Chickens coming home to Roost ?

A possible sign of things to come via Empty Wheel and the White House Pool Reporters? Evidently, some of the social justice movements are beginning to protest treatment of Bradley Manning.  Will war protesters be next?

Mr. Obama was in the middle of his remarks when a woman in a white suit stood up and said, Mr. President we wrote you a song. POTUS tried to get her to wait until later, but she persisted and the table of 10 broke into a song that pointed out they’d just spent $5,000 donating to his campaign and went on to protest the treatment of Pfc. Bradley Manning.

The woman stayed standing as they sang. Mr. Obama looked to Ms. Pelosi and asked, Nancy did you do this? Ms. Pelosi had a look on her face, as she stared at the singing group, that definitely said she did not.

[snip]

The 10 singers then passed around 8.5×11 signs that said “Free Bradley Manning” or had a photo of him.

Then the woman in the white suit stripped off her jacket to reveal a black T-shirt that said Free Bradley Manning, with an image of him.

“We paid our dues. Where’s our change?” they sang.

USSS and WH staff had moved near the table at this point. The woman was escorted out. Two others left on their own. (The rest stayed and applauded at the end of POTUS’s speech.)

“That was a nice song,” a displeased Mr. Obama said.

“Now where was I?” POTUS asked.

As was indicated by that song, “Over the last 2 and a half years, change turned out to be tougher than we expected,” POTUS said.

Excuses!!!!  Excuses!!!  It’s too hard!  The Republicans made me do it!!!  The Axelrove Dawg ate my homework!!!

Update: pictures of protest taken by activist Logan who attended the event are here.

The activists have a facebook page called savebradley. They also Tweet which is how I got all this information!

Our activist Logan is live tweeting the Obama fundraiser in San Francisco this morning. An entire table just stood up and began singing and holding signs for Bradley Manning. This is what politically engaged America looks like!

39 Comments on “Chickens coming home to Roost ?”

  1. dakinikat's avatar dakinikat says:

    Another protest sign:

    WestWingReport West Wing Report
    by thedailybeast
    Pro-marijuana protestors outside president’s San Francisco hotel. One held a sign: “Yes We Cannabis”

  2. bostonboomer's avatar bostonboomer says:

    Wow. I’m impressed that 10 people paid $5,000 to protest Obama’s speech. Was that $5,000 apiece? Actually that’s kind cheap for one of Obama’s fundraisers.

    • minkoffminx's avatar Minkoff Minx says:

      I thought the same thing BB, that 5 thou was on the cheap side. The thing that gets me is the question to Pelosi from Obama…

      The woman stayed standing as they sang. Mr. Obama looked to Ms. Pelosi and asked, Nancy did you do this? Ms. Pelosi had a look on her face, as she stared at the singing group, that definitely said she did not.

  3. Pilgrim's avatar Pilgrim says:

    Any video of that would be interesting to see.

  4. TheRock's avatar TheRock says:

    That was interesting. And very telling as well. Obumbles rarely SHOWS UP for events of less than %15,000 per person. If they are sending him to these $5,000 things, his well must be drying up. When does he have to start disclosing fund-raising numbers? Interesting….

    Asshat.

    Hillary 2012

  5. Peggy Sue's avatar Peggy Sue says:

    Wow! And this protest was in San Francisco, the bastion of all things Obama. Picked this up from the SF Gate:

    Outside, Casey, one of the composers of the protest song, said the group’s actions today constitute “the first initiative” in what they hope will be a series of lively “performance art” protests by liberals regarding the Obama administration.

    “We are obviously concerned about the treatment of Bradley Manning but there’s more to come,” he said.

    Interesting. Lord knows there’s plenty to protest about!

