E-mail
PrintMembers of the Missouri media had received word that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — John McCain's nominee for vice president — would be speaking at the Republican National Coalition for Life event during the Republican National Convention. And, with that in mind, Joe Mannies of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and I had asked Phyllis Shlafley if we could attend. She said that would be no problem ... and Jo and I went to the event to see if we could get a glimpse of the GOP's newest star.
Well, there was disappointment, my friends, when Jo and I were told that the most talked about politician from the 49th state would not be attending. In her place, though, would be talk show host Laura Ingraham.
- Editor’s note: The Missourian will publish blogs from delegates and members of the media who are covering the Republican National Convention this week.
Laura was, of course, great. But the event did not go off without hitches - one at the beginning and the other at the end as peace protesters made their way onto the stage and were quickly removed without any damage being done.
It was a successful event which featured lots of food and drink and a rousing speech from someone who once clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
While walking through the audience I ran into Gov. Matt Blunt, who shall be referred to in this story as Our Matt. We had a chat about his appearance on MSNBC earlier in the day with me asking Our Matt if he might ever appear on that network as a guest on Keith Olbermann's show. Immediately upon asking that question I realized how stupid a question it was because anyone who has ever watched Keith Olbermann knows he only has guests with whom he agrees and who hate Republicans. OK, maybe "hate" is a strong word but pretty close to reality.
Anyway, Communications Director Rich Chrismer asked me why I always referred to Sen. Claire McCaskill as "Our Claire." And I told him it was just one of the little things I started doing to make the Missourinet blog stand out from the others. And I told him I would refer to his boss as "Our Matt" for a time.
And, to borrow a line from Yul Brynner in "The Ten Commandments," "So it is written ... so it shall be done!"
By the way, the event was well attended with a lot of those in attendance having to scoot over to the Xcel Center for the start of the evening's activities, which included speeches from former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who urged Democrats to put the good of the country ahead of the good of the party and to vote for John McCain.
Steve Walsh is a reporter for MissouriNet.com. Follow his blog from the Republican National Convention at learfield.typepad.com/missourinet/
Comments