32: Republican Convention
This episode appears to contain dynamically inserted ads. Transcript timestamps may be approximate.
The trick to getting a politician's autograph, John Rossi tells me, is to try to do it before they go up to speak. If you wait till afterwards, they'll be mobbed. And sure enough, when he spots Pennsylvania's governor, waiting to take his turn at a podium, Rossi darts up to him with a special gold pen he brought just for this purpose, and a photo taken in Alentown a couple months ago of him and the governor, and about a minute he returns with his prize. It says, "To John Rossi, with appreciation and friendship, Tom Rich." Now, what are you going to do with this? Obviously get a friend. And I've gotten my photo taken with a lot of very well-known politicians. I've, in fact, already gotten Jack Camp, Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan, a whole bunch of them over time. I've collected pictures of myself with. John's an accountant from Whitehall, Pennsylvania, and a low-level party functionary, a Republican area captain in charge of 15 polling places, treasurer of various Lehigh Valley Republican committees and campaigns. Johnson himself very conservative believes, for instance, in a 100 percent ban on abortions, no exceptions, including if a mother's life is in danger. At 38, he is still a proud member of the Young Republicans, young for Republicans as officially anybody who's under the age of 40 under their roles. And John's experience at this week's Republican convention was most definitely not what you've been seeing on television all week. We basically have a lot of activities, for example, Sea World, Mizzou, Tijuana, plus parties like this that we have throughout the week. We have a nice hotel here with a pool and all kinds of other activities. So you have those things to do, basically, it's a vacation. It's a vacation, sure. Welcome to WB EZ Chicago, it's this American life from Ira Glass. Each week in our program, of course, we choose a theme and ask a number of writers and performers to have at the theme. And this week we bring you a look at the Republican Party and its convention, from perspectives you perhaps have not heard and covered so far. Act one, everyday life at the convention, what do those people actually do all day long? Act two, a Walter Mondale voting gay rights supporting unrepentant liberal, signs up as a Republican Party member and ends up a delegate to the convention. Act three, we have the newest installment of Michael Lewis's campaign diaries. If you have not heard these or read these at all, they are some of the most evocative and original reporting anybody's doing this year on the election, stay with us. Act one, normal life in an abnormal center. This is that if you paid even a slight amount of attention to what's happened at this convention. You've heard how the right wing of the party dominated the drafting of the party platform but how the party leadership wanted to look more moderate and inclusive for the television cameras. And so we had key speeches during prime time by pro-choice moderates like Colin Powell and Susan Malinari. Well, in addition to all that, the leadership told right wing advocacy groups like the National Rifle Association and the Right to Life organizations that they would not be allowed to set up booths inside the convention hall. So, a renegade vice chairman from the California Republican Party named Bach Pan arranged to
Transcription truncated.