The speeches contained the typical hyperbolic rhetoric, marshalling this crowd of hundreds of thousands to fight the depredations of the "anti-woman" Bush agenda. They singled out administration members by name: Ashcroft, Cheney, and Rumsfeld (Rumsfeld?!), a list capped in one speech by a patronizing, heartfelt appeal to the honorable Colin Powell to forsake his distasteful service amongst the enemy and return to the fold.

One harangue in particular caught my attention, delivered by a fiery, square-built woman with close-cropped blonde hair. It was a screaming, apoplectic treatise on the virtues of "cunt power," that demanded that the nation bow to the authority of the "cunt" and pledge allegiance to the the United "Cunts" of America. "My Cunt 'Tis of Thee," etc., etc. (find that coverage in the WaPo)

At this point, I became a bit disturbed, for the crowd wasn't awkwardly tolerating this obscene and immature rant, rather raising their arms and screaming throaty acceptance of a woman performing second rate porno-schlock, ostensibly as a legitimate representative of one side of a highly divisive and important public issue.

I consider myself pro-choice, but this wasn't my crowd, and these orators didn't speak for me. I moved into the mass of people to get a closer look.

A common theme.

The abortion issue has become a proxy for the religious and cultural wars. I can understand the pro-choice activists; extreme religion has played a major role in fueling the most intolerant ideologies of the pro-life movement, but I also wondered what additional bad experiences with religious figures may have driven so many to such a vehement disavowal of the church. I'd venture a guess that in many cases, this dislike goes far beyond this single issue.

Another common theme.

Ringing throughout the grounds:

Hey Hey
Ho Ho
George Bush Has Got To Go!

Hey Hey
Ho Ho
George Bush Has Got To Go!

Impeach Bush!

Abort Bush!

Bush Keep Your Hands Off My Bush!

I couldn't glance in any direction without glimpsing some totem or sign that expressed rather strong feelings against:

A. Religion

B. Bush or Ashcroft.

C. Some combination of the two.

The thematic battle lines of this march were drawn: George Bush is the enemy, and if you are pro-choice you must support his downfall.

Hard statistics on the percentage of pro-choice Republicans are difficult to nail down, but two-thirds of all Americans believe that abortion should be legal within the first trimester, and seven-in-ten Americans oppose abortion after the sixth month of pregnancy. This indicates a great deal of mainstream party overlap that generally supports the abortion environment as it currently stands under the stated policy of the Bush Administration. By exaggerating the current state of affairs, the speakers largely undermined their case for how quickly reproductive rights would dissolve under a second Bush term.

In addition, a significant portion of pro-choice supporters are Libertarian/Republican voters that won't be easily swayed into the warm embrace of Bush-hate. I couldn't help but think that this narrow and all-encompassing line of political reasoning weakened the hand of the pro-choice movement rather than strengthening it. The rhetoric certainly alienated me.

There were quite a few activist physicians handing out literature.

A sampling of a much larger group of "Medical Students for Choice."

The New York Times crossword puzzle?

Don't get me wrong - there inevitably were many moderate voices within this massive march; but I was a bit surprised by the casual vehemence and hyperbole of anti-Bush sentiment from most of the crowd. The great national divide was on stark display at this rally.

The last huge wave of the crowd prepared to embark on the march route.

I made my way closer to the East stage ...

... and ran into another very narrow special interest group.

"G-d is Coming and she is Fat"

Who knew?

I watched the tail-end of the crowd leave the Mall, on their way to the White House and Pennsylvania Avenue.

Cutting across 8th Street towards Penn, I ran into a second group of pro-life counter-protestors. This group had a softer approach, forsaking the bloody signs and screaming rhetoric for a more palatable appeal.

This small group of about 50 protestors seemed to represent a calmer face of the pro-life side of the protest.

Ruh-roh ...

Drawing up on Penn, I immediately realized that this would be a flash point. These Episcopal priests stood in a silent line along the packed four-lane route of the march.

For the most part, the priests prayed or calmly attempted to speak to protestors that drew near enough to engage them. I had little idea how badly many in the crowd would react to the mere sight of the religious garb.

Ok, maybe not all religious garb ...

Mere seconds passed before I witnessed the first bout of rage. Thousands upon thousands of people walked by, and I would say that perhaps a fifth of the individuals within sight and shouting distance had a highly aggressive reaction to the presence the priests. They yelled, spit and uttered shocking profanities. A smattering of the worst:

"Fuck you!"

"Die, you fucking murderers!"

"Why don't you go screw some kids!"

"How many little boys did you fuck in the ass today?"

"You just want more wayward children around so you can fuck them!"

"Shouldn't you be off molesting altar boys?"

"You want to kill women? Fuck you!"

Etc. And on ...

... and on ...

... and on ...

... and on ...

... and on ...

... and on ...

... and on ...

... and on ...

.. and on ...

... and on.

(Note: the previous specific quotes cannot be directly attributed to the individuals pictured above - except perhaps the woman mouthing the word "fuck")

It was simply stunning. The second these people (and thousands of others not caught on film) saw the priests, they simply lost their minds. It was like watching a live-action scene from the Exorcist, repeated ad infinitum. No exaggeration, no joke.

This was a fine example of hateful mob mentality. The belligerents that screamed the most vile profanities were egged on by the people that they were with, which made for a nice collusion of nasty emotions: violent anger and malicious, hysterical laughter. About 4/5 or more of the protestors had little reaction to either the priests or their more aggressive fellow marchers, but 20% of thousands of marchers is ... a lot of angry, insane people.

This shot was snapped about a second after the priests and a cop were hit with a spray of red liquid. I was genuinely surprised that the officer didn't hop the fence and introduce the culprit to "Mr. Baton."

A special highlight: these moonbats reacted with absolute rapture at the chance to put on a dramatic, "sinful" show for the priests.

After only about 45 minutes of watching all this, I became a bit shell-shocked and decided to call it a day. Before I left, I spoke to a pro-lifer that was quietly standing near the priests and displaying one of the happy-face "I'm Pro-Life" signs.

"Mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure."

"You're pro-life. Does that mean that you are against abortion in any circumstance? At any period?"

"Yes."

"Even in cases of rape or incest?"

"Yes, in all cases."

"What are your feelings about birth control?"

"We're against it. Abstinence is the only acceptable form of birth control."

"Well ... I see. Don't you think that complete abstinence is a bit unrealistic for everyone?"

"Anything less is a sin ..."

Without much common ground to be had, I decided to pack it in ...

... but not before running into this little guy on my way out. The way his mother coaxed him to say "abort Bush" and pose for my camera made me ill.

I didn't want to deal with this anymore. I ducked away from the path of the march and took an alternate, circuitous route home.

Postscript: I don't think that the most vitriolic scenes that I witnessed that Sunday were in any way representative of mainstream opinion on either side of the debate. Upon reflection, it was typical mob behavior, as the most ignorant and nasty elements of the crowd fed off of the general mass of chattering, negative energy and lashed out at their opponents. Whether it's a gathering of 50 or 500,000, the trend is clear: nuts always come out to protest.

I guess it's just a little depressing when you witness how many nuts there really are ...

In the final installment of INDC abortion blogging, I'll take a crack at alienating all of my readers by looking at both sides of this issue ... and offering an opinion. Stay tuned.