by Nathan Baca
Staff Writer
Presidential candidate George W. Bush opened the Los Angeles County Fair with a speech delivered to hundreds of fellow Republicans who waited for hours in the draining afternoon heat to see in person the man they hope will move into the White House next January.
The Texas governor visited Pomona as part of a Sept. 14 sweep through Southern California in a concerted effort to carry the state for his ticket.
“It is such an honor to take part in this festival of life and family,” said Bush as he spoke to the crowd thrusting a multitude of signs skyward in the hopes that their candidate would notice.
Bush did notice one sign that read, “Gov. Bush, don’t give up on California!” Bush pointed at the sign and with a grin yelled back, “We’re going to win California!”
If Bush and running mate Richard Cheney are to take the state’s 56 electoral votes, they and the Republican Party are betting on their strategy of courting the increasingly important Hispanic vote, having visited the state nearly 20 times during his candidacy.
All one needed to do was listen to the sounds drifting around the political rally before Bush arrived at the Heritage Farm at the Fairplex to understand the strenuous effort being made by the Bush campaign to promote an atmosphere of diversity.
After a stretch of country music, “La Bamba” and “Livin’ La Vida Loca” blared over the loudspeakers. Waging a battle of the bands, Cambodian Americans for Bush, a collection of businessmen and civil servants, danced to the beat of their own drums.
Yet even the music was drowned out by the hundreds of voices that searched for another in the crowd to either argue against or commonly praise their chosen man. One man in particular found a way for his voice to be heard above the rest by yelling at the top of his lungs at the gathering of local and national media that had assembled to cover the event.
When asked what had inclined him to vent his rage on a group of photographers, Libertarian David Plummer said after catching his breath, “Because all you [the media] do is say one thing and then distort it. This entire race has been a media whitewash for Gore.” His words gathered a crowd of his own, intent on hearing his condemnation of the past eight years of President Clinton’s leadership, an administration he claimed stood for nothing but “taxation and bureaucracy.”
When questioned further why he was not supporting the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate, Harry Browne, Plummer echoed the words of many third-party voters in stating that in order “not to waste his vote” he would rather “vote for the lesser of two evils.”
Other Bush supporters actively searched for anybody with media credentials to offer their thoughts on important campaign issues. The topic of private school vouchers struck a chord with many in the audience. Ed Gonzalez, who came from Long Beach for the rally, likened the issue to the debate over the Montgomery GI Bill that sent America’s soldiers to any college of their choice with federal funds after service in the armed forces.
Others supported Bush for topics that are often not regarded as major issues. The California League of Offroad Voters brought its members to support the Republicans due to their disagreement with how the current administration “misuses land” by declaring it federally protected, thereby making private usage of that land regulated.
Sar Sithan had joined his fellow Cambodian Americans in their musical entertainment for the crowd. Sithan explained that his support for Gov. Bush came in appreciation of what former President George Bush did for the Cambodian nation.
Though Sithan praised the accomplishments of President Bush, he was silent when asked whether he would support Bush if the Republican nominee’s last name was Smith.
Bush himself covered a wide range of issues in his 10-minute speech. He emphasized that with a Bush once again in the White House, he would get the government to “Empower the individual to realize their God-given abilities.” He then said, “I will rebuild the military.” At the end of his speech, Gov. Bush practiced the oath of office in front of the gathering, pledging, “I swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States, so help me God.”
Seconds after Bush made his pledge, two people in the crowd elected to exercise their First Amendment rights of free speech by raising blue signs that read, “Gore-Lieberman 2000.” Those signs did not remain raised for long as six rally supporters promptly surrounded the protesters and tore the signs from their hands before destroying them. The crowd of hundreds dispersed shortly after Bush went back on the bus to head to San Diego for an appearance at Charles Lindbergh Airport later that day. The ground was littered with many papers that had been discarded as trash. Beside the torn remains of the blue signs that had been taken from the protesters were other political brochures that had been carried by the crowd to fan themselves off in the heat.
Whether or not Bush upholds the Constitutional promises of defending the rights stated in those brochures of life, liberty, and property for the people of Texas, or of the entire United States, will be decided this November.
Nathan Baca
