More on yesterday's Tea Party grandstanding, political opportunism, and the anger the original organizers feel at having their rally hijacked.

So the above has become the iconic image that came out of yesterday's protests, which started with a more somber Million Vet March, and much like a high school party, when the parents are out of town, quickly devolved into just short of a riot at the White House gates.

It, of course, also attracted certain political rabble rousers and political has beens who did nothing calm the situation.

Courtesy of The New Civil Rights Movement: 

Neither Sarah Palin nor Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee ever served one day in our nation’s armed forces, yet they all decided to lead a group of “hundreds” of self-proclaimed veterans — mostly Tea Party members, military service not verified — in a “Million Vet March” today that was anything but a million. Armed by and motivated with the Confederate flag, Tea Partyiers vandalized our nation’s monuments and national landmarks, because they had been closed as a result of the federal government shutdown — an act which all three not only supported, but which the two Senators actually created. 

Their hypocrisy is stunning. 

A few protestors took the metal barricades — dubbed “barrycades,” because in their minds the President is responsible for the GOP-led shutdown and for personally closing the national monuments and parks — and piled them, in what could be called an act of vandalism, five feet high in front of the White House gates. 

The crowd of Tea Party members was so raucous and potentially violent that the National Park’s SWAT and riot police had to be called in. 

Announcing the “liberation” of the national parks — opening them up to further vandalism by removing the protective barricades — former Alaska governor Sarah Palin labeled it “a matter of shutdown priorities.” 

“We are here to honor our vets,” Palin cried. “You look around though and you see these barricades and you have to ask yourself is this any way that a commander in chief would show his respect, his gratitude to our military?” 

Of course, actually protecting the nation’s landmarks, parks, and monuments from vandalism is the job of the Park Police — who could not do their job, resulting in the closure of the parks due to the shutdown, forced upon the nation by Senators Cruz and Lee, and their Tea Party compatriots.

Here we see Palin, Lee, and Cruz soaking up the media attention after hijacking the protest.

There is more from WPTV:

High-profile speakers with close ties to the tea party appeared at the event, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. 

The rally, billed as the "Million Vet March on the Memorials," drew far fewer than a million people and evolved into a protest that resembled familiar tea party events from 2009, with yellow "Don't Tread On Me" flags throughout the crowd and strong anti-Obama language from the podium and the audience. 

One speaker went as far as saying the president was a Muslim and separately urged the crowd of hundreds to initiate a peaceful uprising. 

"I call upon all of you to wage a second American nonviolent revolution, to use civil disobedience, and to demand that this president leave town, to get up, to put the Quran down, to get up off his knees, and to figuratively come out with his hands up," said Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch, a conservative political advocacy group.
 
Here Mediaite has video of the incredibly disrespectful manner in which the protesters interacted with  the police who came to protect the White House:  

As we reported earlier, a protest that started at the World War II Memorial ended up in front of the White House, where protesters piled up barricades that had been used to keep people out of the memorial during the government shutdown. Police, some in riot gear, were called in, and while news reports showed some of the confrontation, raw Youtube video of the protest reveals members of the crowd heckling the officers, calling them “brown shirts,” the “Gestapo,” the “Stasi,” and opining that the unit “looks like something out of Kenya.” 

One of the things the Uniformed Secret Service and other DC law enforcement organizations do for Americans is protect the White House, which includes not letting people pile up a bunch of ladders in front of the White House fence. The north side of the White House is a frequent site for protests, and the Secret Service don’t usually engage them at all unless there is a threat to the perimeter, whereas even tourists who climb onto the base of the fence to get a better view are quickly dealt with. You can protest all you want, as far as the cops are concerned, just don’t mess with the fence.

This fiasco so embarrassed the original organizers that they issued this statement: 

It is our official position that the purpose of this march and the accompanying rallies is focused on the re-opening of the Veterans memorials and keeping them open. While we understand that a Constitutional republic requires the equilibrium of checks and balances to maintain the democratic process, the memorials, monuments and parks built in honor of Veterans should NEVER be closed, blocked or restricted from use. We take the official position that no government office holder shall have ability to abridge the freedom of access to these hallowed grounds. 

We have, as a group, been prevented from certain groups that have piggy-backed off our grassroots efforts, to effectively create a comprehensive media message campaign. We made the mistake of trying to partner with some Washington insiders that thwarted many of our genuine concerns for keeping this apolitical and grassroots. While we support many of those groups common causes for Veterans, we do not support the manner in which they go about it. We chose instead to not incite or create panic. 

We chose to listen to all Americans and all Veterans that have asked us to keep going on despite the disingenuous politicians, political action committees, talking heads on the televisions and press reports attempting to hijack the message. This included many threats of personal and political attacks on our group’s character, businesses, colleagues and our true intentions. While our hearts were heavy by the disheartening acts of a few powerful Washington elite and political extremists jumping on the opportunity to make money, we decided to stay true to our message of a non-partisan effort to assist Veterans.

You know I actually think the Million Vet March was a poorly thought out idea, but at least they were sincere in their frustration. They did not deserve to have their event hijacked by Tea Party assholes and opportunistic politicians.

Of course NOBODY deserves to have themselves associated with Sarah Palin.

Except perhaps these two.