johnpwise's Blog

Many of you might have spent Thursday night watching John McCain formally accept his nomination for GOP presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

As it was happening, I was sitting on a bridge, waiting to be handcuffed, arrested, transported and fingerprinted, then booked on a charge of unlawful assembly.

I was one of about 20 journalists among the 300 or so who were ordered by police to disperse from a protest area and head toward what is known as the Marion Street Bridge. Once we got there, we realized we'd been trapped. After being herded like cattle onto the bridge, we realized there were officers sealing off both ends of it, but it was too late.



"If you are on the bridge right now, you are under arrest," the authoritative voice on the bullhorn said. "Sit down, put your hands on your heads, and shut your mouths."

We heard this announcement or a variation of it several times.

What I'm now trying to convince my bosses of is that I was covering the protest with my cameras. Just kidding; it actually hasn't taken any convincing. Not only do my superiors know I was doing my job, but they were incredibly supportive and took immediate action, and now I have an attorney's business card to prove it!

What my cameras captured all week were pictures of the protests in several areas of St. Paul. And Thursday night's event wasn't necessarily violent in terms of physical confrontations, but it made national headlines nonetheless.

I've read no news reports since Thursday of police being harmed or threatened by protesters. So a casual news observer might think the officers reacted with the smoke bombs and percussion bombs because the marchers' protest permit had expired, which it did a few hours earlier.

What I saw was just another peaceful protest that only grew troublesome when officers tried to prevent the marchers from crossing a bridge to the side of town that runs into the Xcel Center, site of the RNC and McCain's speech Thursday night.

But I'm not here to speculate. I just want you all to know what I saw.

We can talk about free speech and free press and this amendment and that one, but what troubles me more than the fact that I now have an arrest on my adult record is the way that it happened.

Personally, I didn't like how we were herded onto the bridge in such a deceitful manner. Officers on foot and on bikes -- wearing gas masks -- were verbally forceful in their orders for us to disperse in a particular direction. Most, including my colleage Alice Kalthoff and me, followed those instructions, but after taking a few steps, other officers on horseback told us to go in yet another direction. So if we were to follow the instructions of one group, we'd need to disobey those of another. It was a very confusing situation.

And then, once order was restored and 300 of us were sitting on the bridge, and officers began to talk to us in a more orderly fashion, our small group of five or six journalists was told repeatedly that since we were all properly credentialed, we'll probably be let go without any trouble.

Alice was released, but I had my credential removed and was loaded onto a bus, a silk necktie the only visible difference between my fellow miscreants and me.

The mood at Ramsey County Jail was pretty serious. As friendly and personable as the arresting officers became after things calmed down on the bridge, that's how cold the county folks were once we got off the bus. We were patted down pretty thoroughly, and even despite that, and despite the metal detector, my SD and CF cards that I slyly slid out of my cameras two hours earlier remained undetected in my sock.

I sat in a cell with 10 others, then was called to answer some routine questions, but became fearful when my expired Kentucky license -- I've lived in New York for 27 months now -- prompted a small huddle of officers.

I escaped trouble there, and was assured by yet another officer that I'd get my camera gear that was previously confiscated. I figured this wouldn't be all bad.

But after sitting on a cold floor for more than an hour, I got a little cranky, so the news after 1 a.m. local time that my camera gear won't be available until Monday wasn't met with much happinesss.

I finally got out of there, more than five hours after I was first told to sit down on that bridge. I made it to the FOX News tent, made a couple phone calls, picked up my laptop and drove to my hotel. A 7 a.m. visit with an attorney awaited, then came a trip to the airport to fly back home.

The attorney seems very sharp and is confident the charge will be dropped. So the only setbacks will have been a few hours of displeasure, a few days without my cameras and a night in which I got only 90 minutes of sleep.

Not too big of a deal in exchange for having a pretty good story to tell for the rest of my life. In fact, I've been asked to tell it to some journalism students at my college alma mater when I head back to Cincinnati next month. Even my latest Karl Rove story suddenly isn't a big deal!

Sarah Palin didn't hit it out of the park Wednesday.

She burned the park down.

As an objective witness, I have no trouble admitting her nearly 40 minutes on the podium were largely successful. Almost flawless. It was a great way to introduce herself to the country, and she couldn't have served her party any better.

But as an average Joe with limited knowledge and appreciation of politics, it was more of what I hate about the process.

