Occupy Orange County and an ad hoc group of activists from Move On to Code Pink to Who Knows will be greeting Mitt Romney Friday evening as he shows up in Newport Beach's ritzy Balboa Bay Club to suck money out of the area like ... like ... well, I guess like Mitt Romney, come to think of it. The fundraiser will be hosted by a couple of OC Republican billionaires, but the real fun will be the "billionaires" protesting outside: "Billionaires for Romney."
Oh yeah, we're going there. In the tradition of "Billionaires for Bush" and the California Nurses Association's devastating "Queen Meg" traveling show taking on (and taking down) Meg Whitman, Orange County is going to welcome Mitt Romney with a bunch of crazed rich people -- wait, that's the audience in the room with him, make that a bunch of pretend crazed pretend rich people -- our best signs, our Etch-a-Sketches, and ... a man dressed up as a dog in a carrier on top of a van. (What if anything will pass for the defecatory terror in the tribute remains undetermined. We Orange County people are pretty serious about our paint jobs.)
We do need some help with chants, though, and that's where you come in.
You can see one proposed chant in my title:
Hey Hey! Ho Ho!
Middle Class Has Got to Go!
but we're not stopping there. We can have almost endless variations on this one:
"1, 2, 3, 4 -- we don't care about the poor!"
"5, 6, 7, 8 -- don't you dare tax my estate!"
And in the spirit of "We are the 99%", there's
YOUR ... WAGE ...
Should Be Ninety-Nine Cents!
And how about
What do we want!
The rest of your money!
When do we want it!
Forever! [or should it be "Always!"?]
I think this one has potential too:
Up with Wall Street!
Down with Your Street!
It looks like there will be press coverage, too -- both
mainstream and
alternative. From the latter:
Occupy Orange County activist Christian Larsen said Occupiers plan to demonstrate in front of the luxurious 15 acre waterfront resort, using satire to poke fun at Mitt Romney's Wall Street-friendly image, mirroring the "Billionaire Protests" at Occupy Wall Street.
The Facebook event page encourages participants to "invite your friends, bring signs and/or 'billionaire props' like top hats, fake pearls, cigars, suit jackets, yacht captain hats etc."
"It's not a pro-Obama thing," said Larsen. "But we see Mitt Romney [as] being a huge symbol of what's wrong with America and unchecked Wall Street power taking over the government."
Larsen said the Newport Beach Police Department has been informed of the protest.
(Yeah, OC Occupiers tend to me a mix of libertarian, socialist, anarchist, and a few of us Democrats doing things like negotiating with the cops. It's the best we can do here, and it pretty much works.)
If you're near Newport Beach tomorrow at aroung 5:00, you may want to mosey over the the sidewalk opposite from the Balboa Bay Club and join in the fun. Wear your finest togs -- or else you may be the one cleaning Seamus's explosions off of the window of the van. (Good thing we'll be next to a car wash!)