President Planning NYC Extravaganza (and other stories)

[kskiska]

White House goal is unprecedented convention theater

“And now, direct from Ground Zero, heeeeeeere’s the president!”

Well, that’s not exactly how President Bush is likely to be introduced when he gives his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Sept. 3, but it might be something equally dramatic and theatrical.

According to sources privy to convention planners’ discussions, the 2004 GOP conclave at New York’s Madison Square Garden will be unlike any previous quadrennial gathering of either party. In fact, not all of the main events will be held at the Garden, sources involved in planning the Aug. 31-Sept. 2 convention said.

“The entire format and actual physical setup could be radically different,” one GOP insider commented. “They might not even have a podium, or maybe a rotating podium or even a stage that comes up from underground. It would be like a theater in the round, with off-site events that are part of the convention.”

The source, a veteran official of past GOP conventions, said the 50,000 delegates, dignitaries and guests would watch off-site events on giant TV screens. “Now, we’ll go to the deck of the USS Intrepid as the U.S. Marine Corps Band plays the national anthem,” he said, pretending that he was playing the part of the convention chairman.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

more (2nd item on page)…
http://www.thehill.com/under_dome/022604.aspx

[CaptainClark23]

1. .............

you want a show, george? we'll give you a fucking show.

how dare they. how dare they.

[grannylib]

4. You said it...how utterly shameful that they would even consider having

him speak from the site of the destruction and massive loss of life he could have and should have prevented...
The hypocrisy and shamelessness of this administration is unparallelled...

[progressivebydesign]

2. If Bush gives his speech at Ground Zero, he should be impeached.

The majority of Americans would vomit if Bush had the crassness to deliver an acceptance speech at Ground Zero. The fact that these weasels are even considering it, shows how utterly fucked up they are... and how they continue to use 9/11 for political gain. I can't help but think of the Northwoods Project sometimes, when I think of all Bush & Co. have been able to accomplish because of 9/11. They've been writing their own ticket for everything since then... Iraq, Patriot Act, opening Libya to american oil interests, afghanistan oil and poppy fields... it's too frightening to think to much about that.. BUT.. if Bush has the audacity to use Ground Zero for ANYTHING relating to that convention, he should be impeached immediately. Pig.

[Beetwasher]

3. We NY'ers Should Surround Ground Zero

So the Chimp can't get anywhere near it. Let them try to move us out of the way.

[CaptainClark23]

12. I'm with you on that.

We must protect our own.

y'know...for about a year after 9.11, I would suddenly get slammed with this incredible emotional pain, and start crying, out of the blue. the smallest thing could trigger it. when it would happen I could smell the smoke on the air, taste the ashes in my mouth, feel the debris under my feet...

over time, that shit eased up...happened less and less...and now, I just read that and it hit me all over again. I am sitting here and I can smell death and fire.

That these bastards could come in here to our City and create this fucking entertainment....words cannot describe the feeling.

I'll stand in front of the WTC, and they will have to incapacitate me completely before I will step aside to allow such a horrific display there.

I gotta go for a walk......

[Stephanie]

29. That's just how I feel

It brought it all back.

MFs. Bastards.

[nostamj]

14. if he dares do that....

if he DARES

:grr: they won't be able to find enough police or troops to hold back a million protestors.

[grytpype]

20. TOTAL AGREEMENT!

We need to secure the WTC site (I don't like "Ground Zero") by filling the surrounding streets and blocks with peaceful protestors. Lots of flags.

It's sick that the GOP is thinking of using the WTC site this way, but they are a bunch of sick motherf*ckers.

[Stephanie]

30. Me too - I will always call it the World Trade

I can't use that other name.

[PaDUer]

38. Great idea!

That will take some planning and committment..The more, the better. And, contact Ellen Mariani to be there also with other families..She would be the one to stop the chimp in front of everyone!

[NYC]

48. Suppose they bring him in from under ground?

Why not?

[smirkymonkey]

50. Actually, they can...

apparently there is a secret subway line that stops directly underneath the Waldorf Hotel for visiting dignitaries and VIP's. I believe this line goes all the way downtown and possibly right near the WTC.

The thing is, would monkey boy actually take advantage of it, knowing that the area was surrounded by Bush haters??

