DNC Convention Invesco Tour | CNN Grill | Pepsi Media Tent City

On the morning of July 31st 2008, I boarded a United Airlines morning flight to Denver to attend the final (?) media walkthrough before the Democratic National Convention, this one at Invesco Field.

Unlike my first media walkthrough trip, I ended up renting a Saturn SUV for ground travel. The reason was simple: it was cheap. Cheaper to rent than a Prius and because they were in low demand versus the economy cars. In a way it worked out to a savings of about $25. Invesco Field was only 20 minutes away from the airport, so it was a quick trip for me.

I arrived at Invesco at 11:20 and ran into a DNCC employee (who I will not name by request) and who walked me around the stadium (we ended up on the field at one point) and eventually into the main briefing meeting.

For security reasons I did not film the main meeting discussion, but focused more on the 'broadbrush" tour and interviews of key media people there. On the way to the main press box, I met "Oreo" who's one of the main contributors at DemConWatchBlog.com and talked about how the blog came to be and who the writers were. To my surprise, one of them was a person who had his own blog called "Mr. Superdelegate" for a time, and gave all of us political junkies fits trying to figure out who he was. It's become a great resource for DNC Convention news.

After talking with Oreo, and heading to the main field, I met Sara Burrett, who's a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News. Sara -- who I talked to while tripping all over myself on the Invesco Field sidewalk -- told me that she was a court reporter until this assignment and that her current focus was on the lawsuit the protest group Recreate68 and their leader Glen Spagnuolo, who's known for protesting the Columbus Day Holiday in Denver and for whom a split was caused between his group and other protest groups.

See, even Democratic PROTESTERS can't get along.

But I digress.

Sara also pointed out where Senator Obama will stand to give his acceptance speech, which is about on the 50-yard-line of the field used by The Denver Broncos.

That about ended that part of the tour. But Oreo and I decided to take a tour of our own making. He drove us over to the Pepsi Center area to see the media tent city in the making. Two construction reps let us in and we parked and walked the grounds. The media tents must be about 25,000 square feet in size each, and there were two made already, one for NBC News, the other we didn't know who was for, perhaps CNN.

Writing of CNN, we then walked over to the Brooklyn Grill for a quick lunch. Oreo informed me that the grill was to be transformed into the "CNN Grill" and almost on que, we saw a stencil being used to paint the CNN = Politics logo on the side of the building. They had just got started with this, and we were the first to record the action.

The one problem with the CNN plan is the restaurant workers know nothing about it. They don't know if they will be paid double-time or who will get to work the shifts, or anything and they're getting a little nervous about the whole deal.

Then, on the way out, Oreo, who lives in Denver, pointed to where the DNC Media Party was to be held over at an amusement park nearby.

In all, the Democratic Party is working overtime to make the DNC Convention work. The objective is open-ness. The main issue now is still scheduling. Contrary to reports, many of the speakers and speaking days have not been fully set. Speculation that Hillary Clinton will not be the VP choice because of the Tuesday "Women's Day" event is faulty at best.

On the way back to the airport, I turned in my rental car and then forgot my iPhone in it. Alamo Rent-A-Car got it back to me very quickly and for that I give thanks.

CNN's "Black In America" Does Not Represent Middle Class Blacks

CNN's Black in America is a welcome addition to TV, but it has a major problem to me in that it does not represent middle class African Americans.

Much of the telecast shows Blacks who are downtrodden, or have had something "done" to them by the "system." It's a one-sided view of Blacks that does not help in really understanding African Americans. Not every aspect of Black culture or the life of those of us who are is negative, and I feel that the general life of middle class Blacks was ignored.

New Yorker, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader Use Racism Against Obama

In this installment in my video series I discuss the New Yorker cartoon of Barack and Michelle Obama and how it compares to Jesse Jackson's "nuts" gaffe of last week (which I contend was not a gaffe and was a deliberate action), and Ralph Nader's most unfortunate statement that Senator Obama was "acting white."

I feature New Yorker Editor David Remick's explaination of the creation and use of the cartoon, and provide commentary.

I then explain that all three actions were examples of "jumping the shark" -- using race to get attention for their message, but doing nothing to improve the American condition in the process.

Agent Trick In Columbia Could Have Been Used To Get Saddam

I happened on this CNN website news headline reporting that the agents who rescued the Columbia hostages used "old-fashioned trickery" by pretending to be part of the FARC, then leading the band to safety, rather than where the hostages thought they were going, to meet international leaders.