    • dakinikat's avatar dakinikat says:

      They seem to share a lot of activists in common with Code Pink

    • Seriously's avatar Seriously says:

      Maybe they should try to coordinate with Billionaires for Bush. Singing is just going to freak Obama out, but if Obama sees a guy in a Panama hat who looks like he’s about to start punting down the Potomac, he’ll think he recognizes one of his puppetmasters and stop to chat. BFN excels at performance art.

  6. madaha's avatar madaha says:

    I’m going to FB “free Bradley Manning”

  7. Obama says suck it up, detours were part of the deal he made with all you suckers who voted for him in 2008…

    Politico:

    SAN FRANCISCO — As he enters another round of bipartisan talks on federal spending, President Obama acknowledged Wednesday that he’s already frustrated his core supporters by striking deals with Republicans

    “Everybody’s a political consultant,” Obama said Wednesday, drawing laughs from a crowd of 2,500 at a fundraiser at Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco.

    “I know there are times where you’re sitting there and you’re thinking: ‘Gah-lee, you know, Obama’s made some compromise with the Republicans on this or that. You know, he should have done it this way,’ ” Obama said. ” ‘You know, if he had just phrased it that way, I’m sure we could’ve gotten health care done in 2 months.’ You know who I’m talking about — you. And then your friends come and you say: ‘Oh, Obama’s changed. I used to be so excited; I still have a poster.’ ”

    He allowed that he gets “frustrated’’ too, at times.

    “I understand how you guys feel,’’ Obama said. “But we knew this wouldn’t be easy. We knew that on a journey like this there were going to be setbacks. There were going to be detours.‘’

    • Woman Voter's avatar Woman Voter says:

      stephenbsander Stephen Sander
      The “Fresh Juice Party” musical protest of #Obama over #BradleyManning was captured on video | SFGate: j.mp/gVpxTU

      $76,000 protest disrupts swank Obama SF fundraiser: “We paid our dues..where’s our ‘change”? (VIDEO) Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=87504#ixzz1KCivKAEo

    • mjames's avatar mjames says:

      That’s right, Barack. You’re going to win me over to your side and get me to vote for you by telling me I’m expecting too much. That I’m not as smart or savvy as you.

      YOU GODDAM EFFING FRAUD!

      I’ll debate you anytime and anyplace on your selling liberals and the Democratic party out. On purpose. I’ve got twice your brain and a million times your experience. (Also, at least as much ego, with a much deserved resume to match, unlike you.) I’ll prove that you are a far-right conservative Republican falsely wrapped in the mantel of MLK. Your manipulation and betrayal of blacks in this country is sickening. (Also, I’ll prove you are a CIA and Wall Street puppet.) Anytime, buddy.

      You understand nothing, you know nothing. You are nothing. Just like Mommy and Daddy thought when they abandoned you (if they bothered to think of you at all). Nothing. A worthless piece of garbage.

      (Just wanted to get this off my chest in case anyone wondered where I stood.)

  8. jillforhill's avatar jillforhill says:

    Bill Clinton got interrupted when he spoke at the Daily Kos Convention by a gentlelman who was angry and rightly so about DADT. Bill stopped his speech and talked to him for about 10 minutes. Bill did not yell or talk down to him.

    O/T-On Lawrence O’Donnell talked about how Bill was going to use the CGI for the first time to talk and work on creating jobs in America by holding a job summit in Chicago. Lawrence asked Robert Reich if this is good or bad for the whitehouse and he said “the bad is why did they not do this first and the good is they can ride Bill’s coattails”. If Bill with CGI creates one more job than Obama or W,there needs to be a way to get Bill back in the whitehouse.

  9. minkoffminx's avatar Minkoff Minx says:

    Did y’all see what Obama said after the “disruption”:

    Obama on Manning: “He Broke the Law.” So Much for that Trial? | FDL Action

    President Barack Obama made stunning accusations about accused Wikileaks whistleblower PFC Bradley Manning, directly asserting that Manning “broke the law.” Apparently the President of the United States of America and a self-described Constitutional scholar does not care that Manning has yet to be tried or convicted for any crime.