We've got the same Hate Bush party stuff going on up here in Seattle as well
Magnolia crowd joins party with anti-Bush documentary
When Curt Rowlett and Melissa Plotsky listen to President Bush speak, they admit to yelling, screaming and even banging the television in frustration. If the lively conversation at their Magnolia condominium yesterday was any indication, they may have found a more productive outlet.
Rowlett, 46, and Plotsky, 29, opened up their home to about 35 people, mostly strangers, and hosted a party — the kind with alcohol and free food — as part of a nationwide grass-roots movement to mobilize Democrats before next year's presidential election.
The gathering was one of an estimated 2,650 nationwide, and approximately 100 in Washington state, where volunteer hosts showed and discussed an hourlong documentary titled "Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War."
In it, some former White House insiders and government employees allege that President Bush misled the American public and, at best, had flimsy reasons for declaring war on Iraq.
The idea of politically oriented house parties across the country was driven on the Internet by MoveOn.org, which began as an online petition movement during the President Clinton-Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. The group, which wanted Clinton censured rather than impeached, has moved on itself, to broader advocacy of liberal causes.
The video appeared to have hit all the right buttons for the Magnolia crowd, comprised mostly of people in their 20s and 30s who said they had become politically lax and were looking for a way to express their increasing frustrations with government.
"It's nice to be with people who have the same doubts, who have the same concerns," said Lisa Maschmeir, 25, a stay-at-home mom who lives in Seattle. "Maybe it'll inspire us to go to others, tell others what we believe. Now I want to show my husband's family this video. They're all Republicans."
Plotsky played hostess, creating a patriotic theme with red, white and blue food, star-shaped cookies, Sam Adams beer, and paper cups and napkins decorated with flags. Door prizes included a Benjamin Franklin action-figure doll. Guests arrived in patriotic attire — flags on sweaters, red and white dresses, hair streaked red.
After a few minutes of mingling, they watched the documentary, which challenges Bush's case for war. It studies some of the claims made by the president in his State of the Union address in January and by Secretary of State Colin Powell in his address to the United Nations in February.
The video was financed by MoveOn.org and by the Center for American Progress, a new liberal organization headed by former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta.
For yesterday's Magnolia audience, the video was preaching to the choir. But there were differences of opinion on what to do about it.
Plotsky, an office administrator who used to write at a now-defunct dot-com company, said she is experiencing an "early midlife crisis" and has been looking for something creative to throw herself into. She is thinking about organizing voter-registration drives.
Will Agranoff, an art director, and his wife, Lisa Leone, a criminal-defense attorney, said they haven't had much time for politics since they had twins a couple of years ago.
"We vote, that's about it," says Leone, 38.
The couple didn't know anyone else at the party; they just came because they felt national policies were finally starting to affect them. After watching the video, Leone said she planned to donate money to the MoveOn.org cause. Agranoff pledged, "What I'm going to do is pay more attention. Be more engaged, and not passive."
seattletimes.nwsource.com |
