- At midday on the third floor of the skyscraper New Yorker
Hotel, across the street from Madison Square Garden where the Republican
National Convention ran for most of last week, Colorado evangelist Ted
Beckett is greeting the party faithful and treating them to a little bit
of cinema history: the screening of the film, George W Bush Faith
In The White House.
-
- His film, like the President's performance some 10 hours
later at the finale of the convention, sends Republicans into raptures.
"This nation, under George W Bush," says Beckett, "has a
mandate from the Lord to be the world's policeman.
-
- "The President is a born-again Christian. I support
him as a by- product of his faith.
-
- "He stands for a strong morality and family values
which are under attack in America from the likes of the homo sexual community.
President Bush is a man's man. He runs three times a day. He's put respect
back into the Oval Office. He doesn't go to his work without a shirt and
tie, he makes sure people are on time for meetings there's no dress-down
Friday in his White House.
-
- "The love that we can all see between himself and
his family shows that he does what he espouses he talks the talk
and he walks the walk. Under President Bush, this nation is protecting
the free world just like we did back in the 1940s. Remember, if it wasn't
for us, you Brits would be talking Sprechen zie Deutsche."
-
- Chrissie Nicolle had dropped by to watch the movie. "President
Bush has dignity, he is honest and he has brought class back to American
politics after the disgrace of the Clintons. He's a spiritual person and
it's important to Americans for their politics to be combined with a belief
in God. We can't separate God from such a noble endeavour as leading the
United States," she said.
-
- To many in the world outside the convention probably
to most outside America the appeal Bush undoubtedly has, is difficult
to fathom. Here, though, it is obvious. Time and again, the President is
portrayed as a straight-talking, down-to-earth guy with guts; an old-fashioned
type of fellow who does the right thing, tells it how it is and is there
looking out for America and for freedom and liberty. Above all, everyone
can see that he is a good God-fearing Christian.
-
-
- In the Tick Tock Diner on the corner of West 34th Street
and Eighth Avenue, directly across the road from Madison Square Garden,
Ann Bunting has just freaked out. She thinks that Michael Moore is lurking
three tables away listening to her hold forth on God, guns and government.
-
- Sure, the guy's fat, wears a baseball cap and has a straggly
beard, but anyone can see that he isn't the Fahrenheit 9/11 director. Being
stalked by the likes of Moore isn't the only thing that Ann's a bit paranoid
about Canada, socialism, the democrats, the liberals she has to deal
with in everyday life, gun control, abortion, stem-cell research, gay marriage,
terrorism Ann's list of phobias, hates and fears seems to stretch
on like a New York street.
-
- The former lawyer and college English teacher is here
with her husband Bill, a gun instructor who owns a personal arsenal of
some 75 weapons including German Lugers from the second world war. They're
up in New York from Florida where Bill is a Republican county chairman
that makes him a pretty big wheel in the party and he's proud to
be a delegate to the 2004 Convention. With them are two young Republicans
from Nebraska. They are dressed in neat blazers, ties and slacks despite
the broiling New York weather and sport very proper haircuts for 17-year-olds.
-
- For the record, the Buntings say, they are fairly mainstream
in the party. In fact, they used to be Democrats until the likes
of Hillary Clinton came along. "That woman wants to chip away at our
second amendment rights," says Bill. The second amendment to the US
constitution guarantees citizens the right to keep and bear arms.
-
- Bill says Americans need guns because "an armed
populace doesn't have to worry about a government getting too big and over-running
us". Ann chips in: "The second amendment ensures our personal
freedom. In order to be free, you have to be armed. It's a question of
independence, self-protection, self-assertion, self-con fidence. It's basic
to being an American." These are themes Ann will return to many times
over.
-
- To Bill, liberal politicians like Hillary Clinton are
betraying the spirit of America. "When they put their hand on the
Bible and swear to uphold the constitution of the United States of America,
they can't pick and choose which amendments they like and which they don't,"
he says.
