NEW YORK - Protesters in pig snouts grunted and rolled in bogus $100 bills featuring a sneering Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday as part of a day of civil disobedience aimed at deflating Republicans in town to celebrate their party's presidential ticket.
Outside the hotel where Texas Republicans were staying, about two dozen protesters calling themselves employees of "Hallibacon" chanted: "We love money. We love war. We love Cheney even more." They accused Cheney and the company he once led of profiting from the war in Iraq.
Republican free speech:
NEW YORK - "They insulted the United States of America, even though the president belatedly supported the combat record of John Kerry," said Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, a military veteran himself.
Republican Chairman Ed Gillespie asked delegate Morton Blackwell of Arlington, Va., to quit handing out the bandages, which carried the message: "It was just a self-inflicted scratch, but you see I got a Purple Heart for it."
The purple heart bandages were visible on some delegates Monday afternoon but were not in evidence by Monday night when party members delivered the convention's first major speeches. Blackwell had distributed about 250 of the bandages.
See the difference? Calling Dick Cheney a murderous war-monger is ok, but poking a little fun at John Kerry for exaggerating some of his injuries is insulting to the United States of America.
There's no double standard here. None at all.