Dear Viewers,
“On the Record” launches Fox News Channel’s weeklong coverage of the Democratic Convention in Boston. Tomorrow night — Friday — we are LIVE from Boston.
Here are some facts about the Democratic Convention in Boston that I found interesting:
In order to accommodate the convention, and the media, the following was added to the Fleet Center (search) (the home of the Boston Bruins and the Boston Celtics) where the convention will be held:
• 4,000 miles of cable
• 60 tons of steel
• 25,000 square feet of office space
• 120 temporary doors
• 360 feet of scaffolding inside
• 50 tons of supplemental cooling
• 2,000 chairs installed on the Fleet Center floor
• 3,000 linear feet of drywall
• 538 data lines
• 177 cable hookups
• 267 computers
• 793 telephone lines
4,353 delegates and 611 alternates will be attending the convention — but that grossly understates how many people will be descending upon Boston for the convention. The media totals about 15,000 and there will be about 15,000 other guests. The total estimate is 35,000.
To move everyone around the city, and in light of enhanced security concerns, there will be a shuttle system (150 buses, 12 hours a day among the 60 hotels and the Fleet Center.)
In addition, by July 12, the city of Boston had issued 67 permits for protests, marches and vigils. A few more have been issued since July 12. We are told that protest events range from a gathering of meditating Buddhists to a pro-life demonstration.
For those of you who did not watch last night, we did a segment at the end of the show with video of Jenna Bush (search) sticking her tongue out at the media. We also mentioned that Alexandra Kerry (search) criticized the media for sometimes being “mean.”
My view of Jenna sticking her tongue out — which I voiced — was essentially ‘so what!’ She is 22 years old and loves her father and, Alexandra is right, the media can be mean. I am sure both daughters love their fathers and hate it when the media says things about them that doesn’t ring true with them.
I thought it also made Jenna very human to stick out her tongue and we can’t expect everyone in the political spotlight to be perfect all the time. I suppose my own conduct at age 22 — which I conveniently don’t remember — was not all that great so I am just not going to give Jenna a hard time for sticking out her tongue.
What surprised me is the amount of e-mails who thought I was dead wrong and who thought Jenna’s conduct reprehensible. So … here are a few:
E-mail No. 1
Greta, I am absolutely shocked that you would not think there was anything wrong with Jenna Bush sticking her tongue out at reporters. She was behaving like an ill-mannered, ill-bred, brat.
We are not talking about a six-year-old here, but a young woman. Many other young women of her age are serving in the military.
Monica Watkins
E-mail No. 2
Hi Greta,
My response to the two quests that you had on tonight regarding the President’s daughter sticking out her tongue to the media is, “GET REAL”. It showed me that she is loyal to her dad. She gave a quick and deserving response to a media who seems to love ridiculing the President. Just because her dad is the President doesn’t mean that she can’t act human. Obviously, according to your guests, she is supposed to act phony and display a smiley face at all times. In the real world, this type of behavior is what would is questionable.
Love your show Greta,
Connie
E-mail No. 3
[The daughters] were excluded during the Bush Presidency until now, but wonder if bringing them out to campaign was a wise thing to do. If they were my daughters, I would have kept them out of sight.
Verjean Goodnight
E-mail No. 4
One word explains her behavior…”IMMATURE”.. the president should keep her out of the public eye.
Why do so many people think and say that being 23 years old is sooooo young and that kind of behavior should be overlooked.Yes I agree that the girls have not acquired a whole lot of worldly knowledge yet but certainly to stick your tongue out is for a very young child [like 5] NOT someone 23..
The easiest way to get an answer to that is to think back at when you [Greta] were 23 years old ..would you have done that …knowing that a freaking bunch of camera’s were on you and your father is the president of the U.S.A…Remember the drinking booze episode..folks thought that they were young then also..come on…get real … I suppose when they are 35 years old ..we will hear the same thing.
BUT God Bless You for having a different slant…we need both sides.. we must not forget “Fair and Balanced” Ha Ha.
Joan
Ridgway,Pa
E-mail No. 5
Dear Greta,
Unless my memory is failing me, President Bush’s daughters graduated from COLLEGE in June. Don’t you think they’re a little too old to be sticking their tongue out at anyone?
My children learned that it was a rude thing to do when they were 5 years of age. I wonder why these young women (which is what they are) didn’t?
J. Neveux
Manhattan Beach, CA
Greta
Do you have something you’d like to say to Greta? Please write to her at ontherecord@foxnews.com!
Watch On the Record with Greta Van Susteren weeknights at 10 p.m. ET
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