OK, so I should mention the results of our Courage Campaign protest yesterday at the ABC/Disney headquarters.  It went really well.  Consider that I had this idea sitting on my couch at 12:00pm Thursday, and by 4:00pm Friday we had 60 or 70 people out there in Burbank.  Considering that in the current age there’s almost an allergy to protest, that’s not bad (especially in gridlocked L.A.), and we were able to get the word out without making one phone call.

I’ll give you the AP’s impression (over):

UPDATE: Here’s coverage from KTLA News:

About 50 people rallied at Disney Studios Friday to protest the questions that ABC News journalists asked the Democratic presidential candidates during a debate earlier this week.

Protestors waved signs that read “Restore the Fourth Estate” and “ABC is TMZ,” referring to the online celebrity site.

Organizer Rick Jacobs criticized ABC for focusing on the past gaffes of Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, instead of issues like the war in Iraq and the American economy.

Jacobs said he was offended that Obama was asked why he hasn’t worn an American flag pin on his lapel.

“Patriotism isn’t defined by a flag pin made in China,” he said.

They didn’t note the most important part of the protest: our distribution of flag pins to employees as they left the ABC gates.  Letting them know that they were getting “free patriotism on a stick” and telling them that “Charlie Gibson won’t approve of you unless you wear one,” we handed out about 300 pins.  Most took them graciously and approvingly.

I’ll direct you to where there are a bunch of pictures and then highlight a few.

That’s me.

My personal favorite sign.

There goes a flag pin.

Breaking news.

Panama Jack Rick Jacobs.

Yes, the pins were made in China.

Also, we shot our own video, but I won’t have that available until Sunday.

Thanks to everyone who came out…  

UPDATE: (Bob) I just got off the phone with David Dayen for the report from the ground. It was kinda tough to hear because all of the horns honking in the background. He said there was a great crowd, KTLA is interviewing a number of them, and they are having a lot of fun passing out the lapel pins. Also, he loved the fact that a Burbank Police Officer came by and told them he was their officer for the night and if they had any problems (with ABC or Disney) to give him a call. I wish I was there, if you can make it they’ll be out there until 7PM.

OK, so everyone’s frustrated with the content-free, brainless ABC News debate the other night.  Chuck Todd actually gets it wrong – it’s not about rabid Obama partisans rising up to hammer ABC, it’s about thinking people rising up and deciding not to accept the thin gruel the media tries to feed us anymore.

The moderators are unrepentant and congenitally wired to not get it.  So we’re going to have to take to the streets – the mean streets of Burbank, California.  We want to know if ABC/Disney executives can pass the Gibson/Stephanopoulos flag pin litmus test – it’s obviously the most important issue facing the nation, so are they sufficiently patriotic?  If not, we’re willing to help them out.

I called up my friends at the Courage Campaign and told them we were uniquely positioned not just to throw things at our TV screen but to do something about this.  The ABC/Disney headquarters is right there in Burbank, and prior to the Path to 9/11 airing, we actually protested out in front of there.

They obviously didn’t get the message, and I figured out the reason why – our flag pin deficit!  Nobody takes you seriously unless you bring 350 symbols of patriotism along with you.

Well, we got ’em.  And now we need your help.

Today at 4:00, we’re going to meet at ABC/Disney’s headquarters in Burbank to protest and pass out flag pins to employees leaving their Disney corporate office.

Your mission: Ask ABC/Disney employees whether they can pass their own flag-pin litmus test: “Are you patriotic enough to wear a flag-pin?”  Obviously they don’t want to be considered as a bunch of America-hating terrorists by their own network news anchors, so of course they require the pin, the shield of immunity from all questions of patriotism.  And maybe we’ll give them a couple extras to give to George and Charlie.

If you’re in the area and available, at 4 p.m. please join me and the Courage Campaign and your fellow activists at ABC’s Disney Studios in Burbank in front of the West Alameda Gate, between S. Buena Vista and Keystone Streets (CLICK HERE FOR A MAP). We’re going to be there until about 7 p.m.

I’ll just leave you with this because it’s fun.

(ultimately these things don’t change a lot of minds; I don’t expect ABC to issue an on-air apology or anything.  But they provide an outlet for frustrations, and create a moment of accountability.  If you or someone you know is in the press, please send them by, too.)