Tom DeLay may have just taken leave of his senses completely. It was not crass enough that the GOP scheduled their convention in New York City to all but coincide with September 11. Now DeLay has put forth the idea of putting up GOP delegates on a cruise ship docked on the Hudson--apparently so the GOP can have the convention in NYC without actually having to stay there, thus allowing the GOP to have the worst of both worlds, taking the flak for the scheduling, while simultaneously being perceived as not wanting to really be in New York. I understand there is an implied agreement between political parties and the cities that host convention: something along the lines of "The city will absorb the cost (in extra policing, traffic, etc.) of having a political convention, but the Party will drop large wads of cash on hotel rooms, restaurants, entertainment, etc. and we'll call it even." However, by holing everyone up on a cruise ship, the profits on shipboard lodging, services, meals, and entertainment go to Norwegian Cruise Lines; the tips go to a "multinational" ship staff; and the conventioneers may be skirting some of the city taxes (how many is unclear) and may or may not be able to circumvent the city's smoking ban.
That is just the stupid part of the idea. The scary part is that DeLay--who also may have been behind that Texas Redistricting fiasco a while back--apparently has all other politicians so whipped that no one will tell him this is a bad idea and he should drop it. C'mon, guys, he is just one person, and he is House Majority Leader, not God. If everyone in the House got together to take him down a peg, the 434-1 advantage would surely be enough that he couldn't pull rank.
No comments:
Post a Comment