Good ol’ Mitt (Mittens?) Romney has stopped by to dine (read: pickpocket) with fancy Portland Republicans. Cue street closures, Secret Service suits, black bloc-ed Occupiers and a girl in a birth control costume!
Romney lunched with fellow GOP-ers at the Governor Hotel in downtown Portland this afternoon, attracting a mixed crowd on the nearby corners. On one: Union members surrounding a massive inflatable fat cat labeled “Romney Mr. 1%” with a pinkie ring and clutching a sad looking construction worker in its paw.
On another corner: The bright pink Planned Parenthood crew—and birth control girl—waving equally pink signs. “We’re just here to let Mitt Romney know that women are watching,” said Laura Terrill Patten, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon’s executive director. “He’s severely out of touch with the women and values of Oregon.”
And on the final corner, shouting obscenities at the video camera-toting police force/Secret Service team: Occupiers. One woman’s sign read “Romney Socks!”, unless I read it wrong. Another woman ran around with a red carpet, laying it on the street in front of the primped lunch guests on their way in, shouting “Welcome to Portland!”
The most exciting part was when a Secret Service man found a suspicious bag. Just like in the movies! Except for the part when it ends up being his partner’s briefcase. I think an overheard comment from a Dick Cheney look-alike attending the luncheon summed it up best: “I’ve been to many Romney fundraising events… but nothing like this.”
A few more photos after the jump!
Sweet. Hopefully Romney can come up with a ’10’s analogue for Beirut.
It’s been done for him, unfortunately. All he has to say is something like “I’m always happy to be back in Portlandia…whoops, I mean Portland.”
I just passed by the area. All the food carts on SW Alder between 10th and 11th are closed because the street in blocked off during their peak business hours.
*is
@3: Wow, way to kill a bunch of fucking jobs, Mittens.
Where do you even get an inflatable fat cat choking a construction worker?
That cat balloon is hilarious. The “R” looks like Rivermark’s logo, which would be even more awesome.
One Cart was open north of 10th. I walked up and asked the lady working the window what happend. “I just showed up and opened my doors. I think they allowed it because we were a bit a way from the barriers.”
I’m going to interview the other cart owners about their economic damages tomorrow.
Also, Jake’s Grill was open north of 10th. I walked over to the cops standing at the corner of 10th & Yam, “Hey, how do I get over to Jakes?” The officer responded, “Well, you can go over there if you have a reservation.” I asked, “Do you know how they managed to stay open with everything else closed?” “The other businesses are open.” “What about London Influence (the retail store next to Jakes) – are they open? Do I need a reservation to go there?” I didn’t get a response.
Then the Black Blocs (who didn’t have shit to do with Occupy, btw) came down, one shouted “Hey, lets go to Jakes! How do we get there.” I told them, “Well this officer just told me that all I need is a reservation.”
The officer didn’t believe the Bloc’ers had reservations.
the Republicans should just have an Ebay auction for who gets to run for President. wonder what Romney’s max bid would be