Sure, it's important to ridicule the opposition. But I thought Wednesday night was too much. Eight or 10 times she kept going back to the insults and criticisms, often with arrogant sarcasm that was met with arrogant applause.

I know there was plenty of the same ballgame coming from Denver last week, but it just didn't seem so venomous.

I read Tuesday and Wednesday that Palin's speech was originally written in a much more masculine tone before McCain's team re-wrote it to accomodate its female speaker. If the first draft was more harsh, then that's embarrassing.

Instead of these grand occasions where our leaders speak for 60 minutes in front of ancient Greek columns, why don't we cut it to 30 minutes and get rid of the dirty? The networks will still make their money.

It's funny; once in college when I was trying to calm the tempers of drunken frat boys at a late-night sandwich joint, one jumped in and accused me of being a pacifist. To steal a line from Denzel Washington in that bad movie with Bruce Willis eight or 10 years ago, that punk was "dumb enough to think that was an insult."

Isn't peace what we're striving for, both overall and in this election year? It's something that was in full supply eight years ago. I won't care who's president just as long as he can deliver the peace.

I don't know what disappoints me more, the dirty politics or the fact that our culture is such that the tactic works. Voters seem to respond to the ugly, perhaps because it takes less effort to have someone do the research for you via rah-rah speeches. Many couch potatoes would rather do their work by watching a little bit of TV then actually finding out who's really being truthful when both candidates say the other guy "wants to raise taxes" or "voted against campaign reform."

But back to Wednesday ... it seemed such a tightly written speech. Palin delivered her many punch lines so perfectly and decisively that you couldn't help but think her three-day seclusion in her hotel room consisted of little more than rehearsal after rehearsal after rehearsal. The end justified the means.

Or did it?

I'm wearing some dingy cufflinks today, but as I put them on this morning, I assured myself that no one would notice.

Then Karl Rove walked past me at about 10 a.m. I think since our run-in last week, he knows I'd kill for a conversation with him, much like an attractive gal at a bar. Or anywhere, really.

Anyway, he doesn't express a superiority complex. Always says hello; he sometimes even beats me to it.

He took one look at these things on my shirt and quipped, "Nice cufflinks, but they're not as cool as mine."

He came around the table to give me an up-close look at his, with very governmental-looking gold stars on them, and said, "...unless you got yours from the Secret Service too."

Don't know if you've been following Harry Martin's blog, but he's got a lot of good stuff. He and I started a daily live chat this week, and at one point he turned to me and asked, "You know how they talk about a bump during convention week?"

After I confirmed, he told me there are actually three newsworthy bumps this week.

"The bump in the speaker schedule, the bump in the polls and the bump on Sarah Palin's daughter," he joked.

One last note about Monday's march that turned violent. I walked for about five minutes with a guy named Tom, who mixed a good knowledge of politics with an excellent sense of humor. He was probably in his late 30s, slowly riding a bike and wearing a John McCain pin. This was amid several thousand anti-government teens and 20-somethings.

Tom was outstanding.

And of course, my camera wasn't working properly to capture most of his outstanding-ness.

But along the way, his sarcasm was quite entertaining. Here were a few of his quips that I remember:

+ "These protesters want to feed the homeless. Oh wait, no one wants to do anything themselves anymore. The government should feed the homeless."

+ "Hurry up with that (expletive) camera. I've got a 3 o'clock with CNN."

+ "I'm on my bike because my crazy uncle has my pogo stick and my hula hoop is in the shop."

+ "You're missing my best stuff, man. This is some good material."

Monday was out of hand. Again, the highways and the parking situation are awful here. It was much easier to adapt to Denver last week, but the logistics here, including which areas are blocked off and which are open to foot traffic, are terrible.

Anyway, as much as I was sweating just from the long walk from the parking lot to Fox News convention headquarters, it was nothing compared to what I would experience later in the day.

I was in the thick of the march, the protest, the parade. Call it what you want; I was right there. And it was hot as heck. "Great day for a tie," one marcher said to me as I lamented my event-inappropriate attire.

It was a great experience from a journalist's standpoint, but ridiculous nonetheless.

I never know what to make of people who do what was done through the streets of downtown St. Paul for several hours Monday. Are they truly passionate about their anti-government views? Or do they just want an excuse to act like a vandal on a sunny Labor Day afternoon?

