August 2008 Archives

Here's the text of an e-mail that delegate Muriel Crabbs sent me on Friday, along with a photo she took. I spoke to her tonight, and she told me more are on the way.

I checked in with a couple of York Countians at the Republican National Convention today: delegate Muriel Crabbs and alternate delegate Jeff Gay.

They both got word that the convention will be pared down to its very basics. They can't cancel it altogether. Even though we all know who the Republican nominee for presidential candidate will be, they still have to nominate him.

The way I see it, it's kind of like when a candidate runs uncontested for an office such as state representative. The results of the election are never in doubt. Yet legally, the candidate still must have his or her name on the ballot in November.

Here's a final e-mail from York Township resident Colleen Burkett, apparently sent from the stadium in Denver just before Brack Obama was about to speak.

Tom,
They are no longer allowing people into the stadium.
We can see them gathered on a small hill outside the stadium. They can probably see the large live feed screen.
Have turned the lights on in the stadium...This is amazing
Colleen

Neat, huh? Well hang on, because there's more to come.

John McCain has announced first-term Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Why the first-termer? Were they friends? What's to follow?

These and other questions that can be abbreviated "WTF?" come immediately to mind.

OK, it's 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. My Sunday story is written, my contacts for the Republican convention next week are made, and I'm about to head over to the Yorktowne Hotel to join the party there watching Barack Obama's convention-closing speech.

What did I forget?

Ah crap! I forgot to come up with a blog entry!

Not to worry. Colleen Burkett of York Township, wife of Democratic National Convention delegate John Burkett, very considerately e-mailed me her continuing convention diaries this morning. So here they are. Don't you just love it when other people do your job for you?

I found a very pleasant surprise from the Democratic National Convention in my e-mail this morning.

Colleen Burkett of York Township -- who is accompanying her husband, delegate John Burkett -- sent a message to me and several other people. It's an hour-by-hour account of their first couple of days in Denver.

Colleen included the caveat that she's not a writer, but I think she did a fine job. Her account provides some interesting little details of the event that you probably wouldn't hear about otherwise. Take a look.

I checked in with John and Colleen Burkett of York Township this afternoon. John is a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Colleen, his wife, is along as his guest.

Both were Hillary Clinton supporters in the primary, and were looking forward to hearing her speak on Tuesday night. But both of them said they have no problem whatsoever supporting Barack Obama in the general election.

Colleen said she thinks that the news media have overstated the conflict between Clinton and Obama supporters at the convention, simply out of a need to find some story to fill the many hours of air time on cable news.

As promised, here's the photo of local delegate Michele Bortner with Joe Biden. Bortner is the one on the left. On the right is Bortner's friend, Susan Rutt of Allentown.

Here's a photo from York County delegate John Burkett showing the floor of the Democratic National Convention during Michelle Obama's speech on Monday night.

Here's the verbatim text of an e-mail I got from the county Republican Party today. I plan to show up at the opening tomorrow.

I might as well see where it is. I spent a lot of time hanging out at both the Democratic and Republican headquarters in 2004, and I expect I'll be doing that this year, too.

PA GOP: VICTORY 2008 YORK COUNTY HEADQUARTERS SET TO OPEN TUESDAY

HARRISBURG - Tomorrow, August 26th, 2008, the Victory 2008 York County Headquarters will celebrate its grand opening. Congressman Todd Platts, York County GOP Chairman Peck Foster and York County McCain '08 Chairman Dick Evans will welcome other elected officials and volunteers from around the county who are supporting John McCain and the entire Republican ticket to the headquarters. With Democrats gathering in Denver, Colorado, Republicans in York County are eager to rally in support of John McCain, the candidate they are working hard to elect as our next President. Between now and the election, volunteers will be working out of this headquarters doing the necessary work to ensure Republican candidates are victorious throughout the Commonwealth.

A press conference with Congressman Platts and local leaders will take place promptly at 4:15p.m.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

What: Victory 2008 York County Headquarters Grand Opening

Who: Congressman Todd Platts, York County GOP Chair Peck Foster, York County McCain '08 Chair Dick Evans and other elected officials and grassroots volunteers from around the county

When: 4:15 p.m.

Where: Victory 2008 York County Pennsylvania Headquarters
2210 East Market Street
York, PA 17402

I'm waiting for Michelle Obama to start talking now. I might as well do some blogging.

I checked in with the York County delegates earlier today. It sounds like they're having a pretty exciting time of it.

Last night, they went to a concert at Red Rocks, which featured Sheryl Crow, Sugarland and the Dave Matthews Band. Apparently, they spotted Ed Rendell there, and all three got their picture taken with him.

This morning, they got a chance to talk to Sen. Bob Casey Jr. after a breakfast for the Pennsylvania delegates.

But Michele Bortner of York got the story of the day. She ran into Joe Biden on the street, and got her picture taken with him.

Great. I take a day off from work, and Obama goes and announces his running mate.

That's OK. I should have plenty to write about in the week ahead. Two York County residents are part of the 19th Congressional District's delegation to Denver -- John Burkett of York and Michele Bortner of York Township. John's wife, Colleen, is also along.

I just checked in with them. From what I gather, there's still some simmering resentment among Hillary Clinton supporters about the primary, but it doesn't sound like anything that's going to tear the party apart. John Burkett and Michele Bortner told me that all of the delegates out in Colorado are pretty psyched about Biden's selection.

