Hillary on Parade: An Eyewitness Report
Richard Poe
March 6, 2000
"I am with Hillary CLIN-TAHN!” shouted the woman in her thick Asian accent. "You must let me pahhk!”
It was a surreal beginning to a surreal day. My wife and I had decided to watch Hillary march in the so-called "inclusive” Saint Patrick’s Day parade in Queens. Homosexual groups are forbidden to carry their banners in the main parade on Fifth Avenue, so gay rights advocates had organized an alternative parade this year, which would include such groups. Hillary was lending her support by marching with them.
Seeing a free parking space, I tried to back in. But an enormous SUV drove up behind me, blocking my way.
At first, it seemed that good sense might prevail. The SUV driver, a bleached-blond Asian woman in her late 40s, backed away, presumably to let me in. But no sooner had I slid into the space than the woman drove directly toward me, stopping only millimeters short of ramming my car. Now I was wedged in, unable to open my door.
The woman jumped out and advanced toward me, her eyes ablaze. "You must let me pahhk!” she shouted. "I am with parade and Hillary CLIN-TAHN!”
Only when I pulled out my video camera and began taping did the woman back off. Turning her face from the camera, she mounted her vehicle and fled the scene. We did manage to get her license plate number, though.
Such is life in Hillary’s New York. Mrs. Clinton’s strong-arm tactics are well-attested. Get in her way, and you can expect your FBI background file to be pulled and your taxes audited, at the very least. Assuming that the Asian woman was telling the truth about her affiliation, it would appear that Hillary’s abusive style has filtered down to her rank-and-file supporters too.
This woman had no idea that I was a NewsMax.com columnist and a Hillary critic. All she knew was that I was an ordinary New Yorker who happened to be in her way. In the Hillary camp, that’s evidently more than enough reason to pull out your whip and start lashing the peasants, from atop your chariot. If New Yorkers want more of this kind of treatment, a vote for Hillary is the surest way to get it.
Of course, most New Yorkers don’t even know about the abusive side of Hillary and her minions. They only know Hillary’s media image: Hillary basking in the adulation of smiling mothers and children; Hillary soaring in the polls; Hillary standing up for minorities; Hillary "listening” to the concerns of upstate farmers.
At the parade, we got a first-hand look at the workings of Mrs. Clinton’s propaganda machine. The parade’s very existence was played down in the press. Most New Yorkers had no idea it was going on.
Despite the secrecy, a number of protesters showed up. The Associated Press was honest enough to report "occasional boos” from the crowd.
But it also reported that "most of the onlookers...clapped and cheered.” Baloney! Most onlookers were dead silent as Hillary passed. It was downright eerie. Of course, I did notice a small group of about five Hillary supporters to my left, waving identical "Hillary” signs. And yes, they "clapped and cheered.” A TV crew shot some footage of this group, then turned off its camera and moved on.
Less photogenic were the stony-faced neighborhood people, who seemed to make up about 99 percent of the crowd. I use the word "crowd” advisedly. There appeared to be more people marching than watching.
Woodside and Sunnyside, where the parade took place, are largely Irish Catholic neighborhoods. Brandishing gay and lesbian banners there is a bit like marching into a Muslim community with a "We Love Pork” parade, featuring Oscar Mayer Wiener floats and leggy chorus girls dressed up as Babe the talking pig.
Whatever you think of pork (and personally, I enjoy a good pork chop as much as my Jewish father did), why would you go out of your way to flaunt your pork-eating habits in front of people whose religious beliefs specifically forbid such behavior?
It is a question that only a Hillary partisan can answer, and one that mainstream journalists do not even dare to raise.
Later that day, a radio report announced that a new poll showed Hillary and Giuliani in a "dead heat.” My wife and I exchanged disbelieving stares. Hillary had been trailing Giuliani by 7 points only three days before, according to a Quinnipiac College poll of registered New York State voters. Absolutely nothing had happened in the last three days to account for such a dramatic jump in Hillary’s popularity. Not for the first time since the Clinton era began, we wondered aloud whether the polls could be trusted.
And so life goes in Hillary’s New York. Like Winston Smith, the hapless dissident in George Orwell’s 1984, we shuffle woodenly through our daily routines, trying to ignore the ever-widening gap between what the press reports and what is actually going on.
I don’t know what kind of hold the Clintons have over my colleagues in the mainstream press. But whatever it is, it’s effective.
Remember election night 1996? Thinking that his microphone was turned off, newscaster David Brinkley made some unusually honest remarks about Bill Clinton’s victory speech, calling it "one of the worst things I’ve ever heard.”
"He has not a creative bone in his body,” said Brinkley. "Therefore, he’s a bore and will always be a bore.” Brinkley subsequently apologized to the president on air, saying that his words were "impolite and unfair and I’m sorry.”
Sorry for telling the truth, that is. In an era when journalists are not even allowed to say that their president is boring, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised to find that our local pundits don’t have the guts to admit that Hillary is running a divisive, ill-tempered and unpopular campaign.
_____________________________________________
Richard Poe is a freelance journalist and a New York Times-bestselling author. His latest book is WAVE 4 (Prima 1999). Visit his website at RichardPoe.com or e-mail him at Poe@newsmax.com.
