At times chanting “Hail to the thief,” more than 100 people raised angry voices and handmade signs downtown Saturday morning to protest President George W. Bush’s inauguration.
The event was organized in conjunction with a massive protest in Washington, D.C., which drew thousands of protesters to the nation’s capital to call for, among other things, opposition to the Bush administration, election reform and campaign finance reform.
Jan Nelson, a Lane County farmer, said at the downtown protest that she would never accept Bush’s presidency, echoing the vehemence still surrounding the remarkably close election, subsequent Florida state orders and court decisions.
“Bush didn’t win the election,” she said. “He’s totally illegitimate.”
A handful of Lane County Democrats, including county Democratic chairman Jim Rice and former state representatives Floyd Prozanski and Kitty Piercy, spoke through a bullhorn decrying the election and saying that Democrats will scrutinize the Bush administration.
“If elected officials want us to honor them, they must honor us by counting our votes,” Rice said. “We were cheated. We won’t forget this.”
University professor Edwin Coleman, veteran civil rights activist, also addressed the crowd, saying Bush’s election signified a setback to voter rights and that voters should be outraged.
“He’s talking as if he has a mandate,” Coleman said. “He has not earned a mandate, and we’re not going to let him off the hook.”
Many of the protesters waved signs with such slogans as, “He is not my president” and “Bush was not elected.” Also, a dummy carrying a makeshift fishnet and wearing a mask resembling Bush was propped up against a wall. At one point, the dummy had a dollar bill stuffed into its mouth.
A few people also carried signs supporting former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader. A brief exchange between Nader and Gore supporters highlighted the resentment and division between Nader supporters and mainstream liberals, who blame Nader for tipping the election to Bush.
After a protester shouted, “Down with the collusion of the two-party system,” another protester yelled back, “Thanks for getting Bush elected.”
Piercy told the audience not to despair and that Democrats will mount a vigorous campaign in 2004 to regain the Oval Office.
“Let’s make today, a very sad day for us, the beginning of a new foundation of democracy in Oregon,” she said.