SPECIAL Setup Planned For BUSH At Convention...

[Placebo]

Moving to bring a special intimacy to the carefully scripted atmosphere of a political convention, President Bush will give his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention next week from a small circular stage in a sea of thousands of delegates and other guests.

"We wanted the president to be closer to people and surrounded by people," Mark McKinnon, Mr. Bush's chief media adviser, said. "It sort of reflected his strength and character as the man in the arena."

"He is not just trapped by a stage," Mr. McKinnon said. "He doesn't have the usual comforts of a stage behind him. To me that says strength, that he is willing to stand out there alone" among all the delegates.

On Thursday, the day that Mr. Bush is to accept the party's nomination and the day that is expected to be the most watched of the convention, the floor will be reconfigured. Convention planners did not want to go into great detail, hoping to retain an element of surprise, but a small model of the platform suggested what will ultimately take shape.

The model shows a long runway built out from the stage, ending at a circular platform. Convention officials said that it would take 20 workers eight to 10 hours to build the stage and that they would start their work at the end of Wednesday night's proceedings. Nine wide steps will lead from the audience up to the platform, where the president will stand on a carpet decorated with the presidential seal.

Full article may be found here, if you're so inclined: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/27/politics/campaign/27convention.html?ei=5006&en=021197acfb577e22&ex=1094270400&partner=ALTAVISTA1&pagewanted=print&position=

> Strength and Character, yea riiiiiiiiiight... :eyes:

[poliguru]

1. I hope the new setup makes it difficult for him to find the teleprompter

That would be weeks' worth of entertainment.

[lapfog_1]

2. They sure aren't emphasizing the special

armor plating for this small stage. Apparently, Shrubya is
afraid of his own conventioneers. This small stage is going
to be one of the best protected spots in the universe next
Thursday. Oh well.

[TXDemGal]

3. To me it says

they want to strategerically :dunce: arrange folks around Dim Son for the best photo/tv images.

[Mad_Dem_X]

16. I agree with you, Cheryl

Like everything dealing with Shrub, it smells like another photo op.

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. As long as everyone in the building is carefully screened

has signed a loyalty oath and that Dimson has a specially built bullet proof stage. Then he will think about risking his ass, by standing up in the middle of them, for as short a time as possible.

[VOX]

5. Smacks a bit of "The Man in the Glass Booth"...

[unslinkychild1]

6. heh heh

Don't forget the HOLE in the floor that he's gonna pop through like some kinda fucking JERK in the box! LOL. Strong and courageous, my ass!

[CornField]

7. Long platform to a circular stage? Sounds like a runway...

I'm too sexy for this crowd... too sexy for this crowd... crowd's gonna love me.

:puke:

[unslinkychild1]

9. ...

Wonder if he's gonna kiss the top of Zig-Zag's head when he gets up there.

Gawwwwwwd, I'm laffin' so hard I can't even type right now.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!

[MaineDem]

19. I think I remember Mick Jagger doing this

Was it the Stones' last concert tour? Maybe the GOP are just borrowing the set.

I love the idea that he's taking a risk being amidst the crowd. I'd have a lot more respect if he ventured out into the middle of America unprotected.

Edited for spelling.

[Mad_Dem_X]

17. Jerk in the box! I love it!

B-)

[terrya]

8. Like anyone will actually care.

This is just as silly as when Elizabeth Dole walked around the front of the stage ala Phil Donahue at the 1996 RNC Convention. A silly, pointless stunt.

[liberal N proud]

10. I am sure the faithful will all bow to their knees.

Praise to Bush! NOT

[vicman]

11. Bush stomping all over the Presidential Seal,

lying his ass off once again.

This type of irony is so thick you couldn't cut it with the sharpest knife.

And I'll bet Karl Rove knows it, too.

[no_hypocrisy]

12. What? Is he going to be lowered to the stage by wires like Fartman

a/k/a Howard Stern?

[Francine Frensky]

13. strength??? why would it be hard to stand out there amid GOPers?

Now, if he would stand in the middle of Times Square, amid protestors and people who did not sign his oath, then THAT would require strength.

This is spectacle.

A stunt.

[Inland]

14. Perfect for gladiator event, whereRummy dispatches hobbled Afghan detainee

[Inland]

15. Bush unable to figure out which way to face, keeps spinning around

at odd intervals until falls down dizzy. To the cheers of the repubot crowd.

[lulu]

18. Picture the Sermon on the Mount

Shrub is Jesus and the people below and surrounding him are his adoring disciples.

This is just plain sick. It makes me physicall ill. We are living the Manchurian Candidate (the new one) right now!

[yellowcanine]

20. Actually more like Hitler at Nuremberg.

.

[snippy]

21. Rove keeps trying to find a way to make Bush look good.

But no matter what Rove does it is just lipstick on a pig. A lying pig.

[spanone]

22. He will still be a mindless chimp, just a different cage.

[The empressof all]

23. Walks on Water????????

Jeeze--This will look like Bush walking through a sea of the faithful. The mental visual is disturbing.

[wurzel]

24. Bush will ascend in a cloud of balloons to a chorus of Ashcroft singing

"Let the Eagle Soar"!!

[hatrack]

25. Ooh, how brave! How strong!

Such courage! Imagine - to stand on a stage surrounded by adoring cyborgs, with tens of thousands of police, Secret Service and soldiers filling the building and covering every possible approach as fighter jets roar overhead.

About as brave and strong as reaching for a Q-tip or a cold one. Fucking ridiculous.

[NightOwwl]

26. To me that says strength, that he is willing to stand out there alone"

among all the delegates. What a bunch of bull.

Where are those picture when I need them. The hands grabbing at him through a gate, and standing on a podium separated by a few hundred feet and a fence.

[murray hill farm]

27. human shield?

i think the coward needs not only a bullet proof sheild...but, put himself in the middle of the crowd so that his own delegates could provide a human sheild...hmmmmmmm! Just kidding...hehehehehehe!! But....hey...wouldnt put it past him. Might be a good cartoon.

[SpiralHawk]

28. IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR THE REPUBS

Don't forget to place an * asterisk on the pResidential seal on the rug. Watchful citizens know how concerned you are about the "truth."


* AWOL for over a year while honor-bound by solemn oath to be serving with the Texas National Guard in the 1970s; defeated by a clear majority of patriotic and discerning American voters in the 2000 election; selected to office by the "legal" system; massively AWOL, also, on 9/11 so he could waste time reading a book about a pet goat, even though he knew America was under attack.