Yesterday Minorites, Today Fox Showcases Compassionate GOP's
Reported by Ellen - September 2, 2004 -
Yesterday I posted that GOP Focuses on Blacks and So Does Fox. Today, the focus is on compassion. In Delegates Roll Up Sleeves for NYC, Fox Reporter Peter Brownfeld gushes over apparently superhuman efforts by delegates to do good works for NYC in-between convention commitments.
The article says: Decorating playhouses for children, constructing homes for Habitat for Humanity and volunteering at soup kitchens were among the activities that took place. Although delegates reported a few hitches in the execution, they were generally pleased with the plan and those who participated said they had fun. According to the Republican Party, the purpose of these projects was to answer President Bush's call to service.
A partisan bent, however, was underlying some of the charitable acts.
"Republicans show where our hearts really are" through these projects, said Betsy DeVos, chairman of the Michigan Republican State Committee.
Pennsylvania delegates served food and cleaned the church at the Bowery Mission in Manhattan. New Mexico and Arizona delegates worked in a nursery, reading to kids and helping clean up the Latino Pastoral Action Cente in the Bronx.
Comment: Constructed homes for Habitat for Humanity? How much free time could these saintly delegates have in NYC? And, obviously, the fact that so many of these activities took place in disadvantaged neighborhoods also spoke to the GOP strategy of attracting minorities (reported on yesterday). A clever way to make two kinds of political hay in one stroke.
Buried in the article are some less positive indications: "In some communities, the volunteers were hard to track down... And some delegates said that while they were aware of the events, they were too busy to get out to them." Also, one large group got lost for two hours in Queens on their way to decorate dollhouses. But in typical Fox fashion, the piece ends with GOP positives. "'It went really well after we got there,' said (one delegate), who still bore the marks of her work, with green paint on her fingernails. (Another delegate) also said she had a good time. 'Hopefully, the children will enjoy (the dollhouses),' she said."