That's fantastic. But my question is why could we not have done that in Iraq? I've long believed we didn't need to have a big military effort to do this; that we could send people to embed into the culture and work their way in.

In my view, the effort of the Columbian rescuers gives yet another reason why we should not have invaded Iraq, let alone started the Iraq War we're still in.

CNN LYING ABOUT OBAMA AND IRAQ FOR RATINGS

Say, CNN's lying about Senator Obama and his intention to get us out of Iraq just for ratings. It's on now. It' s also as if they can't find real news, so they have to make it up.

The CNN point is that because violence is reduced, the troop surge is working. I take the reverse view: a reduction in violence is a good reason to bring the troops home.

It's fair to ask CNN if they want more Americans killed in Iraq. That seems to be the case.

Barack Obama's Giving A Great Speech On Patriotism Now

Senator Barack Obama's on CNN now this morning, giving a great and stemwinding speech on the meaning of Patriotism from Independence, Missouri, which includes this line: "Mark Twain said that Patriotism was being proud of your country all the time and your government, when it deserves it."

My feelings, exactly. I think Republicans and fans of the current war and American aggression at home and abroad forget that. I don't have to support my government's decisions because it's part of America. I can question what my government does and still be a patriot. In fact, that's the real ideal of America.

"True Patriotism," Obama said, "can not be forced or legislated."

CNN's Paul Begala - Republican Or Democrat?

I just saw CNN Contributor and former Clinton Aide Paul Begala on "The Situation Room" talking "in defense" of Barack Obama on Campaign Finance and on NAFTA against a Republican Strategist who I will not name because it doesn't matter.

Begala sounded like he was half in support of Obama and half sympathetic to John McCain. Meanwhile the Republican Strategist was consistently on the attack against Obama. Paul did not effectively hit back. What's up?

Is Paul still smarting from Clinton's loss?

CNN Trying To Fix Democratic Election For Clinton; Obama Ahead in Popular Vote

I'm watching CNN's telecast of the Puerto Rico vote and they're -- Wolf Blitzer's -- trying to fix the election for Senator Clinton. The reality is that we count all votes of the 48 state and we have two that broke the rules. Plus, you can't just "give" votes cast in Florida and Michigan because the election was tainted. The DNC Rules Commitee established that.

Thus, the real popular vote tally is this:

Obama - 17,601,742 48.3% Clinton - 17,325,334 47.6%

Obama +276,408 +0.7%

That shows Obama ahead and it includes all of the caucus states, including Washington. The bottom line is that you can't just exclude states that have had fair elections and played by DNC rules -- that's 48 states.

CNN's trying to fix the news and public opinion by presenting what are in fact false scenarios. Frankly, I think the FCC should investigate CNN's actions, and those of the other networks as well.

Oh, and Terry McAuliffe is real wrong because to be frank, the four delegates were not -- not Senator Clinton's to begin with. Terry, the Michigan election was against DNC Rules, how many times do you need to be reminded of that? She did not win those delegates "fair and square."

CNN's Jessica Yellin Blames ABC News Execs For "Fixing" President Bush Coverage

One major casualty of the release of the book by former White House Press Secretary Scott McCllellan was the White House Press Corp and ABC News (so far).

CNN's Jessica Yellin, who was employed by CNN during the initial years of the Iraq War, dropped a bomb of her own on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, when she revealed that her news was "fixed" -- my term -- by ABC News execs, who killed negative Bush stories and generally made her feel pressured to make positive stories about President Bush while his approval ratings were high.

Yellin says so in this video:



Charlie Gibson, the host of Good Morning America, essentially but unknowingly confirmed Yellin when he said this:

I think the questions were asked. I respectfully disagree with the gentle lady from the Columbia Broadcasting System [group giggles]. I think the questions were asked. . . . I can remember getting in trouble with administration officials for asking questions they didn't feel comfortable with.
It was just a drumbeat of support from the administration. And it is not our job to debate them; it's our job to ask the questions.

This bit of a revelation is damaging to the overall credibility of the mainstream media and calls into question the state of American Media. It may very well be that we've been the victims of fixed news coverage all along and are entering a new era of telling the actual story via new media. But for the present I think Yellin's revelations are stunning and I'm not sure what the fallout will be, but I do think the FCC should look into this ASAP. It seems Noam Chomsky was right after all.

CNN Paints "Blue Collar Whites" As Racist, So Why Did They Vote For Obama?

I've got CNN on in the background and it's funny how they seem to paint people into categories. For example, CNN's "The Situation Room" had a segment which claimed that "Blue Collar Whites" like Hillary Clinton but will not get behind Barack Obama.

