Phil_Shuman's Blog

Attended a press conference with the Governator in his official "press room'' at the state office building in downtown l.a. today... He looked great... purple tie and matching hanky.. kind of the similar shade as his hair.... shiny exotic skin cowboy boots.. the whole thing was very familiar.. as was the purpose of his presser.. to announce that Cal ee forn ya was in a fiscal emergency.  Oh wait.. didnt he do that last week ? or was it last month ? or was it last year.  ? It all kind of blurs.. Oh.. i get it..today.. it was ACTUALLY an official fiscal emergency, because under an obscure law we apparently passed a couple of years ago called Prop 58, if the Gov makes it an official "F.E.", then the legislators have 45 days to take action to fix the problem, or the Gov can tell them they can do nothing else at that point till the problem is fixed . Make sense ? I knew there was a reason we passed 58,  , Anyway,... I was going to ask him if he was familiar with the fable of the boy who cried wolf.. but his 12 year old press aides yelled out '' one more question'' and wrapped things up before i could get to that one.  We all know the Gov's time is limited.. after all this is an emergency.   The best part of it all ? As my camera man and i were leaving and crossing Spring St the Gov and his security caravan happened to be cruising by.. and in the right front passenger seat with the window rolled down there he was smoking a HUGE stogie.. puffing away....smoke curling...  He nodded.. smiled.. so did I....   Now if he were  out of cigars ???? That my friends would be an emergency. 

Here's a tip for Mayor Tony..  The Governator, Prez  Barack.. in fact any politician or elected leader out there.. feel free to listen in .. the idea is for you to LEAD. Don't constantly  tell us how bad things are going to be.. about how much our budget deficits are...... about how we're going  to have to do more with less, about how the zoo is closing, the library has fewer books.. the police wont get new cars.. the big three are bankrupt.. the economy is down the toilet... and there aint no turkey for Thanksgiving..  We get it.. believe me.   What we want from you is the feeling that you're going to fix it.. that it's all going to be OK..that you've got a handle on things.. I know that's partly by the big O was elected President... but a little more confidence and a little less whining would be greatly appreciated.  We really don't comprehend what all those numbers mean anyway.  a 700 billion dollar bailout ? a trillion on Iraq ?  29 billion for Bear STerns....what relevance do these numbers have to anyone ?   I mean we all hear those stories like if you had a million dollars and you spent 1000 dollars a day it would take you 5 years to spend it.. but if you had  billion dollars and you spent 1000 dollars a day it would take like 497,000 years to spend it all.. whatever.. the point is.. it's a ton of money. we get it.  Even in LA we have a 110 million dollar deficit on a 7 billion dollar budget. Fine.. Pick up the trash every two weeks.  Don't build the 40 million dollar elephant spa.  Whatever...   We  really don't need to know the nitty gritty financial details.  That's what all those  MBA's are for.  Numbers i know ?   5 dollar sub at Quizno's . Gas is now down to  about $ 2.50 a gallon. But a good baseball glove is easily more than $ 100.00   . OK ?  So...we just need to know you're going to fix things.. !!! Take charge. Do your job. Strut your stuff. Kick some ___.   Fire some people who don't know how to safeguard OUR money and spend it wisely. Hire some people who know how to stretch a buck.    Don't keep asking for more.. We ain't got it .   Just make things better so we can go back to worrying about the proper things.. Madonna's divorce settlement and Britney's comeback.  And please hurry. Thanks.

Was at the Century Plaza last nite w/ several thousand of my closest friends.. watching a little .. oh what did they call it again ? HISTORY being made.  Everyone was so fired up it was really exciting.. when Obama made his speech from Chicago it was a real moment.. on 5 giant TV screens... everyone felt like they were there..   One thing struck me also, in watching it and the crowd... Mayor Villariagosa was up in the little tiny press area , being interviewed ( surprise ! ) by like everyone in at least two languages, when Obama came on... He stopped  and leaned on railing there and had a look of awe and admiration and wonder on his face.. i wanted to take a picture but i really didnt want to intrude... you might search the web for photos of him from that moment cause there were like a million photogs there.. at any rate.. i know he felt pride for Obama ( even though he was a friend of hillary) and i wonder if he was thinking .. '' that could be me someday...'.. i'll have to ask him that.  Anyway..  there was quite a positive young happy vibe in that giant ballroom... and seemingly everywhere else obamaniacs where watching.. if we could carry that feeling out to the rest of the country and the world maybe we'll have something going there !!!!

