Note: Shadow Convention websites:
http://www.drugpolicy.org/

http://www.shadowconventions.com/

GOP HEADS SHAKING OVER MCCAIN PLAN

Would Sen. John McCain be the keynote speaker of an alternative
political convention with a distinct far-left aroma that intends to
ridicule his Republican Party and is partially financed by the
archenemy of the war on drugs, billionaire global financier George
Soros? That is McCain's intent, even as other Republicans fall off
the list of speakers.

McCain is the star attraction July 30 opening the "shadow" convention
to be held in Philadelphia while the Republicans meet there beginning
July 31. That makes him the only speaker who will address both a major
party convention and one of the two alternative gatherings arranged by
political gadfly Arianna Huffington in Philadelphia and (shadowing the
Democrats) in Los Angeles. McCain will find himself sharing the podium
with such left-wing GOP-bashers as ice cream (Ben & Jerry's) maker Ben
Cohen and comedian Al Franken.

In the Senate Republican cloakroom and other redoubts of the party
establishment, McCain's decision has prompted comments that he is "out
of control." But nobody says it on the record, because the senator
from Arizona has become America's most popular politician. Indeed, if
George W. Bush wanted to assure victory over Al Gore, he would cajole
McCain into becoming his vice president. An important reason why he
won't is McCain's mindset in going to the Soros convention.

Not to worry, said McCain political aide John Weaver. "He will take a
decidedly pro-Bush and pro-Republican position," Weaver told me. Then
why attend a conclave that may look like the bar scene in Star Wars?
"He often accepts invitations that traditional Republicans don't,"
Weaver explained, "in order to advocate causes he believes in -- in
this case Gov. Bush's candidacy."

McCain's determination to keep his date, while Jack Kemp and
apparently Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut were breaking theirs,
particularly upsets Republican leaders because of the Soros
involvement. A master currency speculator who makes billions in one
transaction, the New York-based investor keeps a low public profile
but ardently presses a distinctive political agenda.

While Soros sometimes espouses conservative libertarian causes (such
as opposing federal police power to seize personal assets), he
increasingly presses a decidedly liberal agenda by advocating gun
controls, retention of the estate tax -- and, most assertively --
weaker drug laws ultimately leading to legalization of narcotics. That
is not where John McCain comes from.

Involved in planning the alternative convention is Soros' political
adviser Hamilton Fish V, leftist grandson of the legendary
conservative Republican antagonist of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rep.
Hamilton Fish III of New York. The current Fish sits on the board of
the Open Society Institute, or OSI, Soros' Washington front
organization.

OSI -- therefore, Soros -- is helping fund the alternative
conventions. The Lindesmith Center in New York had been OSI's drug
policy arm, lobbying for needle exchanges and medicinal marijuana on
the road to total legalization. On July 1, it split off and is playing
a direct role in the shadow convention, making sure the drug war comes
under attack.

Arianna Huffington, who not long ago was a conservative activist, has
been raising money for the alternative conventions and personally
getting on the telephone to dragoon speakers for the Philadelphia and
Los Angeles events (with L.A. including her choice for president,
actor Warren Beatty). Kemp said yes when she offered him a chance to
deliver an anti-poverty speech. But late last week he decided that the
1996 Republican vice-presidential nominee had no place at an event
addressed by Al Franken making fun of the party and organized by a
Soros aide who calls the GOP "hopeless" in comparison with Democrats.

Rep. Shays, a sincere moderate who is McCain's House counterpart in
crusading for campaign finance reform, also accepted but at this
writing was ready to pull out. That leaves New Mexico's peculiar Gov.
Gary Johnson, a drug legalizer, as the only other Republican on the
shadow schedule. Unlike McCain, he will also address the Los Angeles
alternative gathering. Unlike McCain, Johnson is not a showcased
speaker at the Republican convention.

McCain was first unaware of the Soros connection with the shadow
convention but decided to fulfill his commitment there even after he
found out. Republican leaders can only hold their tongues and shake
their heads.