You’ve read the stories about how the D.C. cops escorted a bunch of SEIU protesters to a private home across the District line in Maryland. You’ve heard the silence of the media lambs at the absolute outrage of hordes of purple-shirted thugs charging onto private property and berating a Bank of American lawyer from his very doorstep.
ASMAN: Imagine a Sunday afternoon in your home suddenly interrupted by the chants of 500 protestors, some with megaphones, marching onto the lawn of your neighbor’s house.
That’s exactly what happened to Fox News contributor Nina Easton. The mob was organized by SEIU directed at her neighbor bank executive Greg Baer. She joins us now from Washington. Nina, how would you describe the scene.
NINA EASTON, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, “FORTUNE” MAGAZINE: It’s a lovely Sunday afternoon, I had just put my toddler down for a nap, and suddenly 14 buses pull up, 14. Hundreds and hundreds of people pour out. I did a rough calculation there were at least 500 protesters who crossed my property and went on to Greg Baer’s property, the deputy general counsel of B of A.
ASMAN: He, by the way, ironically is a former Clinton administration official, right?
EASTON: He is, and his wife is a former Hillary Clinton official and is a very prominent person on national service issues.
These are not big bad Bush people, which is what the readers of the “Huffington Post” blog, the only press who covered it, they assumed it was a Bush administration official.
ASMAN: Let’s talk about that. This was apparently somebody that “Huffington Post” got a phone call from somebody who organized the rally telling them where to be and where the rally would be, and that was the only organization they called, correct?
EASTON: Yes, and I found this interesting. Keep in mind we have had protests in front of homes of executives. In this case they left the street and went on to the lawn and his front stoop while his teenage son cowered in the bathroom, scared to death. They took the protest to a whole new illegal level.
ASMAN: Where were the police?
EASTON: And rather than any news organization there that might have questioned their tactics, they just had one friendly leftist blogger there. That I was there is the only reason it was into the mainstream press.
ASMAN: And the police?
EASTON: The police showed up afterward. I called them twice, Greg Baer called them twice. And they admitted us, what do you want us to do? Do you want us to arrest hundreds of people for trespassing? They even said we might have incited them.
So the point of this was not a protest to make their voices heard about mortgage foreclosures. The point was to intimidate a bank executive and his family. And it even intimidated the police who did not want [anything] to do with the protesters.
ASMAN: Talking about extra police the border. Maybe we need it in the beltway. We have to leave it at that. There is more to this story and we will get to the bottom of it. Thanks a lot for coming up, Nina.
EASTON: Thank you.
… and then ask yourself: what kind of country are we living in?