That's silly as hell. How did he win 30 states without the support of Blue Collar Whites? And I wonder if this will cause a Blue Collar White backlash? And so Blue Collar Whites know they're Blue Collar Whites?

Geez, this is sick stuff.

CNN's John King Uses Journalism To Express Racial Opinion

CNN's John King is a normally steady hand at reporting, but this night he took a wrong turn into a discussion for which he could not be objective, but uses the cover of reporting objectivity to make an emotional and disagreeable point.

He did this in the AC/360 Blog post he wrote, and I've linked to here.

This is the response I wrote there:

I think the main problem is that the "process" of hearing what Rev. Wright says has been so distorted that some people -- not all -- tune out what he's saying after the original sound-bites have been aired.

I think both John King and Merle Black are very guilty of this "myopic hearing" if you will. John, for actively seeking out someone who's Black to do John's talking for him, and Mr. Black, who's the willing participant in that process. This covers up the real need to hear not just what Rev. Wright has said, but who also said it.

Let's take 9-11: anyone who looks at our history without blinders knows that Somalia was the birthplace of hostilities that led to the World Trade Center attack. It was also a "white" (whatever that really means) Ambassador who said that America's chickens came home to roost.

Rev. Wright said that the ambassador made that statement -- but that fact has been ignored by people like John King, who could be accused of fanning the flame of racism for the sake of ratings and using someone African American to make a statement King himself personally believes. That's not CNN's roll. Not at all.

And John King should be more of a professional journalist, and not a pr rabble rouser. He -- and CNN -- can do better.

Carville SLAMS Same NY Times Editorial Board Which Endorsed Clinton

Clinton supporter and CNN commentator James Carville is known for saying what's on his mind, regardless of the results. Recently he called New Mexico Governor and former presidential candidate Bill Richardson "Judas" for endorsing Barack Obama. But in this exchange with the same Governor Richardson this week on "Larry King Live", Carville stuck his foot in his mouth big time, when he said that the NY Times Editorial Board -- the same one that endorsed Senator Clinton for president -- didn't know politics.

Richardson didn't see the opening to call Carville on it, but I did. That was wreckless and certainly shows to what degree the Clinton supporters will go in expressing their anger for any perceived slight. So much so that people and groups once seen as allies are quickly painted as enemies whenever it suits them. If Carville's the poster child for Clinton negativity, he's also the picture of a page in the clipbook of Clinton's failed campaign strategy.

Zennie's Question For Senator Clinton and Larry King

I made this question because Senator Hillary Clinton's supposed to appear on the Larry King Show this evening and with no Barack Obama in sight. I am concerned that Larry will ask her softball questions, so I'm asking about her scheduled testimony as a witness in the upcoming Paul v. Clinton trial and if Larry can tell all of us that he is or is not a Clinton backer and if not, how does he explain the video going around that has him as attending one of her lunch events when she was running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the Late Pat Mohinhan?

CNN Ads "Upskirt" To Gerri Willis, Morning News; Real Short Skirt On

Remember how I've been writing that CNN would get higher ratings for its "day" programs if it had Campbell Brown wear short skirts and show legs as she did on NBC? Well, someone at CNN's reading my blog, because as of today, CNN has anchor Gerri Willis sitting in a high chair and sporting a real short skirt. Then CNN's producers make totally sure you see it. Day upskirt action for ratings.

What does this say about CNN? Well, it shows that CNN's as ratings aware as I believed, and have decided to turn away from the journalistic strategy it has known for decades and mix in sex. Gerri's blonde and looks for all the World like a Fox News star.

Also, CNN's pushing Senator Clinton -- which I think is unethical as they should tell viewers of their bias rather than show it -- and it seems trying to appeal to a "Whiter" audience, which I think is a total error. The problem is that Gerri sounds a little, well, less than smart which impacts credibility. That's not a good thing.

I'm not writing that she's not smart because I think there are different ways to be intelligent, but it's as if someone told her "project a smiling, sexy, bubby look" and she's doing that.

Uh, you mean like Fox?

Yep.

Gov Bill Richardson v. James Carville A Warning To Superdelegates

Gov. Bill Richardson v. James Carville A Warning To Superdelegates

In a timely op-ed in the Monday Washington Post, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson reveals that is call to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to report that he'd endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President was "heated" but did not give more details.

Richardson was writing to report his displeasure with the "personal" attacks Clinton supporter and CNN Commentator James Carville has exacted on him after Richardson endorsed Obama.