[bif]

5. Sickening

Totally tasteless. Hope all of America is disgusted by this.

[Webster Green]

6. The continued politicization of 9-11 will backfire on smirky...

If the Dems are brave enough to call it what it is. I think Sen. Kennedy will have a field day with the repukes if they try that shit.

[ramapo]

7. Ground Zero Exploitation?

As cynical and disgusted (and mad) as I am, I would be shocked to see Ground Zero used in any way. It'll probably happen....

[ronnykmarshall]

8. Rotating podium?

Isn't that a little risky considering W will be pretty hammered at the time?

[jpak]

35. I heard they booked Janet and Justin for a musical extravaganza

with Rush as ringmaster...

crack that whip!!

[Don Claybrook]

9. Fabulous ideas

I think that with 500,000 protesters in town, unemployment running rampant, gas prices at an all-time high, all-out civil war in Iraq, Social Security funds being used to pay down the deficit so the rich can have tax cuts, and jobs increasingly going overseas, it's a wonderful idea. Give us a multimillion dollar show, Republicans, show us how much you care. Maybe the underground stage can rise up and belch Cheney from the bowels of the earth where he hangs out.

I think it will be a wonderful way to show that Bush doens't give a tinker's damn about any of his "subjects".

As for ground zero, I sure hope he does it. I believe it would not backfire, but rather explode in his face, moreso than the carrier stunt.

I think the 9 present/former Democratic candidates, along with several members of Congress, should spend that week working in soup kitchens and shelters in the area. It would make for a nice comparison/contrast.

[joeunderdog]

52. I'm with you. I think he regrets the location idea now.

Let him get on the stage with Osama still out there, with the widows/widowers without answers, with the world in turmoil and say


"I'm a Uniter."

[UpInArms]

10. I can only hope that the people of this once great nation

remember that this is the clown that failed to prevent this


These images taken from amateur video show the second airliner crashing into the World Trade Center.

The reading of a goat story was more important than dealing with these attacks.

He read the goat story knowing that this was happening in our country.

"What a bad pilot" were his words -

The "bad pilot" is * and he needs to be removed from the controls.

[MidwestTransplant]

11. I really hope he does another Aircraft Carrier stunt

or gives his speech at Ground Zero. I REALLY REALLY DO!

[MaineDem]

13. Utterly beyond belief!!!

This idea (Ground Zero) blows me away!

[prolesunited]

15. Well, DU will be making it's presence known in NYC

If you want to join us, please post here so you can be part of it. We will be making our voices heard. Can you hear us now. Mr. Bush*?

:mad: :mad: :mad:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1150332

[frank frankly]

34. see you there

man am i pissed

look for 1, 2 million

in nyc you just leave your building and you are there

he keeps fucking up at this rate and he just won't show

[prolesunited]

40. Actually, you'll see

a lot of us there. I'm thrilled at how many people are committed so far. We've also had a number of generous offers for housing assistance. If you can fly or drive there, there's a space for you. (Best to make arrangements well in advance, of course.)

[bif]

16. I shudder to think of the "souvenirs" are going to look like

n/t

[jean]

17. the ultimate pilferer, picking over the bones for his own profit

[JohnOneillsMemory]

18. Probably scanning us and elsewhere to plan around protests.

This is the big one for the Dominionists who are quietly making this Taliban America. They will probably prevent a Ground Zero occupation.

I've decided to post this synopsis in all my thread responses:

Georgie's brain is much worse than you think and he's being used for terrible purposes. Here's a British clinical psychologist's researched analysis of the boy king. He interviewed Georgie's family, friends and such and determined that he was abused as a child and developed an 'authoritarian personality,' the root of fascism! Read it and weep for him and us.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1033904,00.html
(So George, how do you feel about your mom and dad?)-CLICK

And this personality is being exploited to further the creation of a Hitlerian Theocracy called ‘Dominionism’, which has been going on in this country for the last thirty years. Read it and wonder what the hell we're in for next now that Eugenics is domestic policy and Imperialism is foreign policy.
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_5160.shtml
(God Bless America, The Constitution is Dead)-CLICK

