The GO-Party - A full report

The hilarious adventure of three young Republicans, told without exaggeration or falsehood. Fo sho.

I got an e-mail earlier in the week inviting me to a Bush-Cheney Block Party at the Mt. View Inn outside of Greensburg. I RSVP'd and said I would bring two others with me. And so I called up the two outspoken GOP members that lived in Havey with me: Sean and Josh.

We set out for the party at 7:00pm. Not knowing what to expect, I brought my messenger bag (which sports a Bush-Cheney pin) and we all wore button-down shirts. We arrived at the Mt. View Inn and were kind of surprised at what we found... the party was outside under one of the shelters the hotel owns, there were about 60 people, and they were all over 30. We also saw that we had to sign in and get name tags! And so the plan went into motion...

Woman: Can I have your name please?
Me: Mike Rubino
(Woman writes it on a sticker and I put it on my shirt)
Woman: Can I have your name please?
Sean: Teddy Benson.
(Woman writes it on a sticker and gives it to Sean)
Woman: Can I have your name please?
Josh: Leroy Silverson.
Woman: Can you spell that?
Josh: L-E-R-O-Y
Woman: Thanks
(Gives Josh a sticker)

And so those were our names for the evening. I was sort of required to play the straight man because there were people there that knew me, and others that needed to know me. Josh and Sean -- or should I say Leroy and Teddy -- had never seen any of these people before, and none of them would really remember their names so they had a little fun.

We got situated, scoped out the scene, and saw that alot of people were staring us down. There were tables set up all over the shelter, all of which were being waited on by hotel staff. There was a bar in the back and a short-order grill to the right of the door. When you walk into the party, they give you an envelope which is filled with Bush stickers, a cool bumper sticker, some talking points packets and a gold-colored pen that says "GOP. The GO-Party!" How sweet is that?

So after checking all of that stuff out, we quickly nabbed a seat when someone got up to use the bathroom. We sat there a while, cracking jokes and sipping ginger ale. People were still definitely looking at us, checking us out and observing the cut of our "jib." That's when the MC, Greg Spain, got on the microphone and made some announcements.

G. Spain: Hey everyone, thanks for coming! Right now we are going to watch a tape that the President sent all of the block parties, and at 8:30 we are going to be getting a conference call from Dick Cheney!

And then he put on a tape from the Prez. If I could describe the tape in one word, it would have to be: badass. Firstly, it began with a picture montage of all of the sweet things he has done for this country, all of the excellent speeches he has give (because yes, for those of you who hate him because he stumbles on some words, he has given a few excellent speeches), and all of the things he stands for: morals, integrity, etc.. And then that presentation is followed by a short speech by the Texan himself! He basically thanked us for coming and for helping with the campaign.

We now had some time to kill, so Teddy, Leroy and myself got up and explored the hotel. If you have never been to the Mt. View Inn, it's beautiful. It's kind of like hotels used to be, mainly all wood with a sort of "lodge" feel to it. Very cool. We walked around, checked out the vending machines (which were cheaper than the hotel grill's food) and even visited the rest room. I then made a fool of myself in the restroom by busting in there, getting all excited about the "sensor paper towel dispenser" and not realizing that some stranger was in there... I backed out slowly and returned to the shelter.

(I know this isn't very funny yet... but just wait. It's all in the setup)

So we return to the shelter in time to hear Dick Cheney's phone call. It was pretty amazing. There were over 200 parties happening that night in PA alone, and almost 5000 in the entire country! And Cheney was on the phone with all of them at the same time. He spoke for about 25 minutes, about the grassroots effort, the war in Iraq, the liberal spin that the media provides, and then he took questions from people across the country (including Ohio!). During this time, we met some important people.

When you have fake names on, people seem to be attracted towards you twice as much as they would normally be. And it's always people that you are going to deal with again in the future. The first person I met was Kim Ward, the representative for southwest PA. She worked with my dad on Melissa Hart's campaign, and she had met me at the Sean Hannity speech in Pittsburgh. We got to talking, and she was very interested in meeting my friends from SHU, Teddy and Leroy. She gave us some stickers and handed us her card. That's when we noticed a report from the local newspaper walking around taking pictures... fake names + huge newspaper = hilarity.

That's when Elizabeth Yorio walked over. She is in charge of the College Republicans clubs in the area. She kind of moderates and looks over them, and will be working with me for when I start a chapter next Fall at SHU. I introduced her to my friends, Teddy and Leroy, and we talked for a good while. That's when the reported spotted us, and started snapping pictures. Elizabeth left, and yet the reporter was still taking photos. He then leaned over and started talking to the three of us.

