Bayside resident Vince Tabone is Executive Vice Chairman of the Queens County GOP and McCain Coordinator for Queens. He was a delegate from New York to the Republican Convention in Minneapolis, from Monday, September 1 through Thursday September 4, and made these notes.
MONDAY: Though many of the delegates flew in on Saturday or before to enjoy the festivities, I was one of the lucky few who flew in with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, along with Queens County Chairman Philip Ragusa and his Brooklyn and Bronx counterparts.
Conversing with America’s Mayor in route to this history making event made the trip all the more memorable.
Along with the excitement there was also a feeling of concern because of the looming threat of Hurricane Gustav - and that some would think us callous for proceeding, even though this was a legal mandate. No matter what, we were obliged to carry forward with the nominating process.
For Chairman Ragusa this would his seventh convention. For me it was only my third and I really did not know what to expect.
Monday’s schedule was indeed radically altered, as Senator John McCain took the lead and instructed that the first day would be devoted to securing financial and volunteer support for hurricane relief.
Instead of featuring luminaries like California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, we heard from the Governors of the Gulf States (all Republicans) via video, about the steps they had been taking to prepare and meet the needs of their state’s citizens.
It was truly inspiring - we were asked to dig deep to make donations to the Red Cross and other disaster recovery charities. Throughout the packed convention, delegates could be observed taking out their cell phones and blackberries to assist as requested.
Others later helped prepare care packages to be shipped via overnight courier. It was not a traditional Convention night opening to be sure; but it was certainly what John McCain was all about and what he is known for - putting Country First.
Of course we all talked about McCain’s selection of Governor Sarah Palin and how historic this was for our Party.
Being from Queens, we knew it wasn’t a first, because Democrat Walter Mondale picked Geraldine Ferraro from Forest Hills for vice president in 1984. It would be a historic first if McCain-Palin prevailed in November.
By the close of business, we were all relieved to hear that the hurricane weakened when arriving at land fall and had missed New Orleans. Our relief was tempered by the fact that there was still loss of life and property damage but, thank God, nothing on the scale feared.
TUESDAY: The revised program looked a little more like a traditional convention itinerary, although the invocation and speakers would continue to call for prayers and concrete financial support and volunteerism.
All delegates and alternates received periodic text messages, e-mails and calls alerting them to Gustav volunteer opportunities and convention program revisions.
Minnesota Republicans working with other state delegations undertook fundraising and blood drive events.
The revised line up of speakers looked very promising - but given that this was a John McCain convention - very unconventional. He truly is a maverick.
The most compelling speaker had to be Independent-Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman, when he said that the McCain-Palin ticket was “the real ticket for change this year.”
We all cheered his remarks, agreeing that “What you can expect from John McCain as President is precisely what he has done this week, which is to put country first.”
Also inspiring were the remarks of former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, highlighting McCain’s military career and character. He discussed at length the torture that McCain endured as a POW and the inner strength that it reveals about the man.
He reminded us that “John McCain cannot raise his arms above his shoulders. He cannot salute the flag of the country for which he sacrificed so much. We salute him.”
Unfortunately, we also heard about angry protesters who roughed up some of the Connecticut delegation, spraying an 80-year-old woman with some kind of caustic substance and sending her to the hospital.
Some delegates had to be detoured by violent protesters. Police cars and store windows were vandalized all apparently in the hopes of disrupting the convention.
As New Yorkers we were concerned but undeterred. We would be there to do our part to cast our votes and move forward with our nominations!
WEDNESDAY: This proved the most dynamic and exciting day. Everyone was pensively awaiting tonight’s speeches. For many of us it would be the first time we saw Governor Sarah Palin “up close and personal.”
Our delegation had breakfast with acclaimed author and pollster Frank Luntz, who explained campaign dynamics. At lunch we previewed Mayor Giuliani’s speech.
Many of us started off as Giuliani delegates, so it was great to hear from New York’s native son. We approached Rudy afterwards and encouraged him to run for Governor in 2010.
Governor George Pataki energized the delegation. A decorated Vietnam War veteran who served with McCain and knew him well also addressed us.
That night, the former competitors for the nomination: Huckabee from Arkansas, Romney from Massachusetts and of course our own Rudy Giuliani gave great speeches, but the capstone speech that none of us will ever forget was delivered by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Any doubts about her selection to be Vice President were swept away by her straight talk. She first got involved “because I wanted to make my kids’ public education better,” and bucked the system all the way to the top, winning election after election, to be the Governor of her state.
Everyone left the stadium electrified by this dynamic, magnetic, charming woman who would be our next Vice President. She was as charismatic as Ronald Reagan and an inspiration to every man and woman at the convention and beyond.
We probably celebrated on Wednesday night like we had not since 1980 or 1984. We were in this to win it.
During and after the convention various reporters approached me and other delegates, asking questions about Governor Palin’s family and about whether we were disappointed that festivities were set aside in favor of the potential storm victims.
It seemed pretty clear to us that they interested in a game of “gotcha,” hoping that someone in the delegation would saying something silly or irresponsible.
I indicated that Sarah Palin’s tremendous record of accomplishment in reforming her state government and ferreting out corruption should make every American proud regardless of their politics.
THURSDAY: This morning, most of the New York delegation took it easy until the early evening program. A week of events, celebration, cheering and interviews was taking its toll, and this was the big night - John McCain’s acceptance speech.
All who preceded him, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty; former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge; Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and of course, Cindy McCain, extolled John McCain’s physical courage, patriotism and legendary political independence.
The story of Cindy McCain’s years of volunteer work rescuing children and providing medical care, especially her story of adopting a daughter in Bangladesh from Mother Teresa, was truly moving.
We were all tired, but once more, electrified by Senator McCain’s stirring life story and courage.
By the time his speech was over and the balloons dropped, we knew that there is really nothing that could possibly prevent John McCain from doing what he believes is right, that he would put Country First before party or anything else because he had been tested in a crucible few others had experienced.
It was clear to us that McCain-Palin would shake up Washington; entrenched special interest groups and self-serving bureaucrats beware!
FRIDAY: This morning, members of the New York City delegation flew back home once again with Mayor Giuliani - this time joined by his Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Church, who gave an inspiring invocation on the last day of the convention.
If ever there was a memorable and historic GOP convention, this was it.
