Interesting Absences
As most of my readers already know, Christopher Hitchens organized a demonstration of support in front of the Danish Embassy in Washington at noon today. I wish I could have been there, waving a block of Danish Esrom (like Havarti, but more pungent, and better). InstaPundit reports that Bill Kristol, Andrew Sullivan, and roughly 200 other people turned out, and provides pictures. I was glad to see on some site or other that at least one of the scholars at the Center for Hellenic Studies, right next door to the embassy, came out and joined the demonstration.
What I find disappointing, though not surprising, is who didn’t show up. Whitehaven Street is only a block long. (I’ve been there many times.) The most famous residents are Bill and Hillary Clinton. I have never been able to determine which of the eight or ten houses on the street is theirs: the Secret Service does a good job of keeping the number off the web, and their own selves invisible. But it does look a lot like the one in InstaPundit’s first picture. Here’s a picture of the Clinton house last fall for comparison: the porch roof is a different shape, but the rest is a close match, and they have been doing a lot of remodeling. It’s possible that the dumptruck in InstaPundit’s second picture belongs to a Clinton contractor. Even if the Clinton house is not the one in the picture, it can’t be more than a block away.
Hillary’s official website mentions that she was in town yesterday, interrogating “representatives from departments and agencies” for the Senate Armed Services Committee. I have been unable to determine whether Bill is in D.C., New York, Little Rock, or somewhere else. [See Update below.] Of course, she may have had unavoidable Senatorial duties to attend today, and he may be out of town, but perhaps someone should ask them at their next press conferences why they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, come to the demonstration.
To make my disappointment bipartisan, I should note that the grounds of the Naval Observatory nearly touch Whitehaven Street very near the Danish Embassy. It would have been nice if the Vice President or his wife or both had climbed their back fence and joined the demonstration. Of course, I didn’t even bother to try to find out whether Cheney’s undisclosed location of the day was at home. And I don’t think that members of the executive branch are quite so free as senators to express their opinions on international affairs without going through the State Department.
So, did anyone at the rally notice any Secret Service men hanging around? If so, were they Cheney men or Clinton men, or could you tell? VodkaPundit reports that there were only three D.C. cops at the rally.
Update: (2/25, 1:00am)
According to the second comment, Bill Clinton is in New Zealand. I’ll call that an excused absence.
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Bill was doing a bit of, ehmm, interviewing ;-)
http://urbanelephants.com/nyc/node/2730
Comment by Sean — Friday: February 24, 2006 @ 11:04 PM GMT-0500
According to the Herald Sun – After a snafu that precluded a round of golf at Maidstone’ Medway Golf Club Pres. Clinton played a round at Sanctuary Lakes Golf Club and then flew out of Melbourne for New Zealand on Thurs evening (Melbourne time)
Comment by Todd — Saturday: February 25, 2006 @ 12:47 AM GMT-0500
I’d be more interested in which, if any, of the big name lefty bloggers based in the D.C. area turned out for Hitch’s event.
Comment by TC@LeatherPenguin — Saturday: February 25, 2006 @ 7:43 AM GMT-0500
Which big name anyone by their presence or absence alters the truth of the message?
Comment by Kerry — Saturday: February 25, 2006 @ 8:51 AM GMT-0500
Having attended the rally, I can assure you that it wasn’t D.C. local police, but uniform branch Secret Service, who were at the rally. Good guys, too. My impression was, however, that they were there to see the rally didn’t interfere with the work of the embassies, rather than to protect anyone important.
Comment by Grim — Saturday: February 25, 2006 @ 9:49 AM GMT-0500
If Bill Clinton were to show up, I would leave (or at least move my wallet from my back pocket to a front one.) I cannot understand the rehabilitation and romantic fascination with an utterly dishonest individual. He DID perjure himself; he was disbarred. He is the classless individual which we all suspect he is. Bill Clinton should be a skeleton in the closet; all honest people should shun him.
Comment by Dave From Rochester — Saturday: February 25, 2006 @ 9:55 AM GMT-0500
So loud noise from the Clinton’s house expansion work overpowered speakers at the free speech demonstration! Amusing, I’m sure they didn’t do it on purpose.
Comment by Audior — Saturday: February 25, 2006 @ 9:56 AM GMT-0500