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The Republicans are coming to Los Angeles in full force, for their four-day annual Spring Meeting, and they're going to be hanging out in what may seem like unlikely turf: Hollywood.
The RNC Spring Meeting is being held April 10 through 13 at Loews Hollywood, and while today the headlines are about what is on the table for discussion that could significantly change the fate of how the party operates, another matter for Angelenos is wondering how the heck this meeting landed in a pretty blue city in a pretty blue state.
Okay, but first, the serious stuff. The RNC will be talking about how they do things in their party, and could institute some radical changes, as explained by the Washington Times:
At issue are several changes to the rules, all of which have the effect of reducing the influence of state parties and grassroots party members as voters and convention delegates in determining party policies and the selection of the presidential candidate.
Many of these "rules" stemmed from the Romney campaign during the 2012 election season, and now there's a major shift to undo what changed back then.So clearly the GOP has their hands full and will likely spend their days huddled in hotel conference rooms, talking policy (and surely some smack about Dems) over plates of lukewarm chicken breasts, which means they may not be overly concerned about drinking in the cultural offerings of our wonderfully diverse—maybe too diverse?—city.
The GOP "couldn't have picked a more hostile place," to have their Spring Meeting, points out the LA Weekly. Consider that the party's bucks are going to be adding to our local economy that thrives on the liberalism of "Hollywood" the biz and a whole lot of stuff that make many Republicans a little uncomfy. The Weekly continues:
After all this is the medical marijuana capital of the nation, the home of the angry immigrants' rights protester, the American epicenter of powerful City Hall unions, a gay rights beacon and the place where porn is made -- all things Republicans seem to hate.
The Pensito Review riffs on the same story, noting that the location of the meeting ("Behind Enemy Lines") is something worth putting in "the WTF file."
Now, that's not to say Republicans don't know how to party when they're in L.A. Remember that one time the RNC got billed for an outing to WeHo's Voyeur Club, where party-members turned party-goers spent $2K watching near-nude women dangle from the ceiling and simulate oral sex on each other. And RNC's high-ups have been known to really enjoy living it up in L.A., like former Chairman Michael Steele, who racked up some craaaaaazy bills a couple of years back from a trip out to the sinful City of Angels.
So maybe it's a little less WTF and a little more why the eff not that brings the Repubs to Hollywood. But just in case you're going to be in or around Loews from Wednesday through the weekend, you may notice an influx of pale old guys with fat wallets looking for trouble.