In words he did not back away from, Carville compared Richardson to Judas for the act of backing Obama. But in his op-ed, Richardson hit a home-run of a point: neither the Clintons nor their backers and supporters leveled such attacks on Richardson when he opposed Sen. Clinton in the Presidential campaign race.

In all, in my view, this episode has revealed the worst aspects of the Clinton campaign. While Carville says it's personal because of the jobs Richardson had done for President Clinton, the simple fact is that there are a number of elected officials who owe some "debt" to the Clintons. I don't know who has "paid their debt" but it's got to give any Superdelegate in that position pause to see how Richardson was treated by the Clinton Campaign.

This could cause more undeclared Superdelegates to go for Obama over the next few weeks.

Stay tuned.

Will Hillary's Bosnia Lie Be Reported By The Media?

Last year in July, I was on CNN's "Roland Martin Debates" and said that YouTube's greatest contribution to politics was that a candidate had to be authentic. That the person had to make statements that were consistent.

I then used the example of presidential candidate, Senator Hillary Clinton, who attacked he rival Senator Barack Obama for stating that he would talk to and meet with our enemies, when just a few months earlier, Senator Clinton herself said she would do the same thing and the evidence of this is captured on YouTube.

Well, it seems that Senator Clinton learned nothing at all from my statements or the fact that YouTube itself exists as a powerful force for recording what people do and say now, and in our history. Senator Clinton's just made a huge error in judgement that could and should be the final flip-flop that damages her campaign.

In a speech held just one day after Senator Obama's historic "A More Perfect Union" presentation, Senator Clinton clamed that she landed in Tulza, Bosnia under "sniper fire," adding: "There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base." Clinton said.



But this YouTube video shows just the opposite: We see first that several newspapers have identified Senator Clinton's lie in what happened. Senator Clinton says in the video that they landed under heavy sniper fire and that there was no ceremony. The video then presents footage showing just the opposite, with Clinton walking with her daughter Chelsea and with a large group of people and being greeted by Bosnian heads of state.

The video says that the movie was created by Clinton campaign strategist Mark Penn. The question is will the mainstream media pick up the story.

The answer on the newspaper level is "yes". The Washington Post presented this story on Sunday March 22, entitled "Sniper Fire and Holes In Clinton's Recollection" and reports that "Far from running to an airport building with their heads down, Clinton and her party were greeted on the tarmac by smiling U.S. and Bosnian officials. An 8-year-old Muslim girl, Emina Bicakcic, read a poem in English. An Associated Press photograph of the greeting ceremony, below, shows a smiling Clinton bending down to receive a kiss."

Sinbad First Points To Clinton Lie The great comedian Sinbad was the first one to report that Senator Clinton was lying months ago, when he said "I think the only 'red phone' moment was 'Do we eat here or at the next place?' "

The Washington Post ends the story by giving Senator Clinton "Four Pinocchios."

I've not as of this writing seen this story reported on CNN or Fox or MSNBC, but what's clear to me this year is that the television news system in America is in shambles and has been taken over by entertainers who are influnced by advertisers and PR hacks.

There's no news anymore.

There are just attempts at influencing American public opinion for the purpose of helping some institution advance in power. The only check and balance system that exists is the online news media.

CNN's still presenting the Rev. Wright sound bites again and again. There's nothing -- and has not been to date -- about this news. And this news is about the person running for President and not someone who never thought of running for president and retired from preaching in the church.

It has to be asked why doesn't CNN or Fox explain who it backs for President, just as newspapers do? At least Americans would know and be able to make an informed choice about where they get their news.

Right now, it's a circus out there and there's no reason to consider television news to be a credible source on matters of business and politics. The only service they seem to "get right" is in the reporting of disasters, where having an "on the scene" person and camera gives those of us who are not there vital information about what's happening.

This was certainly true during 9-11. But disasters happen once in a while; business and politics is an everyday thing.

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No Florida Revote - CNN's Wolf Blitzer Insults Florida As Not Having Act Together

This is being explained as "breaking news" as I watch CNN's "The Situation Room". The Florida government and legislature has given up on the idea of having a revote. So the matter of any possible Clinton delegate gain from a Florida revote is officially gone from the Florida perspective.

The Chair of the Democratic Party in Florida said that even if the DNC paid for the revote, it could not be done. Wolf Blitzer just insulted Florida by stating they could not get their act together! The Florida Democratic Party said that it's up to the Obama and Clinton campaigns to settle the matter.

He's said it again, stating that he hopes Michigan can get it's act together.

