Bill Ayers speaks out! An In These Times exclusive.

An Unconventional Convention

By David Sirota

When I first heard about the Democratic convention coming to my hometown of Denver, I wasn’t all that excited. For many reasons, in fact, I was pretty unhappy with the whole idea. As a transplant who moved from the overpopulated East Coast to the more manageable Rocky Mountain West, I was not looking forward to huge crowds taking over what… return to article

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    David, I’ve lived in Denver at times.  Not unusual for a Wyomingite who considers Denver closer than Washington DC.  I was a visitor in 1988 just before the election, and that is the image I carry of “old Denver” because the new buildings on Colfax were mostly unoccupied, and as I took the bus to Casper I had time to reflect on really hard times in the US of A.  Back in East Tennessee we were suffering through yet a year of terrible drought.  The sunflowers in Northern Kansas drooped their misshapen heads.  In Kansas City smoke from the Yellowstone fires shaded the sun and burned the eyes.  In Wyoming the oil boom, which Carter helped after deep drilling became law, was temporarily bust.  Saddest of all was looking at Iowa’s tall corn, frizzled to the height of gehu.  It was the start of “economy stupid.”
    It’s hard not to think of the 1988 election without thinking of the “Willie Horton” gibe.  And harder still not to be alerted to Corsi and his newest swiftboat book, edited by the same person as was around during the Willie Horton ad.
    When seeds of thought start to sprout, as you believe they have, into an uprising, so come doses of plant killer.  Talk about money!  It’s easy to have a best seller.  Write a provocative book, place it with a collaborative publisher, and then buy up a couple of editions.  In politics, the scorched earth approach works, leaving the newly-awakened to wonder what hit them.

    United States Posted by MargBass on Aug 29, 2008 at 10:24 AM

    I hope some good can come of this.

    From my TV view all I could think of was Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland who, whenever there was a seemingly insurmountable problem, came up with…

    “Let’s put on a show!”

    (For readers too young to remember — They were the Andy Hardy movies.)

    United States Posted by whattheheck on Aug 30, 2008 at 9:16 AM
    Page 1 of 1 pages

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