Snapshots from the RNC
Dinovella, Elizabeth
Snapshots from the RNC By: Elizabeth DiNovella Photo byJoeff Davis It was a convention of contradictions. During the day, the Republicans chatted about the conservative platform planks in hotel...
...Real Men Marry Women: Support a Constitutional Amendment to Protect Marriage...
...I chose four and tucked them into my new Republican National Convention bag...
...There are issues that are very strong in the platform that I couldn't care less either way, like the gay marriage thing," she told me on the convention floor moments before Bush wastospeak...
...And everyone emphasized what a great friend Israel is to the United States...
...The only thing harder is being a Red Sox fan...
...One person requested that people remember that "our party's function is to serve God and to lead, and not to follow society...
...Impeach an Activist Judge...
...Schenck is a Republican because the party reflects his beliefs as a Christian...
...I caught up with Guerriero at a United Leaders event...
...United Leaders is a nonprofit, nonpartisan youth group that is trying to put idealism back into politics...
...And then there were those off-camera revelations...
...A who's who of GOP Senators and Representatives spoke at the Republican Jewish Coalition event: Norm Coleman, Rick Santorum, Arlen Specter, Mitch McConnell, George Voinovich, Christopher Shays, and others...
...Most Republicans are moderates, he said...
...There is no Israeli-Palestinian conflict," DeLay said...
...She wore a red vest that read "Open ANWR" on the back...
...Electronic dance music boomed from the speakers while attendees dined on salmon and sushi and enjoyed an open bar...
...Revival cleanses the soul of two things: guilt and shame...
...People prayed for police officers while the reverend checked his cellphone...
...The Republican Party let the radical right hijack the party platform, and actually put it on the wrong side of most Americans," Guerriero said...
...No one else picked up on these strands...
...1 Reason to Ban Human Cloning: Hillary Clinton," they read...
...Israel, security, and the war on terrorism dominated the speeches...
...Karoline Bekeris is a schoolteacher and a delegate from Sitka, Alaska...
...At the end of his ten-minute speech, the audience was shouting "Tom...
...I can take his bare bottom on movie screens if we got those three things in place...
...You know, she's not overweight...
...That's good enough for me...
...We pray for our President, George W. Bush...
...God, please help us, and help those who think that same-sex relationships is a simple choice," Sheldon said...
...Sheldon went on to explain the four causes of cultural disintegration: same-sex relationships, fornication, adultery, and sexual hedonism...
...The ad included footage of Pat Buchanan giving his "culture war" speech at the 1992 GOP Convention...
...That afternoon, I visited the Log Cabin Republicans...
...Bekeris had actually read the platform and told me she agreed with about 80 percent of it...
...More importantly, the target TV audience was the swing voter...
...If any of you are having a bad day, imagine being the head of the Log Cabin Republicans this week," said Patrick Guerriero, the executive director of the gay GOP group that is refusing to endorse Bush...
...Senator Coleman, who emceed the event, mentioned halfway through that there are other important issues besides Israel, like education and economic opportunity...
...Martin Andersonofthe Hoover Institution has attended ten conventions...
...The crowd reserved its biggest cheers for Tom DeLay...
...It was the first morning of the convention...
...Janet Parshall, conservative talk show host and leader of a morning prayer meeting, summed it up: "It's all about niche marketing...
...The party platform called not only for a constitutional amendment against gay marriage but also attacked civil unions and domestic partnerships...
...He was not a delegate to the convention but the guest of one...
...Save the Constitution...
...Day One When I walked into the stuffy conference room, I noticed the thousands of fortune cookies heaped on a table in front of the podium...
...I still believe America is fundamentally revival," said Sheldon...
...Stem cell research-I would probably go for that...
...Sheldon ended the meeting with a special request for the Vice President...
...In fact, in the official party plank, it embraces the most important parts of my faith: sanctity of human life, sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, and the public acknowledgment of God and his sovereignty over our country," he said...
...You got a naked woman in Times Square-you can't help but lusting," remarked the reverend...
...I can take Arnold...
...Schenck called himself a "reluctant Republican...
...Sheldon said, "Prayer is the key to renew a nation," and then he opened the floor to prayer requests...
...The Log Cabin Republicans decided not to take the battle to the floor, as they had threatened, but settled on television ads asking the GOP if it wanted to be the party of tolerance or the party of exclusion...
...The Family Research Council, the Eagle Forum, and the American Conservative Union held a press conference to discuss how to turn out the "pro-family vote"-specifically, the four million rightwing evangelicals who did not vote in 2000...
...And Lord, we pray that you will bring clarity in that family concerning same-sex relationships as you brought clarity to George Bush when he became a heavy drinker...
...The 2000 Alaska delegation printed up the vests and she decided to wear hers to the 2004 convention, too...
...We need to understand we're in spiritual warfare," Burch said, and then introduced the day's guest prayer leader, a man who "fought against rabid homosexual people," the Reverend Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition...
...The author of the fortunes was not Confucius, but the Family Research Council...
...This was her third convention and she said this was the best one ever...
...Burch is the chaplain of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, which considers itself the "Republican wing of the Republican Party...
...At night, they put on friendly faces in an attempt to capture the center...
...But I'm not going to not vote for the Republican Party for one little issue...
...We pray for our Vice President, Dick Cheney...
...There is only the war on terrorism...
...After that, they were feted by General Motors, General Dynamics, and other corporate sponsors...
...As Specter said, "There are more Senators awaiting this podium than ordinarily we have on the floor of the United States Senate...
...But that's not the majority...
...Day Two The Republican Jewish Coalition threw a party to salute the Republican Congress at the Plaza Hotel...
...During the day, the Republicans chatted about the conservative platform planks in hotel meeting rooms...
...I had hundreds of people-delegates, office holders-in the last few days who quietly said, 'I'm sorry, I can't be with you right now, but I'll see you in three years.'" Day Four At the Thursday morning prayer meeting, I spoke to the Reverend Rob Schenck of Washington, D.C...
...Most people-even the teenagers-were dressed to the nines...
...Elizabeth DiNovella is Culture Editor of The Progressive...
...Day Three "The people who hate George W. Bush hate God," Doc Burch told the dozen Republicans gathered at an early morning prayer meeting...
...We have people who believe stronglyinsome of the things in the platform," said Anderson...
Vol. 68 • October 2004 • No. 10
