Tucson hails, bewails 4 more years (Tucson voted of Kerry)

Arizona Daily Star ^ | 01/20/05 | C.J. Karamargin and Tony Davis

[SandRat]

They celebrated and shivered in Washington. They marched and protested in Tucson.

Locals greeted the inauguration of President Bush on Thursday with a mixture of patriotic enthusiasm and war-weary dread.

For those who traveled to Washington to witness the nation's 55th inaugural, frigid weather tempered the momentousness of the historic event, but only slightly.

"There's just so much excitement here," Kendall Jose, a 16-year-old member of the Tohono O'odham Nation, said from a cell phone as he stood in front of the National Archives on Pennsylvania Avenue, watching the inaugural parade. "It's quite a sight, but it sure is cold."

For Tucsonans who didn't make it to D.C. and don't count themselves as fans of the 43rd president, the inauguration was reason to take to the streets.

About 300 protesters marched Downtown from the University of Arizona, clogging afternoon traffic as they snaked their way down Congress Street until ending up at the Evo DeConcini U.S. Courthouse near Interstate 10. With signs proclaiming "Peace is Patriotic" and "No One Died When Clinton Lied," they chanted anti-war slogans and flashed peace signs as motorists honked.

A smaller though similarly inclined crowd gathered earlier Thursday at De Anza Park. Christine Scott, a Tucson resident and a cancer patient, said she came to the protest because it hurts too much to see the United States fighting a war it shouldn't fight in Iraq.

"We have no right to invade others' countries for something that wasn't even there," said Scott, referring to the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. "Instead of having our kids coming back waving our flag, they come back with a flag over their coffin."

Protesters also were an unofficial part of the ceremony in Washington, but Tucsonan Dick Stilgenbauer said television news reports seemed to exaggerate their disruptions of Bush's inaugural address. With his wife, Cheryl, and sons, Stilgenbauer said he was about 100 yards away from the podium where Bush took the oath of office and delivered a 21-minute address to the nation.

"His speech was short, which we were happy about because of the cold, but it was meaningful," he said.

Even from that distance, Stilgenbauer said he could tell that Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who is battling thyroid cancer and breathes through a tracheotomy tube, wasn't in the best of health as he administered the oath.

"He was really feeble," Stilgenbauer said. "You could tell from his voice."

Paul Butterbrodt watched the ceremony on TV in his Washington hotel room. The co-owner of Inglis Florist had to pack his bags to catch an evening flight to Tucson. His job - helping to create 3,500 arrangements from about 100 varieties of flowers - was complete.

"This was quite the event," Butterbrodt said from his cell phone as he waited for his plane at Washington Dulles International Airport. "Being asked to participate in something of this caliber was quite an honor."

Butterbrodt was among about 200 florists from 35 states who volunteered to lend their expertise to the inauguration. He oversaw the 18-member team that put together arrangements for the Freedom Ball at Union Station, the first of many Bush and the first lady were expected to attend Thursday.

"The theme was red, everything was red, so we used roses, daisies, carnations and tulips," he said. "I can hardly wait to get my pictures."

Along the parade route, Tohono O'odham Chairwoman Vivian Juan-Saunders recalled the impression attending Ronald Reagan's inauguration made on her as a 17-year-old. That was why it was important for Jose and another young tribal member, 17-year-old Mary Juan, to see this inauguration, she said.

"It was important to look toward the future and be optimistic," Jaun-Saunders said.

At De Anza Park, meanwhile, protesters stood in a half-circle and carried signs saying "Give Peace a Chance - Get Bush Out, Bring Our Troops Home" and "Defend Freedom in America." Only about 25 showed up, prompting some to talk of the difficulty of finding more like-minded citizens and of the difficulty they've had in getting their views heard.

The question is how to reach more people like themselves, protester Judy Hanes said. "We know they are there. We talk to friends. What can we do to get them to join us?"

She recalled that protests against the Vietnam War in the 1960s while she was in Ohio were fulfilling and made a difference. "We need to get peacefully to that place again."

Protester Jesus Leon, a Marana High School junior, told the group, "We are the only country given the privilege of ignoring the politics in our country. That's horrible. That's dangerous."

[SandRat]

More about the scum than celebrants. Round up the usual suspects.

