David K’s Reflections on the GOP Convention
TEXAS POLITICS TODAY co-host David Kobierowsku traveled to Houston to attend part of the state GOP convention held there from June 12-14. Here is his report, cross-posted at Burnt Orange Report:
Republican Party of TX 2008 State Convention
I’m excited to share my experience in Houston yesterday (Friday, June 13th, 2008) at the Republican Party of TX 2008 State Convention. I was asked to cover the event for my radio show I co-host with Deece Eckstein, “Texas Politics Today”, which airs every Wednesday, 2:30pm, on 91.7FM KOOP Austin Community Radio.
The convention felt more “top down” than last week’s TX Democratic Convention in Austin. I witnessed little if any grassroots effort, with the exception of many “Stop Toll Roads” and “Stop the Trans Texas Corridor” stickers and also a group called “Republicans for Environmental Protection” that had a table in the vendor area.
I asked Governor Mitt Romney about the Republican’s grassroots strategy, and he didn’t have much to say, other than they’ve built it before in 2004 and will be successful even with the enthusiastic crowds that Barack Obama has. He added that “others can probably comment specifically on the Republican grassroots movement better than I can”.
Romney said “we will be vastly outspent by Barack Obama, he’ll raise much more money then us, but because our message is the right message we will win”.
During a press conference Romney confirmed that he is not expecting to be McCain’s running mate or a member of the team, but is looking forward to supporting him and doing what it takes to get him elected. He started the press conference acknowledging the loss of Tim Russert in a heart-felt story about how he respected Tim for his tough but fair questions.
Romney later in the evening gave a speech at dinner saying “there are more Republicans in this audience then in the whole state of MA”. And added, “I’m serious, only 11% of MA residents are Republican”. The crowd cheered when Romney said “Bush has kept us safe for these last 6 years (since 9/11)”. Romney added how critical it is to DRILL NOW for oil in the US. Also, that Barack is a great speaker, but that the Republicans will win in November on “Substance over Style”. He commented on the Guantanamo Supreme Court decision, saying that “this decision will convince every Republican that McCain is the right person to elect”.
As I walked around talking with attendees and asking informal surveys questions of their top issues, I was impressed with the consistency of their message. It was like they all got together and rehearsed the exact same words “lower taxes, defend our borders, and less government”. If asked for a 4th issue I mostly was told “right to life/protecting the unborn”, or Immigration.
As I walked into the George R. Brown Convention center, Newt Gingrich, former House Speaker, was speaking to a 6,000+ audience of delegates, alternates, and guests. There were 4,066 delegates and 2,112 alternates.
Gingrich’s message was heavy on the energy/economy. His chant, accompanied by bumper stickers of the same slogan was “DRILL HERE. DRILL NOW. PAY LESS.” The website on the bottom of the bumper sticker was www.americansolutioins.com. Soon Newt had the audience singing his slogan over and over again.
As I listened to Gov. Mike Huckabee I was reminded of Barack Obama’s quote from his bestselling book “Audacity of Hope”, “What Binds Us Together Is Greater Than What Drives Us Apart. Governor Mike Huckabee added comic relief to the convention with funny stories about his airport travels and folks saying “I think I know you, but I’m not sure”…but what struck me about Huckabee’s presentation was how similar it was to some of the great speeches I’ve heard from leaders like Barack Obama. The Governor talked about moving on from the racism of the past to better things, and of “Christian values”. As he endorsed McCain for President he reinforced the character and virtues of people.. He discussed strong morals and how we’d need less police officers if people acted with strong morals. He added ‘Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You”. These are messages I’d be proud to hear from either Republicans or Democrats. But the differences are also there. The Governor talked about how our existing tax system is hurting our economy. He supports a “fair tax”. That we need less government, and preached about “right to life”. Overall, I was impressed by parts of his message, knowing portions of this made sense and could have been said by either a Democrat or Republican.
The single common theme for every speaker, from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Governor Mitt Romney, Sen John Cornyn (John’s entry video was “Big Bad John”), Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, and every other speaker was “God”. They must have said God or Jesus Christ 50 times on stage. There was a feeling of “hometown hospitality” and I felt at times like I was at church or on a mission trip and not a political convention. The demographics of the audience, older, white, rural, reinforced the feeling of being in church.
I met hundreds of caring, compassionate, God fearing people. Many attendees were from rural parts of Texas. As we exchanged pleasantries, I commented that I was from Austin. One attendee took a long/deep breadth after I said “I’m from Austin” and responded “we have to do something about Austin”.
A number of speakers on stage took jabs at Barack from the stage, but the crowd seldom applauded the jabs. I was impressed to see that the partisan politics announced from the stage was not embraced by the audience.
But one big applause was after a candidate for National Committeeman said “enough attacking the other side for what they’re doing wrong, we need to focus on what republicans stand for”. I was heartened to hear that. The crowd also cheered loudly to “say no to the Trans Texas Corridor”.
There was much less debate on the floor than at last week’s state Democratic Convention. The Platform passed through quickly, and one audience member commented to me that “they purposely put it at the end of the day on Friday knowing the crowd is tired and unlikely that we’ll collectively challenge it”. It was clear that audience members wanted to debate, but there was very little if any discussion. For me, this was the most important difference from the Democratic State Convention and the Republican State Convention.
A number of delegates were not happy about the overhauled Republican platform. The party made big changes to their platform. One Platform Committee member that I dined with said “we spent the entire week, over 9 hours a day, working the platform till midnight…we basically started from scratch on a new platform”. Another attendee was not happy with this overhaul, saying “ why didn’t they keep it the same, it has worked well for us”.
Sen Kay Bailey Hutchison wrapped her speech by the expected “God Bless You, God Bless Texas, God Bless America”, but just before that, she took a jab back at Boyd Richie’s bet that the Democrats will take back Harris County like they did Dallas County. Hutchison felt differently and confidently commented that they will keep Harris County.
David Kobierowski
Texas Politics Today
91.7FM KOOP Radio