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ROBERT TRIGAUXTimes business columnist Robert Trigaux shares his first-person account of the Grand Old Party's grand old party.
It's almost time to bid farewell to coverage of the organized protest movement that's spread across Manhattan and aimed at the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden. Almost, but not quite. What good-bye would be proper without visiting this week's "ground zero" or Protest-Ville in New York: Union Square. For those not familiar with Manhattan, Union Square is an historic staging point just north of Greenwich Village and within walking distance (heading north) of Madison Square Garden. Let's take the quick tour.
But first, this morning at the Hilton I saw plenty of campaign buttons for sale that catered to Republican delegates. Some of the more amusing zingers I mentioned earlier in this journal. Union Square is not Bush country.
The tee shirts and buttons for sale here offer, shall we say, little for delegates to take home to the kiddies. I chatted with John, just arrived from San Francisco, who was hawking a wide array of anti-Bush buttons. His business card identified him only by his first name, while listing Buttle Buttons and the slogan: "We push your buttons." He was selling traditional protest buttons for $2 apiece, but had one tailor made for the New York event at a whopping $5. It reads: "Something is rotten in the Big Apple!" and depicts a cowboy-hatted Bush slithering like a worm out of the hole of a red apple. John, who says he was a Miami resident before finding San Fran, wished he could have made Sunday's protest but only arrived on Monday. Hey, business first!
Quiz time. How can you tell the Republican National Convention has started? Because the security at delegate hotels has increased dramatically. Starting Sunday night, police in helmets carrying automatic rifles appeared outside the Hilton. Just to enter the hotel, guests now have to show a photo and provide a card key that is tested on the spot to make sure it is current. On to Madison Square Garden.
And who says New York is not feelings its oats? Democrat-turned Bush-backer Ed Koch, who was New York's mayor from 1978-89, opened Monday's convention after suggesting to the New York Times that New York will outdo Boston as a convention town with one hand tied behinds its back. Maybe both hands. "Boston is a very nice town," Koch told the Times. "But compared to New York it's Podunk." I'll bet Ed would never say such a disparaging remark about the Tampa Bay area.