And it didn't start with Kerry:
Tickets for the airport arrival were distributed by the governor's office and members of Utah's congressional delegation to counter anti-war demonstrations attracting attention elsewhere in the city. The airport crowd was lit with flood lights and given signs that said "Utah Loves President Bush," generating a campaign rally atmosphere.
But not everyone in this conservative state supports the president. Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, a Democrat, led thousands of anti-Bush demonstrators on a march through the city Wednesday. He called Bush a "dishonest, warmongering, human-rights-violating president."
Anderson's protest created waves at the pro-Bush American Legion, which refused to extend the customary invitation to the host city's mayor to deliver the welcoming address. No anti-war speakers or nationally prominent Democrats were scheduled to speak at the Legion's convention, which attracted at least 12,000 veterans. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld addressed the group earlier this week.Bush also planned to talk about Iran, which faces a Thursday deadline to freeze uranium enrichment or face sanctions by the U.N. Security Council.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-30-bush-war_x.htm?csp=34The leader sounds like a wingnut:
INDIANAPOLIS, October 31, 2006 - The National Commander of The American Legion called on Sen. John Kerry to apologize for suggesting that American troops in Iraq are uneducated.
“As a constituent of Senator Kerry’s I am disappointed. As leader of The American Legion, I am outraged,” said National Commander Paul A. Morin. “A generation ago, Sen. Kerry slandered his comrades in Vietnam by saying that they were rapists and murderers. It wasn’t true then and his warped view of today’s heroes isn’t true now.”While addressing a group of college students at a campaign rally in Pasadena, CA., Monday, Kerry suggested that they receive an education or “if you don’t, you’ll get stuck in Iraq.”
“While The American Legion shares the senator’s appreciation for education, the troops in Iraq represent the most sophisticated, technologically superior military that the world has ever seen,” Morin said. “I think there is a thing or two that they could teach most college professors and campus elitists about the way the world works.
“And while we are on the topic of education, why doesn’t the senator and his comrades in Congress improve the GI Bill so all of today’s military members – reserves and guard included – can achieve the educational aspirations that the senator so highly values?” Morin said. “The senator’s false and outrageous attack was over-the-top and he should apologize now.”
The 2.7-million member American Legion, www.legion.org, is the nation’s largest veterans organization.