Did Republicans protest Bill Clinton's campaign appearances?

[VolcanoJen]

As you may know, The Great Bush/Cheney "America, Yes We Can, And We're Going to Do it in a Canadian Bus" Tour invaded my beloved Buckeye State today.

I just watched a wrap-up of the thrilling events on the Ohio News Network, and at least I've moved past anger and toward the light of laughter when watching my fellow Americans being interviewed by the fawning local press, praising Bush because "I want honesty in my president, and with Bush, I get both honesty and integrity," to quote one such enthusiastic rally-goer.

Luckily, they spent three or so seconds on the protesters, long enough for me to enjoy a protester carrying a HUGE sign that read, very legibly, "IF YOU KNEW KERRY VOTED AGAINST BODY ARMOR, WHY DID YOU SEND AMERICAN TROOPS TO WAR WITHOUT IT?" Now, that's some good stuff.

When Bill Clinton traveled around the country campaigning for reelection in 1996, did Republicans show up with signage and Whitewater shirts? And just to give the Republicans a break for a minute, when Clinton traveled around the world, did hoards of welcoming crowds ever greet him this way?


London - February 2004

Just wondering.

[Blasphemer]

1. Clinton did the bus tour thing...

After the convention in '96, according to old Reuters articles I googled. They were re-creating their bus trips from the '92 campaign. An interesting bit from an article from 8/31/96:

Rolling through western Kentucky's tobacco country, after an overnight stay in Paducah, Clinton and Gore saw some signs on the road opposing the Food and Drug Administration's decision to regulate nicotine as a drug as part of Clinton's efforts to restrict marketing and sale of cigarettes to minors.

The opposition prompted Kentucky Democratic Sen. Wendell Ford, traveling on the bus with Clinton and Gore, to say, ``I like disagreement once in a while.''

``Hell, it makes you talk about the issues,'' the gravelly voiced Ford told several hundred people at a Clinton-Gore rally in tiny Mayfield, Kentucky. ``If you didn't talk about the issues, you wouldn't be an American. If you're not an American,
you're under a dictatorship.''

Clinton and Gore steered clear of any tobacco-related comments in their speeches. In Mayfield a knot of Dole-Kemp supporters gathered in the back of the crowd, one holding a sign that said: ``Let us keep our cigarettes -- We won't inhale.''

[VolcanoJen]

2. Well, you gotta admire a good, old-fashioned, pro-tobacco "protest."

:+

Thanks for the link, and the research, Blasphemer! Cool screenname too, by the way. :-)

There must be more... I'm searching but I'm coming up with nothing...

[Blasphemer]

3. Thanks... No problem..

I like digging stuff up especially when I can't sleep! Can't really find much else. ACT UP was planning a protest of some sort following the bus tour but I can't find an article indicating whether they pulled it off or not.

ETA: Well, I found dueling protesters at a Dole/Kemp rally in Pittsburgh:

"Scores of anti-abortion protesters scattered throughout the park, one of them wielding a sign saying, ``Hitler killed Jews. President Clinton kills babies. At one point the anti-abortionists got into a heated exchange with a small contingent of Clinton/Gore supporters."

and a mention of a sprinkling of "protesters" along Clinton's bus route:

"They took some 11 hours to cover their second-day ride of 160 miles, slowed by tens of thousands of admirers, large numbers of whom eagerly grabbed out to them at handshaking sessions sometimes lasting longer than the speeches.

The loudly supportive crowds along routes and at rallies were dotted by far smaller numbers of protesters, their signs usually either endorsing Dole or condemning abortion. An even tinier minority, such as one in Covington reading, ``It takes an indictment,'' referred to Clinton's personal troubles. "