| Author | Message | ||
     Ed May Citizen Username: Edmay Post Number: 2167 Registered: 9-2001  |
Laura Bush is visiting New Jersey tomorrow, and Maplewood, NJ will be represented. The First Lady is visiting a Fire House in Hamilton at 11 AM and I have two of the coveted tickets. My daughter Mariah (a registered Democrat Poly Sci major at Monmouth University) and I (a registered certified bonifide died-in-the-wool convention going Republican) will both be there. I will be cheering on the Bush-Cheney ticket, and with a little luck Christie, and Tom, and Bret, and Doug will help convert Mariah to the one holy universal apostolic and true political religion. Or maybe not. In any case, Maplewood will be represented, and we hope to make you proud. | ||
| ffof Citizen Username: Ffof Post Number: 2821 Registered: 5-2001  |
Wow, they're letting a Democrat in? | ||
| Duncan Real Name Username: Duncanrogers Post Number: 2927 Registered: 12-2001  |
See Ed, that right there is what is wrong with the party of which you speak. Though I will say I am praying for your daughter. | ||
| llama Citizen Username: Llama Post Number: 601 Registered: 5-2001  |
Or perhaps Mariah can help you open your mind and "see the light," as well. In either case, I'm sure it will be wonderful for you. | ||
| Ukealalio Citizen Username: Ukealalio Post Number: 1176 Registered: 6-2003 |
Hope Laura won't be driving in NJ. Cheap shot, hadda take it. | ||
| Madden 11 Citizen Username: Madden_11 Post Number: 299 Registered: 12-2003 |
Are you kidding? I doubt she could afford car insurance here. | ||
| Madden 11 Citizen Username: Madden_11 Post Number: 312 Registered: 12-2003 |
Can't wait to hear Ed's report on this: http://asia.news.yahoo.com/040916/ap/d854tfjg0.html Woman Disrupts Laura Bush Speech in N.J. A woman wearing a T-shirt with the words "President Bush You Killed My Son" and a picture of a soldier killed in Iraq was detained Thursday after she interrupted a campaign speech by first lady Laura Bush. Police escorted Sue Niederer of Hopewell, N.J., from a rally at a firehouse after she demanded to know why her son, Army 1st Lt. Seth Dvorin, 24, was killed in Iraq. Dvorin died in February while trying to disarm a bomb. As shouts of "Four More Years" subsided, Niederer, standing in the middle of a crowd of some 700, continued to shout about the killing of her son. Secret Service and local police escorted her out of the event, handcuffed her and placed her in the back of a police van. Handcuffing a grieving mother? For shouting? What country is this again? | ||
| Montagnard Citizen Username: Montagnard Post Number: 1064 Registered: 6-2003  |
Pretty soon, George A.W.O.L. Bush will have killed as many Americans as al Qaeda, and for substantially the same reasons: belief in divine guidance and contempt for democracy. | ||
| Joe Citizen Username: Gonets Post Number: 376 Registered: 2-2004 |
Madden, Do you happen to know if she was in a free speech zone? If not well then lock her up! Plus, it's about time that we started cracking down on these grieving mothers. Don't you think? | ||
| Parkbench87 Citizen Username: Parkbench87 Post Number: 1252 Registered: 7-2001 |
Did any of the Bush Supporters yank her by the Hair? | ||
| Hank Zona Citizen Username: Hankzona Post Number: 1699 Registered: 3-2002 |
Ed tried to restrain her with one of his ties. | ||
| Madden 11 Citizen Username: Madden_11 Post Number: 317 Registered: 12-2003 |
Madden, Do you happen to know if she was in a free speech zone? If not well then lock her up! I believe there is a designated free speech zone located between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. I think the problem was she was in a "no bad news, please" zone, which is located anywhere within sight or earshot of the Bush campaign. | ||
| marie Citizen Username: Marie Post Number: 1148 Registered: 6-2001 |
Thanks Ed, for representing Maplewood, again. | ||
| llama Citizen Username: Llama Post Number: 602 Registered: 5-2001 |
Yes, and despite his ever so carefully composed and displayed image, his soul is drenched with the blood of the innocent who are killed in the war he promotes for power and greed under the veil of freedom. Disgusting. | ||
| Ed May Citizen Username: Edmay Post Number: 2168 Registered: 9-2001 |
