Chicago Public Radio Blog

Back in Chicago after a whirlwind tour stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the land of 10,000 lakes. The convention tour wrapped up yesterday and that means it is back to the local grind. There were so many blog posts that were unfinished or incomplete, so I thought I would wrap up the RNC coverage with a couple random observations from the week that was. This picture: The IL team (me, Amanda Vinicky, Rob Wildeboer). Rob is crashed out with mic/recorder in hand after pulling an all-nighter on his feature.

1) Am I the only blogger that thought the music choices for the GOP were a bit strange? It’s like the RNC hired a wedding DJ. But more like a wedding DJ that checked out a few years back. They rotated the same 4-5 songs over and over, which included “Center Field” by John Fogerty, “Rock this Town” by the Stray Cats, “Right Now” by Van Halen, “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins and of course “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang. At least give me some popular country music!

2) CNN was sponsoring the conventions and they set up a bar inside the convention center perimeter that was “invite only”, but offered free food and free spirits. How did I get in? I told em’ I was Judy Baar Topinka’s driver. Inside, we were talking with some people who were dressed for success and we were joking about our clothes and one woman says “I’ll bet you got your outfit from Banana Republic”. Then they all laughed. It made me regret going to Banana Republic before the trip.

3) When I walked around downtown Mlps, I usually got the stink-eye from young people who thought I was a Republican delegate. I walked into the Jimmy Johns to get dinner before McCain’s speech and the young people behind the counter gave me some serious attitude. So much so that I watched the dude make my sandwich. Politics aside, they better not spit on it. Or skimp on the ham.

4) Funny sight - the conservative talk radio shows were all lined up on radio row. Left to right, all the way down the hallway. At the end of the hallway? NPR.

5) You know who was having a great time at the convention? Karl Rove. I saw him 5+ times and he was smiling, joking and soaking in the convention. I was right by the staging area for the speakers and he walked by with 3 or 4 secret service. We made eye contact and he smiled and winked at me. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

6) While watching Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech, I backed into Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Triumph is a hand puppet insult comic dog correspondent. I am a huge fan of his work. He usually shows up at these events and provides several belly laughs. To watch Robert Smigel work with the puppet on his hand and the video camera shooting everything was worth the price of admission. Repubs were pissed he was doing bits during the speech, but he took it in stride. I had to get a picture so I rattled off a bunch of pictures and some video and Triumph turned to me and said “Hey $#shole, you are in my shot”. I was insulted by Triumph. I can die now.

6) I ran into John Kass at the airport. I said “John, what an exhausting week”. His retort, “What, those 4 blog posts wear you down?” Ha!

So thanks to everyone on the team - Ben Calhoun, Amanda Vinicky and Rob Wildeboer plus the support team back in Chi - Cate Cahan, Carrie Shepherd, Andrew Gill and Josh Andrews. And thanks to you for reading.

Now get back to work!