-
- Most Republicans feel victimised by what they see as
the left. ''A lot of these Democrats and protesters need to recognise that
we have a voice too," says Ann. "Their notion of tolerance is
hypocritical. My liberal so-called colleagues at school don't want to tolerate
my conservative tradition. They get all upset that I think I should have
the right to carry a gun onto campus."
-
- Bill adds: ''The liberals can't step on our rights or
take them away.
-
- "I don't want them living off our backs because
we make more money. We worked for our money. They can have their liberal
agenda but they better goddamn well get out there and work for themselves.''
-
- But what drives these Republicans more than their anger
at the "left", more than the obsession with personal freedom
and even more than their unshakeable conviction that they have the right
to carry a gun, is the certain belief that God is on their side.
-
- "Our founding fathers," says Bill, "based
the constitution on Judaeo-Christian values. If you look at our coins they
say 'In God We Trust'. God is mentioned everywhere. What we now have is
a country divided.
-
- "The atheists have their beliefs and that's fine
with me, but don't try and force that agenda on these young people sitting
here," he says gesturing to the young Republicans from Nebraska. "That
is exactly what is going on and we are not going to accept that change.
-
-
- Across the road in the convention the delegates are told
by Ronald Reagan's son, Michael, that God had a special plan for this nation.
Images of the US as a New Jerusalem are constantly summoned up one
favourite and over-used metaphor being America as a "shining city
on a hill".
-
- Later, the biggest cheers for George Bush's speech on
Thursday the whistles, the yee-has and the standing ovations
come as the President hits the theme of morality. "Because a caring
society will value its weakest members, we must make a place for the unborn
child. Because religious charities provide a safety net of mercy and compassion,
our government must never discriminate against them. Because the union
of a man and a woman deserves an honoured place in our society, I support
the protection of marriage against activist judges."
-
- Bush goes to great lengths to contrast his values with
those of his Democratic opponent John Kerry. Where the Democrats at their
convention had avoided attacking Bush, the Republicans beat the daylights
out of Kerry for four full days. He is characterised as a politician of
higher taxes, of being a leftist radical while Bush is a man of caring,
compassionate conservatism. Each time his name is mentioned, the Republican
delegates boo fit to shake the rafters of Madison Square Garden and swing
their arms from side to side like windscreen wipers chanting "flip-flop,
flip-flop", mocking Kerry's supposed change of heart over the Iraq
war.
-
- "In this world of change, some things do not change:
the values we try to live by, the institutions that give our lives meaning
and purpose,'' Bush tells the faithful. "Our society rests on a foundation
of responsibility and character and family commitment.''
-
- As the crowd cheer him to the echo, the song Put A Little
Love In Your Heart blares over the PA and New York Cardinal Edward Egan
gives the closing benediction a prayer for America. He gives thanks
to God for the wonder of America, for the fact that Americans "are
the creatures of your hand, fashioned in your image". He offers up
prayers for the unborn child, for the President, for the Vice-President,
for the policeman, the firefighter and the soldier "in lands across
the sea".
-
- "Lord of all," says Egan, "we are Your
children, 'one nation under God', a people called to be a light of righteousness
in a troubled world, a city set on a mountain-top from which all mankind
might draw strength, inspiration and hope. Help us to measure up to this
wondrous calling, this unique vocation, as You send us forth from this
place in peace, justice, compassion, virtue and holiness, now and forever.
Amen."
-
- These delegates are all singing from the same hymn sheet.
From the Yukon to the Panhandle, they are behind Bush 100% they had
bought the vision and they want to see it continue. And that vision comes
wrapped in the down-home values of middle America.
-
-
- At the end of the convention, with the entire audience
at Madison Square Garden on its feet and cheering, as the red, white and
blue confetti, ribbons, balloons and streamers fall to the floor, First
Lady Laura Bush walks on to the circular stage embossed with the Presidential
seal with the Bushes' twin daughters. Then comes Barbara Bush, the President's
mum; his dad, former president George Bush Sr. The message is clear: this
is a man of family values; just like all those voters in the American heartlands.
