Rocky’s Protesting Highly Unpopular With GOP

Today’s news has pieces where Utah GOP asks backers to call Rocky and object to his protest.

The Utah Republican Party is asking its supporters to call Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and tell him they disapprove of his scheduled participation Wednesday in an anti-war rally preceding a visit by President Bush. The party put out radio ads Monday asking people to call Anderson and “tell him to stop embarrassing Utah.” The mayor’s office had received 183 calls by late afternoon. The office hired three temporary workers to staff the phone lines, and they took calls from throughout Utah and even some from out of state, one of the temporary workers said.

What a waste of time and money.

Hartley said he wasn’t concerned about the extra cost to the mayor’s office for hiring people to answer the phones.
“If that encumbers the city that he represents at all, I’d say that’s Rocky’s fault,” Hartley said. “I have no sympathy for him if his office has to incur some financial responsibility to take all the phone calls from people who don’t like what he’s doing.”
Hartley’s radio ad tells listeners that Sheehan’s beliefs are anti-American and that her “cut-and-run strategy” is an effort “to convince you that America should retreat.” Ads started running Monday with heavy play in Utah’s rural counties, where residents are “hopping mad this man is representing our state to the world,” Hartley said.

Senator Bob Bennett says that he believes that everyone, including Anderson, should have respect for the office of the U.S. president. “Rocky has made a serious mistake” by calling for protests against Bush during the president’s visit, Bennett said.

Well, first, Rocky didn’t call for the protest, average citizens did. And believe me there are folks involved in organizing this rally who have never been involved before, a reflection of the dissatisfaction of citizens in Bush’s Administration. And while I might agree with Mr. Bennett that “everyone” should respect the office of U.S. president, “everyone” should also be taught to respect all exsitence, not “offices”. I do not agree that “everyone” needs to respect Mr. Bush the war criminal and fabricator of facts to the American Public. The man needs to be impeached and indicted and this will be a display of that demand and an expression of Utahns dissatisfaction of such. These actions are the “respectful” and rightful way to demonstrate this.

It astounds me that Republicans are making such a big fuss over this – and going to lengths to spend their party money on radio ads and paid telephone petitioners – telling their followers how to protest. I tend to think that members of this party are afraid – of the medai attention that rarely happens with Utah’s small activist community – but that is likely to put Salt Lake on the map again this year.