I’ll start. Now, this isn’t finalized, this may change, but I heard something on the radio (CBS AM) this morning, that just made my blood boil.
Our Fearless Leader doesn’t have the guts to stay in New York City. He’s not even going to spend a night here. He’s going to fly in on the last night of the convention, and then immediately afterwards go down to Pennsylvania to a rally. Son of a bitch. How cowardly can you get? This is a town where the mayor rides the subway. Where… ah, hell. I can’t get up a full head of steam, enough to fully describe how gutless this is.
Also heard how the FBI is investigating newly freed members of the Weatherman Underground. Says they’re training young anarchists. That’ll be interesting.
Oh, and in preparation for the riots? Guys… there’s only one way peaceful protestors can deal with these nihilist fucks. Police yourselves. There has to be a meme. If sombody starts something with the police, take them down and sit on them, before the law dogs run wild over you.
This should be the proudest two weeks of my life. I should be out there, working the convention, trying to change people’s minds. (My current goal? Save money and reduce government. Drop the war on drugs. The current is slowly turning my way, I think. Nother five, ten years, we should see some progress.)
Truth be told, I don’t really see why it’s a big deal if he doesn’t hang around; the big event, campaign-wise, is his speech. After that it makes perfect sense to jet off to the next campaign spot. I dunno, is there some tradition with these things that the candidate hangs around afterwards? I’m just not seeing the cowardly aspect here. If he thinks he can do more benefit to his campaign elsewhere, then it’s not brave to remain, it’s just stupid.
It’s the Republican Convention. And the head of the party isn’t bothering to show up except on the last day for one speech. I know he’s the president, but this is as much his job as any other, to press the flesh, and inspire the staff and line of the party. He should be there, maybe not from day one, but for more than six-eight hours.
Was John Kerry around all that much at the DNC? I don’t recall seeing much about him until his speech. It seems to me that both presidential candidates have better things to do than press the flesh of people who are not only registered party members, but who have bothered to travel to the convention. A more motivated group of voters would be hard to imagine, so to waste time campaigning to them isn’t sensible. Since it’s his speech that will get the most coverage, and is the main bit that reaches beyond the scope of the convention, it seems entirely expedient to do that, then concentrate on other things. Moreover, since NY is about as Democratic as it gets, he’s unlikely to have much effect with local campaigning there.
You can blame Bush for many things, and no doubt it’d be nice if he tied himself up with the convention for many days, but calling him a coward because he’s acting in accordance with simple political expediency is pushing it a bit far.
Unless of course I’ve misunderstood, and you’re a non-Bush-supporting Republican who’s pissed off at getting ignored…
I hate to defend Bush, but traditionally the candidate does not set foot in the convention except to make his acceptance speech. Making other appearances in NYC would not only tax the local security, it would draw attention away from the convention. Not to mention why pay New York hotel rates when you could save that money for the campaign?
Used to be it was like that, E-Sabbath. You’re not hallucinating. Nowadays, the de facto nominations occur in the primaries, and the convention is just a coronation.
I also forgot to mention what concerns me most. They trump up some boogyman (terrorism, insane protesters) to strip us of our rights, and then when nothing happens (nothing was going to happen anyway) they point to the steps they took and said “see? this worked, we need to do it again next time”.
A protest zone is a place where protest will be permitted during the convention. Fearing a repeat of Chicago 1968, they are generally some distance from the convention itself. The GOP convention protest zone for next week will be in Queens, some distance from MSG and there will be no chance to actually impact the convention in any way.
If what they really fear is a repeat of Chicago '68, then i suggest that the best step would be to have fewer police. They were ones who fucked everything up in Chicago.
Same thing they had at the DNC. Fenced off area to keep protesters seperate.
'Cept there were less at th DNC than there will be at the RNC so they were easier to manage.
The protesters want Central Park, and they’ll probably get it. The other alternative is…I can’t remember the name but it sounded like they were getting a highway? Hopefully the road would be closed off to cars, or not.
Central Park is huuuuge. If they rally in the Great Lawn (which can’t really handle 250,000 people standing up on it; 50,000 lying down and listening to music is not the same weight load, plus there’s about 25 bathrooms for the girls and they’re gross) people in the Sheep Meadow won’t hear them.
I have to go down to Columbus Circle at 10:00 next Sunday. Frankly, I’m scared about what the protestors might do to the subway and streets where many of my friends live, around and below the Park.
