As a bird-dogger, your job is to show up at McCain/Palin events, and be a constant reminder that they have been systematically lying, and cannot be trusted. Your job is to brand them with the label "Pinocchio Politics." Get this message out to attendees, passersby, and above all, the media.
There are many tools on this site (or soon to be on this site) to help you do this : talking points, sample press release, chant sheet, scripts, downloadable flyers & signs, a how-to kit for making your own Pinocchio noses & McCain masks, or where to buy them on-line, and how it all comes together in the street theater & action ideas below. In addition, you can always contact us for advice and more information.
At a McCain/Palin event, you can take action inside and/or outside.
Going Inside
Enter the event looking like normal attendees. Don't try to bring in any big signs, and keep your Pinocchio noses hidden in your pocket.
Once inside, there's a few ways you can challenge the speaker:
1. Sit together in one or two rows. Wait for McCain or Palin to tell one of their oft-repeated lies. A designated team leader will then give a signal for everyone to put on their noses. In unison, stand up and shout whatever slogan or chant -- say, "lies, lies, lies" -- you think works best. (Or if you want to be more subtle (and you can sneak your slide-whistles into the event), play them instead of chanting. Working in a team makes it easier for people to hold their ground when approached by security/GOP personnel. Perhaps you could make it an all-family outing.
2. Same as #1 above, but the posse works in pairs, sitting in different parts of the stands, making a series of staggered disruptions. One team might get escorted out. Another team pipes up 5 mintues later.
3. The silent option. Arrive early. Position yourselves in the front row aisle, close to the stage, or somewhere else very visible. At a signal from the team leader, put on your pinocchio-nose and stand up -- in profile to the audience/cameras. Say nothing. Just stand there. The goal is to place a subversive image in the eyes of viewers, and silently question the veracity of McCain's talking points.
Outside.
The goal here is to interact with attendees as they enter & leave the event, and to create a visually compelling tableau for the news media.
Everyone wearing Pinocchio noses, especially when all lined up in a row, can make quite an image. The more people the better, but 5, or even as few as 3, can make for a strong image. It immediately evokes the number of lies McCain tells, and the number of people upset with him for doing so.
You can also conduct a "Lie In" -- a call and response between a McCain stand-in and the rest of the team. "McCain" says a lie, and everyone else laughs (in a very visible way) after each one, maybe calling out "who are you kidding," etc. Or use the slide-whistles.
Things can get more interesting using props, as follows:
Buy or make a McCain mask and cut out a nose-hole. (Or do the same with a flat cardboard image of McCain.) Cover a long (whte or clear) balloon in "flesh-colored" panty-hose, and stick it through the hole. As each lie is spoken, inflate a little bit more. Accompany with a chant every time it inflates : "John McCain's Pinocchio -- With every lie his nose will grow!" At the end of the action, cap it off - "John McCain's Pinocchio -- Now his lies are going to blow!" And pop the balloon.
At a McCain/Palin event, you can take action inside and/or outside.
Going Inside
Enter the event looking like normal attendees. Don't try to bring in any big signs, and keep your Pinocchio noses hidden in your pocket.
Once inside, there's a few ways you can challenge the speaker:
1. Sit together in one or two rows. Wait for McCain or Palin to tell one of their oft-repeated lies. A designated team leader will then give a signal for everyone to put on their noses. In unison, stand up and shout whatever slogan or chant -- say, "lies, lies, lies" -- you think works best. (Or if you want to be more subtle (and you can sneak your slide-whistles into the event), play them instead of chanting. Working in a team makes it easier for people to hold their ground when approached by security/GOP personnel. Perhaps you could make it an all-family outing.
2. Same as #1 above, but the posse works in pairs, sitting in different parts of the stands, making a series of staggered disruptions. One team might get escorted out. Another team pipes up 5 mintues later.
3. The silent option. Arrive early. Position yourselves in the front row aisle, close to the stage, or somewhere else very visible. At a signal from the team leader, put on your pinocchio-nose and stand up -- in profile to the audience/cameras. Say nothing. Just stand there. The goal is to place a subversive image in the eyes of viewers, and silently question the veracity of McCain's talking points.
Outside.
The goal here is to interact with attendees as they enter & leave the event, and to create a visually compelling tableau for the news media.
Everyone wearing Pinocchio noses, especially when all lined up in a row, can make quite an image. The more people the better, but 5, or even as few as 3, can make for a strong image. It immediately evokes the number of lies McCain tells, and the number of people upset with him for doing so.
You can also conduct a "Lie In" -- a call and response between a McCain stand-in and the rest of the team. "McCain" says a lie, and everyone else laughs (in a very visible way) after each one, maybe calling out "who are you kidding," etc. Or use the slide-whistles.
Things can get more interesting using props, as follows:
Buy or make a McCain mask and cut out a nose-hole. (Or do the same with a flat cardboard image of McCain.) Cover a long (whte or clear) balloon in "flesh-colored" panty-hose, and stick it through the hole. As each lie is spoken, inflate a little bit more. Accompany with a chant every time it inflates : "John McCain's Pinocchio -- With every lie his nose will grow!" At the end of the action, cap it off - "John McCain's Pinocchio -- Now his lies are going to blow!" And pop the balloon.
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