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From The Daily Times
Locals divided on importance of candidates’ visits
08/26/2004
By KATHLEEN E. CAREY kcarey@delcotimes.com In 1960, Dorothy Monastra was
working at General Electric in Philadelphia when she took a break to see
what was causing all the excitement out in the streets. She discovered
people standing shoulder-to-shoulder to catch a glimpse of
then-presidential hopeful John F. Kennedy on the campaign trail at 32nd
and Chestnut streets.
"He was sitting on the back of a car," Monastra said. "The streets were
lined. It’s a fun thing."
The encounter, she said, didn’t influence her thinking.
"He was good-looking, though," said Monastra, adding that that year, she
did in fact vote for the Massachusetts senator.
Decades later, she and others responding to a Daily Times informal poll
Wednesday said presidential candidate visits to their hometown aren’t
likely to sway their decision.
"I vote for the person not the party," said Monastra. But, she added, it
is electrifying when national candidates come to town.
"I think it’s one-on-one contact," she said. "It’s more personal. You
feel like your state’s important to him."
The former 28-year Drexel Hill resident did question their sincerity.
"I think it’s all a game to them," she said. "They all promise you the
world. It’s a big game. They can only do so much. Their hands are tied.
It is interesting."
But, Monastra said she’d jump at the chance to see either President
George Bush or Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry.
"I would go," she said. "I would go to both of them, whether I like them
or not. Just to say I saw the president of the United States. You do
have to give them credit. It’s grueling."
Dan James of Swarthmore and Sally Baraka, who lives in Philadelphia but
works in Springfield, both say they’ve already made up their mind, but
some presidential-level presence may make a difference for those who
have yet to decide.
"It’s probably more important in western Pennsylvania," said Baraka, who
feels voters out west will ultimately decide which way the state will go
come November.
James added, "I think it’s important for the undecided."
For himself, however, a vote comes down to "what’s going on in the
economy and what’s going on in the world," he said.
Jeffrey Thomas, a third-year religion major at Temple University, said
neither Bush nor Kerry stimulate him enough to walk into a voting booth.
"I let my vote be heard by not voting," the Ridley Park resident said.
"Instead of choosing the lesser of two evils, I don’t choose at all."
Aileen Campbell also says she’s not influenced by the meet-and-greets.
Instead, she’ll wait to see who survives the mud slinging.
"They all are slandering each other," she said. "It makes it so hard to
decide, because which one is telling the truth? Sometimes, when you
can’t decide, you vote your party."
Campbell bypassed a recent opportunity to see Bush, opting instead for a
trip to Wildwood with her children.
"Tuesday he was here and Tuesday morning, we were leaving," Campbell
said of Bush’s Aug. 17 visit to Boeing’s Ridley Township plant.
ŠThe Daily Times 2004
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08/27/04:
We have indexed locally 11 community pages, from Aldan to Chester. In them you'll find facts about each community, Businesses that reside there, and a little history. Please comment in our forums if you have anything else you would like included.
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Bush's games hijack leaves a very sour taste
Lawrence Donegan in Athens
Tuesday August 24, 2004
The Guardian
After all the talk that cynical terrorists would use the platform of the
2004 Olympic Games to make a crass political statement, it turns out that a
cynical president of the United States got in there before them.
For the past week the campaign to re-elect George W Bush has been running a
television advert in America seeking to attach the US administration's "war
on terrorism" with the participation of Iraq and Afghanistan in Athens.
"Freedom is spreading through the world like a sunrise," intones a
portentous narrator as the flags of both countries flutter. "At this
Olympics there will be two more free nations and two less terrorist
regimes."
Cue stirring music, followed by the hard sell: Vote Bush-Cheney.
The first temptation is to reach for the TV remote with one hand and the
sick bag with the other but, as anyone who has been exposed to American
political advertising for any length of time will tell you, subtlety has no
place in the emotional vocabulary of the people who put these things
together. In any case, the crassness of the script is not the most
objectionable aspect of Bush's advert.
There are also, for instance, the legal issues involved. According to US
federal law, the insignia, images and trademarks of the Olympic Games can
only be used for marketing purposes by the International Olympic Committee
and national Olympic committees.
In America this means that the Olympics belong to the US Olympic Committee -
a fact that body's officials pointed out when asked to comment on the
advert. Or at least they did until they realized that sticking up for
themselves would land them in a fight with an administration which has a
history of vindictiveness towards those who stand up to it (as the vicious
attacks on John Kerry's war record amply illustrate). Now the committee says
it will not make any further comment until its lawyers review the tape of
the advert.
It doesn't take a Harvard law degree to work out that the USOC will do or
say whatever it takes to avoid a confrontation, although it will take a few
days to draft a face-saving excuse to back off. While the lawyers are making
their money, at least it gives the rest of us time to contemplate the fact
that the courage of the Iraqi national football team extends way beyond the
touchlines on the football field.
Rather than meekly accepting their designated role in Bush's re-election
campaign - plucky foreigners saved by political colossus - members of the
team reacted furiously when they were told their success had been
appropriated by a man whom one player described as a mass-murderer. The
team's coach Adnan Hamad yesterday told reporters: "We do not have freedom
in Iraq, we have an occupying force. This is one of our most miserable
times. Freedom is just a word for the media."
No one would deny that Iraq's participation in these games has been welcome
but there has been a public relations aspect to it which, frankly, stinks.
Under the guidance of a former British army officer called Mark Clark, the
team's manager, a daily ration of "uplifting" tales about the Iraqi athletes
has been gobbled up and regurgitated by unquestioning reporters, especially
in the American media.
The bravery of these athletes is obvious. But so is the moral of their
stories; they would not be here if the allies hadn't toppled Saddam Hussein.
Calling George W Bush a mass-murderer does not fit into this comforting
narrative.
Clark's response was to insult his team's intelligence. "They are perhaps
politically naive," he suggested, adding that reporters had taken advantage
of them. Sorry, Mr. Clark, but perhaps the players are simply grown men who
were annoyed to discover that a politician who invaded their country under a
false prospectus and reduced much of it to rubble apparently wants to claim
their success as his own.
Now we hear that George W Bush is thinking about visiting Athens later this
week and that, should the Iraqis beat Paraguay in tonight's semi-final, he
would like to meet the team at the medal ceremony.
Given the Iraqis' comments, that now seems unlikely to happen. But on the
off-chance that it does, the IOC might want to extend the podium to
accommodate the president. That way Jacques Rogge will be able to present
him with a brass medal to go with his brass neck.
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