by Sandy » Wed Jun 07, 2017 12:39 pm
Protesting in Phoenix, Arizona in June, huh? That'll take some commitment.
I was at the SBC meeting in Atlanta when then-President George H.W. Bush spoke on the last day. We took a cab from the hotel because the parking garages around the convention center jacked up the rates for the convention, so we had to walk through a whole assortment of protesters mostly there because of the President's presence, and because CNN's headquarters was right across the plaza. They were still there when we came out. I doubt that they had any effect on changing the minds of any of the messengers, but I think their purpose is to be somewhere that will get attention, and of course, all the press that was there to cover the President also covered the protests. Maybe 110 degree heat will thin the ranks of both protesters and press in Phoenix.
There are times when protests have some success. Over the course of this past winter and spring, the protesters who showed up at congressional town hall meetings held by Republicans succeeded in derailing the first repeal and replace proposal, and succeeded in getting at least 23 Republicans to vote no on the second bill. I went to one of those in my district, where the Republican congressman's staff was trying to screen the people going inside to try and prevent those against repealing the ACA from getting inside. Didn't work. He voted against both Republican proposals.