Billionaires for Bush

What a day. It seems like all of Manhattan below 23rd st belongs to protest marches. It is all incredibly creative and inspiring, and even the police, who are out in force, seem to be having a good time. People are energized, the atmosphere is safe, and the signs are great.

Nothing evaporates cynicism and resignation like a good protest march. In fact, I am happy to have attended, even if it gets trivialized by the media and ignored by the Republicans. Of course, you've all heard that more people have been arrested during protests here in New York before the convention has even opened than were arrested during the whole of the Democratic convention, but of course, we're a much bigger city. I wonder what folks outside the city will make it all mean (or will they even care).

It is hard to describe how dislocated the city feels. The streets are either eerily quiet, or they are completely packed with people. Most cars in a huge area around the marches have been cleared (unheard of!), which makes the avenues and side streets seem bizarrely wide. The density of the police on the ground, and the frequency with which massed cavalcades of police (in vans, or on motor scooters) roar down the avenues, sirens blaring, is astonishing. It is at least as strange as Y2K, 9/11, or the big blackout. The feeling is not one of danger, but of out-of-the-ordinariness. In the middle of the commercial universe, stores are shut down, and consumers are not consuming.

I attended the Billionaires for Bush rally in Madison Square Park (for non-NY'ers, that is nowhere near Madison Square Garden, where the RNC convention is being held). There were pearls and top hats everywhere. The speeches were worthy of Roosevelt (Teddy, of course).
From their website:

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And it is early yet. If you're interested, my entire day's digital effluent is online at unclebrad.com.