Given that the Republican Party intended to exploit 9/11 to reelect Bush in 2004, it made perverse sense for them to hold their national convention as close to September 11 as they could, and in New York City at that. No convention had ever been held so late—from their beginnings in the 19th century, the conventions were generally held in July or August. In 2004, the Repug convention was held the week before Labor Day, August 30 through September 2; this year, even though the convention is being held in Minneapolis/St. Paul with no 9/11 victims’ graves in the neighborhood to dance on, it will convene in September again, starting on Labor Day, September 1.

The broadcast networks hardly cover the conventions anymore, except for the acceptance speeches. This year, John McCain will give his acceptance speech on Thursday night, September 4—and run smack into the National Football League’s now-traditional Thursday night season opener. Today, the NFL announced it would move the game up to 7:00 Eastern instead of the usual 8:30, so as not to require NBC to choose between the game and the speech. In 2004, ABC apparently asked the NFL to move the kickoff of a preseason game to accommodate Democratic convention coverage, so there’s a precedent for this. And it’s a rather heartwarming throwback, really, to the sort of old-style civic-minded journalistic ideals that have been dead for a generation, considering that an acceptance speech is a ceremonial event rather than something that generates actual news. And considering also that not a single living soul watching the game will worry that it might not be over in time to see McCain.

The cynic in me wonders if the NFL and NBC would have done the same for Obama or Hillary.