They're on a boat to nowhere.
The plan by House Majority Leader, Tom "the Hammer" DeLay, to quarantine Republican politicians, donors, delegates and assorted other GOPers out on a cruise ship in the Hudson during next year's Republican National Convention has been sunk. But for Bush opponents, there sure is a lot of blood in the water. With Democrats hooting and howling, and many fellow Republicans quietly wincing, DeLay caved, but only after letting the controversy play out for a while, so determined was he to have his colleagues stay docked off Manhattan Island. The dramatic debacle revealed that the Republicans?including Tough Guy DeLay?are wimps of the first order, scared to death of mingling among the Clinton-loving, sodomite-friendly masses.
What are they truly afraid of? Some have speculated about a fear of terrorism?that new old standby?particularly since DeLay's spokesman said the ship would provide an "opportunity to stay in one place, in a secure fashion." But it's doubtful that security concerns were the main reason for leasing the ship. Putting the Republicans on an ocean liner, after all, only makes for a bigger target. Besides, they'd still have to navigate the streets of the city to get to Madison Square Garden, where the actual convention will take place. And Republican leaders, including the folks in the White House, knew what they were getting into when they picked New York, a major terrorist target.
The real fear is of protestors and the negative media coverage caused by them, and for good reason: Hundreds of thousands of angry Bush opponents could quite possibly hit the streets of Manhattan next August 30 to September 2. With the dozens of events that usually punctuate the Republican National Convention?events that would normally take place in restaurants, nightclubs, bars, parks and outdoor spaces all over the city?it will be impossible to control the swarms of demonstrators and keep them out of the range of cameras. A few thousand protestors can be cordoned off in fenced-in pen blocks from the convention site?as the GOP convention planners, in cahoots with local Republican authorities, did at their Houston convention (1992), their San Diego convention (1996) and their Philadelphia convention (2000), all of which I covered. But a hundred thousand people?the size of the anti-war marches here last spring?or even a quarter of that, is a mob too big to keep back in a relatively small, compact place like Manhattan, particularly if various factions among the demonstrators target the different Republican events.
At the San Diego convention, I remember when the anti-abortion crowd, led by fanatical, right-wing organizer Phyllis Schlafly, held a "Whale of the Party" day at Sea World. T-shirts and balloons that read "Life of the Party" were handed out. Porpoises and whales frolicked amid the blue-haired ladies carrying dead fetus posters. Yes, it was quite lovely. Where do you suppose they'll have their bash here? The New York Public Library? The Met? Union Square? And are New Yorkers, and the untold numbers of others who might come into the city to protest, going to let such events go on undisturbed? Not if I?or you, hopefully?can help it. That's why the ship idea?the 2240-room Norwegian Dawn, with 15 decks and 14 bars and lounges?was brilliant for the Republicans, if they could have pulled it off. It would keep the protestors far away from gatherings, and it would keep the most extreme of the wingnuts locked up, like your crazy old aunt hidden in the attic. It would also provide a space for the upscale fundraisers?the kind filled with glittery, supremely tacky Texans?undeterred by chanting masses or infiltrators who might stand up and make a peaceful but embarrassing protest.
When the Republicans decided on New York last January?and when they pushed the convention forward a week so that it would be closer to the 9/11 anniversary, which Bush could milk for photo-ops?there weren't supposed to be any protestors in New York. In the neo-con hawks' vision of the future, by next September even New Yorkers, who were as supportive as most of the rest of the country about the war in Afghanistan, would be thankful that we invaded Iraq, found weapons of mass destruction and saved the world. We'd be eternally grateful for Bush's supposed leadership in the days after 9/11, happy to anoint him during that terrible day's anniversary right after his party's convention, believing his insinuations of a connection between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein. Or, we wouldn't care whether or not there is such a connection.
Things went a vastly different way. And like Bush's recent, long-planned trip to London, a Republican convention that was planned here a long time ago now seems pretty ill-considered. There's the anger and resentment among New Yorkers over the administration's stalling the 9/11 commission, which the White House resisted from the beginning. There's the cutting of funds for reconstruction and to fight terrorism on the domestic front. We've now found out that the air quality after the attacks was pretty horrible, but that Bush's Environmental Protection Agency didn't want to tell us perhaps for fear we wouldn't go back to work. In the lead-up to the war came the demonizing and diminishing of the U.N., which is as much a part of this city as, well, September 11. And then came the war in Iraq itself, which New Yorkers have opposed with more vigor than most of the rest of the country in part because they have been fearful of the ramifications in the form of terrorist attacks in years to come.
In the first days after 9/11, people were comforted by Bush's appearances at Ground Zero, especially since he was promising to find the terrorists who committed the mass murder and destruction, including Osama bin Laden. But nowadays, Bush can't even say bin Laden's name. The thought of his using 9/11 as the capper for his convention is enraging to many. And a lot of people, including the families of many victims, will no doubt be making their voices heard during Bush's convention.
In light of all that, the ship idea made sense and was certainly a way to do some damage control and diminish negative publicity. It wasn't so different from the cancellation of the traditional carriage parade through the streets of London during Bush's state visit to Buckingham Palace, or his cancellation of a speech before Britain's Parliament (where the tradition is for opposition party members to heckle a speaker with whom they disagree). Both were chocked up to security concerns. But you have to wonder if speaking before Britain's Parliament is really more dangerous than flying into Baghdad on Thanksgiving Day, something Bush did with a bunch of reporters at his side.
So, the Republicans' ship may have gone down. But if Bush opponents are smart, we'll smell that blood in the water and make sure there's a feeding frenzy at next year's convention.