demnan's quest

Entering the Citadel of Power in Annandale

Virginians for Peace and Accountability  visit Tom Davis (May 7^th 2007).

The little neighborhood where Davis maintains his staff office in Annandale, VA sure doesn’t look like the Citadel of Power.  It looks like a little working class suburb except for the Vietnamese signs everywhere.  Annandale is the home of Little Saigon.  How ironic that we should pass through here to speak out against another war which feels so much like the one that impacted this neighborhood when Vietnamese refugees came here to live 30 years ago.

Davis, being a politician first, appeared gracious enough to speak with us, however, he also was unmoved.  Not that this should be surprising.  The Congress “Critter” learns early on the value of being moved less by the peoples’ desires than by Corporate interest.   But we had our say.  I was very moved by Tony’s presentation.  Somehow the visual effect of all those names said more than an appeal for the Constitution.  Perhaps it shouldn’t be that way, but it was.

Davis disputes this point.  He believes that just because we don’t like what President Bush does doesn’t mean we can impeach him.  Davis defended Bush and Cheney while being strangely negative toward them at same time - an odd, cynical and unconvincing combination.

Davis asked us to come back – that was the important thing.  He said he would keep an open mind and let the investigation unfold.  What I believe he really meant was that he would test the political waters and if his corporate masters decided that Bush and Cheney had to go, he would support it.  He also repeatedly said that visits like ours “made him better” in responding.  I believe he used us to practice deflecting more powerful critics.

In the end the encounter made us better as well.  It gave us a chance to focus and hone our message.

I just got back from Lafayette Square Park (Veto Protest - 5/2/07)

The rally in front of the White House didn't have many attendees, there might have been 75 people there when I showed up just after 5:00 pm, but some were tourists. There were a few Code Pink, and some Moveon.org. There's a guy who dresses up as death who reads the names of the dead who was there as well. Typical Washington Peace Center, let's be really really even more depressed than when we showed up - but you know they have a good point. World Can't Wait actually tried to run their rally over by 17th street where the traffic was which is a bad idea, in my opinion. They ended up with two ladies who came over and joined us. So much for World Can't Wait - I feel their pain. When you have these kinds of rallies on the fly it's best to pick the place everyone knows. And right in front of the White House is a wonderful place. The little street lady was there of course, who actually has a permanent permit and has been there for years, I spoke with her tonight. She has a sweet little voice. She said, "Impeach! That's right!"

Granted you don't get car traffic in front of the White House due to security restrictions, but you get plenty of foot traffic which might be even better. Remember the guy dressed as Bush with the prison suit? - he's in our collage on the Latest News page. He was there so I stood next to him with a large Impeach sign and lots of people came by to take pictures, mostly of him because he just was so great. I held my Impeach sign over his head for the pictures. Rueters News took our names as well. Who knows we'll probably both have our taxes audited. His name is Sam Cook, and he's a pretty nice guy, he lives up in Maryland somewhere. He knows Alan as well. He stands there in front of the White House a lot of Saturday afternoons, so I thought it might be fun for us to hook up and make some slack-jawed tourists' day.

He wasn't the only one in the Bush suit. There's a guy who dresses as the devil in red and wears these shorts with tights underneath. His legs are pretty nice! Sam knows him and said he would tell him so.

Hey, sometimes it's just nice to stand in front of the White House with a giant Impeach sign painted in barn paint. I also sold a button on the metro on the way back.