#GOP2012 Tuesday August 28

I've been trying to get a picture of the mounted police for days and I finally did!

Several non-political organizations were at the convention.

Craftsmen tools were building a home for a veteran:

The Biotechnology Industry Organization had a mobile display:

Yelp was trying to get people to vote for yelp:

And there was a weird company with bicycle powered vehicles:

There were also protesters. I saw a lone man, near a press area, being ignored by everyone. He was happy I took his picture:

(His sign was about the national debt and blamed Republicans and Neo-Cons for it.)

Next I spotted some Ron Paul supporters:

But protesting wasn't allowed where they were so the police talked to them:

Nearby was the MSNBC stage:

And the Huffington Post Oasis:

One Ron Paul Supporter had handwritten signs taped to his car:

They said, "Don't Be A Fake Republican Vote Ron Paul", and, "RNC Changing rules while in play? That's called cheating!".

This Ron Paul supporter was more committed, incorporating a Ron Paul sign into his paint job:

I saw a few Ron Paul people handing out fliers, too. They were irritated about rule changes at the convention.

At Lykes Gaslight Park I found a larger group of Ron Paul supporters:

There weren't a lot of people, but they had energy:

And balloons!

Supposedly protests like this weren't allowed, nearby police didn't interfere:

They seemed to not bother small groups that behaved.

And there wasn't favoritism towards Republicans. Here are some "Christians for Obama" who also weren't stopped by the police:

I'm not sure if the vendors on the street were legal either. Here's one selling "Vote Them Out!" playing cards:

Now, to an officially sanctioned protest, the Westboro Baptist Church:

This sign reads, ""Homo Sex Is A Threat to National Security":

Lots of people, with iPhones, were interviewing members of the church. Other than that they weren't being bothered.

This guy was protesting nearby and made a point of saying he wasn't with the church:

Like everywhere else, there were officers in the background, making sure nothing got out of hand:

And the award for "worst protest" goes to "Man on the Cross". This is the park where it was supposed to happen, completely empty:

#GOP2012 Monday August 27

Today I visited the Coalition March on the RNC. There weren't many people:

I'm guessing there were about 250 protesters. They were supposed to include everyone protesting in the Tampa Bay area, so I'm assuming that's all there are.

Here's a more charitable view from a hilltop, but you still can't see many people:

And a close-up of the crowd:

Lots of people had rain gear, but there wasn't much rain:

Police were either watching the event, patrolling the area, or standing in clumps on intersections:

There were a lot of news crews:

These were from the BBC, giving international coverage to a march of 250 people:

As there weren't many protesters and so many people with cameras, I had no problem moving among the crowd and taking pictures. Here's a shot from behind the stage they had erected:

Most of their speeches emphasized how much they hated Republicans. They said the party was about hating black people, Hispanics, and Muslims; and about taking money from everyone else to enrich their rich friends. The sort of things Obama would never say, but never corrects anyone else for saying either.

One sign from the rally read "Abort Shit Romney & his Taliban Party":

Surprisingly, there was hate for Democrats as well. This sign read "RNC/DNC = Tool of the 1%":

Here's a sign for the International Socialist Organization:

Here are people dressed in black and covering their faces (I heard someone was arrested for this during the march):

The rally had a high percentage of extremists compared to regular people. There were surprisingly few protesters for a county with over a million residents, in a City which usually votes for Democrats. I would say the protests are a disaster and were wildly over-hyped.

On a more positive note, The Salvation Army brought two trucks in case anyone needed water:

These were the lines for water (the protesters are in the distance):

I took a quick tour of Tampa and found some other protesters, but conservative ones. One guy was so conservative he was anti-Romney. Among other things, his truck reads, "Return to me [Jesus] not Romney":

I'm not sure if this guy was protesting, because he was just reading the bible out loud in the park:

In that last picture you can see a "Vote Pro Life" truck, one of a few "advertisement" trucks I've seen constantly driving around downtown.

Back to the Coalition March on the RNC, which was actually marching and hadn't had a last minute influx of people:

The entire march didn't last very long and had LOTS of reporters:

If you look past the reporters in this picture you can see a guy waving a black flag:

At one point his group was chanting "f*ck Obama, too!" which didn't seem to bother the other protesters, but one did try to get them to chant something else.

No one seemed to have any problems with the police (they did great jobs keeping everyone safe):

And people seemed happy:

I've seen much bigger protests at the local level, and to see a nationally organized protest of this size was amusing. The anti-Democrat and anti-Obama leanings of much of the crowd also don't bode well for the re-election chances of our President. Of coarse this was such a tiny crowd, that their opinions probably wont matter in the election anyway.

#GOP2012 Sunday August 26

Parking has been banned in most of downtown Tampa:

Bus service has also been curtailed:

Some people got greedy. This guy was charging $20 to park:

But his lot was empty other than a police car:

I had almost no problems walking around. This sidewalk (I saw people using) was marked as "closed":

And there was one area I was told to leave but had no signage or barriers.

At first there seemed to be tension in the air, the city felt like it was under siege. Some businesses had boarded up their windows:

And posted police notices:

You also saw lots of barriers like this in the road:

Or this:

And you could hear helicopters buzzing overhead:

Police officers were traveling in packs:

They looked bored for the most part, but some were smiling.

After walking around a bit, things seemed a lot more relaxed.

The Salvation Army was everywhere, handing out water:

But they weren't really handing out water. The streets were empty!

I saw more portable toilets than I ever thought possible:

All unused.

And a few news crews:

I noticed some businesses had decided to play it safe, offing Romney AND Obama merchandise:

Or welcoming everyone. Protesters, police, press, and politicians:

Eventually I managed to find some protesters in front of the Sacred Heart Church:

There were more police than protesters.

And a lot of people taking pictures:

(The streets were dead, so that counts as "a lot".)

You'll notice in this picture that one guy is carrying a lot of signs:

Why is he carrying signs? Didn't each person make their own sign with something they wanted to say? Nope! They're mass-produced and made to look individual, then handed to random protesters. This is what astroturfing looks like.

And I saw the same thing at the nearby SEIU protest:

Fake protesters with fake signs. Only there weren't many protesters. This was the SEIU protest about an hour in (and they had been setting up beforehand):

Maybe they should have spent more money on protesters and less money on ice sculptures:

Oh, and there were about a dozen people on the street corner, a few of which were dressed as vaginas: