Final Update: Obama admin surrenders on the WWII Memorial (at least to WWII Vets). Now onto the Lincoln Memorial. Take back our country, one monument at a time.

Update: WWII vets – along with bipartisan congressional support – tear down Obama’s wall Went right through the “Barrycades”!. Follow on twitter

Best Tweet:

So the #WWIIMemorial is closed because they don’t have staff in place. But there’s staff in place to tell us it’s closed. #ShutdownTheater

— CamEdwards (@CamEdwards) October 2, 2013

Update: WWII Memorial now called “Shutdown Central” – and is bringing in bipartisan opposition to the “Barrycades”:

Veterans and volunteers from trips dubbed honor flights coming to D.C. today plan on moving barricades to get into the World War II memorial, volunteers said Tuesday morning. They are expected to be joined by lawmakers including Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) and Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.). On Twitter, other lawmakers noted that they were at the memorial too.

Yeah, this is working really well for Reid and Obama. I think this shutdown is on its last legs. Politically this is a disaster.

Update: You can tell when a moment has been reached that turns the tide. When momentum shifts and fate pushes one side ahead and the other behind. This morning, the battle of the “National” Monuments feels like one of those pivotal moments. Below I linked to a comment made by Rep Rand Paul about the idiocy of closing off monuments that are normally wide open. It was a crisp assessment of what is happening down on the “National” Mall.

We now see the Obama administration holding hostage all The People’s property on the mall – for political theater. Well, this little skit is going to backfire – big time. Because this is now the image of The Shutdown:

Hat Tip Legal Insurrection. These monuments have NEVER been closed off to the public during any prior shutdowns. This is an Obama move. Why are we paying for these barricades? Are these essential services? Of course not!

Obama and Reid better start thinking hard about how to surrender quickly. Because they have set themselves up for protests and outrage like we have not seen before. In one picture, we see the oppressive nature of Democrat-run government (not “Democracy”, Democrat Party). Amazingly stupid move… – end update

Obama and the Democrats are clearly trying to make a stink with their shutdown gambit. But it is coming off more as petty arrogance instead of principled actions.

One of the worst examples is the “closing” of the World War II memorial down on the “National” Mall. An area of public land that is NOT owned by the Democrats – no matter what they want to think. No party owns this land and its monuments, the American People do.

What you have to realize about the monument is it is completely open air. It is basically side walks and a fountain area. There is no entrance, any more than there is an entrance to a city square with fountain or monument in the middle [click to enlarge]:

So why go through the expense and effort to put up barriers – except to create political theater of the petulant kind!

I can see closing the information center which stands nearby. Close the bathrooms – fair enough. But why put up barriers and then pay police to keep Americans out of the memorial THEY PAID FOR with blood and treasure?

Yesterday there was a confrontation at the memorial involving WWII vets who flew in to see the national memorial to their efforts. What happened is a clear indication of the stupidity and arrogance of DC right now:

Busloads of World War II veterans, many in wheelchairs, broke past a barricade Tuesday morning to cross into the World War II Memorial, as onlookers applauded and a man playing the bagpipes led the way. Moments earlier, a few Republican members of Congress had removed a section of the black gates that surrounded the site, allowing a line of veterans to roll past security officers, who willingly stood aside.

…

The National Park Service closed all of its parks, including national memorials, as a result of the federal government shutdown that went into effect at 12:01 a.m ET.

But a spokeswoman from the National Mall and Parks Service said efforts were no longer being made to hold anyone back.

“These are important visitors,” Carol Johnson told reporters, adding that they’re seeking guidance from the director’s office on “where we go next.”

…

Some Republican members of Congress and a Democratic senator were on site, blasting the federal government for fencing off the memorial. Outraged and baffled, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, crossed through an opening in the railing earlier in the morning–before the breach–and got on the phone to try and reach the secretary of the Department of Interior.

“I don’t get it. I’m furious. I’m trying to get a hold of people,” he said, standing on the other side of the barricade and looking around for help. “But I can’t seem to get a hold of anybody.”

Whoever thought this lunacy up should be fined the cost incurred. It is a dumb waste of money pure and simple.

And of course the news media is involved in the political theater of the absurd up to their eyeballs. Wailing about the unfairness of the GOP – who are duly elected representatives of the American people. A significant number of which don’t support the Democrats or their policies. Will they report on this side of the shutdown – Democrat idiocy?

Will they report on the citizen revolt rising up:

After a group of veterans broke down the barricades at the national World War II Memorial Tuesday afternoon, organizers of one Hero Flight Network group told BuzzFeed it wasn’t the last Washington would hear from them. Veterans are plotting another protest at the same place Wednesday, and expressed interest in staging similar events at sites across the nation’s capital, including the Lincoln Memorial — an act of civil disobedience that would likely pour fuel on the already highly flammable politics of the government shutdown.

“We have people here that are 80 and 90 years old and they closed down all the bathrooms?” said Tony Nussbaum, a 25-year veteran of the Air Force from Iowa and a leader of the state’s Hero Flight group. “I’m about to just start pissing on the trees.”

BTW, the Lincoln Memorial – while in a building – is also open. There is no need to restrict access to it.

The shutdown is now on and the Libertarian/GOP side of the argument has yet to really get motivated. What will it look like for the Greatest Generation to be protesting the Obama administration? Think that could be some powerful political theater?

But more importantly, the GOP has to gain something for the price they will pay for their part in the shutdown. Dems who think they can force the GOP to retreat from their principled positions are kidding themselves. The Dems are not looking all that smart either, voting to not negotiate, voting against funding parts of the government there are no issues over (like the Park Service). They will also pay a price next year.

The GOP just has to keep sending reasonable bills to the Senate for the Dems vote down. That will chew away at their petulance and arrogance.

Update: Well, well – I may be wrong about the news media:

The WWII Memorial will be re-closed this afternoon and remain closed until funding is restored. National Mall and Memorial Parks Communications Officer Carol Johnson told ABC News the memorial will be shut down and cleared by Park Police.

More here.

And here:

Some idiot in government sent goons out there to set up barricades, so they couldn’t see the monument. People had to spend hours setting up barricades where there are never barricades to prevent people from seeing the World War II monument because they’re trying to play a charade,” Rand (R-Ky.) said Tuesday on Fox News’s “Hannity.”

I guess its the government verses the citizens.  We now have a rallying point. Bring it on!

Tags: Barrycades, Shutdown Theater