|
NEWS
| October 13, 2004
Student Organizations
Republicans schedule pro-Bush rally
The event intends to clear up
confusion about the Bush administration.
By Jessica
Smith and Jessica Freeman
The Shorthorn Staff
In response to plans for a Nov. 1 march
by the Student Peace Action Network, the College Republicans have
scheduled a pro-Bush rally.
College Republicans President Kat Miller said the rally is intended
to reach out to voters on the eve of the presidential election and
let them know the facts about the Bush administration, its record
and positions on the issues. The time and location have not been
set, she said.
The Student Peace Action Network, in conjunction with the University
Democrats and Students for Nader, is also planning a march the day
before the election from noon to 2 p.m. on the Central Library mall.
In response to the conservative organization’s plans, University
Democrats President Carl Blair said he respected the network’s
right to free speech and assembly but not its efforts.
“If they are so sure that they will sweep all the polls why
are they acting so desperate?” he said in an e-mail interview.
Miller defended the plans and criticized previous actions by the
University Democrats including wearing T-shirts with profane language
directed toward the president at the Sept. 23 Rock the Vote event,
as well as the idea of the University Democrats assisting organizations
that support vote-stealing candidates like Ralph Nader.
“We’re not being desperate,” she said. “We’re
using a common and very effective tactic.”
Miller said her organization acts with a degree of decorum and doesn’t
use tactics like anti-Bush organizations do because, as the fastest
growing federated College Republicans chapter in Texas, they don’t
have to.
Blair went on to say that he thinks the pro-Bush rally’s participants
will call Kerry a flip-flopper and Bush a strong leader for his
actions after Sept. 11 and the invasion of Iraq that “has
alienated the Muslim world.” Miller, in response, said the
rally will focus on issues other than Iraq and thinks that the reason
these groups hate Bush is because of opposition to the war.
Blair also attacked the Republican platform.
“How do you run a campaign when all you have is a record to
run from?” he said. “You attack the patriotism and morality
of your opponents, and use wedge issues, like gay marriage and stem
cell research, to divide the American people.”
|
| |
| “If
they are so sure they will sweep all the polls why are
they acting so desperate?”
Carl Blair
University Democrats president |
|
| |
| “We’re
not being
desperate. We’re using a
common and very effective tactic.”
Kat Miller,
College Republicans president |
|
|
