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It's party time at the Garden

Times business columnist Robert Trigaux shares his first-person account of the Grand Old Party's grand old party.

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Republicans with the group GOP Jamboree gather near anti-Bush demonstrators outside Madison Square Garden on Monday.

Robert Trigaux Share your thoughts or send a message in our guestbook. Handcuffing and handicapping, all around the town Protesters fall into Line Gorging at the political buffet It's party time at the Garden Pushing all the right buttons Big Apple lends unique flavor to GOP gathering Democracy in the raw More columns

Convention day at last. For Florida's delegates, who whiled away Sunday afternoon attending the long-running Broadway hit, The Lion King, at a nearby theater, this means getting fired up for four days of wild cheering for the array of Republican speakers.

Heavyweights today include Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Both McCain and Giuliani are said to be casting an eye for a possible run for the presidency in 2008.

The Hilton Hotel is also home to a growing array of convention goodies and trinkets that will surely occupy delegates as the novelty of the lengthy convention fades. Monday morning, delegates were greeted outside the breakfast room with a large table of campaign buttons priced at $2 to $3 apiece or five for $10.

Some of my favorites: "John Kerry will do the job of three men. 1. Curly. 2. Larry. 3. Moe." Or this one, still playing on the clout of Ronald Reagan: "Win One Last One For The Gipper: Bush 2004."

Some delegates were offended by one button featuring the GOP elephant conspicuously mounting the Democrat's donkey with the saying: "Keep Bush On Top." The seller shrugged, saying that button's message has been in used since President Taft.

Talk about sensibility. A popular New York magazine called Time Out that lists entertainment events in the city was reportedly banned by convention organizers because its cover featured a GOP elephant's backside and a pile of dung to be tidied up once the GOP event was over.

Stormy weather is heading to New York later today, which promises to short-circuit many of the scheduled outside protests. Delegates may not be thrilled either. The Republican National Convention, which opens its doors today at Madison Square Garden, does not allow umbrellas. It's a security thing. Watch for soggy conventioneers.

Coincidence? Not. The movie Bush's Brain opened in New York this past weekend, just in time for the national convention. Based on a book by the same title, Bush's Brain is an unflattering portrayal of President Bush as a charismatic but rudderless leader easily influenced for years by senior adviser Karl Rove. Rove, the movie says, is Bush's brain. Get it?

Well with a hundred thousand protesters and a nearby convention in town, you would think this would be a popular movie in the heart of midtown Manhattan. Well, think again. The Sunday evening showing was viewed by 10 people tops. Small wonder. It's a bore, especially at $10.25 a ticket.

Michael Moore (also in town for Sunday's mega-protests) has nothing to worry about.