At least the Trinity has never caught fire like Cleveland’s Cuyahoga did in 1969.
Rather than spend a nice cool week in Dallas in July 2016, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus announced today the 2016 Republican Convention will be held in Cleveland.
Dallas was one of two finalists for the event. The convention would have been held at the American Airlines Center with one event at Cowboy’s Stadium in Arlington.
Instead, the convention will be held in swing state Ohio. No Republican has won the White House without Ohio. Both Cleveland and Dallas are Democratic strongholds.
But how does Cleveland compare with Dallas for natural beauty? If you think the Trinity is a filthy stream of mud, at least it never caught fire like Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River did in 1969.
The site committee’s recommendation will be finalized by a vote in August and the July start date announced at that time.
Dallas last hosted a national convention in 1984 when Ronald Reagan was nominated for his second term in office. That convention is best remembered by people in Dallas at the time for closed highways in and around downtown.
Gregory Lee Johnson was arrested outside the Dallas Convention Center during the convention for burning a flag. His case went to the Supreme Court, which invalidated all flag desecration laws.
Although a political convention brings a lot of media attention and millions of dollars of revenue to a city, most people in the LGBT community in very blue Dallas reacted with relief.
“DAMN! I had my picket signs all ready,” activist Todd Whitley wrote on his Facebook page.
“Thank God,” wrote Old Oak Cliff Conservation League former President Michael Amonett.
“There is a God,” Scott Cantrell wrote.
