Republican Convention Turns on the Macho Swagger, Misrepresents Bush Legacy

Statement of NOW President Kim Gandy

September 3, 2004

As George W. Bush closed the Republican National Convention last night, one thing became clear—the current leadership of this country has nothing to offer the people of the United States except "Terminator"-style patriotism and blatant fraud. The parade of somewhat "moderate" speakers we saw on television throughout the week —politicians like Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Arnold Schwarzenegger—do not represent the current leadership of the Republican party. This "big tent" image was deception on a massive scale, designed to convince moderate voters that another four years of Bush and Dick Cheney would be beneficial to more than just the super rich and connected.

We only need look at the final Republican platform to see where the leadership of the party currently stands—in favor of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, against reproductive freedom and in support of Bush's budget-busting tax cuts. In Bush's speech, he strengthened his push for the partial privatization of Social Security, a move that would be disastrous for seniors, who are disproportionately women.

Looking back, women and people of color were nearly invisible at the Republican Convention. They made up few of the prominent speakers, and most of the issues specifically concerning women, people of color and low-income people were lumped under Bush's phony banner of "compassion."

With little progress to note from the previous four years, Bush and his cheerleaders at the convention did what they do best—turning on the macho "swagger" and bullying anyone who disagrees with them. Schwarzenegger accused those concerned about the economy of being "girlie men" and Democrat-in-name-only Zell Miller nearly spit bullets in his attack on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Assaults on Kerry were a heavy staple of the convention, the go-to joke or applause line needed to fill in the blanks left by Bush's atrocious record. (More information is available on the damage done by the Bush administration over the last four years.)

Even more popular than bashing Kerry was hyping Bush as the country's best protector from terrorism at home and supreme promoter of freedom abroad. In fact, Bush referred to a "calling from beyond the stars" as guiding his mission to bring freedom to the world. However, NOW believes that the actions of the Bush administration in Afghanistan and Iraq have made the United States and the world less safe, and that this president's domestic policies have curbed our own liberty. Bush's brand of "freedom" appears designed to make his family, friends and business associates even more wealthy and powerful and little else.

Bush and his cronies are counting on undecided voters being swayed by the con game put on in New York this week and the dirty tricks to come in the weeks ahead. Every time the media fails to challenge Bush and Cheney on their misleading charges against Kerry, and their false promises, another voter fails to learn the truth.

NOW is committed to telling the truth about this campaign and Bush's record over the next two months. We are in a state of emergency and NOW encourages everyone who cares about women's rights, civil rights and the constitution to help ensure that Bush does not have another four years to wreak havoc in the United States and around the globe.

For more information, read about NOW's presence at the RNC protests in New York.

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