The Erin Hart Show - Listener Forum

Bill from Longmont
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I figured a national political convention in Denver would happen only once in my lifetime, so I'd better take in all the color. I arrived in downtown Denver at 10 a.m. Tuesday, and these are some of the things I saw and heard:

* Conventioneers searching for a bar in Lower Downtown were largely out of luck. What they say they discovered was that most watering holes were closed for private parties -- including Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's brew pub, the Wynkoop Brewing Co.

* Probably the most powerful statement on the streets came from about two dozen Iraq Veterans Against the War. Fully uniformed and carrying invisible "guns," they moved in formation, shouting orders and "warnings" to each other. They repeatedly staged their guerrilla-style street theater before a confused yet generally supportive audience of pedestrians. The vets aggressively engaged with 50 volunteers acting as Iraqi civilians in their personal version of "shock and awe." Their goal was to educate people about the reality of occupying a foreign land and the rigors faced by the U.S. military and the Iraqi people. To do so, they broke into two squads, their phantom weapons at the ready as they marched from street to street, facing off with loud, angry packs of pretend Iraqis. Geoffrey Millard, an organizer who served in Iraq, said "it's not everything that happens in Iraq, but it's a piece of the reality.It scares people, and it should. You should be scared when your country is occupied." Each time the vets staged a scenario -- whether it was pretending to take direct fire or detain a wanted person -- scores of people looked on, unsure of what they were watching. Emotions at times were raw, such as when the veterans would grab a volunteer, taking him or her down, strapping their arms behind their backs and putting a white synthetic hood over their heads. Some misunderstood the demonstrations, but volunteers floated along the outskirts, handing out fliers that explained the effort.

* From the serious to the totally satiric: A sign at 16th and Arapahoe intrigued me: "Stop Bird P0rn." Huh??? So I walked up and took the woman's flyer. And here's what it says: BIRD WATCHERS ARE VOYEURS! According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 48 million people watch birds. A private research group, the Good Conduct Society, has discovered Bird Watchers are more s3xually active than others. The elderly find that Bird Watching is not strenuous. And this erotic experience can be enjoyed privately, through binoculars. "Most disturbing," says the Society's director, Anaida Krok, "are the groups of Bird Watchers seeking vicarious s3xual gratification in the woods. Shamelessly, they blatantly observe God's defenseless creatures mating. LEAVE THE BIRDS ALONE!" The group even has a website. Oooo-kay!

* There are 4,000 credentialed delegates here -- and 20,000 members of the media.

* A phalanx of helmeted police lined each side of the entrance drive to Union Station at mid-morning, preparing to protect a phalanx of congresspeople who planned an 11 a.m. news conference to tout renewable energy. Union Station is our Amtrak and Regional Transportation District Light Rail terminal, and will be the hub of our built-out light- and commuter-rail network by 2017. The podium was set up in front of a hybrid RTD bus. At the appointed time, the lawmakers arrived -- including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina, and Denver's Congresswoman Diana DeGette. Pelosi wore a natty cream-colored suit, but DeGette stood in the hot Colorado sun in her basic black dress, fanning herself fruitlessly. As soon as they started speaking, about six members of a Republican group called PUMA (Party Unity, My Ass) tried to shout them down, holding signs reading "Drill Now," "No-Bama," and "McCain." Hoyer asked them why oil companies weren't drilling on leases they already have.

* Button-sellers along the 16th Street Mall argued over whose were "officially licensed" and whose weren't.

* It was Hillary supporters' last hurrah. Scattered here and there were sign-waving Hillary supporters. I asked one, a short and girthsome young lady from New York, what she hoped would happen tonight, what she hoped Hillary would say. She gushed, "I hope she gets nominated!" Sigh.

* A McCain sign-wielder at 16th and Lawrence loudly proclaimed that Hurricane Gustav is a Democratic plot. The newly formed storm lashed Haiti today, and the 5-day cone puts it into the Gulf of Mexico, possibly as a Category 5 and possibly taking aim at hapless New Orleans. The McCainiac said it's all a plot, because Gustav would hit New Orleans on Monday, the first day of the GOP convention in St. Paul, and he was convinced that all the "liberal media" would race down there to report on how the Bush administration was handling the disaster, and there'd be nobody left to cover the Republican convention. I asked him where he heard about all this, and he said "Rush Limbaugh!"

