-glass, bulletproof presidential limousine as his cavalcade made its slow procession from his swearing-in at the US Capitol back to the White House, Mr Bush saw a largely friendly crowd — but could not have missed the screams of his opponents.

Amid the tightest security of any presidential inauguration, up to 60,000 people lined the 1½-mile parade route, watched by FBI agents, rooftop snipers, 11,000 Secret Servicemen, the police and military officials.

The most conspicuous in the crowd were the thousands of Texans, all in huge stetsons, who had travelled to the bitter cold of Washington to cheer on their former governor. “He’s charismatic, dynamic, we love him,” said Julie Foster.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1450456,00.html

[Maraya1969]

1. "And it doesn't matter that he is responsible for thousands of

deaths!" (As long as he looks good?????) God help us!



The most conspicuous in the crowd were the thousands of Texans, all in huge stetsons, who had travelled to the bitter cold of Washington to cheer on their former governor. “He’s charismatic, dynamic, we love him,” said Julie Foster.

[RubyDuby in GA]

2. The most conspicuous one missing was a woman from Georgia,

dressed all in black, who refused to travel anywhere to see that moran. "He's stupid, idiotic, I hate him," said Rubyduby in GA.

That's how my own version went anyway.

[Logiola]

3. wow.. 11 000 secret service men?

so that's how they make it look like bush actually has people happy to see him..

[papau]

4. plus 6000 troops and 7000 cops

then he gets out of the car in the super secure between 2 cars and between the stands area for a short walk that NBC shows as the highlight of the day!

[opihimoimoi]

5. Video Op of the Parade....

[drdtroit]

6. While the polizia lay down a protective curtain

of pepper spray behind him. The CIC (Coward In Chief).

[vanboggie]

9. Did you notice

that the Stepford kept her distance during that walk :)

[chrisbur]

7. What?!?!

At 12th and Penn and as far as I could see in either direction the crowd was definitely NOT "largely friendly". I thought we outnumbered the supporters and we were rabidly hostile.
You know I've never really been confrontational and hostility usually makes me feel bad but this felt totally justified.

It was strange because in my immediate area we were not really conspicuous as we waited, we didn't take out banners until the last second so we kind of ended up intermingled with a few Bushy families. We even chatted throughout the wait. They had no idea, but WE all recognized each other. I think this strategy worked well as the riot police concentrated on other areas. We actually clapped and cheered for any troops going by(we booed cops). As the motorcades started coming the crowd went nuts,booing,hissing,gesturing,turning backs,screaming etc. I did feel kind of bad for this one family next to me as the little daughter got scared and cried. Her father shook his head and hugged her. They looked dumfounded,betrayed.

In the end they hadn't learned anything. We were just crazy northern liberals.

[unpossibles]

8. i was wondering

I watched the parade on c-span.org and could swear I heard very loud booing all along the route, sometimes drowned out by cheering "USA!" (which is funny, considering the protesters are pro-USA, but anti-Bullsh).

It's good to see this confirmed, yet also sad that things have come to this point.

On the news, they interviewed a couple of supporters (dressed in very expensive fur coats, naturally) who said we need to "get over the inconsequential differences and work together." This really bothers me as I think murder, lying, and torture are hardly inconsequential.

The news (I forget which channel, although they are essentially the same) also downplayed the protesters, saying there were only a few and vastly outnumbered..... To me, those are the unAmerican bastards.

[chrisbur]

10. 3/4th's down the parade route....

we definitely outnumbered them. As for what the situation was like up near the Capitol I can't say. The pay to sit bleachers that I saw were more than half empty. The supporters that were interdispersed with us were less well dressed than the bleacher people. Not to stereotype but every one of them within earshot had a southern drawl.

What surprised me the most was THEIR being surprised by us. I think it was easy for them to shy away from the large groups of college students but we being older and more reserved really caught them off guard.

What really struck me was how we could pick out the anti-bush people by not only their looks but our comments as we waited throughout the day. The Bush supporters around us really seemed out of touch. They would shake their heads and tsk tsk at the radical, vocal group but befriended us. They were just bewildered and betrayed when we showed our true colors.

It was easy for them to marginalize the radicals but we confused them.

[Stephanie]

11. Welcome to DU!

Good job - very proud of you and all the protestors.

[Palacsinta]

12. We did confuse them........

We protesters were such an eclectic bunch!.....my sister, friend and I are 50+, conservatively & sensibly dressed, but we were hanging with the students and the Anarchists and the street performers......and all of us were ANGRY! We were denied access at 14th and Pennsylvania and we in the front banged on the fences and chanted "Let us In!" and "This is NOT democracy". Some guys tried to take down the fence and we all got pepper sprayed. Horrible!

[unpossibles]

13. this says so much about their commitment to end tyranny

everywhere but here:

"we all got pepper sprayed"

How can we as a nation expect to spread democracy and liberty abroad when our own citizens are being trampled by the rampaging blind elephant of "righteous" tyranny? It sickens me.

Thank you for going and being supportive - it's refreshing to know that it's not just us "freaky-looking" people against him, even though that is all we'll see on the news.

I had planned on going myself, but some emergencies came up here that I could not ignore.