Cutting Out the Convention Hall

The latest from the Political Grapevine:

What Say You, New Yorkers?

A lot of people may admire the way President Bush responded to 9/11. But a new poll taken before the convention shows that half of New York City residents believe top U.S. leaders knew in advance about the attacks and consciously failed to act. What's more, the Zogby poll shows that nearly a third of New York Republicans say that.

The poll also shows that a majority of New Yorkers believe U.S. leaders deliberately misled Americans before the war in Iraq. This after a poll out yesterday by the New York Sun showed 59 percent of Sunday's convention protesters were New Yorkers, and a majority of them believe America is a negative force in the world.

Cutting Out the Convention Hall

One day after Michael Moore (search ), covering the Republican Convention as a columnist for USA Today, was called a, "disingenuous filmmaker" and drew roaring jeers from inside Madison Square Garden, he has decided not to go back inside the convention hall.

Moore has informed USA Today editors of his decision. One editor, quoted by Editor & Publisher magazine, says, "We had hoped ... Moore [would be] in a place where he could actually listen to speeches and not disrupt anything.

The idea was not to put him in the line of sight ... He saw the downside of his attending." So Moore will now be writing his daily columns on the convention from outside the convention.

Hey, Where's the Heinz?

Convention-goers staying at the Double Tree in Times square may be wondering during meals where the ketchup went. It turns out hotel management worried Republican delegates might be offended by it, since the hotel uses only one ketchup variety: Heinz -- as in Teresa Heinz Kerry.

And the hotel didn't want that to cause a problem with Republicans. But if diners ask for ketchup, they will get it, in a small cup, no label.

Free Them … Considering "French Attitude"?

A European Muslim group, sympathetic to terrorist causes, is demanding insurgents in Iraq still holding two French journalists hostage "immediately" let them go "in the name of Islam," citing, "the French attitude to the war in Iraq."

In a letter posted on an Islamic Web site, the Brigade of the Martyr Omar Muqtar Group says, "We appreciate your demands, but if you don't release the French detainees all the world will be turned against Islam and Muslims everywhere, especially in France [whose] ... people support the Muslims in Iraq and Palestine. ... Prove to the entire world our religion is a religion of forgiveness and love. ... [However] We do support your continued jihad until victory comes against the enemies of God."

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report