Bush Legacy Tour

TWIN CITIES, MN, DAY 4 RNC- Our last day at the RNC was significantly calmer than the previous three. We parked the bus at the Peace Picnic at Harriet Island all day and joined in the festivities. The bus was parked in the center of the action and we had a lot of visitors. Three hundred people came through easily.  The picnic attendees were there to call attention to the War in Iraq and advocate for a responsible pullout of the troops and a foreign policy in the future that thinks before they bomb. The bus was very well received by the picnic attendees but it was not without its critics in the park as a whole. At one point in the day several tour buses pulled up with RNC delegates who were at the park briefly to attend an event. They poured out of their buses right next to ours and about a dozen delegates came on the bus. It is difficult to say whether or not they knew what the bus was actually about but they quietly explored the exhibits inside. On the outside of the bus several of the delegates were more vocal including Illinois State Senator David Luechtefeld who expressed his disapproval of the bus.

We had a number of vets come through the bus that expressed their concerns over the Iraq War.  Here are just a few of the stories of the many veterans against the war and their families that came through the bus today…

Bill Habedank Jody Inlow Wayne Inlow

TWIN CITIES, Day 3 RNC-The Bush Legacy Tour covered a lot of ground in the Twin Cities today.  Today was a special day because we were in the company of Thad Ludwiczak who had won our online contest to spend a day on the bus. Thad is local to St. Paul and owns a small business that does direct mail. He has been following the bus online since we kicked off the tour. We warned Thad that he was in for fly-by- the seat of your pants kind of day and he was more than patient with all of the changes and additions to the “schedule.”  He rolled with us the whole day, went to every stop, and was a lot of fun!

We started our morning like thousands of red-blooded Americans do every day at the Mall of America.  We had a an event at 10am in the parking lot there and no sooner than we started to set up the mall cops asked us to move. We cooperated and moved to the area across the parking lot where the rest of the tour buses were.  Seeing as we were set up along-side tour buses of the exact same size we thought we would be ok. We decided to park there for a while, especially considering three of our staff were inside shopping.   We were there for about 5 minutes and had not set up any of our exterior accoutrements and the mall cops came back told us that we needed to leave. This was especially ironic because our bus was literally parked alongside of four or five buses that had signs saying “Republican Delegates in the windshield.” The locals that I spoke to later on in the day about this were especially enraged about us being thrown out given the fact that the mall gets huge subsidies from  the taxpayers unlike most malls that operate completely privately.  It s the mall’s loss, we were going to spend a lot of money on Orange Julius’s and things from As Seen On TV.

After being thrown out of the mall we regrouped and eventually made our way to Gopher country at the University of Minnesota. We stop at “the U” and opened up the bus for an hour or so. We had a great response from the students who had just started back to class and were happy to have a distraction. We then packed up and headed over  to the True Blue Minnesota movie screen that was set up on a major boulevard in St. Paul. The huge screen, the size and height of billboard was showing non-stop progressive films and video clips.  They had been showing videos from the Bush Legacy Bus all week, which we were excited to find out. They popped in a couple of our videos while we had the bus parked there. We stayed for about an hour and let people on the bus. The highlight was a delegate with a McCain/Palin button on that put $5 in the donation jar. Keeping with our intense schedule we rolled out after and hour and went to another event at Golden’s Deli where they were showing a screening of the Iraq Inc. We kept the bus open for a couple hours and eventually headed back to our hotel in time to watch the RNC speeches on the TV. Thad stayed with us for a drink celebrating a chaotic but fun day. Thad enjoyed his time on the bus. And we really enjoyed having him. He was a great sport considering we did four stops, three of them unplanned. He fit right in and was great talking to people about the issues on the bus. We filmed a video of him describing his day and why he decided to take the day off of work to join us.

 “We love oil, we love  war, we love McCain even more.”                                                         

 “Down with people, up with profits!”                                                                                                

 “More wars, less jobs!” and the simple                                                                                            

TWIN CITIES, MN-Day one at the RNC was every bit as crazy as we had imagined.  The day began at the big peace rally on the Minnesota state capital.  We were parked about a block and half away and went down to the rally to pass out fliers about the bus. We obviously got an overwhelmingly positive response. There were thousands of people including Iraq Veterans Against the War, SEIU, and many other groups in the crowd.  We pulled folk on the bus and did some rides along the perimeter.  The police were out in droves and just driving anywhere around the perimeter was a daunting task. After the march started we eventually pulled out of the area and made our way to our next event. The next event was at a local activist Dan’s house in St. Paul. He lives on a major street and arranged for the bus  to come by and he invited 60-100 of his closest friends and neighbors. There was good food, drinks and company and the bus was a huge hit.  There were a lot of people that stopped their cars or their bikes to check out the bus. The bus became an interesting part of the counter RNC landscape. A number of the partygoers expressed that they were happy that we were organized and had a professional layout to the bus. They expressed concerns that all of the counter-RNC movements will be linked to the minority of the extreme protesters that were assaulting police and throwing things at delegates.

