Published: September 05, 2008 12:17 am            

Experiencing the RNC with Greg Snowden

Party focuses on reform, energy independence

State Rep. Greg Snowden (R-Meridian) got one of the best seats in the house for stargazing at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night — he was seated right next to the V.I.P. box.

"I was just about 20 feet to the left of the Palin family and the McCain family," he said.

Best of all, he got to shake hands with one of his political heroes, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

"It was just really neat," he said. "Rudy's speech was the speech of the convention. His speech and Fred Thompson's speech were about as good a political speech as you're going to hear."

Though Snowden got to sit next to some of the convention's biggest political celebrities, he was far from the only one to enjoy the convention Wednesday night.

As the crowd awaited the speech from V.P. nominee Sarah Palin, "the level of excitement was just really high."

He said he felt the speech was a big success. "She showed her steel," he said. "She showed she's not somebody that's going to be pushed around... It was just a great speech. The tone was good."

He was most impressed with Palin's attacks on Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

"Palin did what most vice presidential candidates do, she went after the other side. That's her role."

Though the primary focus of the night was on Palin, Snowden said the party has showed increased interest in a couple of issues that didn't receive as much attention at previous conventions he's attended. One was energy independence. The other was reform.

"Energy has been (getting more attention from the party)," he said. "Particularly this year with the rising gas prices."

The Republican plan for energy independence, he said, is "all of the above." Increased domestic drilling, more nuclear energy, more biofuels, more domestic energy from every possible source. Particularly, the party is for drilling in Alaska's Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), he said.

"It only affects a miniscule acreage in a huge area," he said. "We're for conservation. We're for the environment. But we can't just keep transferring our money to other countries."

The issue of reform is big at this year's convention, he said, because convention-goers feel that the McCain-Palin ticket will be able to more forcefully create reform in the White House than the Obama-Biden ticket.

"That issue of reform is a big one," Snowden said, "She (Palin) is a reformer. McCain is a reformer. Real change comes from McCain-Palin."

On Thursday morning, Snowden said, the convention-goers were waiting for McCain's speech with excited anticipation.

"The convention has been building," he said, "Each night has gotten better."

He said waiting for McCain's speech Thursday morning was "kind of like if the kick-off of a football game is at 7 o'clock, this is the morning of. There's a quiet excitement... People are just so ready to welcome him as the nominee of the party."

For Snowden, there is a political and a personal aspect to the convention.

Politically, he said, the best part of the convention up to Thursday morning was Palin's speech. "On a political level you have to go back to Sarah Palin and how well she's done," he said.

On a personal level, he said the best part of the convention was getting to see and talk to people he admires. Shaking the hand of Rudy Giuliani, hearing Tuesday's speech from Fred Thompson, for whom he used to work, and talking with Trent Lott, who he said he has long admired, have been the real highlights of the convention for Greg Snowden.

        

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