Elmo takes on Occupy Cincinnati

This is the best the 1% can do?

Yesterday, Occupy Cincinnati joined up with union members and others to protest against Mitt Romney's supposed appearance at Great American Tower. There were about 60 of us. I made a sign that says, "Corporations ARE NOT people, my friend!" - but Romney never showed his face. I guess Romney doesn't want to be seen in public after his party got humiliated in the battle over birth control.

The real hilarity ensued when several of us from the Occupy coalition began walking to Piatt Park. We were on 5th Street, when we noticed a strange man standing across the street from the federal courthouse. The bespectacled man appeared to be about 30 and had his middle finger extended towards us as he stood perfectly still.

When we passed him, he started cussing us out. And his voice sounded like Elmo of 'Sesame Street'. Seriously. And he used every word in the book!

It's one thing for Elmo to cuss in front of an all-ages crowd. It's one thing for him to display flawed logic and make a complete ass of himself. But it's another thing altogether to threaten physical violence. We stopped to chitchat with him, and he kept warning us that he was going to beat us up if we didn't go away - for no reason except that we were "liberal dumbasses."

And it's a completely different matter altogether to actually commit an assault - which he did. Elmo approached one of the Occupiers (almost chasing him into the street), got right in his face, and tore a large sign he was carrying. Bystanders looked on in disbelief.

Elmo continued arguing with us for another 20 minutes or so, but we didn't budge. It was entertaining! He kept threatening to beat us up if we didn't disappear by 6 PM. And - after first declaring that he was a rich guy who worked on Wall Street - he complained that he was hardly making any money and that it was our fault.

I watched the clock readout across the street intensely as 6:00 rolled around. If Elmo was gonna beat me up like he promised, I better be there for it! But when I pointed out to him that it was 6:00, he just hopped on a bus, which zipped away.

And that's the state of the 1% as of February 2012. They don't even try to present a coherent argument. Are they actually trying to lose every battle now? If so, why? Maybe they know the game is over, so they're trying to be as extreme and as bizarre as possible so they can think of themselves as martyrs. With displays like yesterday's incident the norm (as this is the third time I've personally witnessed a physical assault against the Occupy coalition), I just cannot imagine that the 1% has any significant fan base anymore.