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# Bush diverts the anger Santa Monicans exhibit during rally
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/bush-diverts-the-anger-santa-monicans-exhibit-during-rally/
- Published: 2004-08-17T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:52:11.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Events, Ocean Park, #archive-import

*By GUEST COMMENTARY BY HANK ROSENFELD*

It’s a wonderful town where you can ride your bike to a political rally. Last Thursday’s demos in Santa Monica played like John Kerry’s U-2 anthem: “Beautiful Day.” But thank God also for Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, anchored on the southwest corner of Ocean Park Boulevard and 31st Street.

You see, the president held a fundrais-er in our airport of all places, at $25,000 per plate — plus all the Arnold introductory quips one could handle. His supporters lined the southeast corner while Kerry’s crowd was still in the Ocean Park cafe downing turkey dinner for $5.95\. By the time the Code Pinkster gals made the scene, the Bushies had spilled across 31st Street to suddenly occupy two corners. A pre-emptive strike? Counter-demonstrators over-compensating for their long drive in from West Hills, Santa Ana and San Diego.

Soon these two hostile camps stood banner to banner, public address system to button salesman. Could they co-exist? Santa Monica’s finest were busy directing traffic and hollering to get back on the curbs. Help was not on the way.

Suddenly, throwing of pamphlets and finger-jabbing into shoulders — “Don’t you touch me, man!” — ensued. Screaming like 1968, the overheated scufflers were separated by organizers into unneutral corners. Jim Lafferty, of the National Lawyers Guild — the group protecting the rights of protesters in NYC during the upcoming convention — explained what was a “permit misunderstanding” between the two teams. The Bushies withdrew to the southeast.

“Kerry is traitor!” the man from Orange County shouted. He was dressed in green combat garb, swaying to Toby Keith on a boombox, waving a flag of the U.S. and a flag of Vietnam. Along the sidewalk stood the host of an Internet show, “CrusadeRadio.com,” broadcasting live. “Love Ya Dubya! Love Ya Dubya!” sang four teens from Palos Verdes, their ribbed tanktops each bearing a letter of the fearless leader’s name. “Three More Months! Three More Months” shouted “Radical Teen Cheerleaders” from the Kerry side. Angry chants went across and back in almost hip-hop harmony.

The cops made their best stand in the middle island. As security from Santa Monica Business Park tried to force people off “their” grass, someone shouted, “Hey, we’re a long way from Central Park Republican rules. Lighten up, wouldja?”

“I don’t have the sense that there’s a lot of anger,” the president was telling Larry King that afternoon on CNN. “I just don’t see it.” No wonder, taking Centinela to the hangar to pick up a cool $3 million. But what fury must exist in the fly-over fields of our heartland with this much ire in just our little by-the-bay? Are we turning this corner, Mr. President?

Thursday’s early season scrimmage reminded me of the absurd political scenes in Robert Altman’s “Nashville.” And also of Lebanon in 1976 when Moslems fought Christians in a civil war. Despite the daily brutality, truces were often arranged in the late afternoon. Here, in the middle of the battlefield, Lebanese hash farmers sat both sides down for a little R and R. The description in Time Magazine read: “Why not? Christians like a smoke. Muslims, too.” Militiamen then returned to shoot at each other again. Our local version was the Coffee Bean & TeaLeaf on the corner. In line for double mocha “Xtreme” whatevers, protesters stood peaceably, slogans left right outside the door.

My bicycle trip home took me past the recently reshuttered Midnight Special Bookstore. One of their huge windows still declared: “The Passion of the Bush,” but there was nothing behind it. Any display of literature or literate food for thought now long gone. Their candidate may be an empty suit, but all those Bush followers sure are full of something, I thought. A campaign veteran over chai latte at the Bean said: “This is always how elections go. Rises and falls in the polls, vicious attacks back and forth. But all that really matters is registering voters and getting them out to vote. It all comes down to the people.” OK. But I still think it’s a good idea International Monitors are coming this time to observe us.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 17, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/081704.pdf?ref=smdp.com)