Kellyanne Conway's Racism Shows Again - This Time On Larry King

Republican Pollster Kellyanne Conway's a person who just can't watch her mouth, and what comes out of it is not good at all. On November 24th of 2007, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann taggged her "The Worst Person In The World" for this comment:

"'It is,' she says, 'one day going to blossom into two air traffic controllers who don't speak great English because political correctness has made us appoint them to those positions. We're going to have two planes crashing in the sky. And that's not a dramatic example. That's what happens with slippery slopes.'"

Let me chime in here and explain how stupid that is. Not every air traffic controller in the World speaks perfect English, and in some cases they don't speak much at all, yet there's not been a major air accident tied to a language difference. I guess Conway didn't know that. Keith was right to tag her, but what she said on Larry King's show Friday March 7th 2007 at night makes her a far worst person in the World.

This is what she said:

KING: Kellyanne, you think he (Senator McCain) is enjoying this Obama-Clinton fight?

CONWAY: He ought to be. I have to slightly disagree. I don't know that he showed his temper. It's not like he hauled off and let her have it, or called her a monster or a liar like the other two are doing. But she really didn't have a follow-up question, Larry. He sort of politely gave her an opening to change the subject and she was tongue-tied in doing so.

John McCain is in New Orleans tonight addressing the Council on National Policy. It's been reported these are just the cream of the crop conservatives. This is what he's doing behind the scenes now while Hillary and Obama argue about whether she should let him sit on the back of the bus of her presidential ticket, or he argues whether or not she lied us into war in 2002.

So there he is doing something out of the headlines. For all the arguments that John McCain's not a part of the headline and the byline and the story line now, he's going to suffer. Hey, if the headlines are who is a monster, McCain's better off being in New Orleans, addressing these top of the line conservatives.

SIMMONS: Larry, we have to address that. We have to address that. This back of the bus comment is beyond the pale. I think Senator Clinton, whatever our disagreements are between the two candidates, Senator Clinton has never done or said anything that would imply that she would rather have Barack Obama sitting in the back of her campaign bus.

CONWAY: No, as V.P. You aren't paying attention.

SIMMONS: No, you are not speaking clearly, because that's out of line.

CONWAY: No, she doesn't want him to be the first black president. She wants him to be her V.P. She said that this week. She would consider putting him on her ticket, but I guess he wouldn't consider putting her on his ticket, would he?

KING: Did you use the term back of the bus?

CONWAY: I did. I just said --

KING: Meaning? CONWAY: Meaning that she wants -- she has said she would have Barack Obama as her V.P. Thereby she is denying something that many Republicans are not denying, that Barack Obama has a very strong chance of becoming this country's first black president, that someone like me respects.

That's called "foot in the mouth disease" and it's no wonder Conway was not seen after this segment. I can see the show producers smacking their heads and saying "What the....Get her outta here!"

And they did.

One online publication will cry that this is an example of political correctness run amok. But I will assert that any such argument is an example of the blind acceptance of racism.

One has to ask of all the possible statements Conway could have made, why in living hell did she have to use that one? Moreover, she doesn't even realize how incendiary her statement was. She just kept talking on and sticking her foot way down her mouth.

Good for Larry King to catch her statement however. Bravo.

Barack Obama Wins Wyoming Caucus

CNN's Jessica Yelin announced that Senator Barack Obama won the Wyoming Caucus. I'm watching now and he has 58 percent versus 41 percent for Clinton. There are 18 delegates at stake.

Campbell Brown's Legs: CNN Ratings Cure - Campbel Brown Should Wear Short Skirts

As it stands, CNN's getting clobbered by Fox News in the ratings, except for when CNN has debates and it's Super Tuesday coverage, but other than that, it's Fox all the way. Now, I personally don't like CNN's biased reporting, covered by the "idea" that they're the best political reporting team and all that crap, but if Dave Bohrman and the rest of the CNN producers get their act together they're on to something.

I think a good place to start is with Campbell Brown.

I mean have you seen her legs? And after she had her little one she's looking better than ever. Look, everyone knows CNN's biased and that's been quite obvious during this election with their constant pushing of Senator Clinton, who's not going to beat Senator Obama for the Democratic Primary. Why not just take off the venir of being unbiased and let it all hang out like Fox does.

Have fun. And while the fun's going, show Campbell Brown at her female best.

Look. NBC had no problem showing Campbell's legs as you can see here. And she didn't seem to have much of a problem with it either. Plus, if they bump up her pay and make her more of a focus, the ratings will skyrocket!