Eerie scene at 9th and Pennsylvania Ave., 2:30 p.m. EST

[bobweaver]

Shortly before parade begins:

Thousands, thousands of police, almost a continuous unbroken line on both sides of the street.

Hundreds of protesters neatly penned in at one corner, with signs but very quiet.

Paid grandstands nearly empty (10% full at most). Scattering of spectators.

Everyone sitting or standing there doing nothing. Strangely quiet.

Loudspeakers from somewhere barking instructions that echo up and down the street.

Echoing speakers against quiet crowd creates almost cinematic feel.

Who are the police protecting? Who are they protecting them from?

It's almost poetic but eerie at the same time.

[BeHereNow]

1. Eloquent post Bob...

But TOTALLY creepy, the picture you paint.
Are you there or watching on TV?
BHN

[bobweaver]

7. It was on CBS's coverage - they did a 180 degree pan of that scene.

[AllyCat]

2. The police make a shoulder to shoulder wall blocking

Shrubie's view of the protesters. With the exception of the ones in the bleachers, he won't be able to see any of them. Their signs will be visible though.

Notice the police have their backs to him? That's fitting.

[liberal N proud]

3. Mybe they are trying to say something

I know that I would turn my back to him and have in the past.

[Lisabtrucking]

4. having such few viewers is almost better then having the protesters

Where are the people that voted this *** into office? Another cause for questioning this election.

Boy if you elected a president don't you think you'd be there to support him in his moment.

[LizW]

5. ABC is playing the sound

and it's hard to tell if it is cheering or booing.

Terry Moran reports that things are being thrown at the motorcade. He says it's a very angry protest and very large.

[southlandshari]

9. Glad ABC showed some of this

I only caught about 45 minutes of the motorcade part of the parade around 2:15 - 3:00 pm CDT today. I certainly realize that all of our big broadcast and cable news media have been co-opted by corporate interests, so I don't expect much honest reporting anymore. But I was still shocked at the absolutely shameless pandering drivel that was passing as "commentary" by some of the "big names" on CNN. There was no audio of the motorcade, and several of CNN's main anchors just gushed on and on about how wonderful the whole thing was. Wolf Blitzer kept saying things like, "we shouldn't make too much of the protesters, they are probably just a tiny, tiny fraction of those here today." It was revolting.

Switched to C-SPAN and the contrast was remarkable. No commentary, just video AND audio of the parade, and it was very clear very quickly that there were indeed plenty of protesters on hand despite obviously incredible efforts to keep them hidden and marginalize.

At times the whole thing seemed like something you would see in the former Soviet Union or even North Korea. It just had a forced and theatrical feel that made my skin crawl. The guy on the PA doing play-by-play on which block the motorcade was on at any given time was absolutely surreal. Creepy.

[FlaGranny]

11. It was a strange sound the crowd was making.

I guess some were cheering and others were yelling and booing. The total effect was something like howling. It was an eerie sound. When the motorcade got to safe territory, the sound changed to normal cheering.

My husband said he heard on the radio that they were surprised more people did not show up.

[hunter]

6. That's it. Bush is doomed.

The world is watching this --

This horrible funeral procession of cold black limos and SUVs.

We are rotting.

The living tissue that surrounds this cancer is angry and inflamed.

[porkrind]

8. Welcome to the police state.

War is peace, Freedom is slavery, etc. Every day it's just a little worse than the day before.

[n2mark]

10. My TV is off today!!!!!