Single-payer health-care advocates are arrested in Newark – Media runs cover

Trust me. Had this happened at a Tea Party protest you never would have heard the end of it. But remember, this is the liberal media and they philosophically aligned with the protesters.

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.