Conservative vs. Liberal Ideology on Display in DC

Tea Party Event (Left) Occupy Event (Right) AP/FNC

By Sarah Rumpf

I visited Washington DC this week for Americans for Prosperity Foundation's Defending the American Dream Summit. This week's events were an amazing contrast in conservative versus liberal activist strategies:

On our side, AFP Foundation lined up lots of great speakers, all of whom shared a message of individuals taking responsibility, educating ourselves on the issues and candidates, making up our our minds, and then getting involved. My favorites were Herman Cain, Rudy Giuliani, Judge Napolitano, and Dinesh D'Souza. I wasn't close enough to get good video but others did and you can find them on YouTube. AFP has promised to post the videos in the next day or so as well. There was also an amazing selection of breakout sessions, as usual. Summit attendees included conservative activists and tea party organizers from around the country, and there was a collective mood of optimism that, despite the very serious problems facing our country, enough people were paying attention and working hard to, well, defend the American dream for generations to come.

Now, contrast that with the literal assault on our event by the Occupy DC crowd. We had a crowd of protesters outside the convention center, who were actually beating on the doors and trying to break into the event. They were loud, angry, yelling obscenities, and made it impossible to exit from that side of the building. Several people who were attending the summit got caught up in the mob when they first arrived, and fell down the stairs. There were also roving groups of protesters circling the Convention Center, yelling chants and standing in the roads and blocking traffic.

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Bonus Video:

Occupy DC Pushes Grandma Downstairs !!!

Occupy DC Protesters assaulted conservatives as they exited an Americans For Prosperity "Tribute to Ronald Reagan" dinner. http://www.americansforprosperity.org

This elderly woman, 78 years old, rode 11 hrs on a bus from Detroit to attend the dinner. After the attack she was taken to hospital with multiple injuries, a bloody nose which developed after the fall, and a large knot on her head. After x-rays and a CAT scan, she was released the following morning with cuts and large bruises.

Update: Further uploaded video footage shows the second woman to have been brought to the ground by a conference attendee losing his temper and pushing through the Occupier chain. ( /watch?v=pTnOwaTRDog )While it was clearly a mistake on his part, and wrong, it is also equally true that the dinner attendees should have been able to go to dinner at a public place without wild, aggressive people imprisoning them in a human chain as they tried to leave the venue! This is not protesting, this is physical intimidation and harassment. However, the older lady and others were clearly pushed by the occupiers over the stairs as other occupiers released their side of the chain.

Further comment: the strength and pressure of intense people with their arms locked in a human chain pushing against a group of unprepared people dressed for dinner is very powerful. When the chain is broken on the other side of the mob, it is not surprising that those people, including the victim in the video, would spring forward and lose balance.