Convention Watch: Group Body Slams The Rock
Aug. 1, 2000 -- Some conservatives want the Republican Party to body slam “The Rock” right out of the GOP convention hall.
The World Wrestling Federation star, 28, is scheduled to join House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R.-Ill., in calling delegates to their seats during Wednesday evening’s session of the Republican National Convention. Hastert is a former high school wrestling coach.
The Rock, whose real name is Dwayne Johnson, is a five-time WWF champion, a college graduate in criminology, according to his Web site, whose father and grandfather also were champion wrestlers.
But presence of the short-haired, loud-talking hulk at the Philadelphia gala is drawing fire. The head of the conservative Parents Television Council says the wrestler should not be given a prime-time platform.
In a news release from the PTC, L. Brent Bozell III said “The Rock” regularly uses obscene and profane language, and frequently makes demeaning comments about women.
“George Bush should do what corporate America is doing in droves — disassociating itself with the vulgarity and violence the WWF weekly markets to over 3 million children. Over 30 corporate CEOs have pulled their sponsorship of WWF Smackdown! As the de facto CEO of the GOP, George Bush should make the responsible decision and do the same thing,” Bozell said.
The council claims credit for helping pressure AT&T, Coca-Cola and others to withdraw their ads from the WWF Smackdown! a wrestling show aired weekly.
PTC calls the show “the most ultra-violent, foul-mouthed, and sexually explicit show on prime-time television, a fact made even worse when one considers it is broadcast during the ‘family hour.’”
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Funny Money Bunnies
Much attention has been paid thus far to the lavish and expensive parties springing up all over Philadelphia during the Republican National Convention.
But perhaps none of them are being as carefully watched — or anticipated — as a planned Democratic fund-raiser that’s not scheduled for another two weeks.
Why the excitement? It will be held at the Playboy Mansion when Democrats head west to Los Angles to officially nominate Vice President Al Gore.
Gore has already criticized the event and said he will not attend. But the Catholic League wants him to go one step further and demand it be canceled.
The organization is calling on the vice president to cancel the event because it’s scheduled for Aug. 15 — the Feast of Assumption, a Catholic holy day. Rep. Loretta Sanchez of California is hosting the fund-raiser to benefit the Hispanic Unity Caucus, a group that promotes voter registration among Latinos.
“To hold an event on this date at a place that celebrates the denigration of women is particularly offensive to Catholics,” Catholic League President William Donohue said in a press release. The Feast of Assumption commemorates Mary’s ascent into heaven.
“We’re not attending, participating, supporting, condoning or giving our imprimatur in any shape, way or form,” to the party, Chris Lehane, spokesman for the Gore campaign, said in July.
Gore is a longtime admirer of Sanchez, and he personally picked her to co-chair the Democratic National Convention. Her office says there are no plans to abandon the fund-raiser.
Donohue attacked her choice of venue, saying “To top it off, since most Hispanics are Catholic, it is sending a message that is doubly objectionable.”
For the record, the event will be held in a tent on the mansion’s grounds — without the bunnies.
— CNSNews.com and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Where’s the Dream?
El Paso Mayor Carlos Ramirez was all revved up to share his “American Dream” story with a crowd of about 2,000 at a Republican National Convention lunch Monday, but organizers scratched the mayor from the lineup without bothering to tell him.
The mayor and his wife, Kenna, didn’t find out until they arrived at the Marriott ballroom.
A number of Republican governors, senators and congressional members wanted a slice of the spotlight and the large pre-convention audience that included the likes of David and Julia Nixon Eisenhower. They heard “American Dream” stories from more than 20 politicians and entertainers, including Robert Conrad, Connie Stevens and Ben Stein.
Event organizers apologized to Ramirez after he learned he had been yanked from the program.
“Everybody wanted to speak, and everybody was making demands to include them,” Ramirez said. “Can you imagine the pressure (when) Gov. (Christine Todd) Whitman (of New Jersey) calls and says, ‘I want to speak’?”
After an especially strong performance by Conrad, former star of TV’s Wild, Wild West, a philosophical Ramirez whispered, “I can’t compete against that.”
Republican National Committee co-chairman Patricia Harrison invited Ramirez this spring to share his “American Dream” story during the lunch. “I do hope you can arrange your busy schedule during the convention to join me for the American Dream luncheon,” she said in a letter. “Your participation and brief remarks will be the highlight of our important event.”
Ramirez said he was “somewhat disappointed” that he didn’t get a chance to share his American dream. However, he pointed to an evening slot where he was able to introduce the “Character Counts!” program at El Paso’s Carlos Rivera Elementary School to a national audience that gave him “an opportunity to showcase El Paso.”
Event organizers “could have called, I suppose,” he said, to alert him of change.
— Gary Scharrer, El Paso Times