Anyway, last week I lined up a lot of people that I'll be talking to over the next few days about different aspects of the convention. And of course, I'll be checking in with the York County delegates every day. So stay tuned.

I remember back in 1979, the widespread concern about the space station Skylab re-entering orbit and hitting the Earth's surface. Some psychic guy attempted a radio broadcast where listeners were supposed to focus on Skylab and telekinetically push it into a higher orbit.

I'm not making this up. Hey, it was the 1970s. Lots of drugs around back then.

As I recall, it didn't work. But the fact that it didn't work once is no reason not to try it again. Hey, it's free, right?

So here's the deal. It's now about 11:50 a.m. on Wednesday. If you're reading this, I want you to try something that will make my job a lot easier.

Now concentrate reeeeally hard. We're going to psychically will Barack Obama and John McCain to announce their vice-presidential picks.

Ready?

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Just checked the Internet. Nothing yet. What the hell? We all know damn well they've already made them! This is getting annoying. Let's try again.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Still nothing. Tell you what, I have to get back to work. But you all keep trying and see what kind of results you get, OK? Thanks.

In an earlier posting, I complained (some would say "whined") about the reluctance of John McCain's campaign to provide details of his local appearance until a couple of days before the event.

The campaign was sending out robo-calls and e-mails about the appearance the previous Wednesday, but campaign representatives told me they couldn't give any details such as what specific day McCain was coming, or where he would be. They weren't even returning my calls.

Still more frustrating, the campaign had apparently given some of my local Republican sources explicit instructions not to talk to me on the record. Off the record, a couple of those sources told me they didn't like it any more than I did.

Recently, however, I got some insight into why the campaign did that.

Last week, I wrote about John McCain's visit to the York Expo Center, but I didn't write a lot about my ride on his campaign bus, the "Straight Talk Express." So here goes.

Apparently John McCain's speech in York yesterday about the situation in Georgia is drawing some national attention. News outlets are reporting that some of his phrasing about Georgia's history is remarkably similar to a few sentences in the Wikipedia entry about the republic, raising questions about whether his campaign lifted information from the open content Web encyclopedia for the speech.

Here's my analysis of the situation:

Who gives a flying crap?

Well, I got to ride John McCain's campaign bus, the "Straight Talk Express," today.

It was pretty cool, if not the most comfortable ride of my life. It was me and four other reporters crowded into a tiny space at the back of the bus, sitting around a table with McCain, local Congressman Todd Platts, and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman.

This was after McCain's rally at the York Expo Center's Toyota Arena, which about 4,200 people attended. Technically, it was a "Town Hall Meeting," which includes a question-and-answer session with the public.

In light of my experiences today, I'd like to qualify something I wrote in an earlier posting.

I just got back from a relaxing mini-vacation with some family in Lake George, N.Y. I'm feeling considerably less cranky than when I posted my last entry.

Dont get me wrong. I still think the while concept of "we're announcing John McCain is coming to York County next week for a major campaign event but we won't tell you where or when" is kinda ludicrous.

But I've forgiven the McCain campaign people. Why? Because they gave me a call today. And guess what? Tomorrow I'm riding on the Straight Talk Express! Whoo hoo! Maybe they'll let me beep the horn!

I don't have a lot of time to write at the moment. It's been a long day, and I've got some last-minute packing to do before I head out for a few days of vacation.

Very briefly: Bob Casey stopped by this afternoon to meet with our editorial board. He said a whole bunch of interesting stuff. Watch tomorrow's paper for a synopsis.

Just as that was wrapping up, my editor flagged me down with some more big news. John McCain is coming to town next week.

As a journalist, I'm supposed to sneer at the mere idea of manipulating public opinion during political campaigns.

The truth is, I kind of get a kick out of it. I enjoy it in the same way I enjoy watching a con job movie like "House of Games," for example, or a masterful sleight-of-hand artist who can pull off seeming miracles with misdirection and patter.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that trying to make a candidate look good is inherently deceitful. That's what campaigns do. I don't habitually wear a suit, but I wear one when I show up for a job interview. Does that make me deceitful?

To be perfectly frank, I see more insincerity in the frequent expressions by members of the public and many of my colleagues in the news media to the effect that they are shocked -- SHOCKED! -- that these campaigns would present their candidate in a positive light and the opponent in a negative one.

Then again, maybe it's not insincerity so much as a willful refusal to see the obvious.

When we last left off, my editor was calling me about Monica Goodling -- York Haven native and erstwhile aide to erstwhile U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez.

It turned out, of course, to be the flap over hiring practices at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Judging from a few off-the-job conversations I had last week, it seems to be one of those mini-scandals that everybody hears about, but few people fully understand. I blame the tendency we journalists have to over-explain things when we report on them. Because it's really not that complicated.

I could hardly believe the two words that had just emanated from my cell phone.

"Monica Goodling."

It was about noon on Monday and I had just finished an interview at York Hospital about their new hospital gowns. It looked like I was in for a slow day.

Then my cell phone rang. My city editor wanted to make sure I was heading back soon. Monica Goodling -- a York Haven native and 1991 graduate of Northeastern High School -- was back in the national news.