RNC Protests Fall on Deaf Ears
This was my first experience at a national political convention and I was hoping for something between 1968 Chicago and 1942 Stalingrad. I had been teased earlier in the week with stories about Molotov cocktails and bottles of urine. Or policeman battling it out with protesters in a mass of chaos in a fight for the minds and souls of America. At the very least I was dreaming of my first taste of pepper spray. Instead, what I got was basically Woodstock without the good music; a group of weird looking people gathering together because they vaguely share the same ideals.
I've made a few trips down to St. Paul before for events at the XCel Energy Center, but this one was different. The exit for the XCel Center, Kellogg Avenue was blocked off for security reasons, so I had to take an earlier exit and wing it to make my way downtown. One of the first sights I saw was a group of protesters standing in a parking lot. It looked like they were waiting for transportation closer to the X for protests later that evening. Two diehards were facing the road holding up indecipherable signs to the passing traffic, but the rest of the group was content to just sit in the sun, talk amongst each other, and enjoy the beautiful day.
I figured that this was an anomaly and that things would really heat up as I got closer to the convention. I parked at a meter about 9 blocks away and started making my way towards the arena. It was a bit of an eerie feeling walking by so many police cars and policemen riding atop horses. Even though nothing was happening, the constant police presence made it feel like something was about to happen. Sharing the sidewalks with me were an uncountable number of white men in polo shirts and scraggly looking cameramen, coming back from a nice lunch, and getting ready for that night's festivities inside the arena, including Governor Palin's speech.
The members of the media, carrying their heavy gear, seemed to move in a slow trudge. Their gaze was downward and conversation minimal. It was just another day of work for them. But from the decision-making polo wearers, the mood was much lighter. For being the underdogs in this election, and the group running against the Great Hope, they seemed incredibly optimistic. Maybe it was the sunny weather, maybe they were pumping happy gas into the X during the speeches, but the mood was more excited than I expected.
I finally made it to the XCel Center, or at least as close as a lowly writer like myself could get and found the vaunted protest stage. My hopes of street combat were quickly shattered. Maybe it was too early in the afternoon and everyone was saving their serious vitriol and anarchy for later in the evening. Anarchists are a notoriously late-rising bunch. The group that had the stage had someone at the microphone giving an impassioned speech, but it didn't seem to be creating much of a stir, since the only people listening were other protesters. Police were keeping a steady eye on the proceedings, but things seemed fairly peaceful. There may have been a few reporters in the audience, but I didn't see any TV cameras capturing the proceedings. It was pretty obvious that the media, as well as other passersby were there to see blood, not to hear a thoughtful political message.
Seeing this made me realize that these protesters weren't outside fighting a battle against the Republicans. They were fighting a battle against relevancy and losing. Their message wasn't being heard by anyone other than themselves. They were a sideshow. Something for people to look at with curiosity for a second before going about their serious business. And I think by the third day of the convention, even some of the protesters, at least some of the more sane ones, had started to realize it too. It was too nice of a day to waste your time yelling at an enemy that wasn't bothering to give you any attention.
With my hopes of ducking for cover and scribbling notes in my notebook while choking on tear gas were dashed, I decided it was time to go home. All of the serious action was going on inside the XCel Center and not on the outside, and if I wanted to see that, I would have to do so from home.
Published by Timothy Christopher
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10 Comments
Post a Comment(continued) after the 300+ arrests from the first night, the number of individuals detained did dwindle, but the number(s) who were wrestled to the ground didn't seem to be diminishing, and the arrests of 3 young journalism students from a University is something I wrote about in a (so far unposted) article. I did enjoy reading this firsthand account ,but, as someone who was physically present in the streets for all 4 days, I saw things a little bit differently. It seemed much more gestapo-like in St. Paul. Even local businessmen were complaining that the bicycle policemen were using the wheels of their bikes to push them up against buildings, and I saw police on horseback accosting young women and men and wrestling them to the ground. Order must be prevailed, but there were instances of undue physical force, and the general feeling is one of unrest in the land that is growing. I got the feeling that the RNC needs to try to get the Ron Paul people back into their party to remain viable
As someone who was physically present at both conventions, the police presence in St. Paul was markedly larger and the protests were larger and more violent. The evenng news footage, alone, showed tear gas, pepper spray, and physical confrontations, which were also written about in the local papers (usually by non-protesters just trying to get home from work who had been caught in the fray). One individual , in particular, talked of hiding out in "Mickey's Diner" (a downtown landmark) and the photo-journalists on the air had been physically affected by the protesting in the streets. The difference between now and 1968, for example, is the lack of a draft. Is a draft never going to be reinstituted? Do we know? If and when it is and we start invading other countries and sending additional (drafted) troops to far-flung locales, the protest movement may not seem quite so irrelevant or incidental. I was struck at the demonstration of 10,000 individuals early on. After the 300+ arrests from
If you seriously believe that nothing went down, then you missed the part where John McCain said "Don't be distracted by the ground noise and static.", he means that some protesters got tazered, some of them were actually peaceful protesters! I agree that they shouldn't have been there, because people will be people, some people are democrats, some are republicans, some take a more centrist or independent route, but you don't go around harming innocent people, especially those who were peaceful protesters, which is protected under the US Constitution. Here is a video of the incident: http://www.kare11.com/video/player.aspx?aid=81605
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Have you been keeping up with what liars and thieves the republicans are?......Only people just like them would vote for one........Who could respect bush....for that matter who could respect someone who would make comments such as these here.......
You can tell a republican by their loose tongue and there threats to people who are within the law. Only a republican would threaten someone for protesting..You folks are trippin..You make me proud to be on the other side...Why don't you go a get some non Americans, they are not human anyway according your god bush...
My comment can be best summed up by the following: DITTOS Lori! Mine is a Rottie, not a Bulldog, andfwhile he don't wear lipstick cause like his Dad (me) he has a set, I can assure you if the assholes showed up at my house, when it was all said & done they would all leave WITHOUT the set they arrived with. What a bunch of whining asses these anarchist jerks are. No one disrupted their convention, but when it comes to Republicans, we don't deserve any respect at all. I'm waiting for the day when we get to correct them of that notion that Republicans' deserve no respect. In fact, I'm really looking forard to it, and so is my Rottie, btw. hehe
If you ever doubted who has the media in their back pocket, now you know. The media does not care about "we the people"
Aaron's right. That was hilarious last night seeing two idiots in the crowd looking like they snuck in to a rival's high school pep rally or something. So immature and in light of it all McCain pops back with a, "Don't be distracted by the ground noise and static." It was something to that effect, but definitely got a good laugh out of me. As for the article, it just goes to show how protestors are situated. The days of being right in front bothering others is long gone. Everytime Bush has a press conference there are protestors. However it's like watching a baseball game and seeing a meeting on the mound while the other team is ranting and raving out in left field or something.
Well during McCain's speech tonight it looks like a protestor got into the building. I don't understand why someone would do that. I think it actually hurts their cause by showing a lack of respect. Protest outside if you want, but don't disrupt the party of fellow Americans inside.