Convention Coverage 2008: Message from Fasano

Sen. Leonard Fasano shares his final thoughts on the convention:

I know, I fell behind again.

Sen. John McCain’s speech was exactly what he had to deliver, and he didn’t need to have the polished speech like Obama. All Sen. McCain had to do was to talk from the heart.

Unfortunately his speech was interrupted by protesters.

The first were a few Ron Paul supporters. We were told that at some point in the convention, these Ron Paul supporters were going to cause an interruption and were told to chant “U.S.A.” to drown them out. The second protest were two women who were either anit-war or anti-something, and again we chanted them out with the same “U.S.A.” slogan. These two women had credentials to get into the convention, where they began to take off their dark clothing exposing clothes with bright pink (certainly not my choice of color) and glitter. Secrete service reacted relatively slow, but when they finally made their way to these two women, one ran and the other was lifted off the ground and carried out of the building.

The excitement as McCain finished his speech was overwhelming. It was a true party atmosphere complete with the traditional balloon drop. The balloon drop was really cool. People were dancing and singing, and the real party began.

One of the most exciting events was when our very own Republican state senator, Dave Cappiello from the Danbury area, was given an opportunity to address the crowed at 6:17 p.m. on the last day.

I went with David, and it was really a great experience. We went behind the stage and met a lot of high profile political people like Sen. Graham, Sen. Lott, Newt Gingrich, Republican minority leader Cong, John Boehner and many others. Behind the stage David was given pointers on how to speak at the podium, which were very helpful. He had make-up put on him and was taught the basics on how to present himself in front of the camera, The person giving him the pointers apparently was a speech instructor who only gives instruction of podium speaking (go figure).

After the preparation work, Dave practiced back stage using the same type of teleprompters used on the stage. When the speech is on the teleprompters, there are signs to tell the speaker what to do. For example a “#” sign means look straight ahead and “*” means look to the side. This behind the scenes was particularly interesting, because very few people see this type of activity.

Well, the experience was unbelievable. The nomination of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for vice president made it a historic event for which I am most pleased that I was involved. I have been asked if I would do it again, and I guess the answer is it depends. The next time I would go is if I were more involved. I attended this event purely as a spectator, and I think the next time I would like to play a role in the actual event. And I don’t mean as a speaker. I mean in the development of the program or on a committee. Nevertheless it was great to see this type of event up close.

For those who read my blog, I hope you enjoyed what I wrote, and I apologize for the tardiness of some the entries. I also want to thank Amanda Falcone for reading the blog and making the necessary corrections so that it could be read more easily, and I thank her for her patience. Amanda covers the state Capitol for the Record Journal, and she does a great job. I also want to thank the Record Journal for giving me the opportunity to place this blog on their Web site.

Thanks and god bless.