Not even Fox News could contrive a farce like the Republican National Convention in New York City. There is much to address, including the New York City Police Department unconstitutionally keeping peaceful demonstrators in holding pens for three days, but let's focus on the convention's speakers.
For the first two days, a dramatically right-wing, neo-conservative party used three of its most moderate members to assure the nation that the Republican Party has some normal folks. Arizona Sen. John McCain, victim to Karl Rove's despicable push polling and negative campaigning during the 2000 South Carolina Republican primary, went first. Earlier this summer, Republican Congressional leaders mocked and laughed at Sen. McCain in an official press conference, saying he is not even a Republican. If Sen. McCain is not a Republican, and party leaders hate his guts, why did they need him to speak for their party in primetime? Perhaps they are too radically right-wing for the country.
Next came former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, an ardent supporter of gay rights and a woman's right to choose, speaking at the same convention that adopted a platform calling for constitutional bans on gay marriage and abortion. Can you say hypocrite?
Then, the moment we all waited for -Arnold Schwarzenegger strutting to the podium and recalling historical events that never happened, like witnessing Soviet tanks rolling down the streets of Graz, his Austrian hometown. Austrian historians told global press syndicates after the speech that Graz had no Soviet military presence past 1945, two years before Arnold was born. But how can you argue with him? After all, he is the embodiment of the American dream, even if he did make his fame and fortune largely thanks to illegal anabolic steroids!
Finally, the third night of the convention showed us the real Republican Party, one of anger, hate speech and vitriolic lies. We saw Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., who has caucused solely with Republican senators for two years, but still tries to call himself a Democrat, going berserk on stage. The best part came afterward, when he wished aloud that he could challenge MSNBC's Chris Matthews to a duel for asking him difficult questions that confused his unstable, senile mind! And of course, who can forget Darth Vader himself, Dick Cheney, who gets paid by the American people, while also getting an annual severance package of about $1 million from Halliburton, which gets un-bid federal contracts in return.
Only the Republican Party leadership could put on a show like the one in New York. Don't buy their lies. Use the brain God has given you, and consider issues that actually matter in your everyday life. Consider the fact that many of us graduating have little or no job prospects, the fact that people returning to work now make an average of $9,000 less than they did in their previous jobs, and the fact that 230,000 Ohioans have lost their jobs since George W. Bush took office (112,000 since the recession ended in Nov. 2001). Consider the fact that 114,000 Ohioans have lost their healthcare since Bush took office. Consider the fact that Bush told Matt Lauer on The Today Show that he doesn't think we can win the war on terror. After considering the issues, you'll realize that the logical choice for president is John Kerry.
-Kovach is a senior political science major. Send him an e-mail at kk273601@ohiou.edu.
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Kevin J. Kovach
