Rocky may protest Bush

It sounds like a summer rerun — President Bush comes to Salt Lake City to address a convention of military veterans as Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson and other Utahns opposed to the war protest nearby.

But that's exactly what anti-war activists are hoping for during a scheduled appearance on Aug. 30 by the president and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the American Legion's national convention.

Last August, more than a dozen groups advocating peace and social justice pulled together one of the state's largest-ever anti-war demonstrations in Pioneer Park during Bush's speech to a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention.

Now those same groups are gathering again to plan another protest that will likely include the mayor. Anderson, who received national attention for speaking out against the Iraq war at last year's protest, declined comment to the Deseret Morning News.

The mayor told KSL-TV, however, that he's ready to take the stage again — if asked.

"We're not better off. We're not safer.

We're far more at risk, far less secure as a nation and each of us as individuals than we were before this president and his misbegotten war and his disastrous foreign policy," Anderson told the television station.

The mayor, who last year called "for the biggest demonstration this state has ever seen" to be organized for Bush's visit, had his critics. "Yeah, I got a lot of hateful e-mails, but I think there were a lot of people also in support," Anderson told KSL.

"But that's not the standard for me," he said. "The standard for me is standing up."

That's not what GOP members of Utah's congressional delegation want to see from the Democratic mayor.

"I think it's a dumb idea. I would hope he'd have better, more constructive things to worry about doing," said Scott Parker, a spokesman for Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah.

And Charles Isom, a spokesman for Rep. Chris Cannon , said that "whenever the president visits, regardless of party affiliation or political positions, he should be treated with the respect the office of president deserves."

One of the organizers of last year's protest, Eileen McCabe-Olsen, said among the goals of this year's protest is "to reach out to diverse constituencies to build support in this election year to pressure Congress to end the war in Iraq . . . and restrain this imperial presidency."

As the Morning News first reported Friday, a report to the mayor obtained by the newspaper stated the city's Department of Airports has "been informed by the Secret Service that President Bush and Condoleezza Rice will visit Salt Lake City on Aug. 30."