CLEVELAND, July 19, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – A protester with a radical left-wing political group screamed that Mike Pence is waging a “war on women” as she disrupted the first evening of the Republican National Convention last night.
“End Mike Pence’s war on women!” shouted Alli McCracken, a 27-year-old professional protester with the group Code Pink, as Sen. Jeff Sessions was concluding his speech and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani began his.
She was seated one section – just 70 feet – away from the Indiana governor and vice presidential nominee. Several of Donald Trump's children and former Senator Bob Dole were also seated in the VIP box as McCracken jumped to her feet and unfurled a bright pink banner that read, “Yes We Can End War.
“I was going to wait until Trump was speaking,” she told news outlets last night. “But I saw Mike Pence right near me, and as a woman I'm particularly offended by Mike Pence's War on Women, the things he has done to restrict reproductive rights.”
“I felt compelled to speak out the moment I saw him, so I stood up,” she said. “I think that the war on women makes us unsafe, and that's the sort of policies that both Trump and Mike Pence represent.”
Pro-life advocates have rallied behind Pence's selection as vice president, noting his long record of supporting right to life legislation, both during his 12 years in the U.S. House and as a one-term governor of Indiana.
Code Pink represents a markedly different kind of politics. Founded in 2002 by Medea Benjamin, an admirer of Castro's Cuba, the group boasted that it delivered $650,000 of cash and supplies to “the other side” in Fallujah – the Iraqi terrorist stronghold – in 2004.
The group is known for its disruptive protests of public figures ranging from Condoleeza Rice to Mitt Romney.
In 2012, the group protested outside the Republican National Convention in Tampa dressed as female genitals.
“We're like ninjas. We're like convention ninjas,” said Code Pink coordinator Toni Rozsahegyi.
Its most conspicuous fellow traveler is Buffy Wicks, who developed a close relationship as she was trained by a Code Pink leader in college. Wicks went on to serve in the Obama administration's Office of Public Engagement (OPE), headed by Obama’s alter ego, Valerie Jarrett.
Code Pink leader Jodie Evans, who bundled at least $50,000 for Barack Obama in 2008, met personally with Wicks in the White House on June 19, 2009, according to White House visitor logs.
Wicks most recently served as the California state director of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.