The Great American Shoutout

Not a bad idea.... not a bad idea at all.

Published on August 26, 2004 By historyishere In Politics

Al Franken has recently proposed a different way for individuals to vent their dislike of Bush in a relatively safe and harmless way. He has suggested that citizens who want to voice their disapproval of the current president to open their windows as he approaches the podium to accept the nomination and shout 'Fuggedaboudit!' or whatever term of negation is popular in your region of the country.... and unlike a lot of the other protest techniques that are being advocated by some groups that are going to be in New York during the convention, the "Great American Shoutout" as it is being referred to would be short, cost and time efficient, not really disruptive to traffic, police services or any other essential service and would probably not really aid anything approaching terrorism.

It will probably amount to nothing, but when I read about it, it just seemed so logical... and ever so slightly annoying too, that it was worth talking about.

Cnn's story on the Great American Shoutout here.

Comments

matt07

on Aug 26, 2004

Sounds interesting. But maybe a little too nasty.

Madine

on Aug 26, 2004

If a liberal shouts and no one hears them, does it make a sound?

thatoneguyinslc

on Aug 26, 2004

I think its a good alternative to the protests at the RNC convention. People get to voice their discontent, and not cause problems for the security folks at the same time.

This is why i like Al Franken so much. He puts a little thought into stuff.

How about... "if a conservative shouts and no one hears them, because everybody has tuned them out for shouting all the damn time, does it still make a sound?" lol

Angloesque

on Aug 26, 2004

When did the good ol' days of presidential respect end? Was it when Nixon resigned? Or did they ever even exist?

Harumph.

Re: Al Franken, I loved the interview with O'Reilly on NPR after Franken's interview, when O'Reilly got all mad and walked out 'cause Terri/e/y Gross had interviewed Franken much more lightheartedly and O'Reilly thought it was liberal bias.

matt07

on Aug 26, 2004

O'Reilly complained about liberal bias in the media?? Give me a break. O'Reilly is the biggest source of conservative bias in the media.

Lee1776

on Aug 26, 2004

How about... "if a conservative shouts and no one hears them, because everybody has tuned them out for shouting all the damn time, does it still make a sound?" lol

Hummm?

The problem is you have closed your ears so tight that you have not noticed that the conservative don't shout. They don't need too.

When is the last time you heard McCain, Bush, Dole, Chaney, Rice, or any of the other Republicans officials screaming at the top of their lungs "He has betrayed our country!!!!", "AAAEEEEE", "SMEAR, SMEAR", "FOUR MORE YEARS OF HELL" and my favorite "WE WILL WIN, WE WILL WIN" at a memorial service for a respected Moderate know for compromise. The sad thing is that the first three was made by people who wants/wanted to be President of the United States.

Think of how they will react when China retakes Taiwan, Oooops bad point, they wouldn't say anything.

thatoneguyinslc

on Aug 26, 2004

Uhhhh.....Does the name William Jefferson Clinton ring a bell Lee? What did the Neo-cons do to him for 8 years?

My comment was a joke for Madine.... Lighten up a bit! Jeez!

And what was Dole doing on TV this week? smearing Kerry!

historyishere

on Aug 26, 2004

Angloesque: Maybe it is historical relativism that makes it seem like these days are different than some other times... I believe that there were other times when the office was not respected... the Hoover-Coolidge times for instance... or how about the LBJ presidency(Hey Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today)

Then again, one might be able to make the argument that it would be easier to give the office respect if there were people who sat in it worthy of respect.... and that goes for politicians on both sides.

Bill O'Reilly hates Al Franken so much... after the whole lawsuit and everything... and the O'Franken factor... hehe.

Lee1776

on Aug 26, 2004

thatoneguyinslc

Actually I don't take this stuff personally and I like humor too. Sorry if it sounded like I was screaming, I had to raise my voice to make my examples.

The point I was making was not that people don't smear. But did you see Dole screaming at the top of his lungs? I know of no occasion that the neo-Cons chanted loudly "impeach, impeach" like Kerry was saying "SMEAR, SMEAR" at the end of yesterday’s Campaign speech.

Maybe some Republicans do need to be kicked once in a while to see if they are alive.

But recently the Left wing (not Leiberman, Ried, or Ford) of the Democratic Party has had to scream to try and make people hear them. I think that is one of the reasons many Independents, like myself, feel more comfortable with people who can control their feelings. (that and also the open distortions of the truth)

thatoneguyinslc

on Aug 26, 2004

Dole has proven he is not above dirty tricks many times in his career. But i agree screaming doesn't do much...Hell look what happened to Dean!

And ALL politicians need a kick in the ass once in a while!

Sorry about misunderstanding where you were coming from too

historyishere

on Aug 26, 2004

You don't need to scream when you have talking points. Repetition is almost subliminal.

I mean, I was watching Mr. McClellan giving a press conference yesterday, and he kept whipping out that ever-so-clunky "out of the mainstream" every chance he got.

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