Posted on 09/04/2004 1:13:51 PM PDT by Hillary's Lovely Legs
Greetings from a delegate to the GOP convention in New York.
I had a busy week. And I am so glad to be home. I need the next three days to recover from the last 5.
This was an incredibly successful convention, and my hats off to the people of New York and all of their public safety workers. The police were everywhere and just terrific.
Here is my diary and observations:
I arrived at my hotel on Sunday afternoon. My hotel held the delegations of Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan. We had to show ID to get into the hotel. Security was tight.
Sunday night I went on a cruise for my delegation on a yacht that sailed around the southern end of Manhattan, Statue of Liberty, and Staten Island. The food was great, the weather was fantastic, and everyone had a fantastic time. Some drank too much, but the booze was free.
Here is a photo of the Statue of Liberty on my cameraphone from the boat.
On Monday I had to give a speech to the Republican Women of Congress. It was there that I met Rick Lazio. I went up to him and told him what I did to Hillary last summer at her book signing. He laughed, put his arm around me and said You are my new best friend and asked me to sit with him at lunch. He and I had a great time and had our picture taken together. He gave me his card and some wealthy donor contacts in Michigan, and we will be speaking on Tuesday about a campaign and fundraising strategy.
I have a great speach, I am pretty proud of it. It had the audience rolling with laughter. Too many speeches were boring and I wanted to shake things up.
After the luncheon I had my photo taken with other congresspeople, one of which was Katherine Harris.
My photos are being processed, with the holiday weekend it will be a couple of days before I am able to publish them.
After the luncheon I went to the W Stands for Woman meeting at the Waldorf.
It was another fantastic event with the twins, Barbara Bush, Doro Bush, the female cabinet members, and Angie Harmon, who is beyond gorgeous. After the speeches by the Bushes I went to a meeting of Iraqi and Afghan women who were liberated by our country. It was very moving to hear their stories. We must fight tyranny, fight terrorism, and liberate the oppressed.
I then went to a party at Mickey Mantels Sports Bar and got a baseball signed by former Tiger announcer Ernie Harwell. Then on to the convention.
Security was very tight. Protestors everywhere. All the streets were closed off for our buses. When we got close to the Garden we had to go through a checkpoint that was like going through a communist checkpoint. They looked under the buses with mirrors and we were stopped about every 100 feet.
When we got to the Garden we were in a huge crowd. It took me over an hour and a half to get to my seat. I arrived at 9:00, just as Ron Silver had entered the stage. I thought that his speech was magnificent. He was one of my top 3 speeches.
Ron Silver
I left early to go to another party, the private Travis Tritt Concert. It was sponsored by General Motors and they had all sorts of cool concept cars. They also had a 67 GTO that all the men were wild for. I even had some old guy tell me all bout the back seat. Dont ask.
The concert started and I was eventually pushed right up against the stage. Here is a photo with my cameraphone.. I will have better photos later with my camera.
Near the end of the concert the drummers drumstick flew out of his hand and hit me in the head. I kept the drumstick and the drummer and Travis Tritt autographed it for me.
Here is the drumstick
After the party I met up with some friends who want to play cards on a boat. We were on the boat, and around 3am it started moving. I asked where we were going and they said that we were going out to watch the sunrise. No sleep for me that night.
Tuesday was another busy day of parties and convention. I think that Tuesday was Arnold Schwarzeneggers speech. It was amazing. Another of my top 3. I was also interviewed by Japanese Television and Triumph the Insulting dog that night.
Picture of Arnold
Wednesday was shopping in Chinatown and off to see some diamond designers. Have I mentioned that I love New York.
Wednesday I missed the bus and had to take a cab with a couple other delegates. The cab had to drop us off 10 blocks from the Garden.We were told to hide our credentials so we wouldnt be harassed on the street. I put mine under my sweater.
I was suffering from a terrible upper respiratory infection and was unable to talk or breathe. I told my other passengers that I was unable to walk quickly due to my lack of breath. They walked very quickly and left me at a stoplight. They were now a block and a half away and I had to walk by myself. I made it past several protestor but I did pretty well not getting harassed.
