Bush Legacy Tour

The most important theme of the Bush Legacy Tour was that President Bush did not do it alone. He had the help of members of Congress all over the country that rumberstamped his failed agenda. We took the bus to dozens of congressional districts to remind Americans that Bush's failures are a result of the conservative policies he and his allies supported. These are policies that were supported by many members of Congress.

Here are a few Bush-enablers that we paid a visit to that will no longer be serving in Congress:

ANNANDALE, VA-The Bush Legacy Tour’s last day was spent in Annandale, VA.  Thousands of motorists drove by the bus all day, many of them on their way to the polls.We had quite a few  volunteers from the Central Labor Council office come through to catch a glimpse of the bus. Numerous volunteers said that the bus inspired them to go out and knock on more doors and make more phone calls. Many people said that they were caught up in the excitement of the election and they had momentarily forgotten the mess that Bush has left behind.

After our day in Virginia, we made our way to the AFL-CIO election returns watching party. The tour began at this very location, a block from the white house. Coming full-circle was somewhat surreal. After almost five months, the bus ended up back where it started with the hopes that cementing Bush’s legacy in history will help bring about progressive change.

After the election results came in, we took the bus to the White House for the final photo-op of the tour. With thousands of revelers out and about, this was as close as we could get on Pennsylvania Ave.

VIRGINIA BEACH,VA-We had an interesting stop this morning in front of Thelma Drake's office in VA Beach.. Three of her staffers came out to the bus and pretended to be from one of the other businesses in the strip mall, a media firm. They told us that they liked the bus and even suggested a (bogus) location for us to relocate to "where we would have more foot traffic." About 15 minutes went by and one of the same staffers came out again and angrily told us to leave using some unsavory language. He still pretended to be from the media firm and said he was concerned about the bus affecting his business. He threatened to “egg us” and call the police if we don’t leave.

After this incident, the staffers went around to the back of the building. I then went into the media firm that they claimed to be working for and described the angry staffer (unmistakable pink shirt and cowboy boots) and asked if he worked there. The proprietor of the media firm said no.

I then went into Drake's office to say hello and give them some of our literature. I described the man’s appearance who was pretending not to be a Drake staffer.  The woman who answered the door confirmed that he was a staffer there and told me he “had gone around back.”

We then got ready to pull out of the strip mall and move on when we heard, “Thump, thump, thump.”

I looked out to see eggs hitting the bus. I took out my video camera but it was too late. The staffers retreated into the bushes, leaving Bush's face covered with eggs. They also nailed the phrase "less respected in the world" ironically enough.

Fearing more serious malfeasance like a dreaded flaming-paper bag or a good toilet papering, we got out of dodge. Driving down the road we noticed a camera crew filming the bus. We pulled over so they could get a better shot. It turns out that crew was from CNN. We told them that we were on the run from some serious yolk. They took a lot of footage of the egged bus and found the story as amusing as we did.

Due for a wash anyway, the bus was washed of all the Drake egg. If only getting rid of Drake’s legacy of supporting the President’s policies was that easy.

FAYETTEVILLE,NC- Our event in the parking lot of the strip mall where the American Postal Workers Union (APWU)  is housed got off to an interesting start.  Tony, the President of the APWU local arranged to bring the bus to the location. Despite clearing everything with the owner of the mall, one of the business owners took exception to us being there. The business owner called the police. Between Tony, the business owner and the police it was resolved. The police got the owner of the strip mall on the phone and he said that the bus stays. Victory! We went on to have a great stop. We had a lot of people come on the bus and we were able to get out information about local Representative Robin Hayes’s support of the Bush agenda 93% of the time.  

Footage of the not-so-dramatic showdown between a strip mall business owner, the police and Tony, our organizer.

Tony McKinnon Sr., President of the APWU NCC brought the bus to Fayetteville.

David Varela served in the Gulf War and speaks on the need for change in politics and in the way that vets are treated.

We had our very own street team in Fayetteville. Bianca, Kendra, and Pat stood outside the bus on a busy street with signs to encourage foot traffic. Here are some of their comments on the reactions that they have received.

ROANOKE, VA & WINSTON-SALEM, NC- It was a sad occasion in Roanoke Saturday morning. We visited our last farmers market of the tour. We set up shop a half a block away from the downtown farmers market where they sell crafts and fresh produce. I spoke to some vendors who said foot traffic has decreased significantly as the economy worsens. We still managed to have a decent number of people come through the bus. The reaction was mixed. There were a few people who did not like the bus and a lot who did. One woman walked by and gave us an enthusiastic thumbs-down. She came back an hour later and apologized profusely as she thought the bus was pro-Bush. She then took a tour and thanked us for coming.

