Columns, pieces and posts
I keep running into wonderful young people working their first convention, and they keep not asking me, “What is the secret to all politics?” I am here to tell them anyway. There is a secret theme song to all conventions, and it is in fact the secret theme song of all politics. You listen to the old […]
Mike Huckabee’s speech is the best of the convention so far. What a fabulous, old fashioned podium-thumper. He has been the only speaker tonight with the size to fill the room, the only one who can read a teleprompter without looking shifty-eyed, the only one with the confidence to go there at length on the meaning of such issues […]
People are talking about how subdued the floor is. Normally Republicans in convention are whomp-’em, stomp-em full of cheers. They interrupt the speakers too much! But last night Chris Christie said a few lines that you knew he knew would garner big applause, and he got what a young speechwriter this morning called “crickets.” It happened […]
A read on the first night of the convention: They lit the candle. They got past the ill luck of the storm and declared there’s a convention going on. Ann Romney was stunning, sweet, full of enthusiasm, a little shy, a little game for the battle. Her speech was fine. I think the headline was […]
From a Chris Christie aide: The governor’s speech will be “positive” in tone, “Republicans and Democrats working together.” He’ll speak briefly about where he comes from, who he is, what his parents taught him. He will make the case that the American people hunger for honesty, that they want candor from their political leaders, that […]
The vibe of this convention has been weird. There has been a constant sense of something impending, some doom about to be delivered. What everyone is hungry for, hopeful for, will be so grateful for, is: a sparkling opening at 8 p.m. that will chase the clouds away. A great Christie speech, a line, a […]
A guy who’s speaking at the convention told me he has been talking to “the professionals.” They told him to speak to the person in the living room, then they told him to speak to the people in the hall. They told him to speak to businessmen, and then they told him no, speak to […]
A U.S. senator from the West talking about Paul Ryan: “I think Romney was challenging himself.” Romney knew he had to become a better candidate, knew he needed someone who played a higher policy game, knew he needed someone who prompted him. “It was a self-challenge. And that was smart.”
On the floor of the convention, I was introduced to a guy who’ll be speaking later this week. He isn’t in politics, he has never spoken to a convention, and what he is afraid of is this: He’ll be up there trying to speak, and the crowd will be bopping a big beach ball back […]
Ground Zero, the floor of the convention, Monday afternoon, 3 p.m. A thousand people mill about and interview each other. Local TV crews interviewing delegates, network stars doing standups in bright lights. Camera flashes. Politicians standing at the podium to see where the prompters have been placed. Scanning the room from left to right: Diane […]