dresese

Republican Convention

Everyone is getting a bit edgy about the upcoming Republican Convention. Many people at work are choosing that week for their vacation, and those of us that are staying don't know what to expect. I see signs for the convention already that have some transit info. The stop by my office has one. At the top it has the heading "Republican Convention", under which someone wrote "not welcome". Indeed, almost everyone except for the mayor seems to bristle at how the Republicans are coming here, to shamelessly invoke the memory of 9/11 for partisan purposes, even though most here hate them.

There are going to be huge protests, but still I'm not sure if people know where yet. Things are already getting a bit crazy. At lunch I shared a table in Chinatown with some Republican types evidently from the courthouse nearby. They were talking about how 8 people streaked across one of the avenues today, and had to be taken in. They clearly despised the protesters. Which I guess is fair, since the I'm sure the protesters despised people like them.

So everyone is nervous about what could happen. Even politically nervous, since if there is chaos on the streets, it could give the left a bad enough image to cost Kerry the election. What happened in Chicago '68 seems to be discussed a lot these days.

I'm not nervous enough to avoid Manhattan, but I do hope everything goes smoothly, and the protests are peaceful. What I think needs to happen is to get across to America at large how New York does not like Bush, how Bush has screwed New York, and how the city hardest hit by terrorism wants Bush out. I actually plan to go to a weekday protest, if I can see one. I probably can, I'm fairly close to Madison Square Garden. The big protest will be on Sunday, but it's hard for me to get out.