Vice President Dick Cheney was in Idaho this week, campaigning for some Republican candidates who are struggling in this traditionally-red state. When Coeur d’Alene businesswoman Melodee Watt heard the vice president was coming to North Idaho, she waited in line at GOP headquarters for a ticket. After all, as far as Watt was concerned, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Watt, however, was prohibited from hearing the Vice President speak.
“She (a GOP volunteer) typed in [Watt’s information] and said ‘Oops, we have a little problem,'” Watt said. “I thought ‘What? I’ve never been arrested or anything.'”
The volunteer had pulled up a scarlet “D” by Watt’s name. She was flagged as a Democrat, and Democrats were not invited to the vice president’s rally.
“I don’t recall ever registering as a Democrat or a Republican. Over my lifetime I have leaned Republican and I have leaned Democrat,” Watt said. “It was kind of embarrassing.
“I just wanted to put politics aside and show respect for the office. I left there feeling excluded from my country.”
Kootenai GOP County Chairman Brad Corkhill confirmed Democrats were not allowed in. “It’s our party and that’s what we want to do,” he said.
It was a public event, on public property, with a public official, and if the local Republican Party even suspected you were a Dem, you were excluded.
The Bubble lives.
Watt said she thought she would be exactly who the GOP would want at the rally: An undecided businesswoman.
Now, she said, she felt like picking up a sign and marching out in the cold with the Democrats.
“No wonder there’s so much division in this country. When did it become us versus them?” Watt said. “No matter how you feel, one way or the other, we’re all Americans.”
That, of course, is pre-9/11 thinking. We’re not all Americans, we’re all either Bush allies or suspect.
When did it become us versus them? I think I remember the day and time.