In the aftermath of the GOP’s selection of New York City for the 2004 Republican Convention, these thoughts:
*Would Gov. Jeb Bush have tried harder for the GOP convention had it been Miami vying for it? Yes, that’s a rhetorical question.
*You don’t have to be a cheerleader or chamber of commerce mole to resent some of the local punditry that passed for analysis of the selection decision. NYC is America’s pre-eminent city and worthy of a national political convention, even, presumably, a Republican one. Finishing runner-up, however, doesn’t relegate Tampa to comparative “dump” status, as one sour-butt columnist sarDANically noted.
*Let’s see how the “War on Terrorism” plays out over the next two years. There’s a chance that bin Laden will still have Judge Crater status, and that we haven’t seen the last of high-profile, terrorist atrocities on our own soil. Graphic “Ground Zero” reminders and drumbeat retrospectives might not play as well in 2004 as Karl Rove anticipates.
*The GOP going to NYC is like the Dixiecrats going to Harlem.
*The GOP last won New York state in 1984. Regardless of Karl Rove’s recent track record, this gambit is a windmill tilt. We knew Ronald Reagan. George W. Bush is no Ronald Reagan. Rove should know that too.
*NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg put up big bucks and will still be in office in ’04. Dick Greco couldn’t write a big check and won’t be around to see this through. It mattered.