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Thursday, September 02, 2004 The Republican Convention - Day 3 At 5pm Captain Morgan was campaigning on the edge of Bryant Square on the Americans For A Better Party ticket. He spoke loudly and there was a model with him dressed in heels and fishnets and a torn shirt. There were also eight or nine people carrying signs in support of electing the Captain. "That's the real Captain," Stephen Maliszewski, an account manager for consumer brands from Edelman, said to Josh and I. "He's been the Captain for seven years." Stephen offered us T-shirts that said Captain Morgan For President as well as a press release stating that Americans were tired of serious political debate. Later that night, in Madison Square Garden, a security guard stole my press passes. "Why do you have all these passes?" he asked. I explained that some were from yesterday and the day before. He wanted to know why the numbers didn't match between my seat pass and floor pass and I tried to explain how the Congressional Press Gallery operated but he wasn't really interested. "I'm keeping these," he said, holding my Tuesday perimeter and seat passes. "Why are you stealing my souvenirs?" I asked. Because the truth was that he was leaving me with two perfectly valid passes, one of which I could have passed on to a liberal, but keeping two passes that had already expired. But I was the only guy in the convention center wearing earrings and I've grown used to being harassed. Then Senator Zell Miller came on stage and accused John Kerry of wanting to arm the military with spitballs. He drew the line between Saddam and terrorists the way all the speakers have drawn it so far, with plausible deniability. "George Bush is committed to providing the kind of forces it takes to root out terrorists. No matter what spider hole they may hide in or what rock they crawl under." Of course, when he said spider hole he meant Saddam and when he said terrorists he meant al-Qaeda and what makes a lie is intent. Miller continued, "Nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops occupiers rather than liberators." Whether it was true or not didn't seem to matter. The idea that American troops are liberators, no matter where they go or why they're there, might seem like a scary philosophy. But that's only because it is. One thing I've heard a lot of is that people don't like seeing Bush compared to Hitler or Republicans - and yes, I am also calling Zell a Republican - compared to Nazis and to those people I respond, 'I'm sorry you feel that way.' The idea that Americans could never commit the same atrocities as Germans is in direct contrast to the idea that all men are created equal. And while it's true that we haven't started shipping the Jews to concentration camps, anybody that can't see how fascistic the rhetoric of this convention is, clearly isn't listening. And it's not just the rhetoric of fascism, ie. American troops are always liberators, it's a paid in full subscription to Hitler's notion that it's better to tell a big lie (WMD) than a small one (combat ribbons). Also, like the Nazis, the Republicans have created their own media. Fascism has not taken full hold of America, but given a chance it could. "Kerry would let Paris decide when America needs defending," Miller said, as signs waved across the Garden - Let Freedom Reign. But instead of reign I thought rain and in place of freedom I saw bullets and then I thought I was losing it again. Any time a speaker mentioned France of the United Nations everybody booed. Then there was Cheney whose speech was not substantively different from the speech he's been delivering for a while now. He was introduced by his wife who didn't say much except that her husband was very serious as an adolescent, not like the other boys who trawled between the fast food restaurants in their small town. "President Bush reached across the aisle," Cheney said, "and brought both parties together to pass the most significant education reform in 40 years. With higher standards and new resources." And by new resources he really meant less resources and then I wondered if they were co-opting the word 'new' the way they co-opted the word 'optimism'. And I thought about language and how quickly it corrupts and degrades into something else. A secret service officer slipped his arm around my ribs and tugged my credential, making sure I was legally on the floor. There had been protesters already. They had volunteered for the convention and then during some speeches they pulled their shirts off to reveal other shirts that said something like, 'Bush is a lying baby killer', or something like that. And I've been thinking about wearing my own interesting shirt to the convention on Thursday. My connection in the Bloomberg office has assured me that she'll get me out of jail as long as I don't do anything too egregious. I missed whatever Dick said next and tuned in again when he stated, "Our nation has the best health care in the world, and President Bush is making it more affordable and accessible to all Americans." I don't have health insurance. If I get sick or beat up I'm in trouble. Cheney followed this with a lie of transition. "In Iraq, we dealt with a gathering threat, and removed the regime of Saddam Hussein. Seventeen months ago, he controlled the lives and fortunes of 25 million people. Tonight he sits in jail." I used to teach LSAT classes for Kaplan and Princeton Review and this is the kind of statement a person would often see in the logical reasoning portion of the test under a heading like, which one of these statements represents circular reasoning. With day three done I left the Garden for Chelsea Piers and the Billionaires For Bush party. This was our third agi-prop theater event. The first being Communists For Kerry who were hanging out on top of the Union Square Station last Saturday dressed like Fidel Castro and Vladimir Lenin and handing out band-aids courtesy of, "John Kerry's healthcare plan." I understood where they were coming from, the urge to mock the other side. Then there was Captain Morgan, representing Corporate agi-prop, intended to keep the consumers doped up and voter turnout surpressed. And finally liberal agi-prop, Billionaires For Bush, and their dark history from 2000. The Billionaires party was on a pier and there was live music and dancing below the hull of a docked boat. They danced in thrift store outfits: black dresses and mock pearls, long leather jackets stitched with Enron logos, boas and gowns. It was twenty dollars to get in but press was free. "We're media whores," a representative told me. The party went late and at three in the morning the police came to inspect the alcohol bottles for fruit flies. It was a good time and I felt like I was part of this group of young media hipsters. And that was day three. Theater mixed with lies, finished off with a few beers and a view of the New Jersey Shore. posted by Stephen Elliott 11:23 AM | link | |
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