Party Politics
So its the topic on everyone’s lips here in Denver. Every person you run into, its the first question they ask. Your answer determines your place in the social hierarchy…you answer incorrectly and believe me, your stock is tanking faster than Countrywide.
Its not what state you’re from, its not who you’re voting for. No, it’s far more important than that folks – it’s "what parties are you going to?"
Yes, I thought I would wade into this convention scene slowly. I thought you should hear about the big thinking going on, the beauty of the city, the greatness of our future (fingers crossed) first lady. So now, I can tell you the truth. It’s not about the politics, it’s about the party. And I don’t mean Democrat or Republican…I mean GQ, Rock the Vote, Recording Industry of America (RIAA -THE hot ticket), Sex, Cocktails, and Politics (Planned Parenthood smartly branding themselves), Politico, and Gavin Newsom.
Michelle Obama is my hero and other musings from Denver
Michelle Obama made me cry – and pretty much everyone else around me. There wasn’t a dry eye when she was done speaking and the strains of Stevie Wonder’s "Isn’t She Lovely" began to waft through the Pepsi Center. Yes she is!
It made the rest of the night worthwhile. The security lines getting into the center were outrageous. The security perimeter is more than a quarter mile away from the security check in area. Once you get to the lines, they then herd you through what must in their everday lives be cattle gates, to finally get you to the metal detectors. That process took about a half an hour, with all of humanity waiting to enter together. Fortunately it served as a great way to meet up with friends, elected officials, and colleagues.
From there we were fortunate enough to have access to seats. Watching from the nosebleeds we were a bit confused by the "regular" people they kept trotting out to speak. It didn’t resonate well with the crowds and the night definitely felt flat.
Day 1 at the DNC: Winds of Change
[[ Please welcome Lisa Gritzner to the Fox&Hounds blog. Lisa is a consultant with a background in state and local government affairs, and she will be reporting for us this week from Denver as our correspondant at the Democratic National Convention. -Joel ]]
Greetings from the mile high city. I’ll be here in Denver sharing my thoughts on the convention, the issues, the city and whatever else I come up with along the way. I hope you will enjoy my maiden voyage into the blogosphere.
My first day in Denver has been a political junkie’s dream. I started Sunday like many Americans – with Tom Brokaw, Bob Schieffer, George Stephanopolous – except I wasn’t watching the morning political shows. I was a guest at a brunch hosted by the Shorenstein Center of Press, Politics and Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard moderated by Judy Woodruff. It was a fascinating look at the role of media in the ’08 election.
It was amazing to be in the room – the audience members – Arianna Huffington, Gwen Iffle, and bloggers like Mickey Kaus – were just as interesting as the panel. But, I gotta be honest, the conversation was a bit underwhelming. Most notably, NOT ONE panelist talked about Joe Biden or their thoughts on his selection as VP and, even more disconcerting, was Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendel’s (a guest speaker) seeming inability to get beyond the "Hillary issue" as I fear I may be calling it this week.