The Republican National Committee (RNC), the convention will host
approximately 2,470 delegates and 2,302 alternate delegates from all 50 states,
the District of Columbia and five territories.
The convention will also include approximately 15,000
credentialed media—an international press corps second only in size to the 2016
Rio Olympic Games—as well as a global audience that will witness a front row
seat online thanks to our Internet and social media efforts.
Nearly 120 staffers will eventually live, dine and shop in the
Cleveland area in preparation for the 2016 Republican National Convention. And
roughly 50,000 people are expected to visit the Cleveland area during the
gathering.
2016 will mark the fourth
time the Republican Party will convene its convention in Ohio. The Buckeye
State also played host to the 1876, 1924 and 1936 Republican National
Conventions in Cincinnati (’76) and Cleveland (’24 and ’36).
Well, this is the strangest experience that I
may ever encounter – today I’m off to the RNC in Cleveland, Ohio. Made possible
by one of the delegates from Hawaii who has the opportunity to invite as many
as four guests to accompany her to this surreal event. It is my first – and most certainly my last –
but in so many ways this will be a first for all participants given the
unexpected turn of events that places Donald Trump at the forefront of the
Republican Party’s nomination for POTUS, 2016.
Already I have experienced Act 1 of the drama,
stemming from a barrage of pre-RNC hostile, and snappy email exchanges done
with attack dog style from some of the Hawaii delegation, while making sure
that everyone on the email list was cc’d to enjoy every spewing invective. What a way to start the journey, contentious
as it may turn out to be, with a torrent of wild and accusatory exchanges
demonstrating a level of belligerence, self-righteous indignation and
intolerance not typically demonstrated by Hawaii folks.
And so with this prelude, I am wittingly
venturing into the vast unknown for the sake of adventure and to experience an
activity that I would have never imagined attending.
Accordingly, I have been told to KEEP MY MOUTH
SHUT during the RNC by many of my friends who know me, and my tendency to spew
out inappropriate and ill-timed pronouncements.
I suppose this is good advice for me to stay out of trouble. And perhaps it is the reason I’m blogging the
experience. Perhaps if I can ventilate
my impressions and frustrations in my blog, I will be less likely to get into
trouble real time. Indeed, there is no taking back the spoken word. Blogging allows you to consider what is
written, and to edit, re-edit and re-re-edit.
Still I’m not sure if I will have any friends
at the RNC other than my long-term friend PDH.
He is the husband of the delegate that invited me. I will stick closely
to him at all times expecting him to show me the ropes and provide me with
necessary council.
Yes, this will be an experience of a
lifetime. And the events will engrave an
indelible mark on American History. I
just feel so darn defeated by the selection of candidates that have gifted us
their presence. Meandering from a leader who will interpret any event to match
his ideology no matter what the facts are, to
possibly one whose ideology is made up spontaneously to suit his mood, or
more likely to one whose ideology can be adjusted to match the audience in order to achieve
her ultimate goal. From all indications,
this RNC will be a dress rehearsal for one 4 years from now when the Republican
party will have a viable candidate to rally behind....…..or is that
expecting too much?
No comments:
Post a Comment