NO MILE-HIGH SEATS
Their nominee’s message aside, Republicans realized from the start that it would be virtually impossible to equal the hype and hoopla surrounding Democrat Barack Obama’s acceptance speech in front of 80,000 chanting fans at the football stadium used by the Denver Broncos.
So organizers of the Republican National Convention, we’ve just learned, instead will stand John McCain behind a podium in “close proximity to the audience” — in the “intimate setting” of a smaller St. Paul, Minn., Xcel Energy Center to accept his party’s nomination for president.
“The stage was designed to facilitate the candid and personal tone that Americans have come to expect from Senator McCain,” said Maria Cino, chief executive officer of the Republican National Convention. “The intimate setting will be a fitting backdrop for Senator McCain’s acceptance speech.”
She says the Arizona Republican’s podium will be positioned “only 4 feet” above the arena’s floor and seated delegates, where his “close proximity to the audience will ensure the speakers’ remarks remain the central feature of the proceedings.”
NO AVERAGE JOE
When it comes to telling John McCain where he personally stands on a selection for vice-presidential candidate, veteran conservative activist Richard A. Viguerie does not mince words, especially if rumors are true that the Republican’s ultimate running mate will be a supporter of abortion rights.
“Are you politically ’stupid’ or do you care little for conservative principles?” Mr. Viguerie asks in an open letter to Mr. McCain, echoing editorial writer Dan Henninger in one of this week’s editions of the Wall Street Journal.
But in an interview with Inside the Beltway on Thursday, Rep. Peter T. King of New York, a staunch pro-life Republican, warns conservatives such as Mr. Viguerie to look at the broader picture should Barack Obama be elected president and ultimately appoint probably “two or three” pro-choice justices to the Supreme Court.
“I have a 100 percent pro-life voting record … and I want a pro-life president elected,” Mr. King said. But the congressman said social conservatives are destined for disaster by insisting that Mr. McCain choose a less-popular running mate thereby risking defeat solely because he or she is ardently pro-life.
Mr. King supports Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut to be Mr. McCain’s vice-presidential selection, even though the Democrat turned independent supports abortion rights.
“John McCain has to choose the best vice-presidential candidate to get elected,” said Mr. King, drawing attention to Mr. Lieberman’s depth of knowledge of foreign policy and unyielding stance on a strong defense and homeland security.
“On anti-terrorism, there’s nobody better than Joe Lieberman, and that includes John McCain,” the congressman insists. “And he’s strong on family values, too.”
SOCCER MOM
“Welcome to the inaugural issue of our newsletter,” writes Denise A. Herbol, USAID deputy mission director in Iraq, introducing Volume 1, Issue 1 of USAID/IRAQ.
“This newsletter is about United States assistance to Iraqi people, about building lives and restoring confidence, about partnership and possibilities, about honor and dignity.”
One way to accomplish those goals, she said, is with a simple but none-too-inexpensive soccer ball, given “its power to inspire hope, unity and pride.”
The U.S. Agency for International Development, we continue to read in the newsletter, has set up youth soccer leagues “modeled after leagues in American suburbs.” This summer alone, at an estimated cost of $1.1 million, USAID is sponsoring 14 soccer tournaments across Baghdad and its suburbs, reaching more than 40,000 Iraqi youths, including girls.
HUCK’S BACK
We’re told that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the 2008 presidential candidate who could hardly bring himself to concede defeat after his hard-fought Republican primary campaign, will moderate a panel of artistic types, including actress Debbie Allen, discussing the future of the arts and arts education in America during the Republican National Convention.
The forum, at the Minnesota Children’s Museum, is sponsored by ArtsVote2008, a national initiative designed to promote the arts during the presidential election.
• John McCaslin can be reached at 202/636-3284 or jmccaslin@washingtontimes.com.
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