If you'd like to read the full speech of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia back in the dark ages of January 2002 when he said that 'democracy interferes with the Divine Right of Kings and he's doing something about it,' read this and wonder what century we're living in and just what that Constitution was for, anyway.
http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/scalia.htm
God's Justice and Ours)-CLICK

How can they get away with it when everyone seems to be pissed off at Georgie and we're supposed to be able to vote the bastard out of our White House? By fixing the electronic voting machines for 'the House.' Read this and decide which country to escape to this fall when Georgie is reinstalled to finish the job he was sent to do-eliminate democracy totally, create a police state, and conquer the world.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
(Diebold, Electonic Voting, and the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy)-CLICK

LATE BREAKING NEWS-FEB. 26 2004
Right now the Dominionists are introducing legislation to replace 'The People' as the authority in our democracy’s Constitution with ‘God’ in a bill called ‘The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004,’ exactly the opposite of what it really is. The legalities of the Christian Theocracy are being used to destroy our laws as if by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

This is not a test! It is absolutely real and happening right now while the media are busy covering gay marriage and Mel Gibson’s bloody crucifixion porn film, ‘The Passion of the Christ.’

“…on February 11 , 2004 Dominionist leaders in congress made their move; they introduced a bill in both houses called The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004. Among the sponsors of the bill are Rep. Robert Aderholt (Alabama), Rep. Michael Pence (Indiana), Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, Sen. Zell Miller (Georgia), Sen. Sam Brownback (Kansas), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (South Carolina).

The House version is H.R. 3799 and the Senate version is S. 2082. The bill limits the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts to hear cases involving “expressions of religious faith by elected or appointed officials.”

Although the claim by its sponsors appears to be that the intention is to prevent the courts from hearing cases involving the Ten Commandments or a Nativity Scene in a public setting from being reviewed, the law is drawn broadly and expressly includes the acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law by an official in his capacity of executing his office.”

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0402/S00172.htm
(The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004)-CLICK

[David__77]

19. This needs to be countered.

Strategies must be developed to prevent the anticipated media/opinion response. Other news must be created if necessary.

[colonel odis]

21. a couple of thousand gop

a million or so protesters.

i like those odds during the republican convention.

the military may think it can shut down the city. but a few hundred thousand people can shut it down and lock it up tight.

not exactly the image bush wants to project to the country, you think? tanks in the streets of new york just so he can have his coronation?

but be careful. there will be lots and lots of infiltration in any organized resistance. probably even shots in the back if they deem it necessary. however, our entire way of life is at stake.

[0007]

22. A genuine Barnum Bailey Circus atmosphere

Hurry hurry hurry
He walks he talks
he crawls on his belly
For one thin dime come and see
the amaz'ng one term
War Time President in uniform
with Ollie North....

[smirkymonkey]

23. This is such a punch in the face to New Yorkers

- there is NO WAY we will let him do this - the backlash will be incredible in this city! Considering the fact that many of us hold him partially or even wholly responsible for 9/11, it would be the ultimate act of treachery!

F**king Chimp is NOT welcome in my town!! :grr: :grr: :grr:

[peterh]

24. Off-site can mean only one thing….

A select group of mediawhores will be secretly flown to a site in Afghanistan where OBL will be presented to the conventioneers and other S/M idiots watching….the worldwide audience will largely be head-of-states (tipped-off in advance) and a drooling Norwegian MP, Jan Simonsen (she nominated * for the peace prize).

[truthisfreedom]

25. the whole thing is sickening. i can't imagine why they would want to use

ground zero when it's a reminder of everything we hate about bushco.

[bushisanidiot]

26. Funny How AWOL Wants To Capitalize On His Biggest FAILURE

they could have intercepted those planes at AWOL's command, but HE CHOSE TO STAND DOWN!

3,000 dead because of AWOL's FAILURE TO LEAD!

[Stephanie]

27. "Bush giving his acceptance speech at Ground Zero"

May God SMITE him if he does that.

Nothing has made me ANGRIER yet this year than THAT statement.

I will PERSONALLY walk downtown and SCREAM over his speech if he does that. I will SCREAM for everyone he LET DIE that day by not doing his duty to protect our nation, by ignoring the warnings, by getting his cowardly ass out of town when he heard about the threats. Good GOD I hate his guts worse than EVER reading this.

Time for a shower.

