Boston (Don’t Wanna be Teed) Party

What is the price of “Anybody But Bush?”

I am as intent on victory as anyone, but I had a very difficult time reading the NYT story this morning about how the remarks of the convention speakers are being rigidly scripted to enforce uniformity and unanimity.

I am as excited for the convention bloggers as anyone, but it pains me to see them co-opted by the process, and churning out (atypical) mundanities and inanities.

I am as excited about party energy as anyone, but I am disturbed about corporate sponsorship of the conventions , and how nonchalant the party has become about the co-opting and infiltration of our values. (Check out this banner hanging from the Fleet Center in a link that bopnews.com, which is blogging the convention, trivializes with a caption contest.)

What I’m not excited about is the blatant lack of facilitation for dissent. If you’ve been following the story, the Democratic establishment and the city of Boston have made a mockery of the party’s proud tradition of protest by designating the most shabby accommodations for protest.

The image above is a shot of the convention’s so-called “Free Speech Zone.”

Update: Here are a few more shots of “the cage” from MyDD, which is blogging the convention.

Update#2: David Weinberger of hyperorg.com has some very good shots of the cage. Check at the bottom of this Monday convention photo gallery.

(image: Boston IndyMedia)