[SandRat]

ping

[HungarianGypsy]

I noticed a full page in our paper devoted to protestors. I turned the page.

[popdonnelly]

Thank God it wasn't Kerry up there taking the oath.

[SandRat]

You got that right.

[MisterRepublican]

"Only about 25 showed up, prompting some to talk of the difficulty of finding more like-minded citizens and of the difficulty they've had in getting their views heard."

Their views are not only heard but trumpeted by the liberal news media through out the world. By the media coverage you would have thought it was 1968.

[SandRat]

And the three local (Tucson) T.V. stations gave them a big chunk of the evening news too. Traitors just love traitors.

[DustyMoment]

. . . because it hurts too much to see the United States fighting a war it shouldn't fight in Iraq.

"We have no right to invade others' countries for something that wasn't even there,"

Ok, I give. These folks have all the answers, let's get a few from them. If we shouldn't be fighting terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, where should we fight this war? Pennsylvania? Massachusetts? Arizona?

And, what, specifically, wasn't there? WMD? Found'em. Nuclear material? Found it. Bio-chem material? Found it. Terrorists? Found'em . . . . bunches of them. Rockets that flew beyond the allowed limits? Found'em.

So, cough up some answers, nutjobs. You have them all, so cough'em up . . . . . oh, and be able to support EVERYTHING you claim.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

So, cough up some answers, nutjobs. You have them all, so cough'em up . . . . . oh, and be able to support EVERYTHING you claim.

Not a chance....see how they operate in this:

*********************************************

Unholy Alliance
by David Horowitz
Regnery Publishing, Inc.; ISBN: 089526076X
Hardcover - 256 pages (September 2004)

In this tour de force on the most important issue of our time, David Horowitz, confronts the paradox of how so many Americans, including the leadership of the Democratic Party, could turn against the War on Terror. He finds an answer in a political Left that shares a view of America as the “Great Satan” with America’s radical Islamic enemies. This Left, which once made common cause with Communists, has now joined forces with radical Islam in attacking America’s defenses at home and its policies abroad. From their positions of influence in the university and media culture, leftists have defined America as the “root cause” of the attacks against it. In a remarkable exploration of the “Mind of the Left,” Horowitz traces the evolution of American radicalism from its Communist past to its “anti-war” present. He then shows how this Left was able to turn the Democratic Party presidential campaign around and reshape its views on the War on Terror.

Horowitz’s Unholy Alliance, writes John Haynes, the noted historian of American Communism, “is an insightful, brilliant examination of the mental world of the radical left. Horowitz shows how today’s radicals, unwilling to reflect on the internal flaws that destroyed Marxism-Leninism from within, have embraced an all-consuming nihilism in its place. This has led them to a hatred of American institutions and a solidarity with Islamic terrorists that makes the radical left more properly regarded as dangerous than loony.”

Unholy Alliance is an eye-opening book that should unsettle conventional assumptions and reveals why intellectuals and political leaders who applaud Michael Moore are no laughing matter. As Harvey Klehr, author of Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, writes, “The world Communist movement may be moribund, but its habits of mind and ideological fantasies have not disappeared. This is a fascinating and depressing account.”

Price: $19.01 - Click here to order:

[GOP_1900AD]

Tucson and F(l)agstaff, the two largest blue warts on the red skin of Arizona.

[uglybiker]

They're both college towns. What'd you expect?

[goldstategop]

Tucson is a Lefty cesspool in a Red State.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

It's time that Kerry signs Form 180.
Wake up Right Wing Main Stream Media.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1325549/posts

[windchime]

Bump!

[Cowboy Bob]

A smaller though similarly inclined crowd gathered earlier Thursday at De Anza Park. Christine Scott, a Tucson resident and a cancer patient...

Next time I'm quoted in the paper, I want it to read: Cowboy Bob, a Tucson resident and cancer free.

[SandRat]

They can't. All they know are the sentances that they committed to memory at the last CPUSA meeting. Same story during Vietnam, Korea, and WWII until the Germans attacked Russia.

[SandRat]

Don't forget Yuma County.

[SandRat]

Courtesy of the U of A, College of LIBERAL Arts.

[SandRat]

Agreed and the petitions have been signed.

[The KG9 Kid]

Is there anything more pathetic than a tiny desert lizard pretending to be a great Galapagos iguana?