Occupy Wall Street’s Scripted SOTU Response ‘Embargoed’ By PR Company

The dull evidence of a typical hack political campaign is the “embargoed” speech or statement sent out many hours before the event it is supposed to address. And now we’ve got this email from a big P.R. firm claiming that the Occupy Wall Street response to Obama’s State of the Union speech is contained within this mass-mailed marketing material. That whole “mic check” thing was getting a bit stale even before it was written into a press release and sent to the nation’s political media with the dumb demand that it be kept from the common people’s eyes until after Barack Obama read his prepared comments.

So, for what it’s worth — very little, by the looks of it — here is the script that the Occupy Wall Street political organization will follow tonight, when they act like they are responding to Obama’s SOTU:

Occupy Wall Street’s Response to SOTU. The State of the 99%

This 2012 “State of the 99%” response to the State of the Union will be delivered by a group of Occupiers assembled outside in a well-lit spot at McPherson Square following the conclusion of the President’s State of the Union address and/or the Tea Party response. The presentation will unfold this way: one participant will begin in the center/front of the group, in the middle of the camera frame, surrounded by the others. That person will deliver the first line of the speech, and will then be echoed by the People’s Mic. That person will then read their second line, and as the People’s Mic echoes the second line, that person will move off to the side and rejoin the group, while another person will step into the center spot to read the next two lines, with each line again echoed by the People’s Mic. This will continue, cycling through the crowd, with each person reading two lines and being echoed by the People’s Mic.

Mic check! [mic check] Mic check! [mic check]
Fellow Americans, good evening! [Fellow Americans, good evening!]

We are men and women of the 99 percent
Many of us have spent many months at Occupy Wall Street

and at other Occupations across the country and around the world
We are here tonight to report on the State of the 99 percent in America

Of course most Americans know the state of the 99 percent very well
But sometimes the one percent, on Wall Street and in Washington, need a reminder

Financially, the state of the 99% is not strong
That is an understatement.

Never in our lifetimes have so many hard-working Americans
Faced so many difficulties, so many uncertainties, so many indignities

In Occupy camps around the country
We find Americans from all walks of life

[3 personal story couplets]

Some of us have had it rougher than others
And it turns out living in camps is no picnic either

But we do not give up easily
And we take inspiration from the brave Americans who came before us

From Dr. King, who gave his life fighting for economic justice
From the Suffragettes, who insisted the voice of women be heard

From all of those brave or foolish enough to believe in America’s defining idea

theidea of democracy

That we are all created equal

And we all have an equal voice in shaping the laws we all live by

America
Let’s be honest.

When our courts tell us corporations have more right to speak than we the people do
That’s not democracy.

When pepper spray and midnight raids make a joke of the 1st Amendment right to assemble.
That’s not democracy.

When defrauding clients, blowing up our economy, forging thousands of documents and seizing people’s homes illegally is not a crime
but protesting all that is a crime

That’s not democracy.
Our America is not a democracy, not yet.

We all know why: Wall street owns Washington.
Bribery is legal, and the laws we live by are for sale to the highest bidder

That is why our government serves the very rich and powerful
at the expense of the rest of us

It protects the bonuses of bankers and Wall Street executives,
while failing to keep hard-working families in their homes;

It shields offshore tax havens for the very wealthy,
while letting our bridges, schools, and infrastructure fall apart;

There have been dark periods in our nation’s history, when corruption became the norm
when grave injustices stood in the way of America living up to its best ideals.

But time and time again, Americans stepped up to take back their government and correct our course.
Today Occupy Wall Street and the 99% movement step into this proud American tradition.

But fear not, one percent!
We are not here just to help the 99% at your expense.

We are here to help you too.
For when you’ve begun to think rigging the game is fair game

When you regard hard-working Americans as undeserving of a middle-class life
and unworthy of the profit their own work creates

When you treat the people who build your buildings and serve your food and raise your children and patrol your streets
without respect

You have not only lost touch with our humanity
You have lost touch with your own humanity

You need to find it again, for everyone’s sake
Real democracy will do you good

We are the 99%
We are here to create the democracy we have all been promised.

We are the 99%.
Our finances are weak, but our spirit is strong.

We are the 99%.
Our spring is coming.

Meh. Another People Power Movement reduced to banal hackery and PR email blasts.