President Bush came to Cedar Rapids today. I went to the protest action, which against Republican, with my friends.

The speech was taken place at the big park, but we didn���t have tickets, so we couldn���t get into the park. We stood outside the park, at the intersection, and appealed not to support Mr. Bush with signboard.
There were many people, most of them seemed to be Democrats, but the opinions were different from each other. Some were against the war, but others, on the contrary, supported war (most of them insisted to bring the troops back). In addition, somebody asserted ���marriage for all���. This issue is still unsolved. Certainly the president opposed to gay marriage, but not all the Democrats, John Kerry also opposed I think, agree to reserve this right.

When the speech came to an end, we started to walk for the entrance of the park, and then, we shouted it out for the park again and again such as ���Drop Bush, not Bomb���, ���Bush lies thousand dies���, or ���4 more months��� (It means that if the President Bush loses next election, he will resign at most 4 months. It is one of the ironies for the Republicans. They demand ���4 more years��� on the contrary.). Some of protesters were arrested as disturbance.

Although we couldn���t see the president (just heard his voice), it was quite interesting. I have read newspaper in English since I was in Australia and in Japan as well, because I have been interested in the presidential election originally. I have read many articles before coming here and also have continued to reading since I came here. I have gained lots of knowledge about the campaign. However, not only was this knowledge helpful and useful, but I realized that the situation I guessed from the newspaper was exceedingly different. It was just guessing. Reality was enthusiastic and exciting. For instance, some veterans support the Democrats, but others don���t, they support Republicans. I saw both position of the signboard. Though I knew about that problem through the newspaper, it became much more realistic.

It was really valuable experience. If I had a next chance by the election, I would like to participate in the speech.