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Protesters line up, speak against Cheney's visit

By Dusty Ricketts / Northwest Florida Daily News

FORT WALTON BEACH, FL — With a national approval rating hovering below 20 percent, it should not be surprising that protesters lined up to greet Vice President Dick Cheney to the area.

Seven protesters, many of them supporters for Presidential Candidate Ron Paul’s campaign in Escambia County, lined Lewis Turner Boulevard across the street from the Northwest Florida Fairgrounds where Cheney spoke to about 70 people Friday afternoon.

“Dick Cheney said oil was actually going to get cheaper,” said Adam Fannin who carried a sign that read Human Blood - $3.53 a gallon. “Dick Cheney said it was going to be a quagmire over there. Dick continues to contradict himself and lies. We’ve been bombing Iraq for 17 years now. They’ve never had weapons of mass destruction there other than when Donald Rumsfield sold them there in the early ’80s. We feel the need to take a stand and tell the truth.”

Several cars honked their horns in support of the protesters as they drove by, but Rebecca Johanson said they had also received some thumbs up and middle fingers from motorists.

Johanson was at the protest with her little brother Jonathan Johanson who had his own thoughts about Cheney’s visit.

“I’m here because it’s an unconstitutional war and it’s just killing soldiers for no reason and it’s not worth it at all,” Jonathan Johanson said. “We’re fighting over things we should be drilling in our own country."

Fort Walton Beach resident Ricky Fair decided to protest Cheney’s energy policy. Fair said the vice president was just getting richer while most American’s were struggling to pay for the increased cost of fuel.

Although Cheney’s motorcade drove right past the protesters, Fair said he doubted the vice president even noticed them.

“There’s not a whole lot you could say to that guy,” Fair said. “He wouldn’t listen to me.”