I have to say, my favorite part of the whole thing was on the metro going downtown - I saw a woman with an "Impeach Now!" sign, clearly heading the same place I was, and when I said, "Hey, great sign!", she sighed and rolled her eyes and said, "I can't believe it, I used it for Clinton, and, now I need it again!"
Is this a great country or what?!
There were probably a couple hundred people there, the usual assortment of grandmas, intense progressives, people with id's around their necks on their way home from work, and guys who could seriouly use a shave. My favorite t-shirt was a picture of Ronald Reagan next to a picture of George W., and underneath the first photo it said, "Ron", and underneath the second it said, "Moron." There were a number of military families there, who came forward when the media asked specifically to speak to them, and a guy in an American Legion hat with a sign from the veterans, "Honor the warrior, not the war." And of course, it being a beautiful sunny late afternoon in DC, there were lots of tourists around, trying to get a clear shot of the White House without some pesky protestor in the way. One guy passed by me as he said to the person with him, "It's part of what makes this country great, man, that people can do this..." and then he paused and snarled, "Disrespect the president."
About 10 guys had a counter-protest nearby, all waving the American flag. (Note to self - bring little American flags to the next rally and pass them out. Wouldn't it be cool on TV to see people waving the flag as they chant, "Impeach now!")
The rally started at 5, and John Conyers and the other congresspeople showed up at about 6:15. I have to admit, by that point I had wandered off to find some water - the speeches beforehand were fine, everyone upbeat about how well attended the hearing had been, but nothing particularly interesting - and when I got back, I saw a big crowd in front of the White House gate across from Lafayette Park, loudly chanting, "Let Conyers in!! Let Conyers in!!' Well, they didn't, and I imagine Conyers didn't expect them to, but the news cameras were rolling, while a guy dressed in a black robe and hood with electric wires dangling from his arms ran around trying to get into every photo.
Then they all walked across to the park, and Conyers spoke very briefly - he said they had to get back to Congress for another vote. (I read on an earlier thread how there was an unusual number of votes today...) But he told everyone about the letter, and how 100,000 signatures turned into 250,000, and then the current 560,00, and he said we would keep going to a million, and then 2 million, and on and on until we achieved our goal. He said we really made it happen, that the people speaking out will be what makes things change. (Ha - no one on Kos seems to need any prodding in that direction.)
Then Maxine Waters spoke, and she was fantastic - she straight out said Bush is a liar, that Cheney is a thief (Halliburton, of course) and that Condi Rice (here everyone booed, the crowd was having a great time) was a liar and theif and a betrayer of the public trust. She also told about her new group: the Out of Iraq congressional caucus, currently with 41 members.
Then Tom Hayden spoke very briefly, and Zoe Lofgren, and (this is terrible reporting, I know) a few other congresswomen, from California and Chicago. It was pretty noticeable how many women were up there, and how many African-Americans. Made me wonder where the rest of them were.
But the tone was really positive, and everyone kept saying how this is just the beginning. As many of the speakers said, remember this day because this is the day it all started to fall apart for Bush.