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NYC: A Free-Speech Theme Park

Series: WNYC on the RNC
From: WNYC
Length: 00:02:38

Forget the fear and loathing. This could be one of New York's finest hours. Read the full description.
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NYC: A Free-Speech Theme Park
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WNYC

Millionairernc_small Lede: Delegates are arriving, New Yorkers are leaving, protests have already begun. WNYC's Brian Lehrer says forget the fear and loathing. This could be one of New York's finest hours. IN: "Most of ..." OUT: "...to be about." This piece will air on Weekend Edition Sunday on August 29.

NYC: A Free-Speech Theme Park | 00:02:38

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Back to the beginning.

Piece Description

Lede: Delegates are arriving, New Yorkers are leaving, protests have already begun. WNYC's Brian Lehrer says forget the fear and loathing. This could be one of New York's finest hours. IN: "Most of ..." OUT: "...to be about." This piece will air on Weekend Edition Sunday on August 29.

Transcript

Most of the coverage that previewed convention week has been about fear, confrontation and the fate of the grass on the Great Lawn.

But let's turn it around.

Assuming for the moment that al quaeda is not going to blow us all up next week, New York could be the site of one of the great displays of democracy in the history of the world.

Think about it: At a global turning point, the party that's in power comes to the city of Ground Zero to make its case to the nation that it deserves four more years. Thousands of protesters also show up to passionately disagree. With so many events planned inside the convention and out, Manhattan is transformed into a kind of free speech theme park.

From the most radical right wing delegate on the convention floor to the biggest left wing anarchist on the street, rarely if ever before has such a diverse array of the politically engaged been gat...
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