Prepping for the GOP Convention, 2008

I mull a lot. When I’m alone, sitting, reading, staring, I mull. Lately

I’ve been mulling my upcoming business trip. I’ve never been on a trip anywhere that was work-sponsored, unless you count smelly bus rides to San Francisco from Fresno for free radio station-affiliated concerts. So I’m proud of the business trip thing.

The fact that I’m going to be in the belly of the beast for a week is the mull-worthy part. The beast being the Republican party, the belly digesting me with its caustic acid being the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minneapolis, beginning next week. The nightmare version of this is a lot of rednecks, white hair, and blue-state hatin’. Not my ideal patriotic combination. Homophobia thick in the air, people wanting to raid my womb before I’ve decided what to do with it, people shielding themselves from reality with their shallow concept of Jesus…what’s a girl to do? On the surface, I will stick out like a sore thumb—I’m surly, semi-visibly tattooed, short-haired, a media-type with a chip already installed, right there, on my shoulder. So is it weird that I’m excited to go?

I know the nightmare version is not the truth. I know that the RNC will be exactly what the DNC is, both on its surface and at its core. On the surface, it as an opportunity to lay it all out there, to inspire the country and the voters; at the core it is a VERY well-worded simultaneous ego-stroke and sales pitch. But we, Americans, right left and everyone else, have a right to this process. We have a right to stand up for the person we want to steer our ship. The conventions might be a bit dog-and-pony, but everyone there, even the Republicans that freak me out when gathered en masse, want the same things. A job, safety, food, a future for their families. I am looking forward, I think, to interacting with people who believe in the Democratic process as much as I do.

And for all intents and purposes, I like John McCain. I find nothing about him to be slimier than any typical politician; he’s courageous and savvy and experienced. I’m not voting for him, by any stretch of the imagination, but my issues with his party are not the same as my issues with him. And my issues with his party are too broad in scope to enumerate here. But the fact that I get to witness John McCain’s nomination to the office of President is an honor, in my mind, and one I plan to enjoy. Then I’m going to go out into Minneapolis and get a tattoo to mark the occasion. Seriously.

Originally written 9.08