RNC Video Diary: Mika and Joe Channel Hepburn and Tracy, Moose Stew, and More Palin Reactions

On Monday, HuffPost hosted the RNC version of our panel on how new media are impacting the '08 race. Moderated by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinski, who I introduced as "the Hepburn and Tracy of morning TV," the panel included Cyrus Krohn, who left Yahoo! to spearhead the RNC's new media campaign, David Kralik, Newt Gingrich's tech guru, Peggy Noonan, Laura Ingraham, Tony Blankley, John Fund, Rep. John Shadegg, and Frank Luntz.

We really wanted to make our lunch menu RNC specific. We thought about serving quail shot by Vice President Cheney, but decided better safe than sorry. We also considered serving moose stew, which Sarah Palin told Vogue was her favorite meal. But luckily for our guests, Greeks don't really know much about cooking moose, so we decided to go with salmon. We weren't sure it was from Alaska, but decided to act as if it were.

We'll be posting video from the panel discussion shortly. And you can read what the press had to say about it here and see pictures of the event here.

At the lunch -- and later at the Xcel Energy Center, where the convention is being held -- I asked people to tell me where they were when they heard that McCain had picked Palin and what their first reaction was. Check it out:

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin

Comments

[charles77]

Newsflash. McCaine/Palin now lead Obama/Biden by 2 points!
Sarah Palin's favorabilty ratings now exceed McCains AND OBAMAS

[sueno]

Scarborough and Brezinski are in a love-fest over Palin.
Both are some happy that the GOP has something to vote for.
I watched as both were giddy talking about her, even seeing through lack of experience.
Both were harder on Dems. Their show remains unbalanced. with a pseudo-independent slant.
Their show continues to provide a lackluster performance, in regard to giving viewers the truth
on the issues that they cover.

[bikerdude]

Are Scarborough and Brezinski still on? Amazin!!

[sueno]

What I like most about watching people speak re: Palin is
that nobody can say anything about her? Their base is "energized"!
It took until the VP pick for it to happen, and everyone thinks her experience acceptable-
I can't wait for the facts to come in! 'cause the GOP might give Moose Burgers, a bad name.

[PackyJ]

McSame / Failin' Fever!
Catch it!

[Clavis]

It's not right -- issues like teen pregnancy and marriage and abortion are private matters that should stay within the family unit.

Now please sign my petition to make abortion illegal and gay marriage constitutionally prohibited and sex ed nonexistent and Christianity officially the church of America!

[NotMcCain]

If Hepburn was like Mika, her lines with Tracy would have been, "Yep", "I agree", "I like her", and "Uh-huh".

Scarborough talks constantly, when the guest isn't talking (and often when they are). No one seems the least bit interested in Mika's ideas or opinions (Not that they seem particularly interesting--but maybe they might, if she got to say more than a -rare-- word or short sentence every 15 minutes or so..

[dwt]

The show is MUCH more interesting to watch when Scarboro is on vacation. Mika, who has a real smart father, is not just a pretty face, and Willy is not just a comic. When blowhard Scarboro isn't around to completely dominate the conversation with his self-righteous, condescending , and utterly predictable right wing rhetoric, the others actually put on an informative program worth watching.

[ignorantwillyharper]

dwt, you my good man, are right on.

Get rid of Joe Scarborough!

[Bonsage]

...and I thought Mika's father was half the team (with Soros) running the Obama puppet and she was his on-the-air cheerleader; imagine my surprise to learn that she's a closet Republican.

[fudgebuster]

I agree. She gets run over by Joe all the time. Maybe if she wasn't so fawning of that blowhard she might get a word in. Where did she come from anyway? I like her for some reason... even though she never says anything worth remembering... well, Joe neither.

I've watched way too much Cable news this year. By biggest complaint is the "Breaking News!" whatever where a plane, train , automobile is engulfed in flames and the Cable guys just say "hey, look at that will ya?". Sheesh. What a bunch of BS.

[media717]

The GOP is playing the same game they did when Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter jumped on the scene. They exploited her, but God forbid anyone else should even mention that she's gay!!! Remember when Kerry did at the convention? The right-wing media about bit his head off, and so did Cheney. Now we have Sarah Palin's 17-year-old pregnant daughter Bristol, a product of the "abstinence only" sex ed policies of her mother. She'll be on stage tonight with mom and so will her unborn baby's dad Levi, the soon-to-be son-in-law. It's okay to exploit her daughter's condition to get votes, but heaven help the Democrat or journalist who even brings up Palin's policies on sex ed and "family values." The GOP is full of hypocrites and always will be.

[fudgebuster]

Well put.

[booker52]

Mrs Palin is the same person who as Mayor wanted to ban books in the local library. More that turns me off and tell me yet once again how bad this pick was. This story came out today in the NYT.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/us/politics/03wasilla.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Set your watch back 100 years with this gal, that is how backwards her belief and values are. I don't buy into the crap the GOP is spinning to sell her as the VP pick. Get real and get someone who is really ready, Mrs Palin isn't it.

[CactusTom]

The trouble with democracies is that they are always teetering on the edge of becoming a dictatorship, because an ignorant electorate gets to decide who the decider is going to be. Our founding fathers under stood the mischief of the masses, so they tried to create a republic. Nice try, but their intended republic soon devolved into a full blown version of American Idol, a popularity contest among the unfit.