I had a dream.. check that.. a nightmare.. i was driving and all i heard on the radio were ads for propositions.. all the billboards on the side of the road were for propositions... i turned on the TV and all the programming had been suspended and proposition commercials were running back to back. The Dodgers used all the money they had to sign Manny and gave it to proposition backers. At Staples Center the Lakers and Clippers were sponsored by various propositions. The Laker Girls had props listed on their chests.. ( you know everyone pays attention to that ! ) Taxi drivers had those rooftop signs that were all about propositions. I ordered a pizza and it came in a box covered with ads for propositions. When i went to the airport, LAX's theme restaurant had a huge tent over it with ads for propositions.. When i went to the rest room and closed the stall door, on the back, well.. you get the idea. Has anyone said ''enough"'..i mean really.... it's not just that the ads are totally confusing misleading, propoganda, and ANNOYING after the 9 zillionth time.. it's that the process is so out of whack that anyone with a couple of million to spend or a cousin with a Sacramento based public relations firm can get something on the ballot. It's good idea that is totally out of control Think of the tens of millions, it not much much more that all of the various campaigns have spent,..( ''7 ''spent about 27 million alone of utility company money to knock that baby down...which i'm sure will be hidden in the fine print of the rate hikes on our subsequent bills) and .. you know what ? despite it all.....everyone's going to vote 'NO on all of ' em anyway ( except maybe 11 )... what a waste of money... That could've been used in SOOOOOOO many better ways..how about the propositions fund raisers raising that kind of money health care ? homeless ? education? donate it to cancer research for God's sakes. Legislators are the ones we pay to go to Sacramento and fight with each other until some laws are made that theoretically reflect what the public wants and needs... granted that is a FAR from perfect system..but hey, isn't that why we have elections ? I propose no more props for 25 years.. can I start a campaign to get that law passed ?

What should i know about Prop 4, .,. or was it 5, or was it 11,.... 9,... 7, did i mention 8 ? something about gay weddings ????  what are all of them  they and should i vote for em ? excellent questions.  if you're a responsible voter you have to read the thick ''voter election guide'' that comes in the mail to your house... that's really the best way to make a decision.. but i mean really, who does that ? aren't u swayed by the commercials ?? oh, you've noticed those, huh ? anyway, if you're confused and annoyed and perplexed by all these props.. take comfort in the fact that you're not alone... don't just vote '' no'' like a lotta people..that's too simple.. of course it might send a message... enough already ! 

Hit the Home Depot Center in Carson sat along with 15 or 20 thousand folks to hear and see and experience the Sarah Palin phenomenon first hand.. and let me tell ya she rocked the house. Now you can sit there in your ivory tower and lament her lack of experience and tsk tsk about how foolish John McCain was to pick someone 99 . 9 percent of Americans had never heard of.. but you're livin in the past baby.  this crowd loved this woman, with all her winks and droppin of ''g's'' and shout outs and gollys.... so if you think California is automatically in the Blue state as it's been every Presidential election for the past 16 years... think again my friend.. She has folks motivated.. fired up.. donating, volunteering, registering and switching.   Not sure exactly what ''it'' is but she has ''it'' .. it's one of those things.. you know it when you see it.  Can she run the country if need be ?   incredibly,not really an issue for the Palinites.... They just know she's ''one of them'' ,... they can ''relate to her ''.... she's ''honest'' and ''tough'' and will ''stand up to power'.. and of course she and John McCain are the ''m'' word.... it may in fact be true.. but it's also a demonstration of the great political theory that if you repeat something often enough, it BECOMES true... stay tuned though, golly gee.

He nailed it.  Democrat, Republican somewhere in between or somewhere on the fringe, the overwhelming consensus here in St Paul is that John McCain gave the speech of his political life , in the clutch, following up his VP w/ just the right amount of passion, patriotism, and tough talk that will fire up his loyalists and maybe even convert some of the undecided.  When it was over I talked to a white man who served in Iraq.. a middle aged woman from Wash state.... a Latino man from NY, and an African American man from Virginia.. all of em were so pumped up they didn't need planes to fly home.   He even LOOKED great.. so did his 96 year old mother... (who couldn't love her ).....I'm sure there are those who are anti McCain no matter what ... but you have to give the guy his due at least for tonight, dontcha?.... he earned it.    So... your thoughts ?

