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The Daily OrangeGOP convention more democratic
By Drew Bland
Posted: 8/31/04, 4:36 AM EST Section: Opinion
A quarter of a million people are marching on New York City to protest the Republican National Convention. The spirit of the First Amendment shines brightly alongside the flame of the Statue of Liberty.
That's because it's the Republican convention.
At the Democratic National Convention in Boston, the party of the people decided to jail protestors before they did anything illegal. They erected "free speech zones," steel cages adorned with razor wire most likely on loan from Vince McMahon. Imagine if the GOP opened the world's second human zoo in NYC. The American Civil Liberties Union would be slitting throats.
Though barriers were ever-present, curiously missing during the DNC: Al-Jazeera. The GOP is allowing the anti-American Arab network to broadcast the convention and hang a banner below its skybox like all the western networks. Democrats tore down Al-Jazeera's banner and replaced it with a "JohnKerry.com" banner. Apparently muzzling opposing views outside the arena wasn't enough.
Some still tried to oppose the Democrats. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an independent group of Vietnam veterans, aired a series of ads questioning presidential candidate John Kerry's military record. Kerry followed by denouncing personal smear tactics, and then launched a personal attack against the president, who never endorsed the ad.
But Kerry didn't have the Boston police to help him silence the opposition this time, so he did what all Democrats do when they don't get their way - he filed a lawsuit. Kerry accused Bush of illegally coordinating with the Swift group, but never offered any empirical proof. When MoveOn.org attacked Bush's admittedly questionable military service, the White House immediately released military records to refute the MoveOn ad.
Liberals love to defend the First Amendment because they despise limits on personal behavior. So why is the Democratic Party discarding the First Amendment and silencing anyone who disagrees with it? It'll fight for pornographers, but suppress the nation's only other legitimate political party.
The same party that brought you the PATRIOT Act is now the party most likely to abide by the First Amendment. You can Rock Against Bush, but don't forget the freedoms that make that CD possible also allows the other side to express their views, whether you agree with them or not.
Drew Bland is a sophomore broadcast journalism and political science major. You can e-mail him at ddbland@mailbox.syr.edu.
That's because it's the Republican convention.
At the Democratic National Convention in Boston, the party of the people decided to jail protestors before they did anything illegal. They erected "free speech zones," steel cages adorned with razor wire most likely on loan from Vince McMahon. Imagine if the GOP opened the world's second human zoo in NYC. The American Civil Liberties Union would be slitting throats.
Though barriers were ever-present, curiously missing during the DNC: Al-Jazeera. The GOP is allowing the anti-American Arab network to broadcast the convention and hang a banner below its skybox like all the western networks. Democrats tore down Al-Jazeera's banner and replaced it with a "JohnKerry.com" banner. Apparently muzzling opposing views outside the arena wasn't enough.
Some still tried to oppose the Democrats. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an independent group of Vietnam veterans, aired a series of ads questioning presidential candidate John Kerry's military record. Kerry followed by denouncing personal smear tactics, and then launched a personal attack against the president, who never endorsed the ad.
But Kerry didn't have the Boston police to help him silence the opposition this time, so he did what all Democrats do when they don't get their way - he filed a lawsuit. Kerry accused Bush of illegally coordinating with the Swift group, but never offered any empirical proof. When MoveOn.org attacked Bush's admittedly questionable military service, the White House immediately released military records to refute the MoveOn ad.
Liberals love to defend the First Amendment because they despise limits on personal behavior. So why is the Democratic Party discarding the First Amendment and silencing anyone who disagrees with it? It'll fight for pornographers, but suppress the nation's only other legitimate political party.
The same party that brought you the PATRIOT Act is now the party most likely to abide by the First Amendment. You can Rock Against Bush, but don't forget the freedoms that make that CD possible also allows the other side to express their views, whether you agree with them or not.
Drew Bland is a sophomore broadcast journalism and political science major. You can e-mail him at ddbland@mailbox.syr.edu.
