[Updated] Baucus Family-1...Westboro Baptist Family-Bupkus, Nada, Zilch

The much reviled Westboro Baptist church had pledged to protest at the memorial services for the nephew of Sen. Max Baucus.  I guess they didn't know that the service would be held at the Baucus family's Siebel Ranch.  It covers thousands of acres which means the ranchhouse, etc. are set back quite a ways from the highway.

4 members of WBC showed up.  Yeah, FOUR.  And they beat feet outta there before the time for the service rolled around.

I just saw footage (which is now on the same source I cite below) {Thnaks for the heads-up, tvb} of the news report from the local/regional station in Missoula.  Here's the link to the reporter's script:  http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/...

Because of the influx of people expected at the service, the Lewis & Clark County Sheriff's Office and the Montana Highway Patrol were on hand to manage traffic and control any
potential clashes between supporters and protestors.

Four members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas showed up for a short time, but left before 2:00 p.m. The group demonstrates at military funerals, because it says the military deaths are punishment for America refusing to condemn homosexuals.

But the group was far outnumbered by supporters of the Baucus family.

If any video pops up, I will add a link to this diary.  One of the people they interviewed was subtitled as a member of a fundie/evangelical type church who sounded like he was there to counteract the presence of the dimbulbs from WBC.

There was some obvious biker presence, but I couldn't tell if they were from the Patriot Guard Riders http://patriotguard.org/  group or not.

It did my born 'n' raised MT heart proud to see Montanans rally around one of our own and pushback against WBC.

•  Tip Jar. n/t

  by MTmofo on Sun Aug 06, 2006 at 04:59:10 PM PDT

  •  Thanks MTmofo

    I've been on vacation - good to keep up on local stuff.

    I hope these guys ran out of gas on their way out of town.

    by jhwygirl on Sun Aug 06, 2006 at 08:25:52 PM PDT

•  Glad they left early. Those folks are freaks.

  When they came here they had a little boy, maybe 7 or 8 holding a sign that said "Thank God for dead soldiers"...what fucking garbage!!

  SO many people walked by and said...if that wasn't a little kid holding that sign, I'd kick the person's ass.

  I think they're simply crazy. I can't think of any other reason why people would purposefully travel around trying to act like assholes and push hate on people.

  I'm glad people were able to get rid of them early...

  by Elise on Sun Aug 06, 2006 at 05:03:44 PM PDT

  •  Thanks for reading this.

    From what I could see, WBC recvd NO screen time.  That's excellent, they don't deserve the publicity.  I do feel bad for the kids they coerce into being a prop for their hate mongering.

    by MTmofo on Sun Aug 06, 2006 at 05:09:24 PM PDT

•  If These People Are Truly Children of God....

  that would be the best argument for atheism that I have seen to date.

  So, since I am a Christian, I will choose to believe that these people are merely full of shit up to their little beady eyeballs.

  by Steve Singiser on Sun Aug 06, 2006 at 05:08:59 PM PDT

•  Ah yes, the Republican 'base.'

  I think someone should confront them and ask them if they vote Republican.  When they answer yes - make them the campaign poster children representing the GOP support for hate.  Then expand it... find all the white supremecists and neo-nazis and ask them who they vote for...

  I've never understood the "amazement" at lockstep GOP solidarity as a party.  It is the party of hate, and hate can be sustained against anything and anyone.  They may call it something else, but it's hate.

  That's a talking point worth exploring and if the hate groups can be demonstrated to vote GOP it would provide legitimacy to the rhetoric.  It would also force the GOP to disavow those types and create, potentially, a split in the base and a loss of votes.

  by bigchin on Sun Aug 06, 2006 at 06:27:32 PM PDT

  •  Fred Phelps is still a registered Democrat

    and I don't know about Marge or any other family members.  Fred actually campaigned for Jimmy Carter I believe.

    That may have been before he went totally off his rocker.  He is also disbarred at both State and Fed levels but their shenanigans are protected by at least a couple of family lawyers.

    Some of the grandkids have tried to run for local offices.

    If bikers were present my guess would be they represented the Patriot Guard.  They are a class act and I am proud that two of my grandchildren are Junior Patriot Guards and stood with the guard at a local funeral at their church/school.  Their certificates hang proudly on their bulletin boards.

    Googling "Fred Phelps" can turn up a link for an unauthorized biographical book that provides a lot of insight if it is accurate.  It makes reference to a couple of the Phelps children who have escaped the clan saying that Fred is both a wife abuser and a sexual molester.  Don't remember the details exactly but it was some kind of fallout or revocation of publishing at the last minute.  Believe it was written by a journalist and it was a local paper who refused late in the project to publish.

    Visiting the Westboro website shows heartbreaking pics of kids holding signs with all kinds of messages that are age inappropriate and crazy.  It is really sad and must border on actionable.  Bet minors have been removed from homes for lesser acts than some of the ones minors participate in.

    PaintyKat

    by PaintyKat on Sun Aug 06, 2006 at 08:50:47 PM PDT

    •  yikes.

      by bigchin on Sun Aug 06, 2006 at 08:58:02 PM PDT

      •  Guess I ought to explain about children

        I mean the chants and the signs placed in the hands of children who are used in their protests that I find so sick and harmful.

        These are very young children with cherubic faces who seem deprived of innocense all too soon.  They get thrown out in the middle of what their parents and extended families refer to as war.

        It really gets to me about as much as the cruelty exhibited toward the survivers who have lost a family member or friend.  During the 80s it was young men who were suspected to have died from AIDS and now it is families who have lost a son, daughter, sister, brother, or friend to the conflict in the Middle East.

        Peace,
        PaintyKat

        by PaintyKat on Mon Aug 07, 2006 at 04:54:17 PM PDT

•  video

  The video matching the script you linked to is on that same page upper left side.

  by tvb on Sun Aug 06, 2006 at 06:31:46 PM PDT

  •  Thanks tvb!! I'll update. n/t

    by MTmofo on Sun Aug 06, 2006 at 06:36:14 PM PDT

•  Hopefully the lack of presence

  is a sign that they are going away.  Those guys are extreme nuts that are only around to cause hate and discontent.  I thought they were a parody the first time I heard of them.

  by Green Zombie on Sun Aug 06, 2006 at 06:48:47 PM PDT

•  I'm glad the WBO is getting the attention ...

  it deserves. After years of picketing gay men's funerals and being ignored by the mainstream media, now that they're protesting at the funerals of real Americans, people are starting to pay attention. It was fine as long as it was just the funerals of non-entities like Matthew Shephard, but a soldier's funeral. How dare they?

  I'm sorry for the rant, but the Westboro Baptists are not new. They've been around for a long time, pulling the same shit. Where were the bikers then? Where were the legislators seeking to prevent them from picketing funerals then?  Where were the courts trying to find a way to block them then?

  I'll go back inside now.

  by fritzrth on Sun Aug 06, 2006 at 07:04:40 PM PDT