True North

If had to describe the entire convention in one word, it would be "clusterf**k".

Very poorly run and I don't think it's unfair to blame the party's leadership for quite a bit of it. This thing was destined to fail before the doors were even opened. The rules stated that all had to meet with the nominating committee far in advance in order to be placed on the ballot. Many delegates were not made aware of this in advance. I know at least one person in my own BPOU who intended to run for national delegate and felt that he was on the list but had not been informed he had to inform a phantom nominating committee a week ago and had to be down in Rochester far in advance to interview with them. Having such items in the rules and then not distributing them before said deadlines is definitely in poor form and gives the impression that results are being dictated by leadership.

Speaking of leadership, every single one of the chairs could take a few lessons in class and please check your ego at the door. Chairs are supported to remain unbiased, but that was clearly not the case. An aura of arrogance wafted over the front podium the entire convention. I don't think it needs to be said that making faces and rolling your eyes at people who ask questions is not exactly good etiquette for a "leader".

And while having an arrogant ego-driven chair is bad enough, if the body feels they have no say in anything, it's only going to encourage bitterness. There was quite often that votes were taken and yeah we held up cards and stood up, but there is no way votes were actually counted. Repeated requests were made for that to happen and they never did. I've never seen this done before, at other conventions if a vote is close a vote count is done. You can't tell me that can't be accomplished....what do we have tellers for? Nothing encourages bitterness against an arrogant chair than feeling you don't have a vote and your voice is silenced.

Speaking of being silence, the Ron Paul folks got a raw deal at the convention. And anything that has read any of my material knows I am no fan of Ron Paul and his more boisterous supporters. But what possibly could have been the harm in allowing him to speak?? It's not like anybody didn't already know what he's about?? And even if they didn't, what are you afraid of?? And what would be the harm of allowing Ron Paul delegates on the ballot. If the didn't have the votes to get them in, which they almost certainly didn't, then what does it hurt?? Why is the party leadership so afraid of letting a sizeable minority be heard and/or representing. The only thing they accomplished is alienating many of his supporters.

And who set up the schedule of this convention. First of all, here's a concept....breaks. Especially the lunch related ones. People need a break occasionally. Lunch is a necessary function, and people get crabby when they don't get it. Plus all day Friday we were constantly doing grind work. As a result tempers and bitterness compounded. Past conventions were frequently interrupted with rah-rah speeches and words of wisdom from various people. It breaks up the convention, let's tempers cool and let's everyone catch their breath. Instead we had 12 straight hours of work work on one day and then a full day off speeches and fun stuff the next day....a day when many people had already gone home.

It probably doesn't need to be pointed out that parliamentary fights and Robert's Rules knowledge contests absolutely kill the enthusiasm of new folk. If I was a new delegate this year, I doubt I would return next year. Hell, if this is how our current leadership is going to run things every year, I'm not sure I will be back. Why bother if nobody has a word about anything??

And leadership has to do a better job of checking out the physical location of the convention. Very poorly laid out. Everything was scattered all to hell and back. Why one would choose to hide the concessions and boothes in a side room, or put credentials a block away is beyond me. Nothing was labeled very well so getting around was difficult. And having a setup where the chair couldn't see the audience was not only inconvenient for all involved, but gave the impression that the chair was intentionally ignoring certain folk....and it did certainly appear that way at times.

And the leadership should have been out in front of the whole McCain campaign. It is clear they were behind the Conservative Delegate Team, whose infamous letter started things out very poorly right from the start. The also made their presence very very apparent on the floor as well. Every time there was a vote, they run up and down the aisles holding up signs telling people how to vote. Guess what....we're adults, we can figured out how to vote by ourselves. Not to mention they need to realize that very few of the delegation were McCain delegates. For most of us McCain was about our 12th option and there is no loyalty there to their cause. In fact, they mostly just pissed people off and very likely just drove a wedge between themselves and some delegates.

I fear we concluded this convention more divided than every before. And because of many of the words that were spoken and the arrogance and incompetence displayed by party leadership, I doubt that many of this rifts will ever truly heal. This year may be quite a bit more interesting than it needs to be.

[Crossposted at EckerNet.Com, commments welcome.]

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