New York protests shock Utahns

NEW YORK CITY — The 69 members of the Utah delegation to the Republican National Convention are enthusiastically and unequivocally behind President Bush and his war on terrorism.

"He did what he thought was right based on all the information he had at that time," said Winston Wilkinson, Utah's national committeeman. "That's all a leader can do."

But on Sunday, the delegation, along with every other GOP delegation in town for the convention, was a decided minority.

Legions of anti-Bush and anti-war demonstrators — a crowd that organizers estimated at 250,000 — took to the streets of midtown Manhattan, turning the area around Madison Square Garden into a free-speech, free-fire zone and, for a moment, upstaging the Republicans a day before the convention officially kicks off.

The Utah delegation, housed in lower Manhattan and well removed from the protests, was generally oblivious to the demonstration, opting for church meetings in the morning and a matinee performance of "Aida," a Broadway musical. (The buses steered delegates well clear of the protests.)

"America is a great place where people can express their opinions," said Salt Lake City Councilman Dave Buhler, a Utah delegate who caught a bit of the protests on television. "But I am sad about some of the anger people have toward President Bush."

Wilkinson also cited the constitutional right to protest, but he was befuddled by the magnitude and viciousness of the anti-Bush sentiment sweeping the streets of New York City.

"With 9/11 and terrorist cells, it is hard to believe they have forgotten so soon," Wilkinson said of the protesters. "I am at a loss to explain it."

"I am not saying they are unpatriotic," said state GOP chairman Joe Cannon, speaking of the protesters generally. "I am saying our guy acted differently than their guy would have."

The protesters were a bizarre amalgamation of groups with a broad range of political beliefs but who were all united in their visceral hatred of Bush. For more than three hours, the protesters paraded past Madison Square Garden where the convention will be held and the Pennsylvania Hotel across the street, the headquarters for Republicans.

Protesters lobbed a steady stream of obscenities and insults at the small crowd of curious GOP onlookers. An even smaller group of right-wing activists — mostly pro-lifers and Jewish Zionists — shouted back their own insults and sang religious hymns.