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Support for Senator Mitch McConnell Drowns Out Protesters At Senator’s Kentucky Home

Supporters of Senator Mitch McConnell outnumbered 2-1 protesters who gathered at his Louisville home Sunday to pressure him to bring the Iraq War to an end.

The anti-McConnell protest was organized by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, a combined effort of several ultra-liberal groups including MoveOn.org, Win Without War, and Campus Progress Action.  The effort was reminiscent of Cindy Sheehan’s 2005 camping protest near President Bush’s Crawford, TX ranch, only on a much smaller scale.

Anti-McConnell Protesters

People from all across Kentucky showed up to thank Senator McConnell for being such a trustworthy and effective Senator, to show support for our troops, and to reject the irresponsible and immoral notion of pulling soldiers out of Iraq before their work is done. 

“They seem to think keeping soldiers out of harm’s way is the best way to support them,” said Jefferson Poole, a McConnell supporter.  “That doesn’t make sense to me.  We’re talking about United States soldiers who are trained to go into harm’s way and fight for the U.S. cause.  Their job is to fight and they do it well.  Yet these people think protecting soldiers by keeping them at home when there is a noble cause in Iraq supports the U.S. military.  It’s insane.” 

Students from Northern Kentucky University, Thomas More College, the University of Louisville, and Morehead State University supported McConnell and the troops at the rally, including one two time Iraq War veteran Michael Strunk.

The students were generally shocked by the attitudes and statements of the liberal protesters, one of whom seemed to believe that since some of the students did not live in the Louisville-Jefferson County area that endorsing McConnell was none of their business.  Poole then informed the protester that all states have two Senators, both of whom represent the entire state.  Another protester then ranted about how Republicans have stolen the last two presidential elections, and that a review of Ohio’s 2004 ballots will prove it.

The supposedly peace-loving crowd of protesters were not often directly confrontational, but continuously taunted the McConnell supporters.  In a direct confrontation, however, a protester asked a McConnell supporter “How are you going to feel when you get that draft card in the mail?  You can thank Mitch then.”  The question went unanswered, of course, because the United States does not conscript soldiers.  The U.S. has maintained an all-volunteer army ever since Republican President Richard Nixon ended the draft in 1973.

When the McConnell supporters ended their demonstration, the protesters began making jeering requests that they enlist in the military since they want the goals of the Iraq War to be fulfilled.  Poole stated, “This nation has soldiers and citizens.  Michael is a soldier.  I am a citizen.  We both do our respective duties.  We have all the soldiers we need to fight the Iraq War and win it.  What we need now is for citizens to put the soldiers and their duty in front of politics.  If we remove our soldiers from Iraq, Osama bin Laden’s followers will be elated to see bin Laden’s words come true.  The United States is not a paper tiger unless we make it one.  I support Mitch McConnell because he will do what is necessary to prevent irresponsible American leaders from turning this nation into a paper tiger.” 

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