By NiallO’Dowd

THE Republican National Convention is literally a showstopper in New York this week. The city is deserted, Broadway might as well be dark, and the only game in town is occurring at Madison Square Garden.

Our office is within the exclusion zone, which means we run a gauntlet every morning of police and security details monitoring every person who passes through the checkpoint. It reminds me very much of Belfast around 1975, when access to much of the city was through checkpoint only. It is not a pretty sight to see in New York.

Understandably it has not been the expected boom time for many Irish bar owners in the vicinity who I’ve spoken to. Security is so all encompassing that the entire show appears to be taking place in a four-block bubble, and relatively few people are venturing outside what must be the safest place in America right now. 

Which is a pity because, like all political conventions, there is some marvelous color, with delegates from all over America, from Alaska to Alabama, mixing and mingling outside the center. 

One rather incongruous note for me was the resident band playing “Voulez Vouz Couchez Avec Moi?” (Would you like to sleep with me?) at full blast as the delegates, many born again conservatives, lined up to enter the Garden.

Getting into the convention presents an enormous challenge in itself. There are about 10 checkpoints before you reach one of the coveted entrances. At every checkpoint your credentials are checked thoroughly as police armed to the teeth with machine guns and rifles stand by gazing with suspicion on everyone who passes.

Even when you get to the entrance you run a gauntlet of a dozen or so security checkers who constantly ask for your id’s. Every five feet or so, it seems you are stopped and scrutinized. Sniffer dogs run their nose over every bag or parcel people are carrying.

It’s a cliché but we live in a different world, a post-September 11 and now the aftermath. Madmen seem everywhere. 

Even the Olympics are not safe. A lunatic defrocked Irish priest tried to take down the leader in the men’s marathon on the last day of the games. Is nothing safe or sacred any more?

If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that in one very important aspect the terrorists are winning. This level of security has made us all into potential suspects, and never again can we bask in the carefree atmosphere that used to accompany these conventions.

I remember the Democratic convention in 1984 in San Francisco, where it was possible to stroll in and out of the hall and even shake hands with the then nominee Walter Mondale. These days you will not get within miles of such dignitaries.

Increasingly our candidates exist in a security bubble, having less and less contact with ordinary people and attending only highly scripted events like this convention. The real losers are the public, which now only has sound bites and a media filter to help them decide their preference.

This is sad. One of the most appealing aspects of American democracy is the open access to political leaders. Now everything is scripted and protected to the finest detail. 

Conventions are not what they used to be either. This is my third one and my first Republican one. It is obvious with both parties that what we are seeing is not a convention but political theater, with carefully staged sequences.

Read Tom Deignan’s “Sidewalks” column this week to discover how it all used to be much more breathless and exciting. For decades nominations were not decided until the conventions met. Nowadays, everything down to the stall vendors has been decided well in advance.

The only relief from that on Monday night was the appearance of Michael Moore at the convention. I happened upon the scene just as the liberal icon was making his way into the convention center. The media assembled around him like wolves. It’s been a slow convention for news and having Moore show up was a godsend.

Many of the Republican delegates cottoned on to Moore’s presence, and some gathered around. There were some wonderful exchanges which would never make it into family newspapers between the delegates and Moore. 

It was a rare unscripted moment and all the more interesting as a result. Doubtless the old party bosses would have enjoyed that part of the spectacle much more than the made for television production going on everywhere else.