Two weeks ago I wrote an article concerning RNC Chairman Michael Steele's "Fire Nancy Pelosi" bus tour. Well the bus finally got to Northern California and so I went out to Stockton to meet it.
It was an outdoor rally with about 50 supporters there. While about 20 Democratic protesters were kept back on the road, a lone woman had managed to get to the front of the audience. She was wearing a yellow crown to protest the "Bailout King" David Harmer, the extremely conservative Republican candidate for Congress in the area. She seemed to be getting some rough treatment so I made my way over to her. One of the first things I heard, shouted by a guy wearing an earpiece was, "There's a protester here, we need to get her out!"
Then a woman said, "She can't be here."
The man responded, "Yeah, but we can't do that now. Just surround her everyone. Everyone surround her!"
The woman tried to hold her position. She was being pushed and threatened and she struggled to hold onto her crown. "You can't be here," someone shouted at her.
A man on her right pushed her with his shoulder. Then a man on her left wearing a plaid shirt threw his elbow into her. The woman was clearly rocked by the blow. He then shouted angrily, "Get away from me!" Then you can hear cheering. Here's the raw video;
I have more video of this courageous woman standing her ground against this Republican mob as they surrounded her and tried to shield her from view with their signs. I was quite disturbed by this incident, my pulse was racing. It still is. It was a very threatening environment.
She never did one thing to provoke these people except show up and try to make a political statement with her little crown. I can't believe this would happen in America. This is something you'd see in Afghanistan, not here.
I said in my original post that this entire bus tour is about hating women who have power. It's not surprising that an angry crowd that blames all their problems on the most powerful woman in American history would take it out on a lone woman trying to make her voice heard.
Update:
I want to thank everyone who recommended my diary. I'm having a great deal of trouble uploading videos, but here's a second clip that helps describe the scene. It was taken just moments after the woman was hit. (Sorry it's sideways, it won't upload the right way.)
Also, I'd like to mention that Jerry McNerney needs all the help we can give him to defeat Republican David Harmer. McNerney's website is jerrymcnerney.org. You can follow my efforts to help the Democrats retain Congress on Facebook. Thank you all for helping me get the word out about this amazing woman. Sorry, I still don't know her name.