Slick Clinton Veneer to Florida, Michigan Vote Protests

All morning the front e-page on the NY Times website has featured pictures of protesters gathered in Washington DC as Democratic officials there seek to settle the disputed votes in Michigan and Florida.

The protesters arrived "by bus, car and even on bicycle," according to the Times, giving the protest a populist feel. But take a look at the posters in the pictures.

Here's one on a blog for the Wall Street Journal. Here's one from the Times. Notice the sheen on almost every poster. This isn't the handiwork of a couple of dried-up hippies genuinely concerned about the future of their state. In fact, I wonder how many of these protesters, who arrived by bicycle, even live in Florida or Michigan. That's an early-morning commute.

Wait a sec... If Clinton printed these posters, shouldn't she have used a union printer? Or was that whole pro-union thing was just another pan to the kook liberal fringe that Clinton doesn't agree with. There's a story here.

So if the Clinton camp organized these protests--and by the way, MSNBC reports that only 150 fanatics showed up, and they are receiving more media in their first couple of hours than the hundreds of thousands who have protested the war in Iraq for the last decade--shouldn't we be concerned about the signs that read, "Count my vote, or count me out?"

These signs have the blue words, "Count my vote" across the top. In the middle are images of Florida and Michigan in red divided by the word "Or." At the bottom, the sign says, "Count me out."

These signs too, have that glossy sheen that screams, "I was printed by Hillary Clinton."

The answer is yes: we should be concerned but not surprised. Clinton has run her campaign on the philosophy of saying one thing and doing another. She continues to pledge that she will work to unify the party while she prods her fanatical followers to hold the Democratic Party hostage. The ransom note asks for Clinton's victory or the hijackers will steal the 2008 elections for McCain.