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Do you think protests at the Republican National Convention will get out of hand?

Asked at Massachusetts Street on August 28, 2004

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Photo of Bryan Kluger

“No, they won’t get violent. There will be a lot of angry people there, but it should remain peaceful.”

Photo of Danette Guinn

“No, but if it does, it will shed a negative light on the Democratic Party.”

Photo of Brady Groothis

“I don’t think so. I think people are taking it too seriously at this point. They are protesting for peace, so violence just wouldn’t make sense.”

Photo of Chris Millspaugh

“No, I think people have kind of calmed down. It will be heated, but not out of control.”


Hi_Jinks 9 years, 6 months ago

I'm surprised today's question didn't have anything to do with thunderstorms. So few people bother to post their thoughts/opinions on this page anymore, that I guess it really doesn't matter what the question is!


lunacydetector 9 years, 6 months ago

i think that if something violent happens during the Republican convention, it will show how "radical" the Democratic Party has gotten. THEY seem to force their will on everyone already, so if they demonstrate forcefully it will only show how they believe in ruling by intimidation.

look at the freedoms removed by our city council. they are 'progressives' (democrats). do you want 4 years of our country ruled with the same idealogy of our city commission? THAT is some scary ka-ka.

that is why i sincerely think the Democratic Party has totally lost touch. it's a pity because i'd like my Party back one day.


mr_daniels 9 years, 6 months ago

p> is where I visit the most and interact with the many like-minded people there and I catch the gist of what is happening on the political street so to speak. But hey, Lawrence is the perfect place to visit on the internet because it is a "college town", with Haskell and KU. Kansas. A Republican State with Lawrence and its Liberal tinkerers keeping everyone on their political toes!

The Republican Convention convenes in New York City next week and the President will lay out his views regarding his agenda to the Nation and make his case for four more years as the President. All Citizens must know that we are a country prescribing to the notion that peace and harmony exist and that we are a country of rules and law. I have faith that everyone will be heard and that we should be thankful that we can involve ourselves in this this great Democracy that has kept us free for two hundred years and counting. It must be said, that our Constitution is the envy of the world!


davidryan 9 years, 6 months ago

I certainly hope any protests don't become violent.

The claim, though, that violence would show 'how "radical" the Democratic Party has gotten' is absolutely unwarranted.

That's the equivalent of saying that the violence against and murder of doctors by anti-abortion fanatics represents the general extremist nature of all Republicans.

In fact, the Democratic party in general has become far more moderate over the last 20 years, as the Republicans have moved from Nixonian moderateness in the 70's to the uncompromising extreme right of Tom DeLay and George Bush of today.


mrcairo 9 years, 6 months ago

Not with the Gestapo to keep them in line. The SS headed by Ashcroft and Company will beat back protestors with police batons and they will shoot anyone who says anything against the Administration.

So no, there will be no dissenting views expressed. It's against the law to express dissenting views isn't it?


Larry 9 years, 6 months ago

Isn't it funny how liberals exaggerate everything and make statements that are so preposterous that it makes you laugh.

Didn't the Gestapo have total control over all people? That sounds like something the democrats prefer - more governmental control (i.e. gun control, environment, taxes, etc). As for beating people back with batons and shooting people, come on - come up for air once in awhile.

i'm sure the liberals will be protesting and their voice will be heard around the country because the liberal press will be sure to give them their due air time.

The truth on Kerry is coming out and he is rapidly dropping in the polls. Whether you agree with Bush or not, (sometimes I don't agree with everything he says), at least we KNOW where he stands. I have no idea where Kerry stands on anything!

I assume that everything will be fine and all voices will be heard.


lunacydetector 9 years, 6 months ago

i think that the liberal idealogues run their life through emotions and NOT reason. in other words, emotions rule supreme. not a good way to run our country or our city. that is why they try to rule through intimidation. if it wasn't for conservatives, imagine what our country would be like now.

just look at how johnny kerry cannot stick to any view. one day he is this way, the next day he is the opposite. he ran on his creditentials of being a vietnam hero, yet when he had come back to the states, he stabbed ALL veterans in the back. does life begin at conception? he says yes. is it okay to kill it anyway? he says yes. he voted for the war in iraq, YET he votes to not fund this war. flip flop, flop flip. it is because he has found his female side, and he can't decide how to think, so he lets his emotions rule. what was it jack nicholson said in the movie, 'as good as it gets,' when he is questioned how he writes about women so well? he says, "I think of a man, then I take away reason and accountability."

THAT is the democratic party in a nutshell.


saidtoomuch 9 years, 6 months ago

Larry how out of touch can you be? Mrcairo's exaggerated truth was meant to make you laugh. I wouldn't expect much of a sense of humor out of you.

I just hope there is enough protesters at the rep. convention to make a clear statement. Being that if you don't believe in everything shrub decides to spit out his mouth, your not allowed anywhere near him. At least you can attend a dem. rally, even if your a rep.. I just wish both sides would just own up to the fact that we like to throw rocks back and forth (me included).

Larry let me get this straight one side tries to control and the other doesn't? What about all this talk about reinstating the draft if shrub gets reelected. Sending someone off to war, now that's a lot of control to have over a nineteen year old kid. Gun control, are you kidding me? Kids in the ghetto don't walk around with AR 15's to do some huntin. Without gun control reps. and dems. would be no better the waring muslims in the middle east.

What about the FBI being sicked on some local college kids political group? The FBI at your frontdoor, now thats intimidation. Dem's are the only one's throwing rocks. How about that tub of lard rush limbaugh attacking not only Lawrence but also Kansas just because people went down to support the dem nominee.

As far as Kerry's opinions on war are, that's exactly what they are an OPINION. At least he's been to war can't say that about shrub or any of his cronies. I don't want my hard earned tax dollars to taken by anybody, but they could at least stay in the US to benefit fellow Americans instead of spending hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild a country we just destroyed (or lining shrub's oil buddies pockets).

In the end it's not going to be dems voting for Kerry, it'll be everyone else voting to oust the present regime.


Punkin 9 years, 6 months ago

The following is quoted from Steve Weissman's 8/19/04 article in Truthout: "How Far Will Bush Go?" ( -

" So, short of a bin-Laden nuke, please do not hold your breath waiting for a Bush coup. Expect, instead, exactly what Republican pitchmen have already started to sell.

Expect an escalating campaign to terrify the public with phony Code Orange and soon Red alerts, spiced with well-timed captures of wanted terrorists and highly publicized "successes" in stopping the most horrific attacks.

Expect an increasing attempt to brand anti-Bush protestors as mini-terrorists, using police and FBI provocateurs to instigate violence, as they did so often against the Black Panthers and Vietnam Anti-War Movement.

Expect a massive effort to keep as many as three million pro-Democratic Afro-Americans, Native Americans, and non-Cuban Hispanics from voting.

And expect, as well, a few quiet attempts to rewrite computer codes on touch-screen voting systems, switching occasional Kerry votes to Mr. Bush. In a closely contested state, a handful of stolen electronic ballots could rewrite the course of history." (particular importance of open-code/paper trail emphasis in all swing states)".

See the link to


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