So here is my report. I would have posted sooner, but the 12 hour saga wore me out and I had to take a nap when I got home at 4 PM. Tuesday, September 21st at 12:05 AM Joe Kyrillos, who heads up the GOP Delegation in New Jersey, got the call from the GOP in WDC that Laura Bush was going to visit the Garden State. Hers was to be the first non-fundraising visit of the Presidential campaign to New Jersey. At the Republican Convention in NYC many of us had urged Joe Kyrillos to convince the Bush-Cheney campaign to visit our fair state. Tom Kean, Sr. was among those who beleived that Bush could win in the state. Many of us felt that a Bush visit after the convention could help make NJ a "red" state. We had "W" in mind, but, in my opinion, getting the First Lady here was a good start. Last night I stayed up too late after teaching at NJIT, and ended up with only three hours of shut eye, before rising at 4 AM. I had my 'political suit' complete with the red-white-blue elephant tie and Bush buttons all laid out and ready to slip into. It was still very dark when I piloted my Stratus down Springfield Avenue and picked up some coffee that was certainly not brewed fresh in the last 20 minutes. To my chagrin the News-Record was not yet on the shelf. The Parkway, Turnpike, and I-195 were uneventful and it was still dark when I found the Mercer County GOP HQ on Kuser Road. As soon as they opened at 6 AM, I accepted my tickets and thanked the lady for them. Theoretically the tickets went first come first served, and were all snapped up yesterday. Luckily one of the Mercer GOP Women had a mother that lives on Ridgewood Terrace in Maplewood, and they had agreed to save me the tickets sight unseen, but if I did not take them at 6 AM they would had gone to someone else. My next task was to drive from Hamilton (virtually Trenton) across the state to West Long Branch and fetch Mariah. I made good time on I-195 East and the GSP North so I stopped at the Diner next to Monmouth Race Track for eggs and sausage. At 8 AM I parked illegally near Mariah's dorm and waited for her to come out as planned. She was late. At 8:30 AM she was finally ready and I was fuming. If we did not get to the firehouse in HAmilton in timely fashion, our tickets might not get us in. Fortunately I-195 West was 65 MPH and there was no Great Adventure traffic. We would have rweached the Firehouse at 9:30 AM but the trasffic was backed up for half a mile on Kuser headed toward the event. We finally got parked and into the queue snaking around the lot. Around 10 AM we showed our photo ID's and they matched our ticket numbers to those on the master list of invitees. No magnetometers or frisking, and I was surprised, having spent that recent week at the convention. Turns out that there were three groups of attendees: some on the platform where Laura would speak, some in the area directly in front of the stage, and the rest of us in the back. So arriving earlier would not have gotten us any closer to Laura. I regognized Doug Forrester on the stage, but did not see Christie, who was supposedly accompanying Laura while she was in the state. Introduced Mariah to Tom Kean, Jr., a fellow running for Congress in the 13th against Menendez, and the guy that wore the elephant hat at the RNC. Regognized many of my fellow delegates from the convention, but there were also lots of kids and babies. At the extreme there was one women in attendance that was rolled in in a hospital type bed and at the other the same Troopers I had befriended at the convention. The speakers started at 10:30 but it was an hour before Laura arrived. We did the pledge of allegiance and sang patriotic songs with the scouts and veterans. We applauded the local Olympic Gold Medalist (who showed us his actual gold Medal). We heard from Congressman Chris Smith (not Mary Devon's husband) and cheered for Spadea for is running for Congress. Mostly we waited and mingled and networked. Finally, Laura was on the podium and she gave us an excellant speech in support of her husband's re-election. We could see her and hear her quite clearly, but my small disposal camera while probably reveal how far away we actually were. Mariah thought Laura was a better speaker than George himself. I know that initially Laura hated public speaking, but she has certainly warmed up to it. What I noticed was that her hairdoo made her look like Hillary and that she said "New Jersey" as often as possible. For example, their dog was born in "New Jersey". Often we raised our signs, and waved our little American Flags, and shook our pom poms of red-white-blue. "Four More Years" we often chanted, especially when the lone female protester tried to interrupt Laura and started calling Laura's husband a murderer. Frankly, it was a bit disurbing when some of the media stopped listening to Laura and started interviewing the protester while Laura was still speaking. By talking to and filming this woman right in the hall the media created a disruption that was as impolite and rude as the