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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The mayor of Utah's largest city is planning to protest President Bush's visit here during his speech to the American Legion's national convention.
The Aug. 30 protest will be the second that Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, a democrat, has led in opposition to the war in Iraq.
Last August, more than a dozen groups advocating peace and social justice pulled together one of the state's largest-ever anti-war demonstrations in Pioneer Park during Bush's speech to a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention.
Those same groups are planning another protest that Anderson says will be bigger than the first one.
"I'm glad he's coming to Salt Lake City," said Anderson. "I certainly hope there is an effective expression of opposition to where this country is headed right now under the Bush administration. When that happens in Salt Lake City, people pay attention all over the world."
That's not what GOP members of Utah's congressional delegation want to see.
"I think it's a dumb idea. I would hope he'd have better, more constructive things to worry about doing," said Scott Parker, a spokesman for Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah.
Utah is one of the nation's most conservative states and Bush's approval ratings here remain strong. In the 2004 election, Bush received 72 percent of the vote.
Bush will be traveling with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and both are expected to address the American Legion's annual convention, which draws as many as 14,000 people.
Anderson said he believes an anti-Bush alliance will link environmentalists, senior citizens, peace activists, health activists and others.
Fred Mason, chairman of the executive committee of American legion Post 112 in South Salt Lake, said an anti-Bush demonstration won't bother him.
"Mayor Anderson has every right to protest," Mason said. "We fought for his freedom. It's called the First Amendment."
The Bush administration hasn't confirmed the president's Aug. 30 visit to Utah, but Salt Lake City Airport spokeswoman Barbara Gann said the Secret Service had confirmed his visit to begin planning for his arrival.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
