Yesterday's Dilemma

Another day begins with al-Hurra. I finally did some work--I tried to find a schedule for Tuesday's events. Then my supervisor got an e-mail from RNC headquarters containing the entire list of speakers, and all my work was for naught. On the upside, I got to hook into the Internet--and my blog.

What happened yesterday? The Republicans pursued two goals--reframing the convention as a fundraiser and call to service for Gustav, and dumping all the bad news on Sarah Palin when no one would be listening.

They had mixed success on both fronts. Except for the speech Laura Bush and Cindy McCain gave, the convention floor was basically dead. The Republicans didn't party during the hurricane, but then again, they didn't do much of anything. It was, for the most part, an ignorable day.

The attempt to "flush the toilet" (as one Republican put it), to dump news about Palin's pregnant daughter and her husband's DUI record while Gustav dominated television screens, also fell short of its goal. While Gustav was the major news story all day long, Palin frequently edged in, and stories about her have resurged today.

The Republicans were stuck between a rock and a hard place--a strong Gustav would have forced them to cancel more of their convention, while a weak Gustav ensured that Palin would have a prominent place in the news. They got both yesterday. Dire predictions led McCain to shorten the RNC schedule in advance, while the relatively minor damage left space for Palin on the airwaves.

The Republican rank-and-file, though, remain resolutely on-message. In my time here at the RNC, I have yet to hear a negative word about the Palin news, and few regrets about Gustav. Most folks here see Palin's struggles as evidence of her strength, and among social conservatives, her complicated family life is just more evidence of her commitment to the pro-life position. The media doesn't seem to feel the issue is so cut-and-dried. CNN just held a gossip-fest about Palin and her pregnant daughter, Bristol. I'll come back to the Palin drama in this blog later.

A Slow Start

My first day on the job! Which, due to Hurricane Gustav, consisted of sitting around all day waiting for anything to happen. All the big events were canceled for the day on John McCain's orders. The upshot is that I had plenty of free time to poke around and take photos.

I spent my morning sitting in the al-Hurra media trailer, watching coverage of Gustav and waiting for someone to give me something to do. Gradually, I realized this wasn't going to happen, and so I decided to look around. The first thing I found? Protestors. (I apologize for the size of the video--I don't have any editing software.)



Police estimate that almost 10,000 protestors showed up today. The protest march you see here went on for a long time--I watched this scene for about ten minutes, and never saw the end. Apparently, a separate protest group attempted to overrun riot police. An officer nearly maced a fellow student of mine reporting on the scene.

The floor of the convention wasn't quite so exciting. I managed to get in just as the convention began, and sat through a number of votes on procedural matters. That didn't bother me, though--the arena is spectacular, as you can see from the photo at the top of this post. At one point, a very nice gentleman sat next to me and struck up a conversation. He turned out to be an alternate delegate from Virginia, and asked me about myself. An awkward situation--I was loathe to reveal that I was not in fact a loyal Republican. Fortunately, he never asked me anything that forced me to disclose my affiliation, and we had a very friendly chat.

The schedule for the rest of the week is still up in the air, but I'm inclined to believe that the RNC will be back on track tomorrow. Gustav seems to have done less damage than expected, and the Republicans are certainly eager to make use of the enormous monetary investment in the convention. (To say nothing of the Twin Cities business community, which has been watching Gustav as though the hurricane were coming straight for them.) I'll let you know what's going on tomorrow.