cannabisnews.com: U.S. Political Reformers Plan Shadow Conventions





U.S. Political Reformers Plan Shadow Conventions
Posted by FoM on June 25, 2000 at 22:38:02 PT
By David Morgan
Source: Entertainment Reuters
Claiming this summer's Republican national convention will be little more than a party infomercial, a group of Hollywood entertainers, activists and politicians plan to offer substance to the public with their own Shadow Convention a few miles away.With barely a month to go before delegates arrive in Philadelphia for the July 31-Aug. 3 fete, the group has dismissed both the Republican and Democratic conventions as stage productions complete with scripts and choreography.
Critics say the Republican convention will likely hold few surprises. Texas Gov. George W. Bush has been waiting since the March primaries to be nominated formally, and his choice for vice president may be announced a week or more ahead of time.Party members also hope to avoid the bruising pre-convention abortion debate of years past, while Bush aides have been hard at work crafting a feel-good convention agenda to emphasize the Texas governor's devotion to ``compassionate'' conservatism.Even the main television networks are drastically cutting coverage for both conventions.``The Democratic and Republican conventions physically demonstrate the problem in American politics today. They are being sponsored by major corporate soft money, and they are determined to have no controversy,'' said Scott Harshbarger, president of Common Cause, the Washington-based watchdog group.Enter Shadow Conventions 2000, billed as an all-out public-interest forum that will be held in Philadelphia during the Republican convention, and again in Los Angeles later in August during the Democratic convention.Sponsored by interest groups such as Common Cause, United for a Fair Economy, Public Campaign, the National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, and George Soros' Lindesmith Center, the Shadow Conventions will spotlight issues largely ignored by the main parties: poverty, the social cost of the government's war on drugs, and campaign finance reform.Arizona Sen. John McCain, who sought the Republican presidential candidacy by focusing on public disaffection with politics, will be given a high-profile role at the main convention. But he is also due to speak at the Shadow Convention about finance reform.Entertainers including Bill Maher, host of TV's ''Politically Incorrect'', comedian Al Franken, actor Ron Silver and satirist Harry Shearer will help produce daily political satire.Their overriding aim is for a presentation that pierces the public relations image of American politics with genuine debate. They promise, for instance, that their four-day agenda will concentrate on the hard facts of life that trouble ordinary Americans at a time of unprecedented economic growth.Fill A Vacuum:When the Democratic and Republican conventions turn to citizens who have benefited from the economy, the Shadow Conventions will feature working families that cannot make ends meet. When Bush and his Democratic counterpart, Vice President Al Gore, speak about children, the spotlight will shift to those whose parents are imprisoned in the war on drugs.``Our idea is to use the vacuum of the conventions,'' said Arianna Huffington, TV political pundit, columnist and a former Republican insider, who will host both parties' Shadow Conventions.``Given the number of articles pointing out how scripted and meaningless the conventions are going to be, 15,000 media are still going to descend on both of them -- waiting for something to happen.''The main parties seem unconcerned about being upstaged.``We're planning a vibrant and exciting four-day convention,'' said Republican convention spokesman Tim Fitzpatrick. ``Anytime you get a media gathering like this, people are going to want to make their voices heard. We certainly recognize and respect their First Amendment right to do so.''Organizers hope the Shadow Convention will draw 1,000 attendees to a venue near the University of Pennsylvania, a few miles from the glittering sports arena in South Philadelphia that will be the main Republican venue.There will be an Internet Web cast, and organizers hope for TV coverage from the main broadcast networks as well as cable-TV channels, including C-SPAN. Philadelphia (Reuters) Posted: June 25, 2000Copyright © 2000 Reuters Limited. Related Articles & Web Sites:D2KLA http://d2kla.org/C-Spanhttp://www.c-span.org/The Lindesmith Centerhttp://www.lindesmith.org/The Soros Foundation Networkhttp://www.soros.org/Arianna Onlinehttp://www.ariannaonline.com/OverThrow The Governmenthttp://www.overthrowthegov.com/Mobilization to Protest the Democratic Conventionhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5962.shtmlThe War On Drugs: Just Say No Morehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5922.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on June 26, 2000 at 06:03:15 PT:
Something badly needed
Given the cookie-cutter performances of both major parties this year, and the reluctance of them broaching any kind of *real* issues for fear of upsetting their corporate masters, this Shadow Convention will be of enormous value. I only hope C-SPAN does cover it; it'll be well worth the time. 
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