Sunday, Jul 20, 2008
Bernadette Malone rips New York Mayor Bloomberg for coddling "mice-releasing, AIDS-spreading junior terrorists." Mark Steyn deems Elton John and Hollywood Dems "deranged." Plus: Why Buchanan loves Nader.
Aug 25, 2004 | On the eve of the Republican National Convention, anticipation and worry continue to build over the hundreds of thousands of anti-Bush protesters expected to swarm the streets of New York. While various groups are planning a spectrum of activities, from rousing the disenfranchised to rousing libidos, most attention and debate has been riveted on the prospect of violence.
For its part, the Bush campaign intends to tar John Kerry as responsible for any unsavory behavior in New York next week -- regardless of who is behind it. "Mr. Bush's advisers said they were girding for the most extensive street demonstrations at any political convention since the Democrats nominated Hubert H. Humphrey in Chicago in 1968," reported Adam Nagourney in Sunday's New York Times. "But in contrast to that convention, which was severely undermined by televised displays of street rioting, Republicans said they would seek to turn any disruptions to their advantage, by portraying protests by even independent activists as Democratic-sanctioned displays of disrespect for a sitting president."
Some on the political right have seized on the prospect of violence by fringe groups to portray all anti-Bush protesters in the ugliest possible light. Bernadette Malone, the former editorial page director of The Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News, is seething over what she believes will be a veritable plague of domestic terrorism.
"People who hate Republicans plan to release swarms of mice in New York City to terrorize delegates to the National Republican Convention. Republican-haters plan on dressing up as RNC volunteers, and giving false directions to little blue hair ladies from Kansas, sending them into the sectors of New York City that are unfit for human habitation. They plan on throwing pies and Lord knows what else at Republican visitors to the city. Prostitutes with AIDS plan to seduce Republican visitors, and discourage the use of condoms, according to liberal journalist Ted Rall.
"New York City is a place renowned for coddling no one -- tourists, babies, old people. And yet, its new mayor, a Boston transplant, plans to coddle these junior terrorists."
Malone scoffs at Mayor Bloomberg's initiative to encourage peaceful dissent by issuing official buttons entitling protesters to discounts at various city attractions.
"By wearing these buttons, and obtaining these nifty little discounts, the mice-releasers, pie-throwers and AIDS-spreaders are entering into an implicit agreement and the rest of society: 'Give me $5 off a chicken entree at Applebee's, and I promise not to terrorize you.' That oughtta work. Not."
She sees no distinction between anti-Bush demonstrators and Islamic militants.
"Perhaps the Department of Homeland Security should hand out buttons at the convention that say 'Peaceful Islamic Radical.' All the scary-looking guys with fertilizer on their shoes, wires coming out of their pockets, and duct-tape visible under their shirts can walk around with these buttons, enjoying nice-priced margaritas and reduced-admission live sex shows before they blow up Madison Square Garden."
And Malone says recent FBI harassment of protest organizers is perfectly justifiable -- and handily links any potential unrest to Kerry himself.
"Protestors are complaining already that the FBI is visiting them and sowing intimidation. Who cares? As long as theyre not planning to break the law, protestors should have no reason to fear inquiries from law enforcement officials.
"Bloomberg is calling for a sensitive war on protestor-terrorists, the way John Kerry is naively calling for a more sensitive war on international terrorists. Instead of manufacturing smiley-face buttons to pin on potentially unruly protestors, Bloomberg should be manufacturing plastic handcuffs."
Rupert Murdoch's right-wing tabloid the New York Post has done its share to fan fears of the protesters. Post reporter Stefan C. Friedman unleashed a lightning bolt on Monday, "Radicals Plot Bad Weather," citing a "top-level source" of some sort about the sinister return of infamous 1970s radicals:
"A number of extremists with ties to the 1970s radical Weather Underground have recently been released from prison and are in New York preparing to wreak havoc during the Republican National Convention, The Post has learned.
"A top-level source with extensive knowledge of police plans wouldn't disclose the names of the aging rabble-rousers but said a handful of them are already here and will play a behind-the-scenes role in attempting to disrupt the GOP gala."
The "aging rabble-rousers" may no longer have the gusto to take action themselves, says the Post, but they can still offer deadly know-how.
"'These people are trained in kidnapping techniques, bombmaking and building improvised munitions,' the source said. 'They've very bad people.' [sic]
"'They're not likely to take direct action,' the source continued, 'but they'll be orchestrating operations.' Originally called 'The Weathermen,' the anarchist organization came into existence in June 1969 as a radical splinter group of the Students for a Democratic Society. During a two-year stretch, the group bombed a number of high-profile government buildings, primarily to protest the Vietnam War and racism in America."
Apparently the revived Weathermen are more interested in targeting Bush than they are Kerry.
"While the group has been largely unheard from for more than 30 years, the release 'over the last two years' of anarchists tied to the Underground -- and their apparent willingness to return to their old ways -- has the NYPD tracking their every move. NYPD operatives spotted a few of the fanatics in Boston for the Democratic convention, but they are 'saving themselves' for New York, the source said."
Meanwhile, Post columnist Adam Brodsky argues that there should be a "protest for war" by imperiled but forgetful New Yorkers.
"Has America become suicidal -- or just lost its good sense? What about New York? Is this city of lawyers, insurers and investors no longer worried about terror? The Twin Towers were attacked and reduced to rubble not three years ago yet Americans, even New Yorkers, act like it was just some urban version of Hurricane Charley, eons ago. Unity is gone. Anger has turned inward.
"Many refuse to fight, even in self-defense. A willingness to cooperate with authorities, to make even small sacrifices for the cause of self-preservation, is woefully lacking for a major war, particularly a clandestine, terrorist war.
"Meanwhile, supposedly saner folk rush to defend the 'rights' of those who threaten havoc. A local judge orders limits on bag searches. The New York Times, based on 43rd Street, bemoans an outbreak of 'totalitarianism' -- because FBI agents ask protesters about plans for law-breaking. Democrats dismiss terror alerts as 'political.'"
Unlike the more levelheaded debate of the Vietnam era, argues Brodsky, America can't afford any pacifist dissent today.
"This is not the Vietnam War, on which reasonable people differed. This is a live, hot conflagration being waged by the enemy through sneak attacks. Right here on U.S. soil. It has already struck New York City. If ever there was a time for extraordinary measures, this is it.
"How fitting it would be if city natives held their own protests and spoke up for themselves, in support of an even tougher War on Terror, both at home and abroad. How satisfying to see locals, who have endured terror first-hand, step up and tell the pacifists to get with the program and defend America."
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