RNC ’08

Per the NYT:

Mr. McCain’s aides disclosed the news at the same time as Hurricane Gustav struck land in what they said was an orchestrated attempt to minimize attention to it.

Mr. McCain’s campaign, which has shown itself adept at handling the news media, tried to influence coverage of the disclosure by releasing it as Hurricane Gustav was slamming into the Gulf Coast. (The Palin news was not mentioned on the “CBS Evening News” until 15 minutes into the newscast). It was also by every appearance tucked into a series of problematic tidbits released about Ms. Palin’s past, including news that her husband, Todd, was arrested for driving while impaired in 1986.

So, by this point you know that FBNY is here in St. Paul-Minneapolis for the RNC along with FishbowlDC, and TVNewser. But that is not the limit of familiar faces! Here’s a short round-up of people who we seem to be spending a lot of time with, be it at the buffet, the CNN Grill, Sammy Hagar concerts, or extended walks around the ever-shifting Xcel barricade.

Peggy Noonan sharing with us her longform notes for this week’s column (she also emails herself ideas so as not to be overcome by the “stage fright” of writing a column. Have we mentioned how much we like Peggy Noonan?).

Rachel Sklar explains Twitter to Peggy Noonan.

Rachel Sklar explains Twitter to Tucker Carlson.

The HuffPo brunch today was easily the best panel we’ve attended in the last two weeks. It was a decidedly smaller affair than the one last week in Denver, at least as far as the audience size is concerned (guesstimating 100 people to the more than three hundred at the DNC). It again featured a large panel (Tony Blankley, Arianna Huffington, Laura Ingraham, David Kralik, Cyrus Krohn, Frank Luntz, Peggy Noonan, Rep. John Shadegg), and moderators Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinsk did an excellent job of keeping up the pace. We’d do a comprehensive write-up for you, but one of the beauties of Twitter is that it’s already been done for us! Between FishbowlDC, Ana Marie Cox, and Rachel Sklar you’ll feel as though you were actually there. We do think it bears mentioning that thus far familiar “right wing” media faces are far more engaging and inclusive than we might have suspected (Laura Ingraham and Bill Kristol we’re looking at you). Some pics after the jump.

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Just last night FBNY was chatting with the Atlantic‘s Josh Green about how this year’s election story, particularly in the last week or so with the introduction of Sarah Palin, and the timing of Gustav, continues to feel like a storyline not even Aaron Sorkin could get away with. Green said, it couldn’t get any weirder. We said, just wait. And now this: