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Truthdigger of the Week: Singing Obama Protesters

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Posted on Apr 23, 2011
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A protester at an Obama fundraising breakfast Thursday in San Francisco.

This week’s Truthdigger of the Week award goes not to a single person, but rather to the group of protesters that interrupted an Obama fundraising breakfast in San Francisco on Thursday with a song about the detention of alleged WikiLeaks’ source Pfc. Bradley Manning.

With small signs that read “Free Bradley Manning,” a group of about 10 serenaded President Obama:

Dear Mr. President we honor you today sir
Each of us brought you $5,000
It takes a lot of Benjamins to run a campaign
I paid my dues, where’s our change?
We’ll vote for you in 2012, yes that’s true
Look at the Republicans — what else can we do?
Even though we don’t know if we’ll retain our liberties
In what you seem content to call a free society
Yes it’s true that Terry Jones is legally free
To burn a people’s holy book in shameful effigy
But at another location in this country
Alone in a 6×12 cell sits Bradley
Twenty three hours a day and night
The 5th and 8th Amendments say this kind of thing ain’t right
We paid our dues, where’s our change?

As shown in the video below, the song, which lasted about a minute and a half, was received with tepid applause as Obama tried to accommodate the interruption during what would otherwise have been a run-of-the-mill fundraising stump speech.

But more than make Obama stumble, these protesters showed us that dissent can be both fun and forceful. They gave us an example of how we as everyday folk can work to stop the unfair incarceration of political prisoners such as Manning and the torture and terrible conditions that he has experienced during his detention.


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By Elizabeth Grieco, October 1, 2011 at 8:40 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

For the suffering who have been hurt by all the untruths;can rest assure that those leaders who have committed crimes against humanity, will no doubt reach the other side, to eventually pay for their injustices perpetrated upon our societies! We must fight for truth and what is right. Follow the light! Always!

Bless those who have stood up to tyranny,for they will see the light,Bradley Manning, Tim   DiChristoper,and all those who dare to speak aloud
and show some action for those who are afraid to stand up and fight back! Join the OWS protest!

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By gerard, April 26, 2011 at 5:01 pm Link to this comment

Look at it this way:  This video went all over the world.  It proves that:

If you want Obama to listen to you, you have to:
  1.Pay at least $5000 (which eliminates millions of jobless, homeless ordinary people who are not allowed to get near him and whose voices he ignores.
  2.For $5000 he allows himself to be forced to listen to a tasteless little ditty that has to praise
him in order to get him to listen.
  3.He knows the song makes him look and feel like an
idiot, but hasn’t the guts to address the question it raises forthrightly.
  4.It takes the harmlessness of a half dozen females
to avoid the “surveillance gauntlet”. Anyone else more forthright and “threatening” would have been forced out much sooner and arrested.
  5.It showed Obama to be more than a little fatuous, being “taken in” by such a silly ruse.

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By Napolean DoneHisPart, April 26, 2011 at 12:22 pm Link to this comment

It was $5k a piece… and they should have thrown something at him… or at least DEMAND he respond to a real question.

No spines.. no guts… only blind honor and sickening tribute to another tyrant.

Where is the JFK ( best example in the last 40 years ) when we need someone to speak on what is right, instead of obeying the money masters.

Obama is useless without his teleprompter, the high level lackey!

I don’t care if he’s a closet Muslim, for the Christ will shed light on all the obfuscations of man.. especially those who support injustice in return for the dole. 

Listen to the bravery in this man’s words!  This is why he was murdered, for telling the truth ( within the first minute, he exposes the cabal ).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFGMyyRURFM&feature=related

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By SDlefty, April 26, 2011 at 11:18 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

This has got to be the most pathetic “protest” I’ve
ever seen. When dealing with an issue like torture I think it trivializes the issue to do a song and dance like this. These sort of actions have more to do with the youtube generation wanting its 15 minutes of viral video fame than any sort of actual protest. And coming right out and saying you’ll support him anyway has to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!
The ONLY thing that will make Obama stop pushing hard to the right is a credible threat of losing votes from the left.
Shame on Truthdig for comparing this to real a protest.

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By SteveL, April 24, 2011 at 8:36 pm Link to this comment

Life outside the bubble can be different.

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By gerard, April 24, 2011 at 4:50 pm Link to this comment

This may make most of you guys mad, but— most of the comments here make it pretty clear tjat most of you—like Obama and all humorless officials, blog-ranters and Tea Partiers,—don’t know when you’ve been had.

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By reynolds, April 24, 2011 at 3:42 pm Link to this comment

thank you, gerard, chuck jines, virginia 21 and drew
carey.

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By Artful Dodger, April 24, 2011 at 3:33 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I see that someone has an icon of Karl Marx. I am sure he came up with some astute observations, but he had some pretty hateful ideas. He thought of certain groups of people as racial trash, and he was rather anti-semitic as well. I have observed that most every large Marxist revolution is also accompanied by large liquidations of certain ethnic or social groups. Marx Engels thought that certain ethnic/social groups were so backward that the best solution for then was the final solution.

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katsteevns's avatar

By katsteevns, April 24, 2011 at 11:36 am Link to this comment

Well said, John P. You caught the spirit of it all.

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Russian Paul's avatar

By Russian Paul, April 24, 2011 at 11:26 am Link to this comment

“They gave us an example of how we as everyday folk can work to stop the unfair
incarceration…”

whoa stop right there. us “everyday folk” can fork over $50,000 for the privilege
of singing obama a slightly critical song? truthdig pull your head out of your ass,
this is one of the most pathetic articles i have seen on here.

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Russian Paul's avatar

By Russian Paul, April 24, 2011 at 11:21 am Link to this comment

this makes me so angry. since when is donating tens of thousands of dollars to a
politician’s campaign an effective form of protest? they sing a wishy washy song
instead of shouting a clear message like “STOP TORTURE” or “OUT OF IRAQ, OUT
OF AFGHANISTAN, OUT OF LIBYA” or any of the million other things they could
have stated clearly. i’m sure bradley manning would agree! they not only bungled
up their opportunity to send a strong message to the administration, they PAID
obama like $50,000 for the privilege to do it!

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By John P., April 24, 2011 at 9:45 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

At 5k a plate we couldn’t get in any real headline making attention. By that I
mean something shocking in front of the president eyes, something with
impact. Which seems to be the only real attention getter in these dark directions
that we are moving to.

The best scenrio I think would been a large group acting out - in the most
angry mob-like way, needing to be taser’d.

Things can snap inside our minds and hearts as demonstrated here by an angry tax payer that could have negotiated and lowered his taxes significantly by using a tax attorney, but instead choose to make a stand see link:

http://www.examiner.com/public-policy-in-louisville/disgruntled-taxpayer-
flies-airplane-into-irs-building

Government differs from a gang of violent street thugs in only one respect:
most people believe that the gang named “government” has a moral right to
boss us around and steal our property. And they believe that we have a moral
duty to obey the “government” and knuckle under to their threats (“laws”).

Mass numbers, with a willingness to resort to, or support the use of defensive
force, seems to be the combination most likely to win.

Keep blogging keep talking, keep educating as many people as you can, if we
can keep all eyes and ears on the government and what they’re doing maybe
the oppression will lift, and jobs will return, health care will be provided, and
the other countries will stop laughing at us because WE finally changed our
government.

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By Chuck Jines, April 24, 2011 at 7:01 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

This column is a joke. As the other commenters noted this faux protest was nullified by the obeisance this group proclaimed to obama.

This website is usually better than this (except for EJ dionne).

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By madisolation, April 24, 2011 at 5:34 am Link to this comment

I agree with CaBeachBum: Logan Price should have been Truthdigger of the Week for questioning Obama face to face.
This group is basically saying: “We’ll support you even if you are a torturer. We just want to let you know that we don’t like it that you torture.” To which the President can respond: “Okay. Thanks.”
Boy, that really showed him, didn’t it. I do have to admit that the rich liberals seem to have rattled his cage a bit. That’s cause they’re rich.
The poor are going to have to stand in the streets before and after his rallies to get a rise, but I’ll bet we won’t be holding signs saying: “We Don’t Like You Cutting Social Security, But Dear Me, What Can We Do?”

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By doublestandards/glasshouses, April 24, 2011 at 4:42 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Clearly, Obama was all torn up and even I lost my breakfast.  I hope he will be ok.  Cute little songs of devotion (no matter what) have ever been the most effective means of fighting tyrany.  North Koreans like to sing and dance before their leaders too.

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RayLan's avatar

By RayLan, April 24, 2011 at 3:51 am Link to this comment

That’s a protest? Yah if Oblahma is a liberal.

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By beata, April 24, 2011 at 12:10 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

yes to lil bit of civil disobdience yes to free bradley manning but with voice like that thats not nonviolent resistance anymore

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By Virginia777, April 23, 2011 at 9:53 pm Link to this comment

Truthdigger of the Week

fkgn grow up.

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Virginia777's avatar

By Virginia777, April 23, 2011 at 9:52 pm Link to this comment

Why gosh, what an award…

Now we have singing Obama protestor’s. What next?

CHOOSE SIDES PEOPLE!

Stop wasting precious time with this defeative C R A P.

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By RickinSF, April 23, 2011 at 8:25 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Yeah, maybe an “ineffectual protest”...that’s been picked up by every news outlet in the country that I’ve checked.
Don’t like it? Do better.

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Napolean DoneHisPart's avatar

By Napolean DoneHisPart, April 23, 2011 at 8:14 pm Link to this comment

A for effort.

F for resolve.

The song writers obviously still see the world in the programmed paradigm the hegemony desires: one party with two sides ( dems and reps ). 

Notice how the sings were confiscated in such a nice fashion… shills and lackeys make me sick.  Obama deserved a bag of tomatoes at least.

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By goldnsilver, April 23, 2011 at 7:46 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

This is a massive fail for truthdigger of the week. Choosing a bunch of people who vowed to vote for Obama no matter what he actually does isn’t an achievement of anything but heinous stupidity.

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By Grady Lee Howard, April 23, 2011 at 7:35 pm Link to this comment

Next they’re off to “The Price Is Right” to serenade Drew Carey about the unfair features of the “High-Low” game. “I don’t provide the prizes, design the gags or decide who wins,” says Carey, “I’m like President Obama: I only get paid for smiling and reading the cards. It’s basically an hour long commercial for consumerism.” (Carey was immediately reprimanded for exceeding his pay grade.)

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By Miko, April 23, 2011 at 6:51 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Give him a lot of money and then say “We’ll vote for
you in 2012, yes that’s true.”  Yeah, that’s a real
effective protest.

katsteevns: “How about starting a third party”

Nah, the system is set up to make third parties
worthless.  How about not voting instead?  What would
happen if they held an election and nobody showed up? 
People like Obama only have power like this because
we give it to them.  Throw elections in the rubbish
bin and just tell them that we won’t be giving them
power any more.

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By CaBeachBum, April 23, 2011 at 6:40 pm Link to this comment

Actually, Logan Price should have been the Truthdigger of the week for confronting Obama about Bradley Manning. It was his questioning that provoked Obama’s response that Manning “broke the law.”

I agree with the other commenters regarding the group’s vow to “blindly” support Obama in 2012; their statement of support effectually nullifies their protest.

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By berniem, April 23, 2011 at 6:25 pm Link to this comment

Valiant effort but Bradley remains at Leavenworth as a wretched victim of this administration’s ever expanding policy of crimes against humanity! While we witness the persecution of Manning with apparently no hope of intercession by any legal body on his behalf, what of the helicopter crew that “lit up” that Iraqi civilians in that infamous video supposedly leaked by Bradley? Have they or any of their superiors been brought to justice? No,of course not! Also, if Obama is so willing to look forward and not back as applied to bush/cheney and the Wall St. defrauders as well as how many other criminals still at large, why doesn’t he apply the same rationale to Manning? Oh, and has anyone heard anything about Julian Assange of late? Has he been renditioned or has our Keystone Cop DOJ run out of phony reasons to have him quieted? What kind of pathetic nation do we live in where it will supposedly take $1 billion to re-elect a proven liar and war criminal against the equivalent of a box of rocks? And wouldn’t that money be better spent on our citizens’ needs rather than wasted on a political orgy? I thought we were broke.

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By grumpynyker, April 23, 2011 at 5:20 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

All I can say is if the Mulatto One (or one his apologists) visits my church, my song will R-E-S-P-E-C-T.  Any money I can spare to donate will go save Troy Davis or to the Innocence Project.  Nuff said.

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katsteevns's avatar

By katsteevns, April 23, 2011 at 4:47 pm Link to this comment

“We’ll vote for you in 2012, yes that’s true
Look at the Republicans — what else can we do?”

How about starting a third party? Or is that too much work? These people are drones, much like the ones flying over Afghanistan but with an inferior guidance system.

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By Gaetano Bresci, April 23, 2011 at 4:32 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

It’s a sad statement when the most visible dissent is accomplished by paying 50000 into a war criminal’s re-election fund and singing a song about how you love them… Where is the real Left?

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By Jeffrey C. Goldfarb, April 23, 2011 at 3:37 pm Link to this comment

Cynicism does not equal criticism. It enervates and leads to very dangerous politics, at home and abroad.
http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/04/week-in-review-the-cynical-society-and-beyond/

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By Mike Flugennock, April 23, 2011 at 2:22 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Oh, for Christ’s sake. Are you people pulling my leg?

That had to be the saddest damn’ spectacle I’d ever seen. These doorknobs spent five grand apiece to get into the event so they could spew whiny entreaties to their President to free Bradley Manning even though their President has publicly committed to imprisoning whistleblowers and has publicly stated that Manning should remain imprisoned and tortured because “we’re a nation of laws”. What a frickin’ embarassment.

Obama and the Democrats have stomped on them, exploited them, betrayed them, abused them and insulted them to their faces on TV, but they’re going to vote for him again anyway because—oh, noes, the Republicans are worse! Obama’s crapped all over them, but they’re going to support him next year anyway. Sounds like your classic abusive relationship if you ask me. Jeezus, how fuxored is that?

Honestly, seeing weak-assed crap like this passing as legitimate protest just makes me want to get drunk and slit my wrists.

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By gerard, April 23, 2011 at 2:12 pm Link to this comment

Sometimes pretense is the best offense.

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By kerryrose, April 23, 2011 at 2:00 pm Link to this comment

Except afterward they all shouted their love and support.  It’s enough to make you embarrassed to be anywhere near the left.

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By TDoff, April 23, 2011 at 12:08 pm Link to this comment

And Uncle Sam is still playing Santa. Gee, if we only knew when we were kids that all you had to do was bribe Santa with piggy-bank coins to get sacks full of toys and bundles of cash, because Santa was just spending and giving away other people’s money.

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