Isn't this precisely inline with Hillary's comment on Democratic policy in general: "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." It goes without saying that aid for the Democratic Party is a common good.

So long as they get the media center -- currently in need to $300,000 in work to get it up to code -- in place by the start of the convention, whatever other problems there are in Boston will be barely noted, if at all, by most of the press, except to note that "Despite all the problems facing organizers, the convention came off as a rousing success for the Kerry-Edwards campaign."

But if they screw up the media center, lookout. Hell hath no fury like a big-city reporter or network TV correspondent denied his or her convention perks...

This situation explains why the Democrats have become so good at preening and so bad at governing. Bob Strauss would never have allowed such nonsense, but Bob Shrum probably considers it to be savvy.

John - agreed. Here in Boston the local media are playing up the DNC convention as the greatest thing ever. The media will ignore the little stuff like this. It will take a huge problem, like losing electricity, bad media relations, huge strikes, etc. to get anyone to notice.

AWW, David, PJ:

"...the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, known for making fire engines stop to pay tolls on the way to emergencies, declined to follow suit."

How, precisely, do you tolerate living in a place like this?

If you live outside 495, it's like a whole different state.

Now, now, this is actually a brilliant ploy. Aren't we all agreed that it's best for Kerry to avoid media coverage? And what would any intelligent person expect under this voucher system except that no cab drivers will show up at the airport? No cabs → no reporters → no coverage! Diabolic.

Actually, Boston has very good subway service to the airport as well as frequent water taxis. Taking a cab, on the other hand, is expensive, longer and usually involves sitting in a tunnel for 40 minutes.

Mr. Cohen;

Then why is the DNC banging on the cabbies if people can just take the subway / water taxi? Kidding aside, that seems to make this even stupider than it appears on the surface.

AWW:

You must be seeing the Boston media differntly than I do; the Globe loves a fiasco, and the sports-talk radio has been hammering on this quite amusingly, with each report of a new outrage followed by a sound-bite of Mayor Menino saying, "Be Flexible. Work around it."

Mike --

What the Boston media offers up for local consumption and what the rest of the nation see and hear about the convention's planning and execution could be two completely different things -- i.e., the Globe may not hide the fact that I-93 is closed, North Station is blocked off and the public is irate, but their parent company may not see fit to send any of that out over The Nw York Times' wire service, except as a brief add-on to the main convention story 50 or 60 graphs down from the lead.

So long as the media have all their electric outlets, high-speed modems, satellite truck space with south views and DNC staffers handing out the appropriate info/talking points copy at the right time, any traffic jams, irate cabbies or police slowdowns will be treated as sidebars, at best. But if the media center itself is a boondoggle, then the Democrats may get their worst press coming out of a convention in 36 years.