We stayed for a couple hours and rolled out to the next event which was a spur of the moment appearance at a party a few blocks away. The party was attended by a lot of local progressive and some candidates that are running for various levels of office. We parked the bus and folks came out to see it.  It also caught the neighbor’s attention, all of whom were incredibly supportive about having a 45 ft. long bus parked on their street.  One of the neighbors pointed out an interesting fact to us. Turns out we were parked directly in front of Senator Norm Coleman’s house!  The conservative Senator was not home, no doubt attending the RNC festivities.  It was ironic to be on his street with the bus and given the fact that every other house had a sign for his opponent Al Franken. That has to make for some awkward driveway conversations for the Coleman’s.

 

Day 5 DNC Thursday-

Today was our best day yet with foot traffic. The bus was packed constantly. There was a line to get in the door. People were coming out of the convention center next to us and came through the bus in droves.

Once again we had people from all over the country and the world come through the bus.  We had quite a few Europeans who were there for the convention that attested to the fact that the US’s image abroad has suffered during this administration. They commented on how inspiring the convention was for someone from a foreign country with all of the diverse groups and people in attendance. They stressed how they do not feel anything against the American people but just do not like the policies of the current administration. The foreigners who came through the bus were incredibly familiar with the policies we feature on the bus. It is amazing that people from across the pond know about SCHIP and that McCain voted against it.  The fascination by foreigners for American politics was evidenced by the three foreign documentary film crews that came through the bus .  We had a Slovenian, Japanese and British crew come through the bus all filming movies about Bush and/or the 2008 race.

There were numerous teachers from all over the country who made it out to the convention. I met quite a few teachers that were there for the convention that had a lot of problems with the Bush Administrations educational policies including No Child Left Behind. They feel the program has made their jobs more difficult without actually increasing the quality of the education their students received. I spoke to one-long time teacher who was never involved in politics until No Child Left Behind was enacted and now she is working constantly to get an administration in place that will make the necessary changes to No Child Left Behind or replace it with a program that makes sense and is properly funded.

We left our spot in front of the convention center early to catch the MSNBC live filming. The bus ended up being featured in the background three times. We then took the bus to its evening resting place and headed to Invesco field for the big event.

I am fairly sure walking around Lincoln on game day without wearing red (Go Big Red) may be punishable by death. We were able to get some folks on board the bus as they headed to the game. We had a mixed reaction from the people who came by. We received a reaction of confusion from the fans who started drinking fairly early who were not interested in any pre-game policy issues.  We had a few people who were not big fans of the bus but the rest were supportive and happy we were there.

Dave Hall is a local peace activist who came by the bus. He has been working with Nebraskans for Peace since the war started. Every Wednesday evening from 5-6pm they hold a vigil in front of the federal building.  He said when they first started they were booed and harassed by about 9 out of 10 people that passed by the vigil. Now he sees support and cheers from about 9 out of 10 people, effectively a complete reverse of the reaction.

Max was born and raised in Lincoln. Max is also a Marine who returned from a tour in Iraq convinced that we should not be over there. He stopped by the bus and shared that he was particularly opposed to the fact that troops were being sent over there without the proper protection. He and his fellow soldiers would take the scrap metal off of blown up enemy vehicles to protect their own. Additionally he felt that the soldiers returning home were not receiving the proper care in terms of healthcare, PTSD and other emotional issues, and employment opportunities.  He has talked to many of his fellow Marines who are motivated by a strong sense of patriotism and duty to serve but cannot understand why they are in Iraq. Towards the end of the conversation Max shared his last name with me. It turns out he is Max Yashirin running against Jeff Fortenberry for Nebraska’s First Congressional district. Max’s experience in Iraq has helped to inspire him to run for office and serve his country in a different way.  Like the Lincoln residents he hopes to represent, Max was on his way to enjoy a Saturday cheering on the Cornhuskers.

Bush Legacy Bus

DNC Top Ten

1.)Security Process to get in the Pepsi Center which included just about  everything up until cavity searches.

2.)After generator failed, running off the power of the Daily Show bus

3.)Having not one, not two, but three foreign camera crews take footage of the bus for documentaries they are doing on Bush and/or the 2008 election.

4.)AUFC staff got to see the speeches at Invesco Field

5.)Getting dirty looks from delegates standing in front of bus until they read the side of the bus that explains it is about Bush’s failures, and then having them cheer us wildly.

6.)Having the bus in the background on MSNBC’s live taping

7.)Having supportive comments made by many celebrities, journalists, and politicians about the bus right before they say no thank you to coming to see it!

8.)Howard Dean digging the idea of the bus after being told.

9.)Feeling like rock stars rolling through the streets of Denver to screaming fans.

10.)Bus staff got to go to cool parties while the bus rested for the night.

