[Marxism] Dick Cheney gets booed at Yankee Stadium

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/seidman07012004/
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Take Me Out to the Antiwar Ballgame
By Derek Seidman

Dick Cheney was able to score a hot ticket to see the biggest rivalry in 
baseball when he attended the Yankees-Red Sox game on Wednesday. The 
vice president even made his way into the locker room before the game to 
mumble at a few players. It was a proud moment for Yankee coach Joe 
Torre, who told the press, “It’s great any time a dignitary like that 
visits. It slaps you with pride.”

Come the seventh inning stretch, it was Cheney’s turn to get slapped.

As decked-out fans stood up with a patriotic anthem blaring from the 
speakers, The New York Times reports:

“During the singing of “God Bless America” in the seventh inning, an 
image of Cheney was shown on the scoreboard. It was greeted with booing, 
so the Yankees quickly removed the image.” (“Cheney Pays Visit to 
Stadium,” July 1)

What is going on here? Isn’t baseball America’s greatest pastime? Aren’t 
sports events the epitomizing expression of mindless patriotism? The 
vice president getting booed down in Yankees stadium during a time of 
war? Isn’t this the same stadium where George Bush threw out the first 
pitch after 9/11 and was showered with glorious praise alongside Rudy 
Giuliani?

And all this in the same week that Fahrenheit 9/11 is the number one 
film in the country, smashing records and selling out theaters in places 
like Mobile, Alabama and Fayetteville, North Carolina (the home of Fort 
Bragg).

The Right, so used to having an iron lock on the pulse of mainstream 
political discourse, is fuming over it all. With all the means at its 
disposal, it is becoming powerless to halt the flood of doubt, 
curiosity, and criticism arising from the American people. The latest 
New York Times/CBS news poll found “Mr. Bush’s approval rating at 42 
percent … the lowest level of his presidency” (“Bush’s Rating Falls to 
Its Lowest Point, New Survey Finds,” June 29).

The article reporting the results of the poll continues:

“The poll found Americans stiffening their opposition to the Iraq war, 
worried that the invasion could invite domestic terrorist attacks and 
skeptical about whether the White House has been fully truthful about 
the war or about abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison.

“About 60 percent of respondents said they disapproved of Mr. Bush’s 
Iraq policy, while just over 50 percent said they disapproved of his 
foreign policy. Those disapproval figures are the highest measured in 
his presidency on those subjects.”

Furthermore, the poll revealed that the question of whether “Mr. Bush 
did not care about the ‘needs and problems of people like you’ edged up 
to 42 percent from 36 percent in March. More than 50 percent said that 
Mr. Bush did not have the same priorities for the country as they did.”

You’d think John Kerry, who’s neck-in-neck with Bush in all the polls, 
would be capitalizing on it all. However:

“40 percent of Americans say they do not have an opinion about Senator 
John Kerry, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, despite what 
have been both parties’ earliest and most expensive television 
advertising campaigns.

“Among those who do have an opinion, Mr. Kerry is disliked more than he 
is liked. More than 50 percent of respondents said that Mr. Kerry says 
what he thinks voters want to hear”

With the fiasco in Iraq among other things, people are sensing that 
something is horribly wrong with the direction the country’s going in. 
This sentiment is being reflected in all kinds of places, some mentioned 
above. It seems that the center of political gravity is moving in a 
progressive direction, despite the efforts of the Right, the Democrats, 
and the corporate media. You would think the nominee of the supposed 
opposition party would get a clue. Considering that he and his ilk are 
game to the bipartisan consensus over the need to “stay the course” in 
Iraq, this is not likely.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Derek Seidman lives in New York City and is co-editor of Left Hook. Give 
him feedback at derekseidman@xxxxxxxxxx


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