hilarious. on a full plane out of the twin cities, loaded with republicans. no matter how often the crew says to be mindful of space, people keep taking extra room in the overhead compartments, putting bags sideways, laying out suitbags, putting computers above instead of under seats. and they dont know how to resolve it, since they sort of respect each other's expansionist real estate instincts.
With yet more scandals around Palin, including her firing of a police chief who 'stepped' on her campaign contributors, the question tonight is whether independent voters will meet this young, attractive and charismatic woman and believe her story about being a small town mayor and reformer in Alaska who is being criticized solely because the media and political establishments hate outsiders. This photo is being passed around over email, with obvious class overtones, just as the irritation of Republican elites with the Palin choice was picked up accidentally over a microphone on MSNBC.
That is the bet Jay Rosen and Digby speaks of, it's a bet on backlash and anger towards the political elite. It's tough to make this work, even if this speech is powerful. More scandals around Palin are going to emerge, and it is too difficult to inoculate a Republican when there are open systems involved by portraying her opponents as elitists. But it is possible, and depends on how the Obama camp reacts.
Normally this is the partisan meat convention night, when only activists and political junkies are watching. People are incredibly hungry for information about Palin, so this is probably going to be a heavily viewed speech by all sorts of people, not just your standard activist crowd. So her speech, which is heavy on resentment and attacks, may not play particularly well to an audience of independents who just want to know who she is. She'll be introduced tonight as an angry, resentful, and defensive VP pick that the media doesn't like.
Maybe that'll work, I don't know. This country is really pissed off. On the other hand, there are real questions about her qualifications, and she might just come off looking like she doesn't want to answer them.
I got into the Pepsi Center once in Denver, and had to sit behind the stage in the worst seats in the house because I arrived late, that is, two hours before the program started. Every other time I tried to get in, with really good credentials, I was turned away because the fire marshal shut it down due to overcapacity. The pictures I put up yesterday of an almost entirely empty Xcel Center were taken at around 5:30pm, an hour before the program started. I don't have a credential today, so I can't go inside to witness the lonely stench of embarrassed dead-enders. But I'm watching a bit of cable news, and I see that behind the pundits who are sitting in the Xcel Center looking out onto the floor are rows and rows of empty seats.
Yesterday, even after the program started, here's what it looked like.
Ubiquitous at the conventions are the 'clean coal' girls, who are handing out buttons and t-shirts to convince people that clean coal is a necessary technology we have to use for a secure energy future. If you don't know what clean coal is, allow me to explain.
The process of scrubbing carbon out of coal starts with a free t-shirt, like this one.
I managed to snag a credential to walk around the Xcel Center where the Republicans are holding their convention. Most political conventions are designed around glitter and glitz, and a nagging feeling that there's a backroom you have to get into where important decisions are being made. Credentials are highly sought after, and the sense of history is palpable. But this one feels different. The glitz and glamor is half-assed, the Republican themselves seem mostly irrelevant, and there are probably more security guards than delegates and spectators. It feels like a funeral, or the scene of a disgraced CEO returning to his company to clean out his desk. The sense I get here is... embarrassment.
St Paul police chief John Harrington and Mayor Chris Coleman (who is apparently quite liberal) held a press conference yesterday to discuss the day's events. If I were Coleman I'd be pissed, as news of the arrests of various journalists (including Amy Goodman) has traveled everywhere in town. I mean, I ordered pizza for dinner and the delivery guy was bitching about the excessive security.
Here's video of the press conference I attended yesterday with Harrington and Coleman. Harrington didn't know very much about apprehending journalists, but his bragging about his side's 'standing tall' and 'restraint' in the face of kids with bandanas while his officers had riot gear and semi-automatic weapons and were backed up by the national guard and a $50M security budget is laughable. And it sounds laughable.
The soundtrack of this convention so far is helicopter noise, kind of like the final scenes in Goodfellas. Amy Goodman has apparently been arrested (video is here), and the police are detaining lawyers and medics as well as people doing actual property damage.
The spin operation is starting, though calling it spin really does a disservice to the term. I just got back from a press conference with Mayor Chris Coleman (no relationship to Norm Coleman) and the chief of police, John Harrington, in which Harrington lauded the heroism and professionalism of the police department in the face of mass criminal behavior. The event included every stupid police press conference cliche, from stuttering overly bureaucratic excuses to sycophantic journalists asking about damage estimates and calling him 'chief' to get his attention to heroic uniformed sternly worded descriptions of frightening protesters throwing rocks at officers. The end literally was the PR officer walking out of the room in a dramatic huff.
The city is on ridiculous lockdown, with humvees in the streets, officers patrolling with shotguns and machine guns, and the national guard out. I expected Harrington to announce that he has not yet ascertained the identity of the Batman but that he is working hard and the city of Gotham is safe. Video soon, and a full set of pictures is here.
I'm trying to upload photos and am having trouble with the internets. I'm at the Uptake, an office set aside for bloggers right near the security perimeter outside the Excel Center. The scene here in St Paul is downright creepy. It's deserted, with chain link fences and barbed wire surrounding the downtown area and riot police running down the empty streets, chanting out load cheers like they are on a military missions. There are a few Republican delegates, some young Republican operatives, a few people hawking wares, and a scattered group of protesters with signs that takl about war and profit. It is anything but festive, a far cry from Denver in both the level of excitement and the overt fascist overtones.
By now, the police tactics used in Minneapolis to crack down on peaceful activists are all over the internet, as well as being reported in local papers. The rumor I hear is that Sheriff Bob Fletcher, who represents Ramsey County, is outside of his jurisdiction in raiding the houses in Hennipen County. Fletcher is inclined to do what the Feds want because of a deal he cut to hold off on a corruption probe in which his two buddies were ensnared stealing money from a sting operation.
I just arrived in Minneapolis with Justin Krebs and Josh Bolotsky from Living Liberally. If you want to see the rest of our pictures from >the Denver to Nebraska to Iowa to Minnesota roadtrip, here you go.
This is an open thread. What are you expecting for the Republican National Convention?
On March 5th, dailykos denizen norahc (Ben Plunkett) obtained permits in the name of "Swift Students for Truthiness" from the St. Paul Parks Department for use of Hamm's Plaza for non-partisan issue oriented expressive activity on Sept. 3d and 4th, 8AM to 8PM. Planned, a "Shutdown Guantanamo Stop Torture" event the 3d, "Stop Government Spying" on the 4th, both starting at 4:00. I'm co-ordinating the "spying" event.
Hamm's is tiny, not much more than a traffic island, so the limit of 91 in attendance at any time was acceptable.
Yesterday, Ben received a Certified Mail from the Parks Department, dated August 5th, indicating that the permits had been revoked, offering alternative space at Ecolab Plaza or Mears Park, both much less visible. Hamm's is 2 blocks from the Convention site at the Excel Center, and faces the St. Paul Hotel, a major delegate hub. I've just lined up an attorney, we'll be seeking a Temporary Restraining Order directing that the Parks Dept. honor the original permit.
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