N.Y. Bush Supporters: Unite

Aw shucks! It looks as if I have to add John Fogerty to my list of former favorites along with Meryl Streep and the rest of the "dim" stars who whooped and cheered Whoopi Goldberg's disgusting anti-Bush rant at Senator Kerry's New York fund-raiser. I expected partisan remarks and denigrating remarks to be made against the president, but somehow I expected the Hollywood crowd would have more respect for the hallowed halls of our landmark Radio City Music Hall last Thursday. But this is New York City, a town that does not tolerate conservatives well. I recently stopped in at "Don't Tell Mama Cabaret" on West 46th Street. The sign out front read "Republican Riot," and I was there to watch Julia Gorin and Robert George do their conservative standup comedy routines. The room was typically small and intimate and I watched it fill up quickly as the 8:30 p.m. show time neared. I couldn't help speculating about the crowd. Most looked like typical New Yorkers and while there was a table with older women who were conservatively dressed and who fit the stereotype of the GOPer, everyone else resembled the regular crowd at any comedy club. Robert George, an editorial writer for the New York Post, led off the show by asking for a show of hands of any Republicans there. Most were indeed just that, and only two persons seated in the back admitted to being Democrats. They were also apparently under the delusion that the show was a Republican bash fest and left as soon as the jokes began. Pity, because Mr. George and Julia Gorin were quite entertaining. Their jokes were free of hate speech and were just good-natured ribbing about the idiosyncrasies of liberals. After the show, I met a man who was sporting a large Bush/Cheney 2004 button. I told him, "You're a very brave man." He answered, "Yes, and I live on the Upper West Side, too." But he confided later he'd occasionally meet people who'd come up to him and whisper, "I'm conservative, too." Why is it that the height of derringdo in New York seems to be wearing anything that supports President Bush to a movie theater show "Fahrenheit 9/11?" Dare I wear his campaign button to the Angelika Theatre or around NYU? Will I be spit at or cursed? That sounds absurd, doesn't it? Yet, given the tenor of the Kerry fund-raiser, the sycophantic praise of Michael Moore's deliberate distortion of a documentary and the unwillingness to debate its validity, it's hard to ignore the level of unbridled Bush hatred here. It is possible that our great city of diversity will sink to the level of Bainbridge Island, Wash., on July 4. This left-leaning bucolic island outside Seattle showed what can happen when Bush-bashers like Mr. Moore and other lackluster celebrities stir emotions to a fiery level. On that day, a young, wounded Iraq War veteran, Jason Gilson, was marching with his family wearing his medals and carrying a sign that read "Veterans for Bush." The announcer sarcastically said as he went by, "And what are you a veteran of?" This incited the crowd to shout at him, "Murderer. Baby Killer. Liar." I spoke with his mother, Tamar Gilson, and she said the newspapers refused to write about the incident and that it was only by sending the news through the Internet that this horrific reminder of the Vietnam era was exposed. Only after the Drudge Report posted a report on the incident from a Seattle paper did the local newspaper, the Sun, run an article, which dismissed the event as overblown. But Ms. Gilson was there. "This was not a few boo's and hisses. This was a mass degrading of a Marine and anyone who supported our president," she said. "The cussing, obscene gestures, name-calling, and boos came from the majority. To say any different is a blatant lie. I am sure there is much video of this event that would tell the true story." We have as much chance of seeing that video as we have of the video of last week's Kerry fund-raiser. But that man wearing the Bush button inspired me to send away for a "W" cap, a Bush/Cheney 2004 button, and a yard sign for my house. The Young Republican clubs should be exhorting their members to show external signs of support for the administration. If someone dares to confront me, I'll give them the following facts: Mr. Bush liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled Al Qaeda, put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran, and North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist dictator who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people. He may not be glib or articulate, but he's doing a great job. The economy is booming, unemployment is down, and Mr. Bush wants to make tax cuts permanent. So why on earth would I support Mr. Kerry, who cares more about what the world thinks of us than about what's good for us? Anyone wishing to send a note of support to Jason Gilson can e-mailpatrioticfamily@hotmail.com