Reporter: What's your name?
Josh: Leroy Silverson.
Reporter: And how old are you?
Josh: 19
Reporter: Where are you from
(Sean starts laughing uncontrollably... we try and cover up)
Me: Did you hear that guy?
Sean: He sneezed like a duck!
Josh: I'm from Seton Hill University.
Reporter: Cool, what's your name?
Me: Mike Rubino
Reporter: Age?
Me: 18
Reporter: Are you in highschool?
(Sean keeps laughing about his name...)
Josh: How about that feedback from the microphone.
Me: Hilarious! No I'm a freshman at SHU with these guys
Reporter: Alright
Me: Do you work at the Trib?
Reporter: Yeah
Me: So do I! (small talk ensues as Sean continues to crack up)
Reporter: What's your name?
Sean: Teddy (snicker) Benson (loses it)
Reporter: Cool, thanks guys.

The reporter gets up and leaves as the three of us totally lose our composure and laugh more than the band leader on the Tonight Show. We are in total shock as to what just happened. And all we could think of is members of the SHU faculty reading the Trib the next day and seeing our faces in the paper, with Josh and Sean using different names!

Once Cheney finished his phone call, everyone started to mingle, and slowly leave. By this time it was about 9pm. We got up to leave, but before we headed out I wanted to say thanks to Mr. Spain for inviting us. That's when chaos ensued further.

Table 1: Excuse me? Young sirs? Come here!
(We walk over, afraid of what's going to happen.)
Guy: I just wanted to say that I'm glad to see some young people finally getting involved in politics! And finally some youth who are republicans!
Gal: We are really proud of you guys for coming out here tonight!
Me: Hey, anything we can do to help
Guy: Where are you from?
Josh: Seton Hill.
Gal: Oh! I'm an alumni there!
(We tie things up and move on...)

Table 2: Hey! Guys! Come over here!
(We walk over to a second table, this one was considerably larger... with about 10 people)
Guy 1: We are so glad to see some young guys here! Thanks for coming!
Me: Hey, no problem! it was a great evening
Gal: Where are you from?
Sean: Seton Hill
Gal: Oh! My nephew goes there! His name is Mark Something.
Sean: Yeah! He's my neighbor!
Gal: Really? (read's Sean's nametag) Teddy Benson... that name sounds very familiar! Do you live on Maple Lane?
Sean: No no no, I meant he's my neighbor at school.
Gal: Ohh!
Guy 2: Keep up the good work sirs! Make us proud!
Josh: We shall!
(More small talk about the upcoming College GOP at SHU... then we get ready to go.)

We spoke with Greg Spain, the coordinator of the event and then headed on our way. We had no idea whether or not we would actually make it in the paper... but he sure did take alot of photos of us. Conversation continued as to whether or not having false names in the paper could lead to trouble. But I don't think so since the names are so incredibly hilarious, especially when they are paired together.

We returned to Havey, and told the story to everyone... oh what a great story it is. This morning we checked the newspaper and found that they used Spain's picture instead. That was probably for the better. But just in case you don't believe this story, see the attached picture:

Epilogue: Upon returning back to Havey, I checked my away messages on my computer. My away message itself spoke of my trip to the Bush Cheney party. I was surprised to see I had a fairly large number of messages, more than I normally receive (which is 0). And I was disappointed, and somewhat bothered to see that almost all of them were anti-Bush disgust-filled messages saying that they hope I was lying about my plans for the evening, or how I should be "blocking" their re-election.

This not only supported my theory of it being "trendy" to be a Bush-hater. Kids my age don't hate Bush because they have legitimate reasons. I have talked to enough of them to be able to make this generalization. They dislike him because he fumbles his speeches sometimes, he comes off as a dimwit and a Texan. Most of the people I know say they aren't voting for him because he is stupid. Because he is honest and human. They wear shirts that say "Anyone but Bush," not fully grasping the sentence that they so proudly tout around. They are blindly voting "against" someone, and not "for" someone. Not only is this foolish, but its a waste of a vote and an abuse of our electoral system. Only a few have been able to tell me why they are voting for Kerry or Nader. Some say its because Bush goes to war for oil (so says MTV and CNN) others say its because they think Iraq wasn't a threat to us and that they never had weapons (when even Clinton said they did in 1998), and some others say that its because he is a war monger and an idiot... no, he's just an honest man who isn't going to stand back and watch our country get destroyed by terrorists and despots.

I'm glad I went to this party, and I'm glad I am involved in this grassroots effort to get this man in office again. And I'm doing my best to explain to kids my age that if you are going to vote for Kerry, then do it because you agree with him... not because you hate Bush.

Anyone with me?

Posted by MikeRubino at April 30, 2004 9:05 PM