@RNC: The buzz at Xcel, George and Laura Bush, Fred Thompson, Amy Goodman and convention protests

No political relevance, but...Is anyone else freaked out by the giant video screen as the backdrop for the RNC stage?

The first time I tuned in last night, someone was walking out of a little door on side of the screen that was projecting a giant waving flag. I immediately had a flash back of the last scene in The Truman Show.

( http://politicsanew.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09... ) 

And then later, when Bush did his satellite speech, it was like a giant talking head, like in the Apple commercial (I'm dating myself) many years ago.

( http://politicsanew.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09... ) ( http://politicsanew.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09... )

The whole thing is very distracting to me.  Am I the only one?  Just wondering.

Thank you Backyard Conservative. I found this story ( http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2008/09/con... ) on thie incident.

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://blogher.org/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )

BlogHer is non-partisan but our bloggers aren't! Follow our coverage of the 2008 political conventions

I don't care whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, those types of tactics are despicable.  I've been hearing both Republicans and Democrats speaking out against that type of violence by demonstrators.  Completely awful, what I'm hearing.

I just saw on the news before I head over delegates from Connecticut were doused with bleach on the way in to the convention center yesterday, including an elderly woman. The hazmat team had to come in.

Goodman confronts Police Chief John Harrington ( http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/3/amy_goodman_g... ), who had apparently heard nothing of her arrest although it was the most watched video on YouTube yesterday.

She asks this:

"What is your policy with the press? How is the press to operate in this kind of environment?"

And the police chief's answer is, more or less, that if reporters are in the area they will be arrested and they'll sort it out later.  That, my friends, is what is known as a "Chilling Effect ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilling_effect_(term... )"  - although the reporters may eventually be released and charges dropped, summary arrests (and confiscation of press credentials) is certain to have a deterrent effect on coverage of protests.

If this were happening to our reporters in China or Thailand, (or for that matter, one of the BlogHer writers) I do not think anyone here would defend it for a second.

Tacoma Mama ( http://www.tacomamama.com )