Salon/Blumenthal: "Isn’t this a democracy?"

[kskiska]

At staged "Ask President Bush" events, audience members have to pledge their allegiance to his reelection to gain admission. Bush has forgotten who’s sovereign in America.

Before attending a rally to hear Vice President Dick Cheney, citizens in New Mexico were required to sign a political loyalty oath approved by the Republican National Committee. "I, (full name) ... do herby (sic) endorse George W. Bush for reelection of the United States." The form noted: "In signing the above endorsement you are consenting to use and release of your name by Bush-Cheney as an endorser of President Bush."

Around the country, Bush is campaigning at events billed as "Ask President Bush." Only supporters are allowed entrance. Talking points are distributed to questioners. In Traverse City, Mich., a 55-year-old social studies teacher who wore a small Kerry sticker on her blouse had her ticket torn up at the door. "How can anyone in the United States deny someone entry?" she asked. "Isn't this a democracy?"

(snip)

Since the birth of the American party system, presidential candidates have always gone directly to the sovereign people, who are the only source of legitimacy and power, to make their case. After the Democratic Convention, Kerry traveled from New England to the Pacific Northwest doing just that. Not one of the hundreds of thousands who attended his open-air rallies had to pledge allegiance to him, and he encountered organized Bush hecklers as part of the price. At Bush's rallies he is the packaged president as pseudo-populist. But these controlled environments reflect his deeper view of the presidency as sovereign, preempting democracy.

Floundering in the polls, without a strategy for Iraq, unwilling to say the name of bin Laden, he is always secure in the knowledge that the cheering multitudes before him have been carefully selected. Strutting and swaggering on the stage as though he has conquered the crowd, he plays to true believers. But a 55-year-old social studies teacher from small-town Michigan who would not bend her knee had her ticket to see her president ripped up. "Ask President Bush" has crystallized the essential underlying question, framed succinctly by the greatest American poet of democracy, Walt Whitman, who wrote, "The President is there in the White House for you, it is not you who are here for him."

more…
http://salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2004/08/19/ask_bush/index.html

[stldemocrat]

1. They can't...

handle dissent to their radical right-wing agenda.

[non sociopath skin]

2. The sight of Shrub and a platform of well-fed white men ...

.. in regulation dark sites surrounded by hand-picked soldiers, party functionaries and cute kids in sunday-school best makes one very nostalgic for the good old days of Uncle Joe Stalin's gigs in the 30s and 40s.

Are you now and have you ever been a member of the Republican Party...???

The Skin

[Cocoa]

3. excellent

and don't get me started on Cheney, who has been hiding for three years.

[phish_head]

4. Same on both sides

Both parties screen questions asked at these types of events. Candidates don't want to be put on the spot and look stupid at their own events. It is sad, most politians cant say what they really believe out of fear of offending the mushy middle voters.

Also, we live in a republic (luckily) not a democracy. Big difference.

[Cocoa]

5. wrong

Bush screens his audiences, Kerry does not, simple as that.

[rasputin1952]

6. Actually we are a Democratic Republic...

this means that WE, the People elect, by popular vote, Representatives and Senators to represent us in districts and states.

As far as the Presidency is concerned, we are under a system that includes the Electoral College, which was initially set up so that the population of the larger states, would not adversely affect a popular election. Each state has a number of votes, decided by the number of Rep's and the 100 Senators, 2 from each state. There is also an addition for each of the Territories, and The District of Columbia. If we were a Republic, we would be more like the senate of ancient Rome, based on privilege and wealth. This is where we are heading, and it is not a pleasant thought.

While the current system is far from perfect, I can think of none better at this time, nor in the past. What the bush administration is trying to do, is set up fiefdoms, ruled by Lords of great wealth, one would have to be blind, not to see what the neo-cons are trying to do...wealth equates to power. If this is allowed to continue, soon, you may well wish that people spoke up more often, and challenged those that hold the reigns of power now.

[tom_paine]

7. Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell them

1st Lie:

False dichotomy: To compare the open forum that Kerry speaks at and the Loyalty-Oath requirements and softball questions (call them ultra-screen for Nazi-like Loyalty, sound familiar Hans?) is something only a Lying Liar could come up with

2nd lie: The custoimary Bushevik deception ignores not only the 17th Amendment (I know you facsist don't believe in the Constitution so for you to omit that is quite predictable) but the Jacksonian Democracy movement.

Back in the days you'd love, Totalitarian, when Blacks were 3/5ths of a person and only landowners could vote, we were a Republic.

Now we are a Democratic Republic.

Not that I'd expect a Totalitarian Bootlicking Dittohead Brownshirt Scum like yourself to recognize that.

Nice try, Lying Liar.

Nice camoflauge but you people need to work on that.

Proclaiming yourself a lover of Phish (which I bet you're NOT) is not an automatic in.

However, that IS the one-dimensional thinking of a Totalitarian Slave like yourself.

Oh, and Fuck You, Toitalitarian Bootlicker. To hear monsters like yourself who slavishly follow Bush* as a Commie slavishly followed Stalin talk about democracy makes me nauseous.

:puke: :puke: :puke:

Go back now. You're busted.

[TiredTexan]

8. Where's your source on Kerry

screening questions? Your allegation is not well-founded given that I have read several articles that document events where both Kerry and Edwards have taken questions from their hecklers.

Before you post something like this, be prepared to back it up with reputable sources. We have an informal rule here that you have to back up your allegations with the cold hard facts, and not with hyperbole, wishful thinking and rhetoric. Your post failed on all counts.

Moreover, a republic is, by definition, a type of democracy. Democracies can be direct (like in Athens) or representative (like in the USA). Nonetheless, both are democracies. Have you ever heard of sets and subsets? How about Venn diagrams? The democracy circle is the big one, and the republic circle is the smaller one inside of the bigger democracy circle.

So why, I wonder, the smear of Kerry to make Bush look better, and the careful use of "republic" as opposed to "democracy"? Perhaps as a reminder of the base of "Republic"ans as opposed to "Democra"ts?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Makes a person wonder.