Thoughts From The Floor

Just a few quick thoughts about the McCain speech tonight.

The crowd was jazzed. It was almost a rock concert type atmosphere. The various delegations were all dancing and having a great time.

Senator McCain's intro video was very informative and I loved the self depricating humor that was interlaced in with some very serious subject matters. At one point, in a section where it talked about all of the different names that Senator McCain had been called. As the narrator said "he has even been called" the camera cut to Senator McCain's 96 year old mother saying "Mama's boy".

The theme of the entire night - well the entire convention - was "Country First" and the speech and introduction was full of references to the country first attitude.

The comedy line of the night came after a Code Pink protester interrupted the speech (for the second time). As chants of "USA USA" Senator McCain responded "Please don't be distracted by the static and noise". That was met with howls of laughter from the delegation.

The line that I really enjoyed was when he described VP nominee Sarah Palin saying "...she knows what's right and she won't let anyone tell her to sit down!" My kind of gal.

I will put out another post on the substance of the speech tomorrow - after I have a chance to digest and internalize the speeches more. I will say this. Going into the primaries this season John McCain was not my first pick. Shoot - he was not even my 5th pick...however, tonight he won me over. His character really shone through tonight in this speech.

Speaking At The Convention

Tonights speakers line-up has been finalized and released. The speakers will be:

Speakers will include:

President George W. Bush (via satellite)
First Lady Laura Bush
U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.)
Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.)
U.S. House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio)
U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.)
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.)
Robert M. "Mike" Duncan, Chairman of the Republican National Committee
Jo Ann Davidson, Co-Chairman of the Republican National Committee and Chairman of the 2008 Republican National Convention Committee on Arrangements

Delegate Busses Attacked!

Founding Bloggers has the video. Based on their video at least three delegation busses were attacked with sandbags and cement bags.



Welcome to St. Paul delegates...y'all come back real soon!

In related news, an elderly Conneticut delegate had her credentials stolen and others had bleach thrown on them. Stay classy anarkids!

Crunch Time

Well it crunch time. While there is oodles of news (Sarah Palin - WOW!) I have to get myself packed and ready to go to Minneapolis for the RNC Convention. For those of you who might not know, I am a credentialed blogger for the RNC Convention. I know I will be on the floor for Monday's speeches (President and Mrs. Bush, VP Cheney and others), but the rest of the week will be up in the air.

I will be blogging from the convention both here and at True North and broadcasting daily at MidStream Radio (link in sidebar) so please check in often for updates. If there is anything you readers would like to hear about, feel free to email me and I will try to get at it for you.

Speaking At The Convention

As I posted at True North, the RNC has released their line up of speakers for the convention. Here are my thoughts on each day's line up.

Day One

• U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.)
• Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (Calif.)
• Vice President Richard B. Cheney
• First Lady Laura Bush
• President George W. Bush

Nice way to start the convention. You knew that you were not going to keep a sitting President and Vice President away from the convention, so it is best to start with them and get it done and over with. The fact that Senator Lieberman is speaking early gives Sen. McCain the bi-partisan feel that he wants, while taking the bases concerns in mind.

Day 2

• Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani
• Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.)
• Former Gov. Tom Ridge (Pa.)
• Gov. Sarah Palin (Alaska)
• Gov. Jon Huntsman (Utah)
• Rosario Marin, California Secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency and former Treasurer of the United States
• Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.)
• Gov. Linda Lingle (Hawaii)
• Former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (Md.)

Killer Day two. Lots of heavy hitters and favorites of the conservative base (Thompson, Palin) mixed with a couple of new faces for the future (Huntsman, Lingle, Steele) and a lot of serious policy gravitas. The addition of Governor Huntsman was a pleasant surprise - especially in the company he is in. I have been a raving Michael Steele fan for the last 4 years so I am excited to see him get this opportunity. He is a true rising star in the party.

Day 3

• U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.)
• Meg Whitman, National Co-Chair for McCain 2008 and former President and CEO of eBay
• Carly Fiorina, Victory ‘08 Chairman for the Republican National Committee and former Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co.
• Former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.)
• Mrs. Cindy McCain
• Gov. Bobby Jindal (La.)
• Republican Party’s Vice Presidential Nominee

Mitt Romney speaking on Wednesday night (ahead of the VP nominee slot) pretty much assures us that he is most likely not the VP. Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina are great choices (IMHO) and Bobby Jindal is another rising star that should go far in coming years.

Day 4

• Gov. Tim Pawlenty (Minn.)
• Gov. Charlie Crist (Fla.)
• U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.)
• U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez (Fla.)
• John McCain

While on one hand, I am happy to see Governor Pawlenty land this prime speaking slot (let's face it more people will turn in on the final night in order to see the Presidential nominee) I suspect that this pretty much means that he is out of the Veep-stakes as well. This night is the night for the longstanding McCain supporters to get their "reward" for their loyalty.

