Vandalisms sink politics to low level
America is polarized and politics can be nasty. But some recent incidents suggest things are worse than most would have guessed.
With more than 90 days left before the election, the real question is, how do we keep them from getting worse?
On Wednesday night, the Pants on Fire Mobile was seriously trashed while it was parked at a home on Spokane’s South Hill.
Betsy Woods, who was housing the motorized lampoon of President Bush, said her husband came outside at 3 a.m. Thursday to discover the wires severed, sugar poured into the generator, a fog machine disconnected – even the American flags stolen. Some type of chemical was also poured in the fog machine, possibly pepper spray, to create further problems if it was started up.
“Someone wanted to make sure it did not run at all,” Woods said. “I’m just sick that someone would steal an American flag.”
The Pants on Fire Mobile, for those who haven’t seen it, consists of a 12-foot statue of Bush with fabric flowing behind him to simulate flaming britches, that stands on a flag-bedecked trailer towed by a Ford Crown Victoria.
The anti-Bush protest vehicle arrived in Spokane on July 20, and was driven around the area by different volunteers each day, then parked on the Woodses’ property each evening. Reactions have been mixed, with a few people even asking if it was pro-Bush because they thought the president was “being glorified, coming out of a missile,” Woods said.
OK, so everyone isn’t working with the same level of political savvy around here. And one can easily argue that a statue based on a children’s rhyme (“liar, liar, pants.…”) isn’t quite on par with the political commentary of Jonathan Swift or Thomas Paine.
But one or more people took offense to the PoF Mobile, and decided the best way to respond was to trash it.
Woods called Crime Check in the morning, and was told to stay away from the car and trailer combination in case any explosives had been planted in the fog machine. She expected the bomb squad to come out, but instead got a visit from a patrol officer who wrote up a report for malicious mischief. Other than decrying the assault on freedom of speech, he didn’t do much that’s likely to help solve the case, Woods said.
She called the home base for the PoF Mobile, True Majority Action, to report the damage and set out to find an electrician who could repair it before it headed for Seattle this weekend for a parade.
Ben Cohen, head of True Majority Action, said this is the most serious damage his “three-dimensional political cartoon” has sustained since it went on the road last October, with a meandering route that included a stop in Crawford, Texas, the president’s hometown. Before this, the worst that happened was an egging and some wires cut on the trailer.
Cohen, who came to Spokane when the POF Mobile arrived to check up on it, was surprised it happened here, but thinks people may be getting more riled up as the election approaches.
Woods found an electrician who reconnected everything, salvaged the generator, and after about eight hours work, the PoF Mobile was ready to get on down the road to Seattle. But she was still spitting mad about the vandalism.
“It’s shameful that people would behave that way,” she said. “Freedom of speech means nothing to these people. Our country is based on freedom of speech, freedom of expression.”
Except that vandals and thugs tend to believe freedom of speech only extends to what they want to hear.
Proof vandals tend to be stupid, too
On a more local campaign note, Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza said he’s lost several dozen signs to someone who turns them over and writes what he calls “scurrilous, taunting references” to him. Most of them aren’t printable in a family newspaper, but one did have the taunt: “Judge Cozza can’t find me.” There have also been banners and signs put on telephone poles with similar messages.
Having been on the bench for about 14 years, Cozza has dealt with a fair number of miscreants capable of this type of activity. He turned it over to police and is trying to “roll with the punches.”
All campaigns lose some signs to theft and vandalism, but this particular series suggests someone who’s not just malicious, but stupid. If you are unfortunate enough to get caught, you’ll go … to court. And guess what? The judges all know each other. And they all have to run for election, so they know how expensive signs are. And what a pain in the patoot they are to put up and replace.
It’s likely to be a real unpleasant day in court.