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Imported Protesters Don't Destroy Real New Yorker Spirit
By Kevin Fobbs
September 2, 2004

With numbers of New York's finest standing guard over the delegation hotels and armed with M16s and other weapons to insure the safety of the delegates as well as to protect against the possibility of protesters and terrorists, it is an ominous reminder of the world we have inherited after 9/11 rained down such horror on this nation and specifically on this city.

In talking with delegates from Michigan, Texas and Florida it is clear many feel a sense of genuine solidarity with New Yorkers. The courage, the strength and personal resolve which is a clear characteristic of native New Yorkers is something that we have come to value in America. And this week the delegates have come to make merry as we also celebrate the opportunity we in the GOP have not had the chance to do here before which is to hold our national convention here in the Big Apple.

As the delegates spent last weekend flying or driving in from cities, suburbs, small towns and farms from all corners of our nation, many commented on not only the sheer immensity of the city, but also what type of protesters would be encountered, because after all if this is the city which never sleeps, it could only mean that overly eager protesters would have much more time to plot and plan their grand disruptive designs.

So when these weekend protest warriors launched their pre-convention efforts with an estimated 250,000 angry individuals in the street, most of the delegates I spoke with felt non-plussed by them. After all, this is America and their protests were a testimony to how vigorously Republicans believe in protecting constitutional rights, even the rights of mis-informed protesters.

They were not looked upon or viewed as the official welcoming committee for all New Yorkers. After all these seemed to be as imported as the delegates attending the convention are. They spoke about being Bicyclers against Bush on Friday, oh, and the Disrobers against Bush, and then there were the everyone else who had all types of names under one general umbrella group United For Peace and Justice who was high on rhetoric and crowd estimates but low on facts, alternatives and a real direction for this nation.

The chanters were going for the political theater as if they were trying to bring Broadway to the street. They traveled through the skyscraper canyons of Gotham to Midtown and back, hoping their belligerency would be broadcast by a friendly liberal media.

So as delegates spent the weekend watching this street theater unfold, was it really reflective of New Yorkers or was there something we were not being exposed to, and being left unseen by the media eye? One out-of-towner delegate suggested that this was just New York being New York. And after all, many New Yorkers may take a certain pride in that observation, I didn't think the delegates were seeing the whole picture.

Something happened that began to reinforce that delegate's preliminary assessment of the New York mindset. As most delegates arrived on Saturday the day was not even much past 9:30 a.m. and a small crowd of GOP well wishers eagerly greeted the out-of-towners who were disembarking from the incoming planes. They loudly asked everyone to have a great time and to enjoy themselves, by taking in a Broadway play or sample the varied historical sights or just to enjoy the nightlife from a city that never sleeps.

Yet, much like the back pack protesters who seem to be transplants from somewhere or anywhere else than Gotham, there was one lone shadowy figure that crawled out of the morning mist, shaven-head and all. He had gotten off a plane, saw the happy crowd of well-wishers and promptly singled out a lone happy-faced youthful GOP Convention week-end well wisher with a stream of biting sarcasm. "You're right -wing terrorists", he claimed. I walked over to him and firmly corrected him about his misguided comments as well as his targeting of someone who was just spending an early weekend morning to do something decent. And the behavior he engaged in that was absent whatever sliver of manners he had either been raised with or had long forgotten. My wife was also struck by the cruel behavior from someone obviously not in the GOP, which in the past had been labeled the "mean" party. The tides have either turned or that label was just another example of the Democrats saying something erroneous until they forced others to believe it and believed it themselves.

Other conventioneers had a similar -- or not so similar -- yet not so different welcome to this city. But what was clear was the clear solidarity growing between the delegates, the guests and the supporters and well-wishers who were becoming temporary residents of mid-town.

Sure on the street there were countless signs of the imported protesters who had nothing better to do than to earn their street protest degrees on each other, because for the most part many native New Yorkers were either at home, out-of-town or anywhere else but in Midtown.

There had been a lot of hype about how much displeasure would be exacted by the New York natives with so many Republican leaders descending upon this town -- especially since the estimated ratio was 4 to 1 in favor of Democrats in the last election, but I feel that those numbers don't reflect the kind of people we were encountering in the taxicabs, in the subways, in the restaurants and among some of the performers in Greenwich Village. Many of the New Yorkers, whether they were minority, non-minority, from Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan or Greenwich Village, were not combative but were more inquiring and even listened.

So as we were preparing for this convention that would be kicked off with an acceptance of our Party's Platform, delegates wondered which image was the true image of New Yorkers. As a reporter I always believe you should talk to probably eight or nine different types of people who are as varied in background as they are in the stations of life in order to get a fair and balanced view of an area, a city or its residents. Often their varying life circumstances will determine not only their outlook but their justification for their beliefs.

In Greenwich Village at the Red Lion on Saturday, Paul Zunno and his blues guitar playing partner probably summed it all up in their songs about faith, hope and a city that understands. September 11 had made these entertainers feel more faith about the nation's strength. They sung of love not hateful spite and you could almost sense the aroma of hope. This was the Big Apple that delegates were also seeing and feeling.

On a day and a weekend which began with so much disorder and political diatribes from out of town political mischief makers the evening ended with a singer and his partner who displayed kindness, opened his city and its heart to the out of towners and showed that even with differences, we can all share some moments of political civility, genuine kindness and warmth in a blues establishment on Bleecker Street in historic Greenwich Village.

Postscript- as of the conclusion of Tuesday night at the GOP National Convention in New York over 1,200 protesters had been arrested by New York's finest, which included many, many protesters who attempted to block buses carrying delegates by lying down in front of them.

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.