But there is hope on the way. With folks determined to pick a regular guy or gal, this giant experiment in government by and for the people is nearing its end. The people have been speaking loud and clear lately, and it's obvious to those who actual are saddled with reason and insight that the masses are determined to run uncle Sam into a ditch from which he can not recover. Go get them, Sarah! You"re so cute.

[qxav949]

In a desperate attempt to be non-partisan for one night, I decided to take in the Republican convention coverage in the same manner as I did the Democratic Convention. I switched between three tv channels (allowing for commercial breaks and different perspective shots) and tuned in online on my laptop. A few things stood out boldly and clearly for me:
(1) MONOCHROME - this party has no diversity at all. It was so stark in contrast to last week that I thought maybe it was my TV messing up. It wasn't.
(2) ECONOMY - granted the theme was Who John McCain was but I heard nothing about what he'd do for the economy. I cannot take John McCain's POW past and pay for gas no more than I could use the Staples button to do the same - even if Staples sold gas.
(3) OLD WHITE GUYS - speaker after speaker, old white guys. OK, they bashed Obama as best they could, but on abortion? Is that one of the critical issues on which this country of 300 million needs help on today?
(4) THE WORD "REPUBLICAN" - try as I might, I could not see that word anywhere on the floor. I would think that'd be a priority.
(5) MARTIN LUTHER KING - in a montage the image of MLK was included and the audience stopped clapping and cheering, but picked back up when an image of George W. Bush appeared.

They still don't get it.

[OgreDaddy]

Arianna,

It is clear that Sarah Palin's selection as the VP candidate is being used to distract attention away from the absolute failure of the Republican administration.

They know they do not stand a snowball's chance on critical issues facing the majority of the population.

Once again, they have fired up their extreme ideological base rather than admit their failures in leadership.

It's a classic Rove ploy to make this a big election over small issues.

This juicy gossip has done exactly what the McCain campaign was hoping for.

In reality, the Republican Mafia is terrified of losing their power in Congress to block audits and investigations .

They know full well that they are in very serious legal jeopardy if Senator Obama and a meaningful
Democratic majority in Congress come to power.

[jennifer Vizzo]

Sarah Palin is the governor of a state with a population smaller than the city of San Jose (CA). It is the least populous of our 50 states. The mayors of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Philadelphia, Miami, San Diego, Atlanta and Boston have more national experience than Sarah Palin. If this was McCain's idea of a Hail Mary pass, it will get intercepted.

[ATLiberal]

Actually, I know that at least Idaho and Wyoming are less populated. Just an FYI

[CKieffer]

That is what the GOP is counting on - - there are more places (that already lean Republican) who will relate to her. McCain knows he won't pull in the cities - - so why not divide our country even more... into "cosmopolitan" and not

[6shtrs]

When they say "Country First" we have to answer:
"BUT WE ARE THE COUNTRY"

Will you Please repeat that in your post here and everywhere.

[gallo146]

There was somethiing about the faces of the RNC audience mostly middle age white men and some women with expensive jewerly. The RNC audience is not the crossection of America, no wonder they are out of touch with middle america and the poor.

[swift goat pet for truth]

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE GOV PALIN.
Expect Gov. Palin to do well tonight. She may be new, but she is VERY GOOD.

Despite her inexperience, she DID beat sitting Governor Murkowsk, and she did beat Big Oil, partly because they thought she would be easy. She is NOT.

They lowered the expectations on her, but she WILL exceed them.
Do not underestimate this woman. She is tough and she is smart.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/insider/politics/july-dec08/carey_09-02.html

And she really knows how get things done.
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/09/02/the-case-against-the-case-against-palin.aspx

[RepublicanForObama]

I have faith the Palin will shine. She is a smart politican and has a packed house of supporters at the convention. She is being QUICKLY groomed for success. I am positive that she is qualified to be the Govenor of Alaska. She represents the American story. However, there are far more qualified Republican women who could have been picked. They were just not young and pretty enough.
This story is not about Palin. It is about McCain's decision making process. If his VP choice is an example, I worry about McCain having the ability to start more wars and lunch nuks. Shoot first, twist facts after the fact. This is the same logic that Bush used to get the American public to buy into a pre-emptive war.
McCain will win the White House. It will not be because of the RNC motto of County First.
It will be because the Republican Party needs to extend the "Rupublican Dictatorship" over our nation. Dictators have all the money and the masses have nothing. The Republicans have adopted Marie Antoinette's theory of "Let them eat cake."
Did we really need to go to the moon....probably not. However, John Kennedy's vision gave our nation HOPE, PRIDE, a COMMON PURPOSE, and something to value as a nation.
A moderate, free thinking, 60 year old, Republican woman for Obama. I want some HOPE back in my life, afford health care, and meat back on my table.

[maddie0001]

She's ruthless and lucky. Never underestimate a woman who's willing to use her children the way Palin is willing to use hers.

The pattern seems to be watch, learn and eliminate your mentors when they are no longer of use. If they win Rove/Cheney gonna have a fight on their hands..