Moore Still Protesting War -- Socialist Presidential Candidate Sees Majority on His Side
By Tony Holt
Tampa Tribune -- Hernando Today Edition
Monday, 31 December 2007

WEEKI WACHEE -- It was difficult hearing Brian Moore over the blaring horns.

He appreciates those sounds more than the screaming and cussing to which he has grown accustomed.

But it was the honking that was drowning out the other noises. Aside from a few heckles from a passenger in a garbage truck, there weren't many outspoken critics on the road Saturday morning.

Conversely, several motorists were pressing their horns as a show of support. That was not always the case when Moore began his weekly anti-war protests almost five years ago.

"Even though there's been a few birds and a few thumbs down, there have been a lot more people honking," he said while holding up signs with each hand that read "End The War" and "Where Is Osama?" "The majority is on our side."

There were no pro-war protestors across the intersection challenging Moore. He has seen that in the past, but not recently. He has even watched an Iraq War veteran charge the group and rip one of the protestors' signs earlier this year.

Things were more peaceful Saturday. At least 10 people were holding signs from 10 a.m. to noon along the corner of U.S 19 and State Road 50. All of them were middle aged or older, including Sharon Haynes, who has been anti-war from the start.

"Troops by the thousands have died over this wrong war," she said.

The same was said by Fred Ulmer, who stood beside Haynes holding another sign.

"I was against it about the time they started talking about going in there," he said. "This is an optional war and I don't like optional wars."

Moore and Haynes had a lot to say about last week's assassination of Pakistani opposition leader and democracy advocate Benazir Bhutto. Moore felt it validated the argument of how the Middle East grows more violent when there is a U.S. military presence while Haynes was worried it would actually galvanize the "hawks" in Washington.

"I have no confidence this is going to end soon," Moore said. "It's 90 percent Muslim over there and we're trying to force democracy. We had it shoved down their throats. We're the cause of all this."

Haynes believes misinformation will be presented by the media and presidential candidates during the next few weeks in the wake of Bhutto's murder.

"The assassination in Pakistan won't help us with those who are uninformed about what's going on in that part of the world," she said.

Moore is Socialist Party USA's nominee for president. He was nominated in October during the party's convention in St. Louis. He is running on a platform that centers on peace and egalitarianism.

He is paying close attention to the upcoming primaries and has concerns with all the frontrunners.

He accused Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama of "hedging" on the war. He said both have gone on record saying they would not remove all U.S. forces from Iraq until 2013.

"They try to carry the mantle of anti-war, but they're not (true) to it," he said.

He mentioned how he is sympathetic to candidates with a peace message -- Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel on the Democratic side and Rep. Ron Paul on the Republican side -- but worried about those who "carry a big stick." He named Gov. Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani as part of the latter group.

Moore also zeroed in on the Democrats in Congress, many of whom were elected based on their opposition to the Iraq War.

"We don't think anything has changed," he said. "There's been more funding of the war, more watering down of habeas corpus. The number of jihadists has grown. The hatred of America has grown. We have caused this ferment."

Others among the protestors did not want their names used in the article, including one who was standing along the S.R. 50 side of the intersection, a few feet from the edge of the highway. His wife is a local teacher and he didn't want his involvement to be traced to her.

At the moment he said that, a fire engine passed by with its lights flashing. It honked as it crossed the intersection along U.S. 19, likely to get motorists to pull to the side or warn those crossing from the east and west. To the protestor, it sounded like another one of the hundreds of horns he heard that morning.

"Hey, even the fire department is honking for us," the man quipped.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

This story can be found at www.hernandotoday.com.