THE URGE TO BASH
L.A. speakers rip Bush during speeches at
the Democratic National Convention
BOSTON - It was supposed to be a focused, on-point convention touting the military record and economic promise of Sen. John F. Kerry, the presumptive nominee for president. But one by one, early speakers at the Democratic National Convention began to stray from the party line as the Kerry campaign faced a minor media crisis. Anger boiled over on the podium, distaste for Bush ran high, and leading the war cry against him were a couple of outspoken Latino politicians from Los Angeles.
Speakers and delegates had been warned to stick to the game plan. Even Gov. Howard "Eyeaaaaah!" Dean had his script doctored by the DNC. Security was tighter than John Ashcroft's ... well, you know, and protesters were conquered and divided by a caged-in "free speech zone" that was often sparsely populated. The city of Boston was on high alert as 35,000 people, including 15,000 reporters, descended on FleetCenter. Proprietors complained business was down as much as 50 percent along a nearby restaurant row. The whole spectacle was aimed at getting the world aligned for the levitation of Kerry as a local boy done good. The world was stepping in time, but not for long.
We're talking about Democrats here. This isn't the Royal Guard. So it was hardly surprising when L.A. Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, California chairman of the Kerry campaign, gave a rousing speech Monday (he's pondering a run for mayor of L.A.), excoriating the ruling administration for lost jobs, increased poverty, and diminution of the kind of opportunity that helped his family achieve the American dream.
"The promise that hard work would lead to a better life is disappearing for too many families," he said, noting that Bush has presided over the largest job loss since the Depression, and more than a million children have fallen into poverty. "President Bush has lavished three tax cuts on America's most privileged.
"And so it is fitting that we Democrats have come to this convention in this great city of America's revolution to take back our country," Villaraigosa said.
Los Angeles Congresswoman Hilda Solis ripped the administration's ties to oil-rich nations, some of which, she said, are "hostile." And she questioned Bush's reasons for invading Iraq, an invasion she described as a "blood war." We need "leaders strong enough to free Americans from the addiction to foreign oil," she told the FleetCenter audience. "End dependence on foreign oil."
Minutes later, she talked to CityBeat. "We need to do more reinvestment in clean energy alternatives that have to be paid for by our tax dollars, instead of going abroad and putting it with countries that are not respectful of us," said Solis. "Why not place that here and that responsibility on us and keep those jobs here, for Pete's sake?
"At the end of the day, I care greatly about this country and I'm concerned that so many people are giving their lives for oil," she continued. "That's the price."
Asked if she feared the party's wrath for being so critical of the Bush administration, Solis said there would be more words of discouragement for the current president during the convention, adding, "We have to take back what's ours."
Even the convention's prime-time speakers Monday aimed darts at Bush. Former President Jimmy Carter and former Vice President Al Gore mentioned Bush by name, while former President Bill Clinton did not, but still had criticism for the state of the nation.
Meanwhile, sideshows erupted. Outside FleetCenter, protesters deplored the so-called "free speech zone" that resembled a prison yard, surrounded almost completely by chain-link fences, steel barriers, and barbed wire. "The pen," as the area was dubbed by protesters and cops alike, effectively dampened demonstrations, forcing a choice between being close to the delegates but behind a fence, or roaming free but far from the action.
"Thank you for a constitution that allows us to speak in a cage," said one man at the pen's microphone.
Outside the zone, Jes Richardson, a 56-year-old teacher's aide from Mill Valley, California, rolled a nearly 10-foot-tall papier- mâché Gandhi. He plans to take the thing around the country in his car, hitting the swing states. The statue held a sign in its left hand that quoted Gandhi: "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."
"I'm not real keen on the pen," Richardson said. "But I like Boston. If I were a Bostonian, I would be embarrassed by what they've done here. It's a very oppressive atmosphere."Published: 07/29/2004
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