http://www.pittnews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/02/01/43e06d1b6e178
Critics Drown Out Bush Speech
 DOUG DENISON/SENIOR STAFF WRITER Protesters actively ignored the State of the Union address last night by making noise to muffle the president’s speech. |
Bret Grote joined a crowd of about 60 people
outside the William Pitt Union to watch the State of the Union address
last night, but he couldn’t hear a word the president said.
It was precisely what Grote wanted.
The World Can’t Wait, Grote’s organization, joined Code Pink in
calling for President George W. Bush’s resignation. When a broadcast of
the address appeared on the large screen the groups had set up on the
Union porch, members of the crowd expressed their feelings by beating
drums, pots and pans, shouting and booing, blowing noisemakers,
clapping and holding up middle fingers.
Calling Bush ‘a corrupt vessel incapable of uttering the
truth,’ and ‘a lost, soulless individual,’ Grote said he would want to
hear the president speak only if he were offering his resignation.
Before the address aired, Pitt student Nick Demicheli joined a
handful of other people who took turns expressing their displeasure
with Bush’s policies ( primarily the war in Iraq. Film segments showing
footage of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
and other less-than-glorious scenes from Bush’s time in office played
behind the speakers.
‘[The war]’s senseless and it’s got to come to an end,’ said Demicheli, an Army reservist who went to Iraq in May 2004.
Demicheli said he signed up after the United States invaded Iraq
in March 2003. While he said he knew when he enlisted that it was
possible he’d be sent to Iraq, the reality of receiving his orders felt
different.
‘The whole tone of the war has changed,’ Demicheli said, adding
that he supported the war when he believed intelligence reports that
Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. As time passed and the military
failed to discover such weapons in Iraq, Demicheli’s feelings about the
war began to change.
Grote said the event last night also served as a kickoff for a
trip to Washington, D.C., this Saturday. The group expects to join
thousands of protesters marching on the White House and calling for
Bush’s resignation. Pittsburghers interested in attending the protest
can contact trip organizers at Pittsburgh@worldcantwait.org.