Roanoke has two local Representatives close-by that strongly supported Bush’s policies. Representative Virgil Goode supported the President’s failed agenda 93% of the time, while Representative Bob Goodlatte supported it 96% of the time. With Virginia getting an unprecedented amount of attention this election year, we hope both Representatives will have their support of Bush put front and center.

Like many teachers who have come on the bus, Rhonda McDonald commented on the straight-forward and simple layout of the exhibits. She felt that the bus was put together well and she even mentioned that she may use the tour in one of her lessons.

Local middle-school teacher Rhonda McDonald on the bus.

The new Frank Gehry-designed art museum in Roanoke opens in one week. The Bush legacy, a work of destruction, in front of a work of art.

In the afternoon we headed to Winston-Salem, NC to Representative Virginia Foxx’s office. Foxx may come close to getting a prize on the Bush Legacy Tour. She may actually have the highest voting percentage with the President thus far. Foxx voted with the President’s policies-drumroll-98% of the time!  This grandmother of two, voted against the State Children’s Health Insurance. She voted against raising the minimum wage while opposing allowing shareholders to reign in CEO pay. She even gave her elderly peers the boot and supported privatizing social security.

Foxx, however, is not to be outdone by Senator Elizabeth Dole. Although, Dole is rarely in North Carolina, she does make it to DC enough to have voted with the President 92% of the time. Dole supported tax cuts for the wealthy that shift the tax burden to the middle class. She did not support raising fuel economy standards and she has voted repeatedly to keep the troops in Iraq with no exit strategy.

In front of Virginia Foxx's office.

 Oh, the glamour of the road...

The tour has been on the road for close to five months now and we are nearing the end. It is finally time to pull the curtain and allow the public to see the behind-the-scenes glamour of the Bush Legacy Bus. Although, the exhibits inside the bus speak for themselves, it takes a lot of hard work to bring the bus from town to town. We have a very small crew and we all wear many hats. All of us share the illustrious duties such as cleaning the bathroom and scrubbing the ingeniously-white timeline on the floor. Here is a glimpse inside the glamour.

In the back of the bus is a small but comfortable office with outlets to plug in laptops, a table and televisions. Kathryn hard at work making the tour work.

The planning calendar!

All the necessities: two buck chuck, cookies, an umbrella and passes from the convention.

We are in extremely close quarters on the bus. Every single inch is used for storage, hence our makeshift closet in the bathroom nook.

The illustrious and oft-tempramental, server that controls the electronics on the bus.

Ellis handling the road. The driver poll of repsonses on the road is 10% thumbs down, 90% thumbs up to the bus.

The best seat in the house. Watching the reactions of motorists is a pastime in and of itself that is far more entertaining than surfing the internet or watching TV.

CHARLOTTESVILLE & WAYNESBORO, VA-We celebrated Halloween on the bus today. The bus was billed “The Conservative House of Horrors” and scary touches were added to a bus that is already scary in its content.

A couple local Waynesboro residents shared their comments on the bus.

Waynesboro,VA Small Business owner Stacey Strawn on the Bush Legacy 

Ray Fisher from Waynesboro, VA

Virgil Good voted to make sure CEOs got their Payday. He opposed allowing sharholders to reign in CEO pay.

WINCHESTER, VA- Back in Virginia, and this time to stay. The Bush Legacy Bus will be ending the tour on Tuesday right here in the state often known as “The Mother of Presidents.” A state that has brought this country eight Presidents including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison will play host to the end of a tour highlighting a failed Presidency.

We stopped in Winchester at the United Auto Workers local to highlight another failed political legacy. Representative Frank Wolf represents Virginia’s 10^th district and has been a strong supporter of the Bush/McCain conservative agenda. He voted with the President’s polices 86% of the time. A reporter who came out to cover the stop contacted Frank’s office to get a comment on what they think of the bus. The staffer asked exasperated, “is this the Democrats with this bus?”

Wolf’s office did not comment, but they are busy lately.  They are still dealing with the fallout out from the attack last week by two Wolf staffers on two staffers from his opponents campaign. The two staffers accompanying Wolf assaulted the trackers from Feder’s campaign while Wolf looked on, un-phased. The staffers from Feder' campaign had the audacity to suggest that the Representative should answer some questions about his policy positions.

WILKES-BARRE,PA-Once again, we meet up with McCain’s bus! Towards the end of our stop in Wilkes-Barre, the Pennsylvania McCain bus paid us a visit.  The bus was not carrying the Senator from Arizona. It appeared to essentially be an expensive billboard for McCain.

We were parked right on the Wilkes-Barre public square right in front of the McCain/Palin headquarters. Throughout the stop we had a trickle of McCain volunteers check out the bus, some of them obviously confused about what we think Bush’s legacy is. We also had a bus full of union members come by and numerous people drop by on their lunch break. The location could not have been more perfect.

The view of McCain HQ from the bus

On the Public Square

McCain: Always Close to Bush