Big Hurricane, Big Bash

By Barry Yeoman
The Independent Weekly / Sept. 1, 2008


With Hurricane Gustav poised to hit the Gulf Coast today, Sen. John McCain has announced that this week's Republican National Convention would be a scaled-back affair without the usual troop-rousing speeches or over-the-top parties. "This is not a time for politics or celebration," said McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, yesterday. "It is a time for us to come together as Americans."

Which doesn't quite explain the last night's welcome party at the Minneapolis Convention Center, where delegates from all 50 states wandered among a huge interactive history exhibit. They were photographed stepping off a life-size replica of an Air Force One fuselage. They pretended to get sworn in as president of the United States. Mostly, they ate: tataki salmon; duck spring rolls; platters of antipasto; brie, pear and almond phyllo pastries; homemade walleye cakes with lemon aioli; and carved steamship of beef with wild rice. They washed their meals down with Tanqueray gin, Crown Royal whisky, and Smirnoff vodka (thanks to one of the sponsors, the liquor giant Diageo). Desserts included espresso-chocolate and crème brouleé cheesecake; passionfruit and raspberry mascarpone tartlets; and praline and opera finger cakes. It was all free.

I rode a shuttle bus with the North Carolina delegation. The conversation en route centered around two topics: Sarah Palin and hurricane preparedness. The consensus among delegates: Palin was an inspired choice for vice president ("I was jumping up and down like Snoopy dog," said Jackie Wieland, an investment adviser from Greensboro); her six years as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and 21 months as the state's governor prepare her to lead the free world; and Trig, her 4-month-old son with Down Syndrome, will do fine on the campaign trail. (To imply otherwise, said state party chair Linda Daves, is "an insult to American women.")

As for hurricanes: Most of the of the delegates I interviewed cut President Bush slack for his performance after Hurricane Katrina, saying that disaster management isn't really the federal government's job.

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