Day 3 Tuesday-Our day today began at 4am. We managed to snag an amazing parking spot inside the security perimeter right in front of the Pepsi center. Paul, a friend of the bus both sold his soul to the devil and a kidney to get us the spot.  The catch was that we needed to get to the security check point by 5am. We headed into the gated area where we were all individually x-rayed and the entire bus went under a giant x-ray machine. It felt clandestine like we were exchanging stolen goods in the early morning. We stood and watched every single inch of the bus get inspected. They were incredibly thorough. They even opened every single door in our environment exhibit. We had several of the secret service and bomb squad agents come over to us and say discreetly, “I really like your bus.” We then were escorted by following a truck into the Pepsi center. We had to stay within the security “bubble” the whole time, if we had gotten lost following the truck we would’ve had to do the entire process all over again! I took photos of the entire process but one of the secret service politely came over towards the end and asked me if I had taken pictures. I sheepishly said, “Yes” and he asked me to erase all of them.

Two hours later we were in place in front of the Pepsi center. Little did we know going in we would have a famous neighbor in the parking lot. The Daily Show had their Indecision 2008 bus parked right next to ours. We had the pleasure of watching correspondents Rob Riggle and Jason Jones go in and out all day.  Anderson Copper even came over to do a skit with the crew. We chatted with the producers and camera guys and tried to talk them into featuring the bus in a skit. It   was to no avail as they had a very tight schedule. One cameraman did say that when we pulled into the parking spot we were very close to a huge line of port-a-potties and he got a shot of “The Bush Legacy” part of the bus appearing to back into the toilets. He felt that this was a fairly appropriate image considering how much his legacy really is in the toilet.  He submitted it to the producers and we hope to have at least made it in a background shot.

We spent most of the day showing the press and convention attendees the bus and taking turns going in and out of the convention center.  The occasional celebrity would walk by but they were so heavily escorted in and out of the Pepsi Center that our pleas to “Come check out the Bush Legacy Bus” were typically met with annoyed glances from bodyguards and secret service agents. Suffice to say, Charles Barkley was unable to come out and see the Bush Legacy Bus.

The reaction to the bus was extremely positive. Everyone thought it was a great idea and wanted to know when it was coming to their town.  The excitement of what was happening inside the Pepsi center was palpable and everyone was riled up.

DENVER, CO- Democratic National Convention

Sunday, August 24^th

From the moment we arrived on Sunday afternoon to take our parking space in front of the Denver Convention Center we knew if was going to be an interesting five days. Getting into the space was harrowing at best. Parking simply involved blocking three lanes of traffic on two intersecting street and then pulling a 45 ft bus down the one way street backwards. No bigee, for our skilled driver, Joel. We were located in the heart of the foot traffic and had a lot of people come to see the bus. Sunday was the day where everyone was just getting settled in and we saw a lot of people lugging their suitcases around trying to catch pre-convention activities on their way in. The reaction to the bus was different than what we have received in all of our other stops. We did not have the same element of surprise that we normally have when we roll into a city. No one bats an eye to a bus like this at the DNC. People were, however, surprised that our bus is not a mere billboard on a bus and actually contains an actual museum inside. We had a huge number of people coming through the bus including press, delegates, and tourists from all over. Not surprising, everyone loved the bus.

Monday, August 25^th

Monday marked our first official day at the DNC.  Parking craziness once again ensued and eventually with the help of the Denver police, we pulled into our space. We had a constant flow in and out of the bus and met delegates from all over the country. A lot of southern delegates from Texas, Alabama, and Arkansas came in and had very sharp words for Bush’s Legacy.  It is difficult to narrow down highlight with the constant flow of activity which was somewhat dizzying.

Perhaps the most interesting thing in retrospect about the first day was the media and pundits take on the tone of the first day of the convention. There were headlines that read, “Democrats too soft on Bush?” and “Was DNC’s Opening Night Too Soft on Bush?”Criticism abounded of the Democrats for not taking on perhaps the most unpopular President of all time. We are pretty sure that the Democrats know that the Bush Legacy Bus is out there looking at the Bush & Company conservative legacy and did not want to start a turf battle. For the record, we are happy to share the task of showing the failed Bush legacy with all comers. The more the merrier.

CHEYENNE, WYOMING- During Saturdays in the summer, hundreds of locals pour into the Wyoming Depot to buy local produce from the famers market. We were happy to have a spot near the market and had a decent amount of foot traffic.

Payton Shuster from Wyoming left a strong impression on me after a long talk. She has had an incredibly difficult time with our broken healthcare system.  She is more than $68,000 in debt after two years of health problems .The idea of paying off her medical debt is daunting to her and she picks and chooses the procedures and medicines that are most important rather than always getting the full care she needs.  As if her story was not bad enough, she has  an elderly family friend who recently broke her arm, and instead of getting medical care she attempted to reset it herself and allow it to heal causing further damage. These stories are getting all too common on the road.  There is no better example of the failure of conservatism than our disastrous healthcare system which favors profit over people.