Dana Perino has been to many political contentions in her life, but her trip to Tampa this week was a first: her inaugural convention as a member of the press. Perino, who signed on as co-host of Fox News Channel’s “The Five” after two years as George W. Bush‘s press secretary, talks about the experience with GQ:

She loves doing the show, she said repeatedly, perched at a café table in the museum where Fox has set up camp. But returning to the biggest party in Republican politics has been anticlimactic.

“If you’re gonna keep up with politics,” she said, sipping at a small bottle of water, “you’re doing it all day long every day anyway. So by the time you get to Thursday night, it’s gonna take a lot to wow you.”