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Sunday, September 05, 2004
John Kerry discovers Steubenville isn't "Kerry Country"
At her blog "Open Book," Amy Welborn reports on Senator Kerry's visit and campaign rally at Steubenville, OH. The rally was attended by 300 pro-life protestors, chiefly composed of Catholics from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, according to this report by the Wheeling News Register:
"We're not here to protest, we're here to stand up and challenge John Kerry to stand up for what he believes," [Group spokesperson Gabriel] Hahn said. "Standing up for life is the most important of all things."
Hahn noted that the group actually marched together to the site from the university, through St. Peter's Catholic Church on North Fourth Street and through the downtown area to line up along Adams Street between Third and Fourth streets, less than a block from the rally site at the Old Fort Steuben. Throughout the walk, the demonstrators sang and prayed, carrying pro-life signs. "We're here to challenge Sen. Kerry that if he has the same faith as we have, then he needs to fully embrace the church's teachings on life," said Emily Bissonnette, one of the group organizers and a student at the university. Senator Kerry's aides initially tried to block the protestors from attending the rally, provoking a dispute between the Kerry campaign and Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdallah, who defended the right of the demonstrators to be present at the event: We handle security," Abdalla said. "Nobody else does. I'm not going to let you people start a damn argument," Abdalla said. "They have a right to protest."
However, a Kerry official contended that the protesters would not be allowed inside the private rally which was open only to those with tickets. "Not inside the event," an unidentified Kerry official said. "They have a right to do whatever they want to do as long as they don't interfere," Abdalla countered. And protest they did -- here's an eyewitness account that Father Wilson posted to Amy Welborn's blog: Just under HALF the crowd were protestors (I can get digital photographic evidence in a few days
for you if you need). It occurred from 4p.m. until about 7:30p.m. today, Saturday, Sept. 4th. Priests, nuns, American Life League, students, profs, staff, and good Catholics (including some steel workers) all came to protest
and boo. . . .
There were many good signs: I used "Pontius Pilate was also personally opposed" , but Laura's was most effective: a bright florescent hot pink sign saying "Kerry" with a slash through it. She worked her way to the front of the crowd and stood on a chair holding it high. She clearly saw Kerry look at the only hot pink sign in the entire crowd several times and get slightly flustered. Other signs: "Kerry is bad for steel" (he's in the pocket of the enviros - that really pisses off the steel community here), "Unfit for command" (thanks for the ideas, guys!), "Steubenville for Bush!", "Taxpayers for Bush", etc. At one point, Kerry said "To all you Republicans in the crowd..." I couldn't hear the rest over the deafening boooos! [John Kerry] had no idea what hit him: we were all lined up along the fence (a whole city block) and there were ONLY pro-Bush, anti-Kerry, pro-life signs along the entire fence. Several of his staff gave us very nasty looks - they couldn't believe that someone (the police! - most of whom are Republicans here) let us in the venue with those protest signs. (BTW, he tried to come last month and the Kerry camp was turned down by the head of the local firemen's union - another republican). Perhaps the highlight of the night was this: John Glenn introduced Kerry. During his introduction, at a moment when the entire crowd was silent and during a pause in his intro, Regis Martin (a fellow prof here) yelled at the top of his voice to the great consternation of the Democrats: "Go back to the Moooon!" The Associated Press downplayed the event: "Several dozen Bush supporters greeted Kerry in Steubenville with signs favoring a second Bush term and opposing the Catholic Kerry's support for abortion rights." Updates & Related Links:
Labels: politics
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