Pundit Watch

Wife to husband: 'I want to make out with Keith Olbermann'

By Joe Tone
Aug 28, 2008

The 16th Street Mall today was the same mess it’s been for a week: ugly T-shirts, people selling ugly T-shirts, and bewildered delegates and staffers haggling over a final-day discount on said ugly T-shirts. I dropped in to see my buddy Biker Jim at Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs in Skyline...
At the DNC: Spike Lee just wants to eat his hot dog

By Joe Tone
Aug 28, 2008

Spike Lee, with relish. In the few minutes before Bill Clinton spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, I was inching along the perimeter of the floor in the same type of delegate scrum I'd experienced the night before when the Pepsi Center started vomiting celebrities. Suddenly, I...
The bloggers lounge at the DNC

By Joe Tone
Aug 28, 2008

Bloggers of the world, unite. The so-called "bloggers lounge" at the Pepsi Center during the Democratic National Convention, which I got a chance to eyeball on Wednesday, was a small room accessible through a door in the press room. The space was small, poorly lit, and had an ugly couch...
The DNC Press Room

By Joe Tone
Aug 28, 2008

"Type faster, damn you." The Democratic National Convention press room was located deep in the guts of the Pepsi Center, and when I stopped by on Wednesday afternoon, nearly every seat was occupied -- and no one seemed to be having the slightest fun. It reminded me of the scene...
David Gregory at the DNC: at last, you're mine

By Joe Tone
Aug 28, 2008

NBC's David Gregory. During the Democratic National Convention, the back corridors of the Pepsi Center didn't only serve as a staging area for carefully planned "spontaneous" demonstrations. They also led to green rooms and dressing rooms for assorted media organizations -- and lucky thing. Over the past two days, I...
CNN at the DNC: delicious!

By Joe Tone
Aug 28, 2008

Belly up to the bar. After getting through the security line outside the Pepsi Center on Wednesday afternoon with much more ease than had been the case the day before, I decided to try out the pass I'd obtained for the CNN Grill, located in the Brooklyn's restaurant space. At...
Wanted: DNC Credentials

By Joe Tone
Aug 28, 2008

Please give generously. Seen on Market Street en route to the Democratic National Convention festivities at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday. Hope everything worked out for this guy -- because clearly, the people of the Big Easy have suffered enough. -- Michael Roberts...
MSNBC versus the blue elephant at the DNC

By Joe Tone
Aug 28, 2008

As you can see, the elephant is topless. Amid MSNBC's coverage of the Wednesday roll call of votes at the Democratic National Convention, a truck affiliated with a conservative organization -- I didn't catch the name -- rolled up to the curb opposite the net's headquarters to deliver the message,...
MSNBC's Pat Buchanan in time out at the DNC

By Joe Tone
Aug 28, 2008

That's Pat Buchanan on the lower level of MSNBC's Election Express. I arrived at MSNBC's Democratic National Convention headquarters about midway through the roll call of votes that finally resulted in the formal nomination of Barack Obama as the Dems' presidential standard-bearer. Speakers amplified the voices of co-hosts Chris Matthews...
Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams has Denver by the balls

By Joe Tone
Aug 27, 2008

Cindy Adams. The Democratic National Convention in Denver. Denver's a cow town. Doesn't mean what we're going to see here is the milk of human kindness. Means like what's coming is a large load of bull. Having covered these rah-rah sis-boom-bah hoo-has since Lincoln's day, I tell you Denver's a...
Media: "This is boring!"

By Joe Tone
Aug 27, 2008

That blur in the middle of the screen is Katie Couric. As those of us in the (barely) moving mosh pit inched our way around the Pepsi Center on Tuesday night, we passed by broadcast platforms populated by network heavyweights. My photos of the CNN crew -- Wolf Blitzer included...
DNC press row

By Joe Tone
Aug 27, 2008

The press minions tapping away. Once I finally made it into the Pepsi Center on Tuesday evening, I was directed toward section 106 -- press row. The area has a couple of significant advantages over other spots in the arena. For one thing, it has power -- the electrical kind,...
The Daily Show's John Oliver on the downside of equality

By Joe Tone
Aug 27, 2008

"When we pose, pretend like you're my best friend." In the midst of the ridiculous line to the Pepsi Center on Tuesday night, I found myself standing alongside none other than British-born comedian John Oliver, a correspondent for The Daily Show With Jon Stewart who I'd just enjoyed at the...
Inside the first Denver taping of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

By Joe Tone
Aug 27, 2008

Jon Stewart. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart is taping shows at the University of Denver's Newman Center Tuesday through Friday during DNC week, and after trying and failing to snag tickets through the show's website (admittedly, I started late), I figured I'd be watching it on TV like the...
Breaching the CNN barrier

By Joe Tone
Aug 27, 2008

The once and former Brooklyn's, CNN's temporary home. Wanted to check out CNN's Democratic National Convention headquarters -- Brooklyn's, a restaurant near the Pepsi Center in an area referred to by the security staff as "the perimeter." So I ambled up to a secuirty guard at one entrance and asked...
Big fences make cranky talk-show hosts

By Joe Tone
Aug 27, 2008

All fenced in. On Monday morning, when Peter Boyles started broadcasting live from Civic Center Park, the park was wide open to all visitors. On Tuesday morning, same thing. But when he arrived at 3:30 a.m. this morning, the park was suddenly surrounded by temporary fencing. He had to open...
Frustrated by Fox

By Joe Tone
Aug 27, 2008

At least the outside looks nice. After my success at getting into CNN's outside-the-Pepsi Center base of operations, I moved a hundred yards or so down the perimeter to Braun's Bar & Grill, which Fox News has taken over for the run of the Democratic National Convention. Unlike with CNN,...
Channel 4 leading the charge on Obama assassination threat story

By Joe Tone
Aug 26, 2008

Tharin Gartrell. In the 8 p.m. half hour on Monday, shortly before Michelle Obama took the stage at the Pepsi Center for the climactic speech of the Democratic National Convention's first day, Channel 4 ran an onscreen crawl about arrests in a possible assassination plot. And during its 10 p.m...
Fox News: trust issues

By Joe Tone
Aug 26, 2008

The forbidden entrance -- from the other side. Walking down to the Pepsi Center, I came upon an open gate leading to Braun's, the restaurant that's been taken over by Fox News for the run of the Democratic National Convention. A reporter, accompanied by a staffer, was passing through it...
Why is the DNC dissing Al Franken?

By Joe Tone
Aug 21, 2008

Al Franken. Recently announced Democratic National Convention speakers such as Jimmy Carter, Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy share at least one characteristic in common: They're not very funny. Meanwhile, someone who has coaxed a laugh or two in his day, and who's planning to be in Denver for the DNC...

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