Have you heard the old adage, made famous by Hee-Haw? “If it weren’t for bad luck you’d have no luck at all.” That seems to be what’s happening to the DNC at their convention this year.
There have been a number of…incidents. Two drunken California delegates have been ejected from the convention for impersonating a Congressman.
Drunken California Delegates Agree To Leave Convention After Impersonating Congressman
Fox News: “California delegate has been ejected from the Democratic National Convention after he allegedly tried to impersonate a member of Congress and hassled the hotel staff trying to assist a drunken, passed-out delegate. The incident unfolded early Sunday morning when both men arrived by taxi at the Blake Hotel. The one delegate was seen being carried into the hotel at about 2 a.m. and either fell or was dropped, which drew concern among hotel staffers who called 911, according to news reports.”
Then there is the size of the convention center. It seats 74,000 people…more than the Denver convention center in 2008. The dems are having trouble filling the Charlotte Bank of America Center. When Obama speaks later in the week, the dems will truck in spectators to fill out the audience.
Dems bring in crowds by the busload to fill stadium for Obama speech
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – College students from across North Carolina will arrive in Charlotte by the busload. Same with members of predominantly black churches in neighboring South Carolina.
Their goal: help fill a 74,000-seat outdoor stadium to capacity when President Obama accepts the Democratic nomination Thursday night.
Anything short of a full house on the final night of the Democratic Party’s national convention will be instant fodder for Republicans eager to use empty seats as symbols of waning voter enthusiasm for Obama.
Democrats have been fretting for months over whether the president can draw a capacity crowd at Bank of America Stadium. Polls show voter enthusiasm is down, as are Obama’s crowds for his battleground state campaign rallies.
If only that was their biggest problem. The one that is generating the most ire—from the media and attendees, is the condition of some of the hotel rooms in Charlotte reserved for the convention.
Bedbugs an increasing concern at DNC hotels
Charlotte seeing an uptick in pest reports
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — You think incumbent politicians are hard to get rid of? Try bedbugs.
The blood-sucking insects have made a resurgence in recent years, including reports of them at nine of the hotels being used for Democrats’ nominating convention this week in Charlotte.
Some convention-goers were fearful in the run-up to the convention, and state officials and exterminators said bedbug reports have been on the uptick in and around the Queen City.
John Fund, writing in the National Review filed this report. Some of the media checked out of their reserved rooms and found new ones, some across the state line.
The DNC shines the spotlight of the world stage on our Queen City. Delegates from all 50 states, 15,000 journalists, and more than 350 foreign leaders will experience Charlotte . . .
— Charlotte Business Journal, August 31, 2012
I can’t speak for the delegates or ther foreign dignitaries, but many of the journalists I have spoken with here are appalled at the accommodations in Charlotte to which they were assigned by the DNC. National Review was assigned to two Knights Inn properties. Everyone who saw them fled immediately across state lines to an available Marriott in South Carolina rather than stay there. As one of our political correspondents reported:
The Knights Inn was the worst hotel I have ever seen, and I’ve stayed in many bad motels in my life. Two guys were dealing drugs in the room next to me, and a prostitute was working out of the parking lot. And this was in the early afternoon. The room itself was dirty, full of other people’s stuff, etc.
I have never requested a hotel change in 3 years at NR. This was the first time I felt absolutely compelled.
It’s not as if the DNC couldn’t have figured out something was wrong with the properties. TripAdvisor had these recent comments on one of the Knights Inn properties: “wouldn’t recommend it to my worst enemy,” “scared to death,” and “pimps and prostitutes at night.”
Nor was National Review singled out. Staff members from Politico and the Hill abandoned their assigned hotels, too. Staffers from the Hill found refuge in a cheap Microtel and considered it a comparative oasis.
Tucker Carlson, editor of The Daily Caller, told me that the Quality Inn his staff was assigned to was “the worst hotel you can imagine.” TripAdvisor carried these recent reviews: “barely a Bates Motel,” “scary area and parking lot,” and “the worst.”
Some of the scarcity of good hotels is due to Charlotte’s relatively small size. It is the least populous city to host a national convention since the GOP held theirs in New Orleans in 1988, and the Big Easy had lots of hotels because of its popularity with tourists.
But there really is no excuse for anyone, especially women, to be assigned to hotels that are beyond dingy and in some cases clearly unsafe.
The dem’s convention is starting to look like some badly written soap opera with elements of a Survivor reality show. Even the OWS people are getting ready for the convention. They’re dumpster-diving for food while they camp out on city property.
1:16 PM – 09/ 1/2012
Occupy Takes Up Residence In Charlotte Park
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — At about 1:30, various Occupy groups continued to set up camp in Marshall Park in downtown Charlotte. So far about 20 tents have been set up in three clusters.
Activists were charging equipment, editing videos and meeting with each other. They have water and plenty of batteries. The mood was upbeat.
Rich Cuzzi, 24, arrived in Charlotte at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday. Cuzzi said he and others from Occupy Wall Street first scouted out the area’s dumpsters for food and hunted down a good bathroom. There were no police officers on site when they arrived.
I think the dems are in trouble. Heh, heh.
