Thoughts on Bush visit to Baltimore

[yolatengo]

Hey DU'ers,

I didn't even know * was coming to B'more last Friday
until Thursday, and I had a dentist appt (300 yds from his
campaign stop) and was taking the day off to host friends from
Belgium otherwise I'd've gotten out of town or protested longer...

But anyway, it was cold, and freezing rain was coming down
and I was worried about travelling from my South Baltimore
house, thru the city to my midtown dentist appt because I
thought * would stop all downtown traffic and it'd be a mess.
Then I thought I might have to walk the 1.5 miles to the appt
to avoid the traffic. However, props to everyone, including
Bush! No, I mean it...I got past the Hilton a little over an hour
before * arrived, and they didn't block off Light Street northbound
(nor did the 6-7 news vans parked in front of Hooters across the
street from the Hilton). I didn't have too much trouble finding
parking for my appt, which took about 75 minutes, and when I
came out and met my friends at the corner of Pratt and Light,
there were about 30 protestors standing in the snow. Unlike
other things I heard about from * appearances, these people
were maybe 200yds tops from the front door of the Hilton.
* pretty much had to see them unless he came by helicopter
to the roof. Too bad, cuz since the MD State and B'more city
police let the protesters 'zone' be that close, we could've
organized 100's of people and he might have stood a chance
of actually seeing us for once.

Anyway, I stayed there about 20 minutes (trying to convince
my Belgian friends to tell the tv news they "had come all the
way from Belgium to protest Bush", but since that wasn't true
they balked... :P ) got my car, drove past the Hilton again
going south and went home. The news didn't say much about
the gig...how much did * rake in ?

I heard many cars and trucks honk horns and wave to the
protestors. There were no pro-Bush demonstrators I could
see (they were all in the Hilton lobby????). But I just wanted to
say it made me feel better that the protestors were allowed so
close. They were peaceful and serious and show we can have
civil dissention in this country, even in 'Mobtown', and there's
no damn reason for '1st amendment zones'...

Bigby

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

1. MD is a Dem state, but has a Pug governmor, Erlick

I haven't lived in MD for a while, but I remember when he first got a start In MD politics, and he's a real ass from what I know. I doubt Bush can get MD, but we shouldn't take anything for granted.