Strategically staged in the realm of the perpetual orange alert, the Republican National Convention was supposed to be the 9-11 convention—with the fallen twin towers as its invisible backdrop and a backbeat of subliminal terror threats as the theme song. There would be a select group of gallant 9-11 widows in the Madison Square Garden gallery, gaggles of Republican delegates in outsize fire-chief hats posing for souvenir snapshots alongside New York City's Bravest, Arnold Schwarzenegger... More >>>