Does the Invesco Field venue tonight make you worry about organized disruption? Did your heart skip a beat when Obama said tonight, 'We want to open up the convention

[ProgressiveEconomist]

Did your heart skip a beat when Obama said tonight, 'We want to open up the convention to make sure that everybody who wants to come can join in...'

Stakes are incredibly high for a smooth and hard-hitting performance by our candidate at Thursday night's acceptance ceremony. But, for the first time since 1960, the Democratic National Convention is forgoing the most stringent credentialing of those permitted to enter a convention hall for openness to tens of thousands of ordinary people, possibly including organized Republican disrupters and other crazies.

Are you worried that openness in 2008 is much more dangerous than openness in 1960? What do you think about the opportunities and dangers presented by moving the Convention from a closed arena to a stadium seating more than 75,000?

From http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USN2851499020080828 :

"Democrats ready celebration for Obama Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:10am EDT By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

DENVER (Reuters) - Democrats prepared a grand celebration on Thursday for Barack Obama, who will accept a historic presidential nomination with a speech that spells out his vision for change in America. Obama, the first black presidential nominee of a major U.S. party, will deliver the address in Denver's open-air football stadium before 75,000 supporters on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech -- a landmark in the U.S. civil rights movement. ... In an unannounced appearance in the hall at the end of Wednesday's national convention program, Obama said he shifted the event to the football stadium as a tribute to the grass-roots energy of his supporters. ...

"We want to open up the convention to make sure that everybody who wants to come can join in the party," said Obama, 47, who appeared on stage after the acceptance speech of his newly minted running mate, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden. ...

"He's going to lay out a case for change. He's going to set the stakes of this election, the risks of continuing down the road we're on which is plainly what Senator McCain is offering," Axelrod said. "And he's going to talk about an alternative path that's rooted in the best of what this country is and the kind of future we can build if we take it," he said.... Former Vice President Al Gore, who endorsed Obama during the primaries, will speak to the convention before Obama on Thursday. ...

The last presidential candidate to accept the nomination in an open-air football stadium was John Kennedy, who spoke to the Democratic convention at the Los Angeles Coliseum before 80,000 supporters in 1960."

[Egnever]

1. Nope

Don't confuse openness with a lack of security.

that place will be locked down tight disruptors will be screaming don't taze me bro in short order should they start any crap.

[lurky]

2. It's hard to disrupt a football stadium full of

75,000 ecstatic people. The trolls can scream and yell like crazy, but they will barely be noticed except by their immediate neighbors. As long as the security is rock-solid and doesn't allow any signs, props, or anything else disruptive and/or dangerous, I wouldn't worry too much.

[chknltl]

3. My heart did skip a beat when he said that.

I am not so worried about disruptors-they would get smothered in a hurry-it's the nut-case with a gun I am more concerned with! I confess to feeling only slightly better comfort now knowing that Joe Biden would be the President should something terrible actually happen. I have to believe that THAT thought weighs heavy on many a nut-case's mind too.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

4. I'm confident the Secret Service is prepared to thwart that kind of threat,

with which they have decades of familiarity.

I'm concerned about political threats to the democratic Party's vital message to American voters, brought about by a kind of openness that's NOT familiar to convention planners.

However, the posters who preceded you in this thread have assuaged my fears somewhat.

[RNdaSilva]

7. Don't forget that JFK did the same...

[chknltl]

8. Dear God I hope you are right!

Well you WERE right in asking if anyone else's heart skipped a beat when Obama said that-mine truly did! My first thought was: "But things look soooo safe right where you are at now, Barrack!"
Senator Obama represents so much hope for so many millions of Americans, I am not ashamed to say that I am one of them. Part of me wants to see that huge crowd for his speech, I'm thinking that there may even be a good story for MSM in the exceptionally large overflow crowd, it's not like he hasn't had such crowds in the past. Another part of me fears for his safety though...I suppose it's just me. Your assurances for Senator Obama's safety are well taken. Thanks

[newfie11]

5. I hope the SS doesn't get a stand down order

Like they did during the primaries.

[WeDidIt]

6. Not wiht Mile High Stadium, nope.

The security to get in will be incredibly strong and there's no venue tall enough to see the field from outside.

Best possible open air venue for this thing.

[endarkenment]

9. nope

just as there was no 'mass walk out',
no puma bullshit
no jangling keys
no disgruntled democrats

Oh there was CorpMedia, Desperately Seeking Disunity, pushing the 'fractured party meme' with every question, every pontification, but that was all there was.

[gblady]

10. nope...

I think it is going to go swimmingly....
looking so forward to tonite.

[Virginia Dare]

11. Not in the least..

in fact Gibson said this morning that they will be handing call sheets out to all 76,000 people so that they can canvass while they're waiting for Obama to speak!....:kick:

[NightWatcher]

12. 5 disruptors vs 75,000 screaming fans??? I'm not too worried

[Orsino]

13. It's important symbolically.

Whether Obama will ever own up to this in public, at some level he is aware that the plutocrats are arrayed against him, that Big Money is his worst enemy, and that ultimately he depends on the masses to get him elected.

He is smart enough to use populism, and doesn't want any hint of exclusivity or elitism in what he actually does.

[DFW]

14. Security is VERY tight here.

Just to get to the Biden reception last night, the bus from the Pepsi Center took
some convoluted route prescribed by the Secret Service. There are always multiple
checks along the way. Just by being told to get there by 1 for a program that starts
way later, and count on not getting out of there until far after the thing ends tells
me the place is secure from everything short of a hostile cruise missile (I hope I
didn't give Cheney any ideas, there).