Activist Bob Glass took scores of photos of the opposing union rallies in Denver February 22; some of them are reproduce here with his permission.
Glass also described his experience just before the rallies: “I parked my car a few blocks away from the capitol and began walking towards the gold-domed building. A man and a woman with teachers’ union placards were behind me discussing media manipulation strategy.
“We all came together at a red light and I asked them if in fact they were teachers. They both proudly said ‘yes’ and proceeded to boast about how dedicated they were to the children. I pointed out that they couldn’t be that dedicated if they were not in the classroom teaching the children but were out here denouncing the governor of Wisconsin and supporting collective bargaining rights for state employees.
“The man emphatically told me that he ‘had permission’ to be here. He didn’t say permission from whom—certainly not from the children he professes to be so dedicated to. The woman then quickly chimed in and explained that she was in fact working for the union and not actually involved in education. ‘So then you’re not a teacher,’ I replied. ‘Not right now,’ she said.”
Glass commented on the “vitriol they [some union supporters] showed to the Tea Party counter-demonstrators. They had the attitude that it was inconceivable that anyone could disagree with them and many of them for the first time in their lives had to look into the faces of people unafraid to oppose them.
“Amid their litany of ‘Tax the Rich’ and ‘The people united will never be defeated,’ they shouted their usual obscenities and flipped the bird. One hysterical woman even mooned the Tea Party. They accused the Tea Party people of being paid by Wall Street and told us to get back in our Escalades and go home. Suddenly my 1992 Subaru Loyale with 235,000 miles seemed woefully inadequate.
“They sent people into the ranks of the Tea Partiers shouting directly in people’s faces clearly trying to provoke a violent confrontation. As usual the Tea Party people showed incredible restraint and as the cops caught on to what was going on they became more vigilant about keeping the two groups separated.”
See also coverage from Who Said You Said and Lesley Hollywood, as well as additional coverage from Free Colorado.
Lesley Hollywood:
Yours Truly conducting an interview:
Shawn Mitchell:
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Anonymous commented March 2, 2011 at 1:48 PM
I was there, my first state capitol rally. It went down just as posted. The unions do not want to take there hand out of the candy jar. They are emotional and will attack anyone who has a different opinion. They are going to ride this horse (America) into the ground. Facts and common sense are two attributes union members lack. Gov Walker is right on target with his proposals. For the good of the country (everybody) I hope the tea party mentality wins.