I asked many if I could speak with them, and when they asked who I was working for, they'd deny my request when I said "Fox." Most of them continued with disparaging remarks about my employer. What's funny is that those who protest war or any issue for which they have some heartfelt message are surprisingly choosy about who broadcasts this message. It was the suggestion of many that because I work for Fox, their message would be distorted because I must be a biased and unprofessional journalist who lacks integrity.  

But I'm also the one with the camera shooting them drag newspaper boxes onto the street before throwing rocks and shattering storefront windows.

Sorry, Minnesota, but Denver did it far better than you.

A much more significant police presence didn't only make things feel more secure, but those officers in Denver were more available to take questions and better prepared to answer for them.

So far, most of my questions have begun with something like, "Do you know where?" and last week, the immediate answer was a "yes," a step forward and a point in a certain direction.

Last night and on the very long walk with a 20-pound bag on my shoulder this morning, NO ONE had any idea what to tell me. This city is very unprepared for an event like this.

But if you ever do get up to St. Paul, try the rueben sandwich at The Liffey. The outside deck was wonderful with a nice breeze during my late dinner last night.

Covering my first convention was a great time. Dennis and I put in a lot of hours and we like to think we got a lot of good work done.

The Fox News nerve center was a great environment in which to work. These are the kinds of events that create a type of buzz that journalists love. You don't keep track of all the hours; you just go do your job and look at the clock later. If there was a convention every week I'd love my job even more.

I couldn't review the week without mentioning the fine folks at Braun's Bar and Grill near downtown Denver. That's where our HQ was located, right across from the Pepsi Center. I'd love to know how much Fox paid that restaurant to take it over for a couple of weeks. Judging by the numerous big meals I had, it must have been a pretty penny.

The ground floor of Braun's was where about 50 work stations were set up, and we had two sets in the room as well. Downstairs at Braun's is a sports bar that they open when Denver's pro sports teams have games. It was open for us the whole week when they served a breakfast, lunch, dinner and late dinner. If everyone ate like I did, then everyone is planning to diet soon.

The actual work was exciting. I covered several protests, interviewed some interesting characters and learned to overcome some technical hiccups on the fly. Feeding back content was easy, but sometimes, logistically, things didn't work to plan as far as getting stuff back to my national team in New York in a timely manner. At a time when they hoped to get content, Dennis and I were out in the field, seeking something new.

We did lots of walking, since so many streets were blocked off and cabs would have been useless. First of all, there weren't very many of them. Secondly, because of the many street closures, things were often bumper-to-bumper on roads where traffic was allowed.

And doing all this walking in shirts, ties and nice shoes under 90-degree heat some days wasn't great, but I didn't have the nasty humidity that usually surrounds me in a typical New York August.

Security was everywhere. It really was. Many of the guys wore stormtrooper-like suits that had to have weighed 20 pounds.

Fox anchors Shepard Smith, Jon Scott and Greta Van Susteren are very cool people. Dennis and I interviewed and/or generally harassed plenty of the Fox personalities throughout the week, but those three seemed especially genuine and didn't possess the prima donna attitudes many network folks can have. Greta actually asked the chef downstairs for a meal at a time where they weren't serving, and she told a colleague once she received it, "This is what you get when you're a diva like me." That was pretty funny.

It was also neat to look behind the scenes to see how people like Greta work. She has four other people on her team, and since my office is situated in the local station building, I don't see what a typical day looks like for the national folks.

I'll certainly always remember talking to Karl Rove and Dennis Kucinich, as well as the speeches by both Clintons, Joe Biden and of course, Barack Obama.

Come on back this week for my reports from the Republican National Convention. As I type this Saturday morning, my bag just arrived from Denver, so now I can start packing for trip No. 2. I leave for St. Paul Sunday morning.

I thought Barack Obama's speech was very good Thursday night. I'm no public speaking expert, but I may have thought going in that it would have been slightly better, with regard to substance, though I know fire-and-brimstone isn't really Obama's style. Overall, however, he once again delivered and kept 70,000+ hanging on every word.

 

 

It was quite a scene at Invesco Field Thursday night in Denver. Dennis and I sat way near the top of the stadium, as you can tell by the image above, but it was just fine. I'll be able to say when I'm old that I saw Barack Obama's historic speech in 2008, much like older people nowadays say with great pride things like, "I saw Dr. King speak."

 

I don't know where anyone gets the courage to address a packed stadium like that, nor do I know how someone is talented enough to speak every single word with such poise and eloquence. For an hour! Dennis and I were truly blown away.

