** As Rita slams into Texas, the media is wanting to slam America with the belief that the protesters meeting in DC this weekend are mild-mannered, middle-aged former schoolteachers from Olathe, Kansas. **
Glenn Reynolds wrote this morning about how the media will be “Spinning the Protests” of the professional protesters meeting up near Camp Casey IV(?) in Washington D.C. this weekend. Glenn listed a couple of notable protesters in his earlier post including Brian Becker who has been “Praising the Iraqi Resistance” .
Associated Press writer Jennifer Kerr has an article tonight on the protests planned tomorrow for and against the War in Iraq.
Moms of Dead Troops to Gather for Protest
She notes H. Elaine Johnson, from Orangeburg, S.C who lost her son in the war:
Johnson, from Orangeburg, S.C., lost her son, Darius Jennings, when his Chinook helicopter was shot down in Iraq in November 2003. The United States, she said, should not have invaded Iraq.
“My son gave his life for his country,” she said. “The war was a mistake from the beginning, so my son died for oil.”
Darius Jennings was 22. Johnson says she will continue to speak out against the war until the last soldier is brought home.
Johnson believes that poor youth are “pressured” into joining the service.
Johnson was critical of President Bush for not meeting with her immediately after her son’s death:
Johnson, 41, is something of an anomaly among families of South CarolinaÂs fallen soldiers in that she has been openly critical of Operation Iraqi Freedom and President Bush. She was featured on a CNN segment shortly after her sonÂs death, and has continued to speak at anti-war rallies in places including Charleston, Columbia, and Fayetteville, NC.
She criticized the fact that President Bush did not call or visit her to offer condolences while visiting South Carolina for a fundraising event shortly after her sonÂs death. When the president met with grieving parents at Fort Carson later that November, he recognized Elaine. ÂHe said, ÂI believe I know who you are,  Johnson recounts.
ÂI said to him, ÂI know who you are, too. Â
(Has there ever been another war where the country’s leaders were so pressured to meet with family members as this one? Did Bill Clinton get this with the War in Kosovo Europe?)
Elaine Johnson is a member of “Military Families Speak Out” a Far Left group:
…We had learned a terrible truth, an equation really, from Seymour Hersh. In 1969 Mr. Hersh wrote about My Lai. The equation he exposed was this: racism plus dehumanization equals atrocities… DonÂt Send Him To War for Oil.Â…
Elaine is also a member of the Gold Star Families for Peace, Cindy Sheehan’s group, and is featured in one of their latest advertisements.
And, last year Elaine participated in this Far-Left event before the elections with John Edwards:
Edwards heads to the state capital of Columbia, where he will appear with the other candidates at an event called “Dialogue With America’s Families,” organized by a Washington-based activist group called the Center for Community Change. It’s a loony-Left gathering, with an atmosphere reminiscent of last year’s antiwar protests. In the program that precedes the candidates’ appearances, a woman takes the stage to sing her personal national anthem  “O beautiful, for darkened skies, for us there is no grain; for purple mountain majesties, above the fruitless plain.” Dreadlocked poets read their work from dog-eared notebooks. A speaker yells, “This is the creed for the people in need!” Someone beats an African drum.
The format is to have a pre-selected group of ordinary citizens question the candidates one-on-one. Edwards comes on stage and gives a brief speech on his anti-poverty plan. Then the first question comes, from a woman named Elaine Johnson, from Orangeburg, S.C. Her 22-year-old son, Darius, was killed in Iraq, she says, after joining the military because he couldn’t find a job.
** Lorie Byrd at Polipundit and RedState note that there will also be a protest to “Support Our Troops” in Washington DC as well. They would be thrilled if you would join them! **
