What the F*#%?

The Republican National Committee has approached 30 US cities for proposals to host the 2008 convention. And they are starting to get some answers: NO!

The city of Chicago has said that they have other priorities, like serving the predominantly Democratic constinuency. (Sidebar: With the city's history, why would anyone want to host a party convention in Chicago?)

The other cities the GOP approached include: Anaheim, Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, and Tampa.

San Francisco? Really? That's great. It's a city in which 78% of the residents vote Democratic and the rest are split among the Greens and the Peace & Freedom Party. New Orleans would be great, too! No messy protesters unless than can swim.

I understand the imagery of taking the fight to your enemy, but I think its absurd for the parties to host conventions in places where they have no stregnth. Exhibit A: The 2004 Republican Convention in New York. Democrats outnumber Republicans 6 to 1 in New York. They may have some Republican electeds, but Pataki and Bloomberg win elections by running away from the national Republican platform. Obviously, its was a disgusting effort on the part of the GOP to milk 9-11. (Why did the Democrats let it happen? Why didn't they pick the city first? Okay, I know the '92 convention was in New York, but we could double up in this case.)

So Republicans: Stay out of blue cities. We'll let you wander it to the occasional blue state, but die-hard Democratic strongholds like San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Detroit, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle, etc. -- you know, all the places you'd actually want to go to -- they're off limits.

QUESTION: What's a political party that must hold a HUGE national convention every four years supposed to do when they spend 90% of their time insulting and attacking urbanites to exploit the fear and votes of rural and suburban dwellers? Can you hold a national convention in San Bernandino?