Then I walked past a man in a suit. He was late 20's early 30's. He saw me alone after running the gauntlet of some smelly protestors and said Hey, I support Bush, I am one of you. So I said oh its so nice to see a friendly face, thank you. He then gave me some literature that said Support Bush. When I started to read it I realized that it was all against Bush and I said Hey, this is anti-Bush. If you are going to be a protestor just be honest and tell me. I would respect you more. You didnt have to lie to me.
It was then that he gave me a bum rush and slammed me into a building. He then started swearing at me. Thats what the protestors do, they start swearing and calling us blank-suckers. Nice, huh?
I was unable to breathe so I just started coughing on him to try to speak. A passerby saw the situation and pulled the guy off of me and gave me a bottle of water. The cops were there in seconds and grabbed the protestor and escorted me into the Garden and to my seat.
Wednesday was the night of Zell Miller. Wow, wasnt that amazing!!! Its also the night that I met Don King. We had our photo taken together and he endorsed my campaign. I thought that it was pretty funny. I cant wait to see that picture.
Tribute to Reagan
After the convention was the big party thrown by John McCain. Unfortunately our cab driver took to Times Square which was crawling with protestors and told us to walk a block west. After a couple of blocks of walking I noticed that the addresses were wrong and spoke to some cops. We were actually going the wrong way and needed to go about 9 blocks east. I wish I had that cabbie number. I would give his company a piece of my mind.
The McCain party was fabulous. Darrell Hannah and Joe Piscipo was there. I was able to meet McCain, Guilianni and Henry Kissinger. The food was the best of the convention.
Thursday morning all hell broke loose. A congressman heard about me being attacked and told my state chairman. Next thing I know the RNC Communications director is at my breakfast table and wanted to talk to me. Since I am a federal candidate and my nametag was visable, the attack on me in now a federal offence. The RNC wanted to publicize the dirty tricks that the protestors were up to and that they attacked a federal candidate and lone woman on the street.
Thursday the protestors were doing an all out attack. The buses were being stopped and the streets were lined with scumbags giving us the finger, foul signs, and screaming obscenities. It took forever to get into the Garden again.
The evening was great and the president hit it out of the park. I met Stephen Baldwin that night and had my picture taken with him. I also took photos of Carl Rove, Ken Melman, and David Gregory.
What was pretty scary was that a woman in my delegation was offered $10,000 for her credential by a man in New Jersey. The idiot was going to write her a check. The Secret Service and FBI took away my friend for questioning and she was really shaken up.
During my trip I made a point of shaking every police officers hand and telling them how safe I felt and how much we appreciate them. They ALL, yes ALL said that they were voting for Bush.
When I was in the diamond district I spoke to Jewish jewelers. They are ALL voting for Bush.
There is huge Bush support. We did it right, we stressed the importance of the war on terror and did not ignore that we were attacked.
9-11 should be in the front of our minds. We lost our fellow Americans. Let us never forget.
Too bad you didn't have the drumstick with you to poke your commie assailant in the eye! Great report!
Did Nelson (willie) endorse Bush? I missed that.
Did Nelson (willie) endorse Bush? I missed that.
Thanks for the first-hand report.
Made me feel like I was there with you with the way you painted a picture with your words.
Wow, what a week. Wonderful report, loved the pictures.
Sounds like a fabulous week, I'm green with envy. It was so great on TV, I can only imagine how great it was to be there in person.
I hope the little weenie who tried to rough you up, gets his butt landed in jail, but more importantly, I hope you got some great jewelry !!! Let's keep things in perspective. LOL
Thank you for the report. I hope you are all right after that trashy leftist attacked you.
very cool. you'll (not) be pleased to know all the libs in the media refrained from covering the protestors (lest the public see their vileness in full) and, instead, would periodically comment about how "peaceful" and wonderful the protestors were.
Wphile and I were both at John McCain's party. I'm sorry we didn't get to meet you.
Lawgirl had a great time.
Hi; I got back yesterday, and I don't know if I'm up to writing a report yet.
