Yes, there really was a nearly naked PETA protestor painted to look like Mother Earth.
There was also a woman dressed up as a polar bear trying to convince me the species wasn’t in trouble.
The rallies were peaceful. Though I did see one man being arrested. “You broke the law when you made contact with him,” I heard the police officer scold him. “But he was in my face yelling at me,” the arrested man protested. I felt sorry for the guy. He was led away in handcuffs.
If you only went by who rounded up the most supporters, then the night belonged to the Gore protestors. I’d guess a few hundred people came to the Americans For Prosperity rally next to Keller fountain. They obviously had been preparing for some time. One of the speakers mentioned something about a bus and car caravan coming down from the Puget Sound area.
There were only a few dozen Gore supporters, not too surprising considering environmental groups only heard about the protest plans the day before.
But it wasn’t until I began to walk around that I noticed something really important. Despite the rhetoric, despite the chants, people were talking to each other. Small groups – maybe a dozen or so by my count – of Gore supporters and protestors talking to each other, discussing the issues, trying to make sense of it all. They were passionate, intelligent, knowledgeable and above all, respectful to the those they disagreed with.
Things turned kind of stupid when the Americans For Prosperity Rally broke up and the protestors walked Keller Auditorium chanting, “Gore Lies!” This was followed by some yelling back and forth across SW 3rd Ave. None of it was very illuminating.
But those small person-to-person conversations continued. I’m not sure any minds were changed. But was good to see that despite the strong feelings on both sides, ordinary Oregonians were still taking part in an important conversation about climate change, global warming and how we move forward.
Thanks for your post. I was a bit disappointed with a lot of the press coverage, while the tea baggers had more people, there was definitely a large showing of support for Al Gore and his message of the urgency to address climate change now. Is there anyway to watch the video, it won’t play for me?
Jamie,
The problem with the video has been fixed. Thanks for letting me know.
In my coverage I felt it was important to provide a look at what both sides were saying. You’ll see that in the video. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to record some of those conversations that took place among supporters and protesters. That was the most interesting aspect of the night, IMHO.
Thanks for your great piece – Jamie indeed made some great points – but I’d like to offer a friendly correction. You write that “If you only went by who rounded up the most supporters, then the night belonged to the Gore protestors.” But what about the several thousand who showed up to hear Mr. Gore’s excellent 2-hour talk? I’d say Gore supporters outnumbered the teabaggers by a few orders of magnitude.
But the supporters could afford to get in, so aren’t really the voice of those (correct in their assumptions or not) who are concerned about paying more for what they already struggle to afford. Pretty elite crowd inside.