Tuesday, November 15, 2005

More on Cheney In Knoxville

Update: Cheney's low approval ratings have followed him to Tennessee. A poor turnout coupled with hecklers suggest that the Vice should crawl back into one of his undisclosed locations - cause even red-staters don't like him.

Here's an eyewitness report, elevated from the comments, followed by a blurb from the Associated Press:

"I was just there. Scarcely 500 people attended the speech -- an embarrassingly low turnout. Frist was supposed to come but he didn't show up. I spotted "Stacey X" Campfield on the floor. Duncan, Bredesen and Alexander joined Baker and Cheney on the stage.

During Cheney's speech protesters stood up and started shouting, "War! What is it Good For?" And others responded, "Dick!" I'd say there were about 10 or so protesters inside, looked to be college-age. Cheney just kept talking like they weren't there, but no one booed the protesters. After a few minutes the police politely escorted them out but no arrests were made, that I could see.

There were maybe 50-75 protesters outside the arena. I took pictures and will try to e-mail them later for posting." --MzNicky

AP

Cheney heckled by anti-war protesters

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Vice President Dick Cheney was heckled by protesters Tuesday as he spoke at the groundbreaking for a public policy center honoring former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker.

During Cheney's brief remarks, about a half-dozen people protesting the war in Iraq yelled, "War, what is it good for?" and held up a large banner saying, "Peace Now."

About 50 protesters, most of them appearing to be college age, demonstrated outside the arena. Several carried signs, including one that read "Honor Baker, Impeach Cheney."

Original post [10:38 AM]:

CNN just showed the Cheney monster speaking at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Get this, you could hear shouts from protesters in the background.

They were shouting:

Stop the War!

Way to go Tennessee!

According to the Knoxville daily paper, other guests at the event "include Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist."

Roughly 3,000 are expected to attend the event.

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