lady protester's. How this woman got a ticket should be investigated. How she could get in wearing a shirt that denigrated the President is beyond me. The authorities took maybe fifteen minutes to remove her and that was to long. When you accept a free ticket to an event like this, you agree to certain things. Somewhere in the fine print it must disallow calling the President a murderer. Anyway, the Police, troopers, and Secret Sevice showed great restrain and patience, but finally carted her away. I suspect that this woman wanted to get herself arrested. I heard her challenging the cops to do just that. If her son actually did die in the service to his country, then, of course, I feel for her as a mother. But as one of the (rather restrained and polite) audience members did point out to her, her son did volunteer. Mariah saw it quite differently. She thought the woman was just exercising her right to "free speech". Mariah told the woman to ask on what grounds she was being arrested. Mariah was quite upset that the woman was physically escorted out in hand cuffs. Mariah actually was interviewed by one of the media as to why she (Mariah) was upset. Mariah did a good job explaining that she was a Poly Sci student and a Democrat, who came to the event with her Republican father merely to observe and learn. Unfortunately, MAriah does not know whether she was taking to the NY TIMES, Asbury Park Press, or the Hamilton 'News-Record". (The NY Times camera guy seemed fascinated with my political buttons and tie and snapped off a few pictures of those.) In the end, I thought the event was worthwhile, but I suggest tighter security next time. When I drove Mariah back to Monmouth she confirmed that her RA (a college Republican) had been at the event, and they swapped stories about the woman that was taken away. In the cafeteria were actually found a young republican and I urger her to start a Young Republican Club at MU. Driving back listening to Rush and Sean I had a hard time keeping alert and figuring out new tolls (70 cents one direction and "free" in the other.) Well, if I had more time I would have made this entry shorter. But be forwarned that I have invited MAriah to get a screen name and start posting herself ............. | ||
| Debby Real Name Username: Debby Post Number: 1080 Registered: 5-2001 |
That was very polite and restrained of the audience member to point out to the grieving mother that her dead son volunteered. I bet that made her feel a lot better. Sorry for the sarcasm, Ed, but your post (which I'm fairly certain was serious) could have been straight out of The Onion. | ||
| Joel S. Ziegler Citizen Username: Joelziegler Post Number: 87 Registered: 4-2003  |
Don't let the slings and arrows of the Democrats and Liberals worry you. | ||
| llama Citizen Username: Llama Post Number: 603 Registered: 5-2001 |
It's the deception of your own leader that should be a concern. | ||
| Nohero Citizen Username: Nohero Post Number: 3845 Registered: 10-1999  |
"If her son actually did die in the service to his country, then, of course, I feel for her as a mother. But as one of the (rather restrained and polite) audience members did point out to her, her son did volunteer." Please take a moment to become acquainted with the woman in question, Sue Niederer, mother of the late 1st Lt. Seth Dvorin, 24, who was killed in Iskandariyah, Iraq on Feb. 3. Her son did join the Army as a volunteer, as did all of our troops. But Ms. Niederer points out that it is not as simple as that: Ms. Niederer is very direct about why she is so active, and why she does the things she does, which I guess includes her witnessing today: Oh, and we should all remember that her son was a real person, and is missed by the people who love him.
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| Maplewoody Real Name Username: Maplewoody Post Number: 749 Registered: 5-2001  |
I just saw this defenseless older woman handcuffed on the 11 PM news. It was a horrible thing to handcuff her for speaking her mind. She claims George W Bush caused her Son to die! This war is totally OUT OF CONTROL. W has to go! The majority of Iraqi people do not want us over there in their homeland! We are inciting hatred in their country and the rest of the Muslim world, and many other countries too. This war is being fought by the Bush-Cheney team for the WRONG REASONS! They LIED, and THOUSANDS so far have DIED! Get the F*** out of IRAQ NOW! These troops should be in Afghanistan or Pakistan capturing OBL! All you Bush supporters, WAKE UP AND COME TO YOUR SENSES! (OR, are U on the Halliburton payroll too?) vote Kerry-Edwards in November! |
