I’m beginning to think about the Republican National Convention. It’s going to be different.
While Democrats in Denver are arranging for the spectacle of a stadium-sized throng, the Republicans here are staging things a bit differently for their get-together Sept. 1-4. They talk about a more intimate, you-are-there feeling. Simple but classy, they’re calling it.
“We’re much more simple this time than we have been in the past,” said [Executive Producer, David] Nash, a veteran TV producer. “Basically, Sen. McCain and his staff feel that to do something real glitzy and Las Vegas-like would be inappropriate, the way the economy is.”
The stage is just 4 feet high and rectangular, which by convention standards is practically Shaker-like. Television cameras will be stationed on the convention floor to give home viewers a greater sense of “being there.” And some old flourishes will be absent, including the live band, the tiered podium and the huge presidential seal.
It’s the anti-glitz convention. You can see the full schedule here, and it’s pretty depressing. On Monday, they’ll have popular politicians: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, and Michelle Bachmann. That is sure to give the Republicans a bounce.
Tuesday the main attraction will be Rudy Guiliani, who will presumably avoid advising us on the best way to get the public to subsidize your adultery. Other luminaries will include Grandpa Fred Thompson, Tom ‘Color-Coded Terror Chart’ Ridge, and Mike Huckabee. I can’t see much bounce out of that.
Wednesday will by Cindy McCain’s night. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Mitt Romney will speak, along with Carly Fiorina and Gov. Bobby Jindal. Whoever the vice-presidential pick is will speak, too. My guess is that the pick will be Hutchison, but I’ve been saying that for nearly a year now.
The last day is probably the most pathetic of all. They will actually resurrect Bill ‘Remote Diagnosis’ Frist. What are they thinking? Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida will speak. I guess he’s popular. But Lindsey Graham? Sam Brownback? Mel Martinez?
This is the emptiest bench I’ve ever seen. Where is Chuck Hagel, or Richard Lugar, or Colin Powell or Brent Scowcroft, or Jim Baker, or Lawrence Eagleburger, or Henry Kissinger, or George Schultz, or anyone with any foreign policy experience? Where is George Herbert Walker Bush? The entire realist school of foreign policy will be absent.
I can’t imagine this convention being anything but a total disaster. But at least it won’t be a glitzy disaster.
It’ll be McPlain. But didn’t you forget to mention Joe Lieberman, an excellent prick?
Keep an eye on Crist and Lindsey Graham. A lot of matches are made at these sorts of events.
Speaking of disasters…
I can’t imagine this convention being anything but a total disaster. But at least it won’t be a glitzy disaster.
You’re more right than you know.
No daddy Bush? That’s pretty strange. I bet they’re going to do a “surprise” family reunion on stage to try and milk some emotion out of this dreary hatefest.
I guess it’s standard to have primary also-rans speak, no? But Frist? Why?
I kind of feel sorry for Cindy McCain. She’ll be held up for comparison with Michelle and be glaringly lacking. It will be a moment of embarrassment for everybody present.
Interesting, too, if there’s really no Powell, Rice, Kissinger, or any of the other international “experts” or hands from daddy’s or Reagan’s regimes. Much as I bitched about the Dems’ obsessive “positive” message, it’s starting to look like the energy and expectation at their convention will make the GOP counterpart look like a sorryass dirge — they even have the right set for the mood.
it’s a far-cry from a united party.
PS — Why is Fiorina there? I’m thinking she might be the one. McCain probably sees his one shot as getting the pathetic PUMA vote so he needs a female VP, but Huchison’s pro-choice position would be the final end to getting the “religious” right vote. So Fiorina’s the only other possibility. I still hope it’s Romney, though — the comparison of chemistry between the two teams would be hysterical.
I believe Fiorina’s pro-choice as well.
Probably not on record with any votes, though, so it can be finessed.
Hutchison is not pro-choice.
My guess is that the pick will be Hutchison, but I’ve been saying that for nearly a year now.
What do you think of the rumors at the politico blogs that Hutchinson hasn’t been vetted?
Ha, republicans are never classy but for the simple part well I’ll bet that there is so much disinterest that the organizers are worried that mclame might be talking to a half empty building. So they are pre-emptively putting out the ‘simple/classy’ meme. Kinda like Johnny boy’s little speech when he had the nomination locked up…how many were there for that a hundred or so..or less?
Shorter GOP press release: We can’t afford a spectacle like the one the Democrats put on, and even if we could, no one would show up to watch it.
McCain will select JEB as his VP and George H. W. Bush will make a surprise appearance and get all teary-eyed.