The Commies are Coming

Oct 12, 2004 by oso

So it’s about noon and you’re at work dejected at the prospect of yet another slice of pizza while listening to your office mate’s explanation of why he’s right and his wife is wrong.

Well fear not my fellow San Diegans, today’s lunch break brings you something a little brighter. SD Blogger Reza Torkzadeh just sent me this email:

Presidential candidate Ralph Nader will be speaking
at 1:00 pm today, October 12th at the
San Diego Public Library Auditorium, 820 ‘E’ Street, downtown San Diego.
Come hear him speak on why he is running.
A question and answer session will follow his presentation so whether
you support him or think his candidacy will lead to 4 more years of
the Bush administration
come on down and speak your mind!!

The event is free and open to the public.

Michael Moore will also be speaking this evening at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. That event, however, has already sold out. I’ll try to post some pictures tomorrow.

Update: Ralph Nader Discusses Blogs (4:39 p.m.)

Much of Nader’s speech concerned corporate control of the media. A member of the audience asked if blogging might change this in the future and Nader nodded his head in recognition. He then said:

“Yeah you know, we should probably have a blog on our own site. My problem is that I still use a manual typewriter [laughter] so I have to tell my staff, ‘let’s get this done.’”

It was clear that the audience was much more familiar with weblogs than Nader himself.

Leave A Comment
In: San Diego Events

route66
wrote on
October 16, 2004

Letter to the SDUT editor from Differing views on Moore’s appearance:

My wife and I were asked to represent the Republican Party and register voters at the Michael Moore event. The request came from a representative of the associated student body at Cal State University San Marcos, who also asked
representatives from the Democratic Party to do the same. In accepting, we did not realize we would be subjected to insults, hate and ridicule from the people attending. What has happened to common courtesy?

The great majority of people attending, who were supporters of Sen. John Kerry and Moore, were hateful to us just for our being there. Wasn’t this an event open to everyone?

Some shouted, others more forcefully accosted us, saying “What are you doing here?,” “You are in the wrong place,” “Get out of here, you idiots,” and many more hateful diatribes.

We were authorized to be there by the event sponsors. At no time did either of us make any negative remarks to them. We simply held our “Republicans Register To Vote” signs and were available to register anyone regardless of their political choice.

However, our fundamental right to be there was challenged by an angry crowd who came to hear Moore make the false claim that the Republican Party wants to take away free speech from the citizens of this country. They exercised their freedom to speak but wanted us thrown out because we were exercising ours. We respect their different political point of view but their hate and disrespect for ours have no place in the political process of this country. It is time we
return to civility and respect for our differing views.

JAMES and LOUISE MCMILLEN
Oceanside

Mark Holmes
wrote on
October 20, 2004

That’s an interesting comment, James and Louise, and one that saddens me. While your experience is indeed troubling, I have to compare it with people who have been arrested by the Secret Service at visiting Presidential events for wearing Pro Life and Kerry buttons. These are not private events funded by the Republican party, but public events, paid for by the taxpayer that every American has a right to attend. I also think of people who have been arrested on the streets of NY and detained illegally for demonstrating peacefully at the time of the Republican Conference. It is all a demonstration about how divided this country has become. I have to ask myself, who has divided it?