A man with thin, gray hair and glasses was making a joke to no one in particular about the men's room two-way mirror as I was walking in, and I replied with something fairly sarcastic.

Then, when I got in front of the sink, I asked myself, "Did I just make Karl Rove laugh?"
 
Turns out I did, but what I got in return wasn't worth the hassle a short time later.

It was getting close to our CoverItLive showtime Tuesday, but I stalked him for a while before seeing an opening. No entourage in sight, I approached him with a handshake and a polite introduction, then asked if I could steal him for 90 seconds for two or three easy questions.

His reply was somewhat confusing. Lots of talk about "No. Can't. Busy. Talk. Later." The rate of his gait increased as he became more aware of what I wanted. I would have no luck with this effort.

Karl Rove drenched me with the verbal equivalent of a drink thrown in my face.

So he walked past my work space about 20 minutes later, after we'd started the show, and gave me a point and a smile, and I asked, "Are we going to talk?" 

Two Fox News Channel producers sitting on both sides of me turned their heads before  one grumbled, "Dude, I didn't know you had it like that." I didn't either.

Actually, I do not. Because at the end of the day, I still never got an interview with Karl Rove.

I introduced myself to Dennis Kucinich on Monday. He was the mayor of Cleveland when I was a kid, and I told him we shook hands at some parade when I played Little League baseball on the mean suburban streets of Richmond Heights, Ohio, many years ago.

No doubt a gripping story like that can open the door to say hello to someone, but it surely can't keep the conversation going. So as polite as he was, I figured he was ready to end it, but I wanted to keep talking. So I added that my cousins once owned the Cleveland Indians not long after he was mayor, and he said he remembers the O'Neills well and had some nice things to say about them.

So now we're into the second minute of our conversation, and I got nothing left. But he pleasantly asked what I did, and once I told him, he turned to one of his guys to make sure he knew what it was that the MyFox team does. Then Dennis walked up and we all had a good conversation and it turns out Kucinich will now likely join us on our CoverItLive blog this week. All's well that ends well, I guess.

And at an event Monday night, Dennis and me were fortunate enough to meet former Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus. He was very polite and nice, but he got no Little League stories from me.

I nearly forgot, my take on Biden.

It's not a political take, actually. My knee-jerk reaction, if such a description can be used three days later, is on the media.

I wish sports reporters would take a cue from politics reporters. It wasn't long ago that Joe Biden told Tom Brokaw on "Meet The Press" very emphatically that not only would he not lobby Obama for VP consideration, but if offered, he would turn it down.

This isn't the most unusual thing in the world for politicians, but what I like about the media here is that there aren't a bunch of producers behind the network scenes digging up that archive video and confronting Biden with "But you said . . . " types of callouts.

In the sports world, reporters don't care that a coach is trying to focus on next week's national championship game or Final Four; they want to know if they're considering taking the vacant job at their alma mater. And once isn't enough. Sure you know there's a strong likelihood that the coach is lying, but who says he needs to talk very publicly about his next career move? If we give politicians a pass for lying in these situations -- as I think we should -- why can't we also loosen up on the grown men who coach teams that play boys' games? Are sports really that important?

Obviously, I don't condone lying. This is the only area where politicans should stretch the truth, but when you're talking about a man's career, maybe sports writers should pen columns about their own efforts looking for that next, bigger job.

Sorry I'm a little late on my reaction to Obama's selection of Biden, but I've spent the last few days prepping for my trip to Denver for the Democratic National Convention. I'm here now, and it's a zoo.

As busy as I was my last couple of days in New York getting ready for this trip, I've been twice as busy since landing here at about noon Denver time Sunday. Here's a recap:

+ Spike Lee and Matthew Modine were on my flight out of LaGuardia International Airport Sunday.

+ I dropped my compact camera trying to get a shot of Lee while at the baggage claim in Denver.

+ The line at the car-rental was at least an hour. That sucked. One girl there had her toenails painted blue.

+ Rolled to my hotel at about 1:30 p.m., where I was told there were no clean rooms available. I figured I'd drive into the city and see what's up.

+ Glad I did it, and got the fiasco out of the way before the busy week began for me.

+ I had to pick up my credential, claim my work space for the week and shake the hands of a few people whose help I'm sure to need during these conventions. So far, big thanks to Gina Somma and Mike Straka!

+ I heard about a heated protest at an area called the 16th Street Mall, so I walked up there (with a 20-pound backback). After walking for about a half hour, naturally, I learned the protest had been over for an hour or two.