[Barrett808]

28. A few hundred thousand people are planning their own "extravaganza"

And they have every intention of taking the cameras off the Chimperor.

[TankLV]

31. but but but - it's the Democrats who are politicizing 911!

The repukes and the whore media tell us so!

This is just an acknowledgement and tribute to our wonderful fuhrer on the awful day that no one could have anticipated!

Come on, all you treasonous traitors! Stop politicizing the glorious GOPuke convention!

This is War and he's our Wartime Pretzletdent. You CAN'T criticize a pretzledent during wartime!

What kind of Amerikkkans are you anyway?!

Commies!

[Mari333]

33. He capitalizes on all the dead and wounded soldiers and dead

and wounded civilians in Iraq..this cabal is blackhearted. They use the dead for photo ops.

[CBHagman]

32. When in doubt, go with self-aggrandizement and bad taste.

That certainly seems to be the motto of this administration.

By the way, Bush said at the end of 2001, "All in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me." Yes, he really did say that. You can find it on the White House website.

If we post THAT little tidbit all over NYC, Bush won't be able to buy a hot dog, much less win any votes.

[Stephanie]

36. I never send mass emails anymore, and i just sent that to every NYer

every NYer on my list just got that. We should start the protests NOW. I am OUTRAGED.

[Suziq]

37. The Pukes Better Reconsider . .

Remember, the NYC cops and firefighters DO NOT like Chimpy.

I am so outraged! I work across the street from the WTC site so I am reminded every day how Chimpy allowed this to happen. :grr:

:hippie:

[revree]

39. HE IS DISGUSTING

I hope the families of the victims turn out in full force to tell him what a piece of shit he truly is.

[Rex]

41. Will they have Janet Jackson & Justin Timber lake as part of the freak show?

How bout sticking a cod-piece in Bush's flight suit and having him parade around on-stage singing "I am the very model of a general..."

Maybe they can have live dog fights while prostitutes surround a ring of fire outside the fight cage and have wild sex with the delegates.

Better yet...how bout the just have a good ol Roman orgy while having a re-enactment of Christ being crucified in the center of the sexfest.

All these things are more wholesome than having his nomination at Ground Zero IMHO

[thingfish]

42. Too bad Leni Reifenstahl is dead.

She could have made a kick-ass movie out of this!

[CaptainClark23]

43. kickin' and screamin' N/T

[susu369]

44. Question

would it be legal to use the USS Intrepid and U.S. Marine Corps Band for a convention? Oh stupid me, they do not follow any rules or laws...

:dunce:

[berry]

45. This is made even worse by the games

they are playing with the 9-11 commission. Tonight on Hardball (I think) during an interview with Bob Kerrey on the WH stonewalling, it was mentioned that if the WH doesn't cooperate with the commission, the 9-11 families will be demonstrating in NYC at the convention.

I think I got this right--but a transcript will be out by tomorrow...

These creeps show a stunning contempt for the American people--assuming as they do that a spectacle (shock and awe?) will erase all memory of their perfidy.

I wish there was somewhere I could go to just scream at the top of my lungs. I'm feeling outrage-overload--and no way to express it in words...

[Lisa]

46. 9/11 families group wants no-politicking zone ...

"We are all very weary of Ground Zero, a sacred space,
where there are still remains of people, being used as a
backdrop. We want a hands-off policy for any candidate
from any political party," said Andrew Rice, whose brother
David died at the site.

"This week is a sacred week and we hope especially next
year with the Republican convention York] that it will not be appropriated by people for their own
political gains."

The "Peaceful Tomorrows" people have been worried about this kind of thing. Here's hoping they will continue to speak out, especially on these dreadful exploitative plans for the GOP convention. New Yorkers, and everyone else who lost family, friends, or colleagues on that day -- I am sorry that something so crass and shameless would ever be suggested.


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3522896&thesection=news&thesubsection=world

[yo-yo-ma]

47. we will meet him in the streets

I'm going to go to NY.
Can't wait

[dusty64]

49. I hope everyone sees this

for the disgusting exploitation that it is. If there were true justice in the universe the thousands of dead would rise up from the WTC site and drag the evil chimp into the belching depths of Hell.

[newyorican]

51. Bring it on...

putz