I don't know what this is, but I read a post that metioned this being there and that the city would be a mess during that time? Can anyone tell me when that is going to be so i can plan my trip around that.

It's the Republican national convention.

Aug 30 - Sept 2 at Madison Square Gardens.

I know I'man ignorant Aussie but what in the hell does GOP stand for? If I'm going to be inconvenienced by living near Madison Square Garden I would like to know what exactly it stands for.

I think GOP is Grand Old Party.

For Marea

United States Republican Party
The Republican Party (often GOP for Grand Old Party) is one of the two major political parties in the United States. The current President of the United States, George W. Bush, is a member of the party, and it has majorities in the Senate and the House. The GOP is a right-wing, conservative party, and is has many political factions. It is currently the governing party in The United States of America.

The party was organized in Ripon, Wisconsin on February 28, 1854, as a party against the expansion of slavery. It is not to be confused with the Democratic-Republican party of Thomas Jefferson or the National Republican Party of Henry Clay. The first convention of the U.S. Republican Party was held on July 6, 1854, in Jackson, Michigan. Many of its initial policies were inspired by the defunct Whig Party. Since its inception, its chief opponent has been the Democratic Party.

Today its primary political principles include deregulated free-market capitalism, along with nationalism, religiosity and social conservatism, and militarism. Refer below (Factions of the Republican Party) for a detailed explication of its ideological stripes.


Republican party logo, adopted in the 1970s, depicts a stylized elephant in red, white, and blue.The official symbol of the Republican Party is the elephant. Although the elephant had occasionally been associated with the party earlier, a cartoon by Thomas Nast, published in Harper's Weekly on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol [1] (http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Year=2003&Month=November&Date=7).

Thanks David, that was very informative. I already knew a bit about American history and the political system here, I even knew about the elephant, but now I'm even better informed. Grand Old Party, indeed.

Tippecanoe and Tyler too! Forty eight forty or FIGHT!

And you look so young, Red.

it will be next week, the mess starts Sunday the 29th and goes til the next Friday.

All yall fools wrong, its Government of the People, yall

Sorry Germaine, we're right on this one. From a CBS article.

(CBS) The elephant - symbol of the Republican Party since 1874 - remembers that GOP stands for "Grand Old Party," but increasingly, the elephant is standing alone.

At least that's the thinking at The Wall Street Journal, which has decided to stop using the acronym to refer to the 148-year-old political party.

In an internal memo issued to staffers last week, Journal higher-ups said the term GOP will be dropped because not all readers know what the letters mean, and some may not realize that they are a reference to the Republican Party.

That doesn't mean that the time-honored letters will disappear forever from the pages of the prestigious financial newspaper.

Reporters and editors will still be allowed to use the term in a quotation, if someone else says GOP. But an explanation of the acronym will be provided for any readers who might be stumped.

That's according to Wall Street Journal spokeswoman Brigitte Trafford.

Confusing the readers isn't the only issue underlying the newspaper's decision. The text of the memo announcing the new policy hints that some readers might feel the name "Grand Old Party" is less objective than it might be.

"Because the short form may seem baffling (or even spin-doctored) to some new readers, we want to avoid its use in articles and headlines," says the memo. "Beginning in December, use it only in the direct quotations and then be sure to explain what GOP means. Even among people who know that GOP refers to the Republican Party, many may not know that it stands for Grand Old Party."

As for being an old party, the Republicans trace their roots back to the mid-1850s, while the Democrats say their party's earliest ancestor was a congressional caucus founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1792, which went through several forms before 1844, when it adopted the name still used today.

The Republican Party, on its official web site, points out that Grand Old Party - while certainly the accepted meaning for GOP, for many years - is not the original meaning, or even the only one.

The Republican National Committee says the acronym dates back to 1875, at which time it meant "Gallant Old Party." And in the early days of the automobile, it gained another popular, although ultimately fleeting, translation: "Get Out and Push" - the treatment early cars often needed.

Stalwarts of both Republican and Democratic party campaigns would, of course, tell you that "Get Out and Push" is the proper attitude when it comes to motivating voters.

So there's no Republican monopoly on that strain of GOP.

As for the elephant, its status as party symbol appears to be safe.

It dates back to a cartoon by legendary political cartoonist Thomas Nast, who in an 1874 issue of Harper's Weekly, depicted the Democrats as a donkey trying to scare a Republican elephant.

Win or lose, both symbols have endured.

huh???
actually, I'm surprised how in-control things seem to be here. I had no problems today at all.