Soon the White House will be dorkless!!
Oddly enough, he won that campaign. So perhaps he was not as unpopular then by the only measure that counts.
But booing at a baseball game seems perfectly legitimate to me, and I say that as one of the half dozen or so Bush voters on the SDMB. Non-disruptive protest is guaranteed by the Constitution.
Note that there is not any guarantee that anyone, the President included, is obliged to listen to you. If you don’t like a politician, vote for his opponent. If he still wins, tough shit.
The Republican National Convention is supposed to be in my city this election cycle. I imagine I will witness some non-disruptive protest by the loyal opposition.
Or maybe a bunch of spoiled crybabies with blue hair and more hardware on their faces than a tackle box pitching hissy fits because it’s more fun than working for a living. We’ll see.
Regards,
Shodan
Couldn’t resist that one, could ya?
The shameful thing isn’t that President Bush was booed at a public event, it’s that it’s taken eight goddam years, over four thousand American lives, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives for it to happen.
People who’ve had the chance to do so should be ashamed they haven’t booed him sooner.
I wouldn’t piss on him if he were on fire.
I take issue, but mildly. After years as a DFH, I have come to accept the value of *some * formality (like ceremonial deism, calling for the approval and blessings of Whomsoever.) Booing is for entertainment venues and a baseball game largely qualifies, it allows a guy who couldn’t hit a lobbed canteloupe a chance to let the batter know He Sux! But this is more a political thing, because the President is entirely a political creature. Booing is for Carrot Top, voting against is for the Man Who Fell Up.
Yeah, kids these days. I share your concern that the entire Minnesota sub culture of the purpled and punctured punks might descend upon St. Paul, en masse. But they will be outnumbered 10 to 1, minimum, by out of town hookers.
But if you want to find them, follow your ears, the Minnesota punks will be the ones playing *Prairie Home Companion * really loud.
Given the way the hotels and such are jacking up the prices for that week, that seems unlikely, Shodan.
I know people who are deliberately choosing to take vacation or otherwise be out of town that week, to avoid the expected hassles. Some of them are considering renting out their homes during that week – they expect to make enough to pay for much of the vacation!
And the largest, newly-remodeled gay bar in downtown St. Paul has just been rented by the Republicans for private parties during their Convention – they are paying $250,000 for the week. I guess they want to close the bar to the public to ensure that no gay people are around to frighten their delegates. Or else they want a private place for Sen. Larry Craig, et. al, to party, without any police around.
Boo him at baseball games
Boo him whenever you see him
Even on TV
I’m booing him right now.
Yes, indeed. In this thread Teachers and Professors - Plagerism (minor) - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board, some teachers indicated they would have flunked you from the class, or even had you up before the school honesty board for this horrible “plagiarism”.
Here, I have mixed feelings. If ever a U.S. president deserved to be set on fire, it would be Bush. But on the other hand, he deserves to be pissed on too.
I doubt that will be much of a problem - they will either set up a “Freedom Camp” or something. Or else spend someone else’s money - I doubt many of them are paying their own hotel bills.
I’m out in the 'burbs. I’ll just watch it on TV.
What the hell - MSP Airport ain’t good enough for 'em anymore?
Regards,
Shodan
Naw, the MAC has spent $40,000 or so of our tax money to redo those bathrooms, to make it harder to do that.
(They’ve extended the partitions all the way down to the floor, so it’s not possible to do hand signals under them any more. I expect this also makes them harder for the janitors to clean, so that will be more of our tax money spent every year.)
Didn’t say I would. In fact I said the reverse - that if the Queen behaved like Bush she wouldn’t get ANY respect from me. But ‘if’ the purpose of the Head of State is to be the representative or symbol of your country, then surely a non-political representative gives far less cause to trash your symbol and therefore your country?
If I had cause to, absolutedly. And maybe this is what your referring to by mentioning Parliament, but booing in the House of Commons at Prime Minister’s Question Time is mandatory, I suspect.
They did both. They just waited a few hours until the game ended before they left. 
If I’d been there with my young sons, I probably would have remained silent - neither cheering (because I hate the guy) nor booing (because it’s disrespectful to the President, and I’d want my sons to see my example of remaining respectful even while strongly disagreeing with the Chief Executive).
But if I’d been there alone or with adult friends, jeez, I would’ve booed myself hoarse.
Unless, of course, the President is Clinton, or Carter, or Johnson…
Well, yes, mainly because I can’t imagine seeing a non-elected representative as a symbol of the country.
No, more likely anyone who might be a protestor will be locked up for the duration on trumped up charges. So don’t go there with an “Go Obama !” or “Get Out Of Iraq !” T-shirt. Or a “My son died in Iraq” bumper sticker, much less a sign.
Were they booed too?
Just for being in the area with a T-shirt? That’s pretty ridiculous. If they try to disrupt things, sure, but not for peaceful protest.
I believe the Minneapolis Police Department is handling security in the area around the convention. So any conspiracy theories you want to concoct will probably have to include them.
I think we kicked this idea around in 2004. IIRC, there wound up being something like thirty-two times more convictions for people trying to disrupt the Republican convention than people trying to disrupt the Democratic one.
Regards,
Shodan
I see your point, but Mr. Bush does not deserve to pissed on while on fire.
Ridiculous, yes. However, a man in Indianapolis was arrested for waving a UN flag on the sidewalk when Vice President Cheney’s limousine drove by. The ACLU got involved, and the charges were dropped.
Here’s one such example.
I expect a normal Republican convention. We’ll see large numbers of people arrested on exaggerated or outright false charges, which will be dropped after the convention. And we’ll see prostitutes brought in from all over the country, also the norm for Republican conventions - unlike Democratic conventions. Democrats, apparently, don’t need to pay for it.