+ I walked another half hour back to my car, then got lost trying to find the highway. I got on the highway, darted west to Golden, Col., to take a few sunset shots. I didn't get much, unfortunately. Now, it was after 8 p.m., and I was starved. So after I devoured a huge burrito at Qdoba, I went the wrong way toward the hotel, of course. But I did get to see many of the liquor stores and pawn shops on Denver's west side.

+ Checked in the hotel close to 10, unpacked, did some work, ironed some clothes and called it a night at about 1 a.m., but not until after setting three alarms for 5 a.m. Ouch.

+ Monday's details coming soon, especially the part about getting lost again looking for parking near the Pepsi Center . . .

Let me clarify any possibly misleading statements I may have made in a recent post. I'm fully aware that one's public-speaking skills don't win presidential elections. Nor do they lose them. Might I introduce President George W. Bush as Exhibit A in support of this hypothesis.

But I think we can agree that as individuals and as a nation, we're in many ways worse off than we were eight years ago. And there's too much of Bush in John McCain, and these days, many vote on process of elimination, ie-for Candidate A because Candidate B is awful.

That Obama "seems believable," as I described him last week, surely isn't enough to win an election by itself, but also in keeping with the "all things being equal" condition, with regard to the levels of BS offered up by many or most politicians, Obama is the lesser of evils.

But don't think I'm entirely pessimistic. I give Obama credit as well for other things.

Every politician talks about change. "We've got to fix this mess in Washington" is not a new declaration, yet candidates always use it to sound like they're not responsible for the mess. Nonetheless, they're going to fix it.

But Obama takes the need for fixing a step further. He wants us to feel empowered, and is quick to make sure we know we have to do our part. I'm not overly religious, but I believe I've heard a time or two, "God helps us, but he especially helps those who help themselves." I'm also not comparing any presidential candidate to God, but I do believe Obama wants us to get off our you-know-whats and try to improve ourselves, our homes, our lives, our neighborhoods and our cities. We'll take care of the local stuff; he'll oversee the larger projects. And in the long run, we will all have played a part in improving our country.

It's called team-building and if you follow sports, you know that many teams that win Super Bowls and Stanley Cups are those squads who might not always be loaded with talent, but boast a locker room full of team chemistry and unity.

In his early days, Obama cut his political teeth as a community organizer, a role befitting the type of president he believes he can be.

He believes he can go before the Big 3 automakers in Detroit and make demands while at the same time asking for their support. Ford, GM and Chevrolet will get federal help to modernize their plants, but in exchange, they'll have to make cars that are more fuel efficient.

Sound familiar? It should. This is a perfect example of Obama basically saying, "You do your part; I'll do mine. And in the end, things will get better."

Now I was just getting ready to say I didn't think McCain's energy approach was all that bad, offering incentives not only to automakers but to consumers as well. Good stuff there.

But as I sought out his Web site, I found the front-and-center image to be a satire of a supposed "Obama Fan Club." This is partly why I vote the other way. Both candidates have similar appeal on an issue I care about. One tells me his view, the other jabs at the other candidate, then tells me his view. Who would you support?

For as long as I've been alive, the left has been criticized for being soft and the right continues to bully its way through campaigns with little finesse. That's why I told a friend in a recent conversation that this election can't get here soon enough for Obama. The GOP Hate Machine has been ignited -- on renewable fuel no doubt -- and now it's just a matter of weathering the storm for 12 more weeks.

Today is the day. We're just a few tiny fixes away from launching our special convention preview section. Bridget, who has tolerated countless editing tweaks here and there the last couple of weeks, has designed what we think could be an award-winning special section.

Like I said, still a few adjustments away, but we hope to have those ironed out by midday because we've got a couple of big conference calls with some important FOX people today, and we want to show off our shiny new toy to them.

The centerpiece of the page is a countdown to the most memorable conventions in history. Our research and interviews showed that DNCs have yielded far more memorable occasions than RNCs, and that will again be the case this year, many believe.

But our section will reveal the 11 most memorable conventions, beginning Aug. 11, with a new one announced each weekday through Aug. 25, the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, from where I'll be blogging.

So take a look at our section and let us know what you think. Do you agree with our experts? Disagree? Don't be shy; we want to hear from  you .. early and often! You can give us your own top convention rankings by following the instructions on the video box. Enjoy!