* An earnest young woman from fluvote.com handed me a button that was clever on two counts. Playing off the national election, the button read: "Flu Vaccination: Choose Your Administration." Her choice was between the traditional needle and an oral vaccine, and the button reflected the "needle-free" theme because instead of a pin and eye-hook mounted to the back, it had a magnet: put the magnet INSIDE your pocket and the button would stick to the outside. I couldn't resist: I told her I hoped the buttons would give her cause a "shot in the arm."

* Without credentials, you can't get within three blocks of the Pepsi Center. Barricades block off Market Street north of shut-down Speer Boulevard, and a long shelter and security gauntlet has been erected on the other side of the fence for delegates, media and other credentialed people to walk through. I took just two photos of this set-up, aiming my camera there for no more than 15 seconds, before a guard bellowed "Got enough pictures? Move along!" ... One of the casualties of the cordon is the entire "Auraria Campus," which houses three universities: Metro State, the University of Colorado-Denver and Auraria Community College. Students were told that not only was school called off for this week, but that they'd be arrested if they tried to venture onto campus.

* Buxom "Code Pink" girls were everywhere, passing out "Make Out, Not War" stickers and one -- Barbara from Sebastopol, Calif. -- posing as pink Statues of Liberty with sashes that read "I Remember America."

* Pro-choice and anti-abortion protesters megaphone-yelled at each other from either side of the 16th Street Mall at Tremont, with police in the middle. One anti-abortion girl who identified herself as Crystal from Laguna Beach, Calif., admitted to me that if her group ever succeeded in banning all abortions, their next agenda would be to outlaw all artificial birth control (something to remember when you think about which party will name the next nominees to the Supreme Court). ... One of her fellow travelers appeared to be VERY pregnant and harangued passers-by, "Would you want to kill this baby?" Funny thing, though: two hours later, as I waited for my vente' green tea frappuccino at the Starbucks in Republic Plaza, I saw the same woman emerge from the ladies' room, visibly thin as a rail and NOT pregnant, and carrying something in a black plastic bag. Things that make you go "Hmmm!"

* Civic Center Park, nearly a mile from the Pepsi Center and the place where demonstrations are allowed, was fairly quiet this hot afternoon despite some clashes yesterday and this morning. Untended signs lay on curbs and grass everywhere. One interesting feature was a large pavilion with hanging portraits of Iranian people. The artist is certain that the Bush administration will trump up a reason to go to war with Iran just before the election to bring home the "commander in chief" issue and try to ensure a McCain victory.

* Law enforcement had been called in from many states. I talked to one policeman from Honolulu. Most of them were friendly and approachable -- and even apologetic to many people for all the barriers. But their garb -- Darth Vader helmets, bristling armaments and SWAT-black uniforms -- was causing a great deal of chagrin across the political and issue spectrum. One guy had a megaphone and was yelling about the "police state": "Just look at him! Look at how he's dressed! It doesn't matter what side you're on! These guys are CREATING tension, not DIFFUSING it." Megaphone Guy had a McCain t-shirt and claimed that one policeman who saw him watching a gay-rights demonstration came over to him, smiled and said "Don't worry. We're gonna bust some of these heads." THAT, he said, prompted him to protest the police presence.

* If you listen to conservative talk radio, you'd swear that illegal immigration is THE issue on Americans' minds. But an anti-immigration rally featuring Official English advocates including John "Latinos are biologically incapable of learning" Tanton, white-supremacist Swift-Boater Jerry Corsi -- author of the hot-selling but factually discredited book "ObamaNation" -- and even former Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm barely drew 100 people to the west steps of the state Capitol and dispersed quickly.

* Delegates and visitors alike marveled at how clean and sophisticated Downtown Denver is -- even as they lined up for a taste of the Old West in Writer Square: a stand selling barbecued buffalo, elk and even (they claimed) reindeer. Say it ain't so, Rudolph!

* EVERYBODY had a camera and was snapping photos of everything in sight. Totally shameful -- especially when they were getting in the way of ME snapping photos of everything! :-)

* My favorite button of the day: One with the new Broncos logo -- the one with the horse that looks like he just coughed up a hay ball -- and the inscription "BroncoBama."

Erin, I wish you were here!


Posted Aug 28, 2008, 2:49 am	Last edited Aug 28, 2008, 6:17 pm by Bill from Longmont