But here's a synopsis. I was an alternate delegate. My seat was close to the floor, but I got to be on the floor most of Wednesday and Thursday night because my friend who was a delegate liked my seat better.
I went to see Aida on Sunday afternoon with my delegation. It was magnificent. Then we went to a party at Morton's; the owner is a friend of Senator Jon Kyl.
Tuesday we did our community project in the Bronx at a Christian Latino center. I got interviewed by a reporter from the Phoenix Fox affiliate, and my friend in that area said I was great (but she's prejudiced).
Wednesday I went to "The LIFE of the Party" hosted by Phyllis Schlafly. Ann Coulter was the keynote speaker. Then I went to a Western States party where Sara Evans sang. Then the McCain party after the convention.
Thursday morning I went to the Freeper Breakfast. Met a lot of wonderful Freepers, including one of my favorite former premies, DanfromMichigan :)
The President was awesome. He is such a genuine, sincere man and I am so proud to support him.
I wish the media would have covered the protestors. There were thousands upon thousands of them. They would follow us down the streets and tell us to go home. They put nasty stuff in the newsboxes. We had to be escorted by police at night. Police would guard the hotels. We had police on every bus.
What really gets me is those dirty stinky protestors did everything they could to make sure that we couldn't assemble peaceably. They tried to make us uncomfortable on the streets.
But there is good with the bad. We spent over $275 million dollars in New York. The service people and police were great. The hotels bent over backwards for us. I left with a positive reflection of New York and a negative one of those idiot protestors. Can you imagine having so little in your life that you have to line up at midnight to flip the bird and scream obsenities at people in buses who support the president.
They are just pathetic maggots.
Thanks for the fabulous report.
A rising tide lifts all boats...a rising freeper lifts us all.
You make us feel special.
So, was your third favorite speech Zell Miller's?
BUMPUS MAXIMUS
Yes, third on my list was Zell.
I loved them all equally. Silver, Arnold and Zell. They were speeches of passion. I felt honored to be able to attend the convention and see the speeches live. I hope they came across as forcefully on television as they did in person.
If I may also say something about the New York Hilton.
Oh, to have heard them in person!
You were part of history in the making.
They each seem to have struck just the right chords.
I'm trying to see if their speeches can be purchased...
can't record them or download them.
Thanks for the report HLL. I was there with you, at the Hilton NY. One night I rode the elevator for a few hours to watch the convention rerun just to hear of Zell Miller again. He was awesome. My roomies were sleeping.
Our Texas delegation was invited to the floor of the NYSE one of the first nights. It was just AWESOME. We were able to walk around freely. The food was fantastic and we had our pictures taken by the clock or on the floor. Am still in awe of this event.
Thanks for your report. I'm sorry I wasn't aware of the FR breakfast. We went to Fox & Friends that morning and got on TV for a little while.
Maybe you saw me in the hotel. I had a BUSH bumper sticker on the front of a straw hat with a freeper pin that said "Never trust Democrats with National Security."
Thanks for your wonderful report, you were truly in a war zone at times! Glad you are OK.
I was talking with relatives last night that agreed what a fine convention it was. The Pubbies out-did themselves this time. And you were part of it, congratulations!
Prairie
Great report HLL, I wish I could have been there. I'm glad that you were able to have such a fantastic experience. Please ping me when you post the pictures if you remember.
RobFromGa
I didn't see you at the hotel, but then again you know how many people were there.
I had good and bad from the Hilton. Mostly good. Our first room was a big corner room with a view of the park, but it smelled bad. When I got home at around 2am after my first party on Sunday I walked near the window and the floor was soaking wet. All my leather luggage was sopping.
The next morning I called down to the desk and they sent up a mechanic for the air conditioner which was leaking, and then an insurance guy came up to fill out a claim and take photos of my luggage.
We were then moved up to a beautiful suite on a higher floor, still had a view of the park, and this time we had comfy feather beds.
The best part was when I got my bill. I knew that they were going to compensate me for the room, but I ended up being billed $62.50 a night!!!
Great Report.....
Thanks for Representing FReeperdom in addition to your home district.
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