Richard Poe
March 6, 2000
"I am with Hillary CLIN-TAHN!” shouted the woman in her thick Asian accent. "You must let me pahhk!”
It was a surreal beginning to a surreal day. My wife and I had decided to watch Hillary march in the so-called "inclusive” Saint Patrick’s Day parade in Queens. Homosexual groups are forbidden to carry their banners in the main parade on Fifth Avenue, so gay rights advocates had organized an alternative parade this year, which would include such groups. Hillary was lending her support by marching with them.
Seeing a free parking space, I tried to back in. But an enormous SUV drove up behind me, blocking my way.
At first, it seemed that good sense might prevail. The SUV driver, a bleached-blond Asian woman in her late 40s, backed away, presumably to let me in. But no sooner had I slid into the space than the woman drove directly toward me, stopping only millimeters short of ramming my car. Now I was wedged in, unable to open my door.
The woman jumped out and advanced toward me, her eyes ablaze. "You must let me pahhk!” she shouted. "I am with parade and Hillary CLIN-TAHN!”
Only when I pulled out my video camera and began taping did the woman back off. Turning her face from the camera, she mounted her vehicle and fled the scene. We did manage to get her license plate number, though.
Such is life in Hillary’s New York. Mrs. Clinton’s strong-arm tactics are well-attested. Get in her way, and you can expect your FBI background file to be pulled and your taxes audited, at the very least. Assuming that the Asian woman was telling the truth about her affiliation, it would appear that Hillary’s abusive style has filtered down to her rank-and-file supporters too.
This woman had no idea that I was a NewsMax.com columnist and a Hillary critic. All she knew was that I was an ordinary New Yorker who happened to be in her way. In the Hillary camp, that’s evidently more than enough reason to pull out your whip and start lashing the peasants, from atop your chariot. If New Yorkers want more of this kind of treatment, a vote for Hillary is the surest way to get it.
Of course, most New Yorkers don’t even know about the abusive side of Hillary and her minions. They only know Hillary’s media image: Hillary basking in the adulation of smiling mothers and children; Hillary soaring in the polls; Hillary standing up for minorities; Hillary "listening” to the concerns of upstate farmers.
At the parade, we got a first-hand look at the workings of Mrs. Clinton’s propaganda machine. The parade’s very existence was played down in the press. Most New Yorkers had no idea it was going on.
Despite the secrecy, a number of protesters showed up. The Associated Press was honest enough to report "occasional boos” from the crowd.
But it also reported that "most of the onlookers...clapped and cheered.” Baloney! Most onlookers were dead silent as Hillary passed. It was downright eerie. Of course, I did notice a small group of about five Hillary supporters to my left, waving identical "Hillary” signs. And yes, they "clapped and cheered.” A TV crew shot some footage of this group, then turned off its camera and moved on.
Less photogenic were the stony-faced neighborhood people, who seemed to make up about 99 percent of the crowd. I use the word "crowd” advisedly. There appeared to be more people marching than watching.
Woodside and Sunnyside, where the parade took place, are largely Irish Catholic neighborhoods. Brandishing gay and lesbian banners there is a bit like marching into a Muslim community with a "We Love Pork” parade, featuring Oscar Mayer Wiener floats and leggy chorus girls dressed up as Babe the talking pig.
Whatever you think of pork (and personally, I enjoy a good pork chop as much as my Jewish father did), why would you go out of your way to flaunt your pork-eating habits in front of people whose religious beliefs specifically forbid such behavior?
It is a question that only a Hillary partisan can answer, and one that mainstream journalists do not even dare to raise.
Later that day, a radio report announced that a new poll showed Hillary and Giuliani in a "dead heat.” My wife and I exchanged disbelieving stares. Hillary had been trailing Giuliani by 7 points only three days before, according to a Quinnipiac College poll of registered New York State voters. Absolutely nothing had happened in the last three days to account for such a dramatic jump in Hillary’s popularity. Not for the first time since the Clinton era began, we wondered aloud whether the polls could be trusted.
And so life goes in Hillary’s New York. Like Winston Smith, the hapless dissident in George Orwell’s 1984, we shuffle woodenly through our daily routines, trying to ignore the ever-widening gap between what the press reports and what is actually going on.
I don’t know what kind of hold the Clintons have over my colleagues in the mainstream press. But whatever it is, it’s effective.
Remember election night 1996? Thinking that his microphone was turned off, newscaster David Brinkley made some unusually honest remarks about Bill Clinton’s victory speech, calling it "one of the worst things I’ve ever heard.”
"He has not a creative bone in his body,” said Brinkley. "Therefore, he’s a bore and will always be a bore.” Brinkley subsequently apologized to the president on air, saying that his words were "impolite and unfair and I’m sorry.”
Sorry for telling the truth, that is. In an era when journalists are not even allowed to say that their president is boring, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised to find that our local pundits don’t have the guts to admit that Hillary is running a divisive, ill-tempered and unpopular campaign.
_____________________________________________
Richard Poe is a freelance journalist and a New York Times-bestselling author. His latest book is WAVE 4 (Prima 1999). Visit his website at RichardPoe.com or e-mail him at Poe@newsmax.com.
