http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1Fo4806EGQ

Here are some great pics of the rally in front of the Dodd fundraiser Friday afternoon … courtesy of Bob MacGuffie from Right Principles. That’s Tim Geitner in the trash can with “Odd Dodd”. Bob reports about 50 people showed up in absolutely freezing weather. Good job.

Bob says they made sure Vice President Joe and the Senator’s wife saw them on the way in and out. Dodd of course was not there to collect his cash. He stayed in Washington to help expand the Federal government. His wife stayed in Connecticut to pick up the dough. What a racket these guys have.

Here’s what the Courant says Biden said about his buddy Dodd:

“Chris is getting the living hell beat out of him, the living bejesus beat out of him,” Biden said. “Why? Because he’s being a leader,” Biden said. “This is going to be a hell of a race and it’s an uphill race, but Chris Dodd will prevail.”

No Joe, he’s getting the crap beat out of him because he didn’t tell the truth, on his mortgages, his home in Ireland, on his role in the Fannie Mae/ financial sector meltdown and the AIG bonus scandal. He’s getting the crap kicked out of him because he has lost touch with his constituents and because he, like you, continue to spend our money and expand government at a record pace. Other than that, you’re right, he’s a leader.

By the way, the AP article makes no mention of the protest. Not surprising. Insignificant? Absolutely not.  The crowd outside was about 1/4 of the size of the crowd inside … and they didn’t get lunch.

This video is different since it is not at night and the video does not just cover the incident aftermath. I’m certain there were quite a few verbal jabs going back and forth, and the guy from the TEA Party heading over to video the faces and signs may have not been the smartest move, but what happens after is pure assault.

Hat tip to Pamela Gellar at Atlas Shrugs, who directs us to the original post by Rob Taylor at Red Alerts. See the update below from Gateway Pundit. Gotta give credit to Michelle Malkin too – she posted this afternoon and I missed it.

To set this up, there was a TEA Party protest going on somewhere in Florida and the Florida chapter of Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) had a counter protest across the street.

The video includes captions with what is going on. In short, this is why it’s probably a good idea to have cops at protests. You’re viewing the ANSWER side of the street.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekW3HmlnYS4

Florida’s ANSWER chapter sent out the following e-mail prior to the protests. My emphasis is added noted in bold. So, who is whipping up the rhetoric and promoting violence here?

Racism is like anything else in this world: in order to make it fall, you must smash it! That is why we are calling on all people to come out tomorrow, to organize a militant confrontation with the so-called “tea baggers.” Beating back these forces will require us to organize together, take the streets, fight the racists wherever they show their faces and drive them out of every community.

The racist demonization of immigrants only serves the interest of the ruling class during this historical economic crisis. The same bankers, CEO’s, and politicians, both Democrat and Republican, which have for decades devastated the economies of countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, have once again devastated the economy in this country. The same ruling class that devastates the lives of working people in other nations through war and super-exploitation are the ones throwing workers out of their homes, denying them healthcare, and laying them off from their jobs in this country.

Racism is consciously used as a tool by the ruling class because they know that as long as working people are divided and fighting each other, the people are not fighting the bankers, CEO’s, and politicians. Only under a brutal system that puts profit over people can you have a whole section of society whose only crime is being forced from their nations because of imperialism and forced to work in the most hostile of conditions in this country. Only racism can justify this reality.

The continual devastation of working people because of this crisis, however, is not the fault of one group of workers. On October 28th, President Obama signed the largest military budget in U.S. history-$680 billion dollars, which does not include the cost of the criminal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. The new administration is also continuing to hand out the $9.5 trillion dollars in working people’s tax dollars to bailout the already rich.

The money to end the suffering of all working people tomorrow is there. It is our choice as to whether we will allow the right of a few to profit from labor of workers to continue, or whether we will rise up as one class of working people to and take political power into our own hands.

We are building a movement that will beat back racism so that working people of all nationalities can unite and fight against our one, shared enemy: capitalism. Amnesty, full rights for ALL immigrants, is a demand that should be raised not just by the immigrant communities, but by every working class community in our struggle to solve this crisis by our own means.

Join us tomorrow, and join us in building the movement against racism and capitalist exploitation!

Update: While I was off swimming laps, Jim Hoft over at Gateway Pundit adds the following information.

Supporters of President Obama’s Amnesty plans attacked Tea Party Against Amnesty & Illegal Immigration demonstrators in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Sat. November 14, 2009. One of the men attacked is 62 years old. Dave Caulkett of FLIMEN (Floridians for Immigration Enforcement) is assaulted and then kicked in the face while he is down. The other camera man from the Tea Party is hit with several signs.

Here’s how the New jersey Ledger Star covered the incident:

Seven people were arrested today after they blocked entrances to the headquarters of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield. They were protesting, among other things, the compensation paid to the president of the health insurance company and the failure of Congress to pass health insurance reform.

Hmm. Sound like a mob, sounds like astroturfing. Sounds like these folks were breaking the law. Sounds like Obama’s “in your face” strategy. But here’s the very next paragraph in the Ledger Star story.

This incident was not nearly so ugly as that sounds. No one was hurt, the demonstrators were nonviolent and made their point, and the police were as gentle as police can get. One of the arresting officers used pink handcuffs to arrest female demonstrators in honor of October as breast cancer month.

Even Roberto Gomes, the waiter across the street at the Spain restaurant on Raymond Boulevard was mollified. He was at first annoyed because the demonstrators kept the usual lunchtime customers away and he lost a lot of tips — but then most of those arrested showed up for lunch at his place within an hour of their arrests.

Got that? Pink handcuffs, no one was hurt (unlike this demonstration) … they’re just a bunch of lovable civil disobedient citizens. Nothing like that unruly mob of 2 million hate mongering, swastika wearing people in Washington, where there were no arrests and everyone picked up their trash.

But … here’s the money line. The whole thing was a set up by … drum roll please … Health Care Now.

That’s when police were called, and eight officers led by Sgt. Cesar Soares who suggested that, if they just moved away from the doors, the protesters could avoid arrest.

Soares missed the point — but, of course, he may have just been saying what he had to say. The organization sponsoring the protest, Central Jersey Health Care Now, already had the names of the seven who would be arrested before the protests began. The arrests were the point, and nothing Soares could have said would have deterred them.

Just to be clear here: It’s wasn’t so bad, pink handcuffs, no one hurt, forgiving small businessman and the whole thing was pre-planned. Just remember folks … you are the unruly mob, they’re just cuddly warm civil protesters.

Note: This event occurred on Feb. 27.

Plus if you are looking for what others did today go here and go here. Plus read this from Instapundit.

Here are some of the pictures of today’s tax protest. (Taken with my swell iPhone which I did not buy with stimulus money, or tax redistribution money)

The “push back” against confiscation for pet liberal projects (honey bees, community organizers, grape genetics, bullying and tattoo removal) began today in Hartford, and it was a grassroots effort. The stimulus package stimulates nothing but federal and state governments, while the people who produce the tax revenue were ignored.

Without much publicity up to 250 people came and joined the Connecticut Tea Party rally in front of the state capital. This is just the beginning, the first of a number of rallies the Tea Party plans on holding around the state up until election day. Movements destined for the trash heap start big and fizzle. I can assure you, even in a blue state, today they planted the acorn. To see a lot more go to the gallery.

Or watch the ones below as a slide show in your browser … easier to see.