Thursday, January 20, 2005
From the Bleachers
In a stunning twist of irony, today I got to attend the second Inaguration of President Bush. Some of my liberal friends claim that this is a stunning lack of judgement on my part. In my defense, it was really awesome, and I'm not sorry I went. (Sorry that Bush won the election, yes, but that's an entirely different matter.)
Apparently, we know this chick who worked for the reelection in Texas and now works for Trent Lott, and she gave us unbelieveably bad-ass tickets. For those of you that watched it, right above/behind the President's head there were some bleachers with the US Naval Academy choir, some other choir and us. We were RIGHT THERE. If nothing else, it was a fantastic view of the city. Very cold, but beautiful (I had thought at one point I was overdoing it wearing four layers of clothing, but I turned out to be the only non-frozen one. And I was still cold, but it was worth it). I took like 40 blurry pictures of John Kerry. John Kerry kissing some other Senator on the cheek. The back of John Kerry's head. John Kerry with a wire in front of his face because there was a microphone in my way. Then I spent some time fantasizing about John Kerry's Inaguration, and realized that I probably wouldn't have had seats this good. (Still, had it been my choice, I'd have picked option B. Okay, liberal friends?) Then the Govenors came in, and I got some blurry pictures of the Govenator. Not as exciting as John Kerry, but I couldn't see Hillary or DiFi, so he had to do.
Then Bush came in, and I realized anew how much I dislike the man. I had sort of managed to forget the reality that this whole deal represent. Worst Campaign Phrase Ever: Freedom Is On The March. I definitely paid more attention to the protestors that his speech - it was really fun to try and find them before the police did. My favorite was the guy who just started yelling "BOO!" at the end. It reminded me of The Princess Bride.
Has anyone else noticed that Bush is starting to make lots of references to slavery? First there was that Dred Scott reference in the debates (which TNR told me was actually code for "abortion"), and then there was that whole speech today. WTF, W?
Conclusion: The whole Inaguration would have been if Bush hadn't had to speak unless he was spoken to. And I do sort of wish I had managed to take a picture zoomed in on his ass, or something else grossly inappropriate.
Apparently, we know this chick who worked for the reelection in Texas and now works for Trent Lott, and she gave us unbelieveably bad-ass tickets. For those of you that watched it, right above/behind the President's head there were some bleachers with the US Naval Academy choir, some other choir and us. We were RIGHT THERE. If nothing else, it was a fantastic view of the city. Very cold, but beautiful (I had thought at one point I was overdoing it wearing four layers of clothing, but I turned out to be the only non-frozen one. And I was still cold, but it was worth it). I took like 40 blurry pictures of John Kerry. John Kerry kissing some other Senator on the cheek. The back of John Kerry's head. John Kerry with a wire in front of his face because there was a microphone in my way. Then I spent some time fantasizing about John Kerry's Inaguration, and realized that I probably wouldn't have had seats this good. (Still, had it been my choice, I'd have picked option B. Okay, liberal friends?) Then the Govenors came in, and I got some blurry pictures of the Govenator. Not as exciting as John Kerry, but I couldn't see Hillary or DiFi, so he had to do.
Then Bush came in, and I realized anew how much I dislike the man. I had sort of managed to forget the reality that this whole deal represent. Worst Campaign Phrase Ever: Freedom Is On The March. I definitely paid more attention to the protestors that his speech - it was really fun to try and find them before the police did. My favorite was the guy who just started yelling "BOO!" at the end. It reminded me of The Princess Bride.
Has anyone else noticed that Bush is starting to make lots of references to slavery? First there was that Dred Scott reference in the debates (which TNR told me was actually code for "abortion"), and then there was that whole speech today. WTF, W?
Conclusion: The whole Inaguration would have been if Bush hadn't had to speak unless he was spoken to. And I do sort of wish I had managed to take a picture zoomed in on his ass, or something else grossly inappropriate.
