Occupy activists target caucuses

[markomalley]

From the AP (via the Washington Times)
Already they have interrupted Michele Bachmann and drawn a withering putdown from Newt Gingrich as “all noise, no thought.”

Now, to the dismay of Iowa Republicans, Occupy activists in Des Moines are vowing to expand their protests as Republican presidential hopefuls converge on the state that speaks first in the race for the party’s presidential nomination.

“The 99 percent have woken up, and we’re not going to take it anymore,” Occupy activist Stephen Toothman of Des Moines said as an advance guard met Tuesday to decide which candidates to target in the coming week.

Hundreds of Occupy activists from at least 10 states were expected to participate in a “People’s Caucus” near the Capitol to plot activities between now and the Jan. 3 caucuses.

The activists are promising to interrupt candidates at events and camp out at their Iowa campaign offices. They say they want to change the political dialogue, but critics fear their tactics could tarnish Iowa’s reputation for civil political discourse ahead of the contest. Activists say mass arrests are possible.
I guess the only way to avoid this is if the GOP in Iowa nominate Barack Hussein Obama. The funny part of it all is that Mr. Obama is just as bad a supporter of the big banks and big business as any Republican (if not more). The one difference is that Obama wants to direct which businesses and banks are the winners and which are the losers.

 

[ManOnFire]

Occupy = Invade

 

[Dale_M]

I guess the only way to avoid this is if the GOP in Iowa nominate Barack Hussein Obama.

I am not sure that is true. From the few news reports I have read, President Obama seems to generate a lot of opposition from the Occupy crowd.

David Goodner is one of the organizers of the event, and he said protestors will go to the candidate they have “the most beef with.” Protestors will return to their temporary headquarters in East Des Moines every morning at 10 a.m. this week before they head out to sit outside the offices. Goodner explained it’s not just candidates’ office that will be targeted.

“The biggest group that got a crowd to protest a candidate was actually President Obama. Goodner said a lot of the people there have “some serious issues with the Democratic party and President Obama.”

abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/12/occupy-the-caucuses-meets-to-plan-a-week-of-protests/

Ed Fallon (a sometime Democratic politician with a strong independent/liberal streak) says caucusing uncommitted has no impact on the republican side, saying, “I think the number of people who are going to the republican caucus as uncommitted is meaningless. It will be so small, it won’t matter. On the democratic side, it could make a big difference and again you only have one candidate, Obama and a lot of people are unhappy with him."

whotv.com/news/who-story-occupy-caucus-20111227,0,6662753.story

I think those who agree with Fallon, and he does have a following, will turn out at the Democratic caucus to reject Obama by voting for “uncommitted.”

 

[markomalley]

I am not sure that is true. From the few news reports I have read, President Obama seems to generate a lot of opposition from the Occupy crowd.

abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/12/occupy-the-caucuses-meets-to-plan-a-week-of-protests/

whotv.com/news/who-story-occupy-caucus-20111227,0,6662753.story

I think those who agree with Fallon, and he does have a following, will turn out at the Democratic caucus to reject Obama by voting for “uncommitted.”

James Oliphant has this in the LA Times:

Four years later, Obama’s supporters ready to occupy Iowa

Four years ago, Des Moines crackled and hummed with the wattage delivered by the waves of the young — voters, volunteers, activists — banded together for the purpose of electing Barack Obama to the presidency.

It’s different now, of course. Obama is the incumbent. The Republican primary is the show in town, not the Democrats. But some of the young people who were here then are changed as well.

One of them is David Goodner, who sat in a plastic chair Monday in the ragged space the Occupy Des Moines movement has taken in the city’s East Village. “The very people who supported Obama in ’08 are the Occupy organizers,” Goodner said. “That same energy has shifted from the electoral arena to the streets.”

In fairness, the article concludes with the following:

Obama, he said, gave birth to the Occupy movement when he pledged that as president, things would be different. “He failed to deliver,” he said. Any candidate that can widen the tax base, secure Medicare and Social Security, end “Wall Street greed” and limit campaign spending would merit his support, he said.

"He said, ‘We were the change,’” Goodner said ruefully of the president. He and the others here seem ready to go on without him.

But, look. If it comes down to any of the GOP candidates versus the incumbent, who are these folks going to vote for (if they vote at all)? I mean, really.

 

[Dale_M]

But, look. If it comes down to any of the GOP candidates versus the incumbent, who are these folks going to vote for (if they vote at all)? I mean, really.

The question does come down to whether they vote in the fall. They have no enthusiasm for Obama, indeed, they have a distaste for him. So my guess is that they will sit out the election. Given the idealism of the Occupy participants, I don’t see them interested in voting for the lesser of two evils.

 

[markomalley]

The question does come down to whether they vote in the fall. They have no enthusiasm for Obama, indeed, they have a distaste for him. So my guess is that they will sit out the election. Given the idealism of the Occupy participants, I don’t see them interested in voting for the lesser of two evils.

True.

The point was that the only way that they would not harass the GOP is if the GOP came up with a candidate that promised them every material good they could dream of (a/k/a a socialist paradise) with no expense. Just as Mr Soertoro did back in 2008.

 

[SamH]

Because disrupting the democratic process with lawlessness and violence is good for the democratic process.

 

[ManOnFire]

It’s a shame that the Occupiers are so bigotted. They protest the bailouts needed due to individuals at the banks who were forced by the govt to make poor choices, but they won’t dare protest the bailouts needed by individual citizens due to poor choices that were made with their own free will. Are they only interested in a prejudiced form of justice, which really isn’t justice? Ahh, the hypocrisy, prejudice, and bigotry of the Occupiers who discern based on money rather than justice, responsibility, and truth.

 

[Ceil-1]

They are the rioters-in-training for the next election.

 

[Chaplain777]

Now where is that pepper spray…