All in all it's not a bad line up. A nice mix of views and ideas. I am happy to see Minnesota get two prime speaking spots (after all we are the "host" state). It also shows the seriousness of the McCain campaign toward the issues we are facing going forward. Who knows better what the consequences ofthe fight against terrorism than Rudy Giuliani? Who knows more about the effect of out of control spending and high gas prices on the economy than a couple of business owners? Who knows more about how harmful out of control federal regulation can be than a bevy of governors who have to implement things like No Child Left Behind?

Contrast that to the Democrat speakers line up which contains several of Obama's Chicago cronies including Mayor Richard M (Richie) Daley (what no Tony Rezko?), a union organizer and John Kerry.

The next two weeks should be very enlightening indeed.

Help Wanted

Just before I left Minnesota for Utah, I got an email from the Minneapolis St. Paul Host Committee asking for help. Apparently (as you have seen in the local news lately), the host committee is still in need of volunteers for the convention. If you are interested at all in helping with the convention, please go here to let them know you are interested. The Host Committee needs to get 10,000 volunteers by the end of June so the odds are good that you will be put to work.

Signs Of The Gathering Storm

The not so sublte hints from the anarkids just keep coming. Just take a look at today's sumbission: "Learning from the 'Battle In Seattle' - If protests had started earlier, it may have been possible to stop the WTO"

On Wednesday, in Room 205 of Blegen Hall, the yeast gathered to discuss protest
and possible "direct action" strategy far in advance of the Republican National Convention.
They are the Students for a Democratic Society, which took its name and inspiration from the 1960s activist group which helped organize massive protest and resistance to the Vietnam War.
On Wednesday in Blegen Hall, these SDS "usual suspects" gathered with their shiny-eyed idealism, their colorful scarves and their love of granola to watch a movie called "This Is What Democracy Looks Like," which tells the story of the massive 1999 protests at the World Trade Organization conference in Seattle.
I'd never seen the movie before, but I was there in 1999 so it made me teary-eyed and it almost gave me flashbacks as gas canisters were fired in the direction of the camera person's lens.

Oh the nostalgia.....seriously - I worked very closely with some folks who put up with the WTO protests in Seattle. Their memories of the time are probably less than fond ones....

What gets me is that the author of this opinion piece was a student in 1999 and is STILL a student. NINE YEARS LATER!

For years I've thought, "How could it have been done differently?" My conclusion: if one of the participants had tossed a few fliers into the Starbucks store explaining why this was a radical political action targeting a particular corporation, and not just some stupid, ugly, inarticulate act of vandalism and looting, then the media "spin" would have been totally different.
I don't support window- smashing except, perhaps, to exit a burning building. But I am particularly opposed to window-smashing lacking any articulated political argument. So to all the bandana-masked anarchists out there I say: this time around, be slightly less stupid.
(Oh, yeah, I'd also like to point out Minneapolis-St. Paul is full of vacant houses abandoned by folks involved in mortgage fraud. Hint, hint.)

Emphasis mine. won't hold my breath waiting for Coleen Rowley's swift condemnation of THIS implied threat of violence.....after all, the author is not Chris Baker or some other "right-winger"...Maybe David Mindemann can mention it....after all he is sooooo concerned about accuracy and all.

Second, we made a grave tactical error by starting the big protests on the first day of the WTO events and ending most of the street demonstrations around the time the conference collapsed. If massive protests had kicked off a week early, it may have been possible to stop the WTO conference from ever happening.

We failed, big time.

Take note Minnesota.....the troublemakers (I refuse to call them anarchists because you can't organize anarchy) are organizing and they are getting ready. It is time for responsible citizens to stand up to these losers and tell them that their "actions" are not representative of Minnesota and they are NOT WELCOME HERE!

Critical Mass

This is what we have to look forward to next year when the GOP comes to town.

About 200 bicyclists were riding on La Salle Avenue, with two officers
monitoring the protest that called for reduced reliance on automobile
transportation. The ride was also linked with weekend protests of next year's
Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities.

When officers tried to arrest a rider they felt had been trying to
provoke them, a scuffle broke out, said Minneapolis Police Lt. Marie Przynski.

"When the officer went to arrest him, his buddy came up, and they started
to struggle with the officer," Przynski said.

A group surrounded the officers, and begin to chant "Let them go!"Then
several people tried to prevent the officers from arresting these individuals,"
she said, and a skirmish ensued.

Soon, the two officers were surrounded by about 30 people, and they issued
the call "officer needs help."

That brought 48 officers from six different law enforcement agencies racing
to the scene, where the situation escalated and the officers used chemical Mace
in an attempt to control the crowd, Przynski said.

It is so predictable and at the same time rather worrisome. This was one of many "tune up events" according to the organizers. A warm up to the RNC convention. These protesters, with the tacit blessing of certain members of the St. Paul City Council", are going to ratchet things up during the real thing, of that you can be certain. It's going to be difficult for the police and the delegates to get around town without running into these folks.

Which may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. As long as no one gets hurt, if we can show the rest of the country what supports the Democratic Party, they are going to lose a lot of support from the middle. Next fall could be very interesting indeed.