One of the reasons I’m sure that the Cosmos has a sense of humor is that I have somehow found myself on President Bush’s re-election e-mail list. I remain subscribed for the same reason I read the WSJ editorial page: a firm belief that externally generated spikes in blood pressure are ultimately a Good Thing.
Today came a missive declaring April 29 “National Party for the President Day.” The deal is, you’re supposed to gather your remaining loser friends for a grass-roots party to express your love and devotion for Esteemed Leader. If you register in advance and promise more than five attendees, you will be included in a conference call from a local cadre (um, I mean) “senior campaign leader [who] will answer questions and deliver a political briefing on the progress of the campaign.”
The promise that questions will be answered, of course, puts your party well ahead of the media or even congressional investigators. And if you don’t have enough loser friends to put together a party of five, they’ll even find some for you.
To ensure the grass-roots nature of the parties, there’s online help provided to create invitations, download brochures, and even buy “party packs.”
Then there’s this:
all party hosts receive a special package from the campaign with an exclusive Bush-Cheney ’04 video, bumper stickers, other campaign materials and a letter from President Bush. These fun, informal events will help grow the President’s strong base of support in local communities throughout the country…
There’s fine print saying you can’t spend more than $1000 on one of these parties, lest you fall afoul of campaign finance law.
It turns out that I’m busy that night — no, really! — but I have this vision of hundreds of Democrats putting together parties of their own, registering on the site, and having a wee bit of fun on these conference calls. The rules don’t say that you’ve gotta be a Republican to play.
I imagine you could come up with some questions of your own for the Bush campaign….
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