I can't forget the look of disappointment on the faces of the elderly couple who asked us if we knew where Governor Walker was speaking. Trying to avoid saying anything cruel, I told them the Governor had higher priorities than speaking to people like us today. They had come, along with literally a few people to the Wausau stop in the second big day of Americans For Prosperity's "Stand Against Spending. Stand With Walker" bus tour of Wisconsin.
My journey with the tour, as protestor and (polite) provocateur, began early this morning at the Perkins Restaurant in Green Bay, with no expectations of actually catching a glimpse of Wisconsin's embattled Chief Executive.
Realizing I couldn't sleep anymore, I got up at 4:30 a.m., trying not to disturb my close friend, whose home I crashed last night to be there for the festivities in Green Bay. She'd join me later to protest, and do the inside reports and photos. I was at Perkins shortly after 5, hoping to score some insight on the rally logistics, and a hot cup of coffee. The place was dark, which is a surprise when you consider it's near the freeway. You'd think pancakes and coffee at that time and location would sell like, well…..hotcakes.
The woman scattering salt on the icy walkways said the restaurant would open at 6. The rally? "Oh, that was cancelled last night. I heard that on my last shift. I think they moved it to the Holiday Inn.", she pointed across the parking lot.
I thought the clerk at the Inn's front desk looked nervous when she told me, without checking any records, that there were no bookings for groups today. She would have known. So, back at my friend's place at 6, we checked the AFP site - no change from Perkins. The "conservative" talk radio station of the scheduled event speaker, Jerry Bader, didn't pick up. Even local television news claimed Perkins was still the place.
I drove through the restaurant's lot again just in time to hear that their staff, not wanting to soil their pancakes I guess, was gratefully sending the arriving union supporters to the Holiday Inn, where I finally found the "tour" bus, actually just a Lamers Line rental with a "Stand With Walker" banner barely bigger than the sign I'd brought, hardly worth the bandwidth to upload a photo. The Koch's cheaped out on this one; can't they just buy their own busses?
Banished to the street after watching the handful of arrivals for the meeting room AFP booked (or didn't), a couple hundred pro-union, anti-Walker protestors chanted and laughed up a warm Wisconsin winter storm. Though sparse, traffic was overwhelmingly supportive of our message. Everyone stayed as long as that bus sat there, and apparently the AFP folks knew that. When the bus pulled out, bound for Wausau with me in hot pursuit, it wasn't for good.
Inside with AFP-2 of these people are media
Just part of one side of the street
AFP's view
After a bit of a drive about the area, and a curious 12 minute stop at a local Lamers yard, the bus returned to the Inn to await the real departure, the street now cleared of those pesky protesters.
That quiet layover gave me a chance to tune in to Jerry. "It's getting difficult." "We're getting disheartened; I saw it in the faces there." "I fear we're discouraged." We? Yes, that was for Jerry's listeners! The frustration usually heard from progressives floundering in a sea of conservative talk tidal waves, for Jerry's people? For Scotty's people, perhaps? I hope!
Jerry found solace in a caller's clever call-to-arms, or actually, to-garden. "We need to weed, we're overgrown." With liberals, I'm guessing. "I like metaphors!", Jerry seemed soothed to quip. His best shot came in describing the "parting of the red sea by the cops, to get me in. That's as in the red tide of socialism!" Like it or not, Jerry's in sore need of a fresh metaphor.
On the second try, we were off for Wausau (the bus & me), where a similar staging of events ensued, minus the venue foil and crestfallen radio talker. The disparity in the size of the crowds inside and outside, pro and anti Walker, was as in Green Bay, huge. Heavier traffic there brought waves of cheers from the enthusiastic crowd for honks and thumbs-ups, and rare boos for a few other gestures.
What followed the AFP bus - Green Bay to Wausau
Wausau crowd
The "Stand with Walker" folks, who had been mostly sitting and snacking inside, got "Shame, shame, shame"'d on their way out, and the rental bus got "Recall Walker, recall Walker"'d on it's way bound for Rhinelander, or as we call it around here, "up north."
I was too tired to follow anymore (though others did), and headed home for a nap. Madison's tomorrow's destination. But I do wish the tiny "Stand With Walker" staff traveling around our great state in their big bus, if anything, consistency in the success of their tour.
You should have considered a mini-van.
Oh, and update your website, it still says, "Perkins".
Update:
Just a couple more pics, 'cause I like to see both perspectives. The AFP website now has their pics up from these "rallies", and I don't see much rally in their faces, just as Jerry pointed out.
Green Bay - Pretty much the entire room, so there were maybe 50 there. (Don't count the news photog or my infiltrating friend.)
Wausau - Other pics show more up front, and a bit of cut-off, so a possible 80 here.
Looks like they need more Koch in their coffee!
Now this is fired up!