Compare President Bush’s stump speeches to this..
Posted : October 12, 2004 at 5:35 pm [America/Los_Angeles]
President Harry S. Truman delivers a “whistlestop” campaign speech in Galesburg, Illinois (05/08/1950)
One would look at this picture and say, “So, what’s great here. Looks pretty mundane to me”. Well, notice the audience. Average Joe! Anybody who was somebody could attend a stump speech of President Truman back then. You were not screened. And you certainly were not made to sign an endorsement!
Today, it’s a whole different ballgame!
The crowds amplify the differences, too. Tickets to Bush events, distributed by the Republican Party, go only to those who volunteer or donate to the party or, in some cases, sign an endorsement of the GOP ticket and provide names and addresses; party workers police the crowds for signs of Kerry supporters, who have been evicted. The Bush crowds tend to be a mix of religious conservatives and businessmen. Kerry’s campaign, too, distributes tickets, often through labor unions, although there is little effort made to determine ideological purity. “I trust nobody here had to sign a loyalty oath to get in,” Kerry likes to say before taking questions from the crowd.
- Anand
Category: United (or not) State of American Politics 2004