Protesters Make Sure They Are Seen, Heard

Protesters make sure they are seen, heard

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/la...ex.php?id=8231

By Chris Morris / News and Tribune

SELLERSBURG, IN -- When Qwen McMahon found out President George W. Bush was coming to Sellersburg Saturday, she made plans to attend.

This was her chance to be heard, she said.

“I knew I would be out here,” said McMahon, a Floyd County resident. “People drive past and honk and wave so we know we’re not alone. There is hope for change Nov. 7.”

McMahon and several anti-Bush supporters gathered in an open field at the intersection of Ind. 403 and U.S. 31 in Sellersburg yelling chants and holding up signs. The president was in town to speak at a rally for 9th District Rep. Mike Sodrel, who will face Democrat Baron Hill in the Nov. 7 election.

Some of the signs read “Wake up America before it’s too late” and “Liar in Chief.”

“I’m here to protest Bush and the war,” said George Hanrahan of Frankfort, Ky. “It’s a complete disaster. Bush makes me appreciate Richard Nixon.”

The protesters began lining the streets around 10:30 Saturday morning. A second group mingled in with Bush and Sodrel supporters as the presidential motorcade rode past and turned into Silver Creek Middle School’s park lot.

“I think we are in more trouble now than we were with Nixon,” Duke Allen of Jeffersonville said as he held up an anti-war sign to passing cars. “I want to see Sodrel defeated. I want to see more balance in the House and Senate so we will have more check and balance.”

Many of the people in cars lined up to get into the rally shouted back to the protesters.

“Go home,” the supporters screamed.

The protesters shouted back, “We are home. Bush will send your children to war.”

“In a recent poll it said 97 percent of the time Sodrel votes for Bush policy. He is a total rubber stamp,” McMahon said. “That is terrible. I think people in this area are fed up.”

While protesters made sure they were heard, and seen, Farrah Bower just stood quietly along the road hoping to get a glimpse of the president. She said it was exciting to have a sitting president visit Sellersburg.

“This is something I will be able to remember my whole life,” Bower said as she took her place along U.S. 31 three hours before Bush’s arrival. “I thought there would be more people out here.”

Most of the people in traffic had tickets to go inside Silver Creek’s gymnasium and see Bush speak. However, onlookers did congregate across the road from the middle school entrance hoping to get a glimpse of the president.

Aaron Gootee, of New Albany was not one of those people. Gootee said it’s time people realize the government cover-up of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“I have been doing a lot of research on 9-11,” he said. “I think it was an inside job. I was shocked when I got into the research. When it happened I was like everyone else and stood behind our government. We all got duped.”

McMahon, who also protested when vice president Dick Cheney campaigned in the area for Sodrel, is confident Hill can win Nov. 7 if “all the Democrats come out and vote.” That is why she said she was standing in the cold to protest Bush’s visit.

“I think it’s important for people to see that not everyone is in lock step with the president,” she said.