Presidential Politics Comes to Brooklyn ?

Since NYC is considered so strongly, traditionally, Democratic, despite our Republican Mayor, I wondered how much Presidential campaigning of any kind would occur in New York:

Tuesday, July 15: Corner of Court & Joralemon Streets, about 1:15 PM. A person holding up a hand-written poster, covered by the poster up to the eyes, the poster stating: "McCain Loves America, Vote for McCain." A crowd gathered, hooting. The McCain supporter is Black.

Voices from the crowd, "Are you even legal?" "Are you an American Citizen? You are not a citizen!" More incredulous hooting. "How much are they paying you to hold up that sign?"

An NYPD officer came by, standing by. A young woman, probably an office worker on lunch break, held up a hastily-written sign on looseleaf, "We (love) Obama." The crowd grew, becoming more animated. More shouts. The McCain supporter stood there meekly, almost completely hidden up to the eyes by the homemade sign, but yielded no ground. The crowd became even more excited, keeping their distance, but loudly hooting at the McCain supporter. Finally, the NYPD officer led the McCain supporter away, probably to another corner, to prevent the situation from escalating any further. Interesting that the McCain campaign itself appears to have virtually no campaign presence in Brooklyn, or NYC for that matter.

There was an interesting article in Salon.com about the absence of humor on the liberal-left, as reflected in the hostile response to the New Yorker magazine's Obama cover this week. Did that same cover, or media coverage of it, prompt this homegrown McCain activist to venture out into the hustings on behalf of the GOP's nominee? Just a thought.


Salon Here: http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2008/07/15/new_yorker_cartoon/?source=newsletter