Convention weblog: Your comments

You have been sending us your reaction to BBC News Online's Kevin Anderson's personal weblog from the Republican National Convention in New York.

Below are more of your comments.

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The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far:

This is no longer the land of the free Danny Garber, USA

I've always voted Democrat and this year will be no different. I am absolutely disgusted with the ruling Republicans in this country. We are a sad example of democracy compared to the rest of the world. This is no longer the land of the free.
Danny Garber, USA

What is ironic about the New York protesters is that they have elected a Republican mayor and a Republican governor, and also for the undeniable fact that much of New York's population is Jewish who have reason to thank President Bush for his pro-Israel policies. So, what are they moaning about?
Phil Green, Son Ferrer, Mallorca, Spain

In response to Phil Green's comment about New York's hypocrisy in protesting Bush and electing a Republican Mayor and Governor: Remember that 63 out of 65 of our State Assembly members and 48 out of 51 of our City Council members are not Republican (some are Democrats, some are Green or Working Families). More importantly, only one of our 14 congress people, those who actually vote on foreign policy and larger social issues, is Republican. I'm not a fan of our Governor (he got voted in by upstaters, not NYC residents), nor an apologist for New York, but equating local election results with complicit support of the President is just not sound. Neither, by the way, is assuming that the New York Jewish population automatically supports Bush's pro-Israel policies. Last time I checked, there was dissent against Sharon's current policies even within the Israeli population.
Celina, New York, NY, USA

Foreign news sources covering American politics need to realise that protests are pretty much ignored by Americans in deciding how to vote. There is no point in getting all excited by some clown in a Bush mask who can also juggle. It might be street theatre to Europeans, but it is complete irrelevance here.
Dave M, Tonopah, Nevada, USA

Kevin, thank you for your coverage and your thoughtful balanced perspectives. There has been a sad loss of knowledge, during the 80s and 90s, of "how" to organise and execute a protest. Martin Luther King and his circle of enlightened leaders took great pain to train people before and after events. America is presently in a leadership crisis... perhaps the real foundation issue of this election. A bright light is that this massed voice is a potential body of voters and in the final analysis, their greatest contribution can be at the voting box
Tom Ryan, American living in Broadstairs, Kent, UK

If Mr Bush is such a man of principle then I hope he gets re-elected. Bringing freedom to Iraq may be challenging but I hope this self-proclaimed instrument of God can take on another challenge where evil-doers lurk - Sudan!
Steve Bridle, Toronto, Canada

As a New Yorker I take particular offence to the Republicans staging their political propaganda in my city, a city which is dominated by a large Democratic voting majority. After the atrocities that the Republicans have served us over the past four years they add insult to injury by parading themselves in 'our' city and causing travel delays and security inconveniences.
Skeeball, New York City, New York

I was one of the protesters in NYC on August 29 and I represent mainstream America. From what I saw, a majority of the demonstrators were age-wise definitely not of the "MTV Generation." The demonstrators also were not mainly from NYC. I am from upstate New York, and the ride in to protest took me 5 hours. As I spoke with people there, I met persons from Florida, Connecticut, California, Texas, New Jersey, Spain and England: all of whom are outraged by the imperialist policies of the Bush regime that show no regard for the welfare of other nations or for the less affluent people within its own country.
Christine Strebel, Canastota, New York

I could not disagree more with your assertion that protestors, especially anti-war/anti-free traders, end their political role on the streets and do not vote. Actually, I would assert they vote in far greater numbers than the general public. I, too, consider myself a protest connoisseur and don't know anyone who goes to protests and doesn't vote. Most of my friends don't have college degrees and most of them are what K Ham would call members of the "MTV Generation". We vote for the very same reason we march, we're deeply concerned, we follow the issues of our day closely and we act. That's what activists do.
M Ryan Hess, Oakland, CA

I believe this convention is as well organized as the DNC convention and will excite the delegates to return home and work for their party, certainly done with approval of President Bush. My horror and complaint of the Band-Aid purple hearts is an outrage! I am a veteran of the Korean War and believe this is a slap in the face to all veterans. Shame on the Republican Party. So it was condoned? Shame on you, President Bush.
Bettie Handley, Franklin Springs, NY

Ha ha, I love: "I did not meet a single Iraqi whose family was not touched by the brutality of Saddam Hussein," [Mr Senor] said. How about mentioning the Iraqi families who were touched by the brutality of the US (and other ally) armies?
Alexander Witkowski, Huntington, NY, USA

So whenever I spy a wide-eyed delegate wandering aimlessly around they get a healthy dose of good old NYC rudeness and sound Bronx cheer Edward Flynn, New York

I work right down the block from this ill conceived GOP love fest. Let me clarify a few things about how this has impacted New Yorker lives. First, where I normally have a half hour commute, this week I now have an hour and half commute to and from work. Secondly, it is basically martial law outside my office and in this city. I need two forms of ID to walk into my building. People I work with have been harassed just walking down the street simply because they look slightly Arabic (they are actually Italian.) New York, a by far more Democrat than Republican city, sees right through the GOP's blatant 9/11 propagandizing. What you see on TV is not the truth of NYC.

