Republican Convention 2008

Monday, September 1, 2008 Convention Day 1

The day started quite somber as our California Delegation met for breakfast. Most had been watching news of the hurricane. We were advised that the session had been curtailed. Due to the rules of the convention we still had to convene to take care of formal business.

When we arrived at the Excel Center the usual excitement of a convention of this type was unusually quiet. We were still hoping that early news, that Gustav was not as devastating as first thought, was true. When the convention opened we were invited to "text" a donation into a "text2give" website and were given many other opportunities for giving. It was amazing to watch as hundreds of delegates pulled out their cell phones to make donations to help the victims of the affected areas.

We were pleased to hear from First Lady Laura Bush and Cindy McCain asking all present to put aside politics to help our fellow Americans. Both of these strong and remarkable women asked us to do what we could to help those in need. It was an amazing event, to turn a political convention into a fundraiser for those in need. I cannot recall that ever happening, at least in my 50 years of watching conventions.  It was an interesting turn of events.  Republicans faced that what was to be a strong convention now became clouded by a natural disaster. Yet, Republicans turned a loss into a positive event.  Raising over a million dollars in a few hours for hurricane relief was a strong positive reflection of a party united, willing to give and thinking of country first without political thought.

Not only did the fundraiser involve the delegates, but corporations sponsoring events willingly also gave money to support the relief effort. Everyone's involvement turned the hurricane disaster into a human outpouring of sympathy in keeping with the idea of  "Country First".