-
- ''Laura Bush is talented, she's a good mother and a good
wife. I can't find a fault with her and I try to emulate her as a wife,''
says Carole McLean, one of the publicists at the screening of George W
Bush Faith In The White House.
-
- "George Bush seems powerful, strong and masculine,"
she says. "And he's also pretty cute.
-
- "I've often thought to myself 'damn what a catch'.
We're about the same age and I wondered to myself 'where was I when he
was single'?
-
- Jenny Haning, a fashion student from Texas dressed in
red, white and blue knee boots topped off with a stetson and a star-spangled
neckerchief, says she adores her Commander-in-Chief. "He'll protect
us, he'll cut taxes and benefit businesses, he dealt with Iraq and he is
taking a stand against abortion, stem-cell research and gay marriage. Gay
marriage, you know, has been the cause of the fall of several civilisations
over the course of history. And he stood up to France that country
had deals with Saddam Hussein."
-
- And of course, Iraq looms large over this convention,
not as a difficult problem with which Bush has to grapple is there
anyone in this hall who really cares that those weapons of mass destruction
remain as elusive as ever? but as the ultimate evidence that this
is a President prepared to make those hard decisions to make the world
a safer place.
-
- An audience that was at times awed, at times hysterical
with support, and at times visibly moved, listened as their President told
them: "To everything we know there is a season; a time for sadness,
a time for struggle, a time for rebuilding. And we know we have reached
a time for hope. This young century will be liberty's century. By promoting
liberty abroad, we will build a safer world. By encouraging liberty at
home, we will build a more hopeful America."
-
- His presidency was "staying on the offensive, striking
terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at home". And
his presidency "would prevail". Afghanistan, Iraq, the disarmament
of Libya, the fight against terrorism by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were
all hailed as great victories for and by America. "We have led, many
have joined, and America and the world are safer." Bush was telling
his audience and America that these are times of terror and fear, but he
would make them safe; he would protect them.
-
- The war on terror was not a war for oil, power or empire,
according to the Bush message, but instead a war in pursuit of global liberty.
-
- "The terrorists know that a vibrant, successful
democracy at the heart of the Middle East will discredit their radical
ideology of hate. They know that men and women with hope and purpose and
dignity do not strap bombs on their bodies and kill the innocent Freedom
is their greatest fear and they should be afraid, because freedom is on
the march."
-
- When the fiery rhetoric is done, Bush turns on his folksy
charm and easy sentimentality. He makes jokes at his own expense
"I have a few flaws," he says, "some folks look at me and
see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called 'walking'." People
in the audience cry when he speaks of "returning the salute of the
wounded soldiers", "holding the children of the fallen",
"meeting with parents and wives and husbands who have received a folded
flag". "In those military families, I have seen the character
of a great nation: decent and idealistic and strong." He was describing
what his audience saw in him.
-
- Linda White, an Arizona delegate with the words Blondes
For Bush emblazoned across her T-shirt says simply: "I love my President."
So does the rest of the crowd. Each time a speaker endorses Bush or calls
for his re-election, the crowd goes wild chanting "USA, USA"
or else they hold four fingers in the air, and wave their hands back and
forth like a salute, yelling "Four more years, four more years".
-
- What gets them most is the repeated image of Bush three
days after the World Trade Centre attack, standing with his arm around
a firefighter and a bullhorn in his hand shouting: "I can hear you,
the whole world can hear you and pretty soon the people who knocked those
buildings down will hear you." The Republicans say it is his Churchill
moment his "we will fight them on the beaches" speech.
It is the moment when, to the Republicans at least, Bush became the true
leader of the free world.
-
-
- To the Republicans, Bush is power. Mike Brown, a bodybuilding
attorney from Long Island, clad in a Stars And Stripes sweatshirt, is sweaty
and ecstatic as he leaves Madison Square Garden minutes after Bush ends
his rabble-rousing speech. "He was purposeful, strong and vibrant,"
says Brown. "He's a real man a real leader. He gave us the message
we wanted to hear, and that message is that he has made America strong
and four more years will make America even stronger still. He's a great
guy. I'm a real fan of President George W Bush."
|