The RNC is taking place in the heart of the worst section of the city, normally a ton of homeless, street vendors, and far too many people clog the usually dirty streets and sidewalks. But you wouldn't know that from TV or the media. The homeless have been swept up and shipped off somewhere. The vendors have been forced to move elsewhere. And the streets are cleaner and less packed than usual. (Okay that last part is a good thing.) As for my part, I am doing as much as possible to ruin the RNC's experience in NYC. Thanks to them our usually hectic NYC life is made even more lousy. So whenever I spy a wide-eyed delegate wandering aimlessly around they get a healthy dose of good old NYC rudeness and sound Bronx cheer.
Edward Flynn, New York, NY

If the Republicans are going to raise Bush up on account of his post-9/11 "leadership" then they should have the men responsible for the attacks in custody. How can they pat themselves on the back when the men behind those attacks are still at large, still orchestrating terrorist attacks? Do they expect us to believe that an occupation of Iraq somehow relates to 9/11? Contrarily, an American presence in Iraq only compounds the bigger problem by serving as a call to action for all of Islam. It seems to me that a true leader would take this into account before spending billions of dollars, sacrificing the lives of our servicemen, and putting the entire country at a much greater risk for future attacks.
Mike Zban, Lancaster, PA, USA

The protests in NYC should teach us something. We bore the brunt of the September 11 attacks and we don't want Bush and the Republicans claiming it as theirs. It is ours. NY is a very cosmopolitan city built on immigration and social liberty and tolerance. Neither the war in Iraq nor Afghanistan has made us any safer. We don't support the foreign and domestic policies of the Bush Administration and we don't want the rest of the country or the world to think that we do.
Josh, Brooklyn, NY

If Bush wins, money and power will have won, but the people will have lost.
Oscar K, Lusaka, Zambia

The comment about the MTV generation is relevant - but there are organisations trying to not only increase awareness in the fact you have a vote, but also awareness of the policies involved. The Vote or Die campaign, operated by P Diddy through Citizen Change is one such organisation. Puffy is doing TV specials on MTV from both the Democrat and Republican conventions to deliver the messages in a format more targeted to the 18-30 demographic. Ultimately, having been at the protests on Sunday, I see that more young people are aware of the need to vote than ever before. Even if some political expression simply means coming up with the coolest t-shirt to express your own voice and making people think.
Matt, New York, USA

Not a sound, not even the dropping of a pin, could be heard as the hymn Amazing Grace filled Madison Square Garden on Monday evening. As thousands of Republicans bowed their heads and gave honour to the saving grace of God, the media focused on the profane, unwashed anarchists whose goal is the destruction not of the Bush Administration, but all earthly and heavenly authority. Why does the European media have such a fascination with the profane in New York this week?
William J Murray, Washington DC, USA

The convention in NYC is less mean-spirited than in Boston - more uniting while at the same time actually being less spineless.
Pat, Boston, MA, US

Pat from Boston must have a crystal ball to call the just barely started RNC less "mean-spirited" than the DNC, not to mention the vicious booing and character assassination of John Kerry I saw the Republicans doing on the floor of Madison Square Garden last night.
Bill Ritchotte, Boston, USA

British people viewing the Republican National Convention in New York should be aware that New Yorkers are atypical of the average American in their political viewpoints. The US is split-down-the-middle in political viewpoint. For example, in Littleton, where I live, it is about 67% Republican. It's a good thing the Founding Fathers devised the electoral college, making up a representative democracy and not a pure democracy, because otherwise the only thing national politicians would have to do would be to win New York and Los Angeles, which have huge Democratic majorities.
Randolph C Allen, Littleton, Colorado

Bush is the man. He tells it like it is and does not tiptoe around. What NYC thinks is a far cry from what the rest of the USA thinks.
Dave, Fresno, California, USA

Kevin, my greatest hope for your coverage is that you get one senior member of the campaign/administration to answer what the US military and Halliburton oil are doing in Iraq, when the attacks on 9/11 were conceived and executed by Osama Bin Laden, who is currently outwitting a small contingent of troops somewhere near the Afghanistan/Pakistan border and not in Iraq! Keep up the good work.
JR, Toronto, On, Canada

I always like to hear what the people think. Your observations are super. What would the young woman (serving desserts) have said, had you asked her to comment? What makes the Republicans tick, how do they see the world? What is their reasoning, if any? Is it just parroting the party line with no critical analysis of the facts?
Aidan Bird, Bainbridge Island, USA

Day one of the blog and your Kevin is already complaining about the standard of freebies at the Republican Convention. Who cares that the validity of the coupon books for shops in the mall where the media "party" was held ran out the same night? Get out there and talk to some of the protesters - many who had loved ones whose lives were "invalidated" in Iraq long before those of your discount coupons at Time Warner Mall.
Alan Dean, Antwerp, Belgium

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