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For a convention that started off on shaky storm battered ground.... wobbled w/ the teenage pregnancy-troopergate story... and then fired up slowly w/ Thompson and Lieberman... things are rocking now.  Everyone here ( read '' Republican " absolutely LOVED Sarah Palin, pit bull, lipstick,. hockey mom, tight skirt , designer eyeglasses..... the entire package... can't stop raving.... whatever your politics you gottta admit she did a nice job, under pressure, in the spotlight like never before... future son in law watching... i mean she.. as the athletes say.. 'stepped up',... now.. the focus shifts to the big guy.. metaphorically speaking.. Late last nite a new stage w/ a runway a la a fashion show was installed... today as i came into the fox mega mall tent, where Ron Paul supporters who just won't give it up still wave signs outside the rusty metal fence separates the credentialed from the masses....where my cubicle is famously close to Bill O Reilly's work space which he shares with some guy named Karl Rove who keeps wandering around here .... the video of Mccain ckg out the stage and doing a sound ck was on the gigantor Fox video screen playing outside our tent on the way into Excel.  I mean it's like the size of diamond vision at Dodger Stadium or whatever the McCourts call that now.... Tonite, John McCain will be the recipient of more love than has e ver been made in the history of Minnesota..... ( not sure how much that is) .. it's going to be great, poignant, gutwrenching ( the POW experience is just to horrifying to even comprehend ) and we'll be here live on fox 11 news at 10 and on my 13 news at 11 w/ the whole deal.... someone's making history.... hockey mom and navy captain... or the guy w/ the funny name and the old time insider..

(( p.s. click on this video link for a behind the scenes look at the  "Fox Experience" they now let selected people into the tent on the other side of a low wall to watch all the Fox people work and catch a glimpse of a TV star !!

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Who knew ??? Thompson and Lieberman hit em out of the park tonite at the excel center in st. paul.... They were the headliners of the now revitalized RNC ... no storm news today, no new unplanned pregnancies as far as we know...so the full focus was on the speakers.. if you have a chance to catch any of em , you should.. one of the 8 trillion instant experts here ( actually a really smart one ) told me that if thompson had given a speech like that during his alleged presidential campaign maybe he wouldnt have crashed and burned so badly.... tmrw nite.. perhaps palin.. likely Rudy who gave a sound ck today in the that almost caused fainting and heart attacks among his loyalists.. and he only said ''one two three'.... more later

>>Check out Phil's Photo Gallery of Crazy RNC Hats!!

 

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I saw Bill O Reilly before I saw John McCain... but i feel certain we'll be seeing mccain before the week is out.. here on day 2 which seems like longer... storms.. palin's troopergatepregnantdaughtergate... well....  as we wait for joe lieberman and fred thompson to rock the house... ( this is considered exciting at this point)  we here in the fox mega compound wander around from cubicle to cubicle table to table, food tent to restroom trailer and wonder if and when the real action starts..... no not at the souvenir counter where pins are 5 for ten bucks( you can even get pink 'women for mccain '' pins.. is that sexist ?    but on the stage.. where all that , you know, routine 'let's change the world stuff'.   happens... we're ready!

(Click on the pictures to see 'em bigger)

What can you say about Laura Bush and now Cindy McCain that hasn't ( Stepford) already been said ?

  I mean after a couple of days of storm dampened anticipation, they were the main draw here in St Paul.. the idea was now that the worst of the ( dont say the G word) has passed, the two of them are going to fire up the crowd... well.. that was the theory.  they took the stage in the Excel ( lack of ) Energy Center and underwhelmed.  They looked beautiful and they're obviously intelligent and charming and good Republican wives... but how about firing up the crowd a bit. They made a brief but impassioned ( boring) plea to donate to a web site for the gulf... introduced some lame video w/ gulf governors looking macho.. and were gone.. Everyone came streaming out of excel to see a giant ( and i mean giant) video screen screaming the negative Sarah Palin news..... it was like the crowd had gone to see Springsteen and got a little Peter Paul and Mary and then left to catch a glimpse of oh... say... the approaching end of the world as they walked outside the ugly gray steel perimeter fencing.. as the song goes.. " tomorrow.. tomorrow ..."

Should we feel bad for the Republicans ?   their party here in St Paul was spoiled by.... don't say it... the '' G ''' word.... John McCain and Sarah ( what's her name again?) were to have their moment in the sun, now it/'s their moment in the rain in the gulf.  Here in the Twin Cities area... the tears are flowing.. in private. publicly the 'party line'' is that the people of the gulf come first.. we're not republicans we're americans.. and all that which is very true but amounts to very unfortunate timing here.  Tonight.. everyone's really really excited about the possibility of Laura Bush speaking.. i mean i like her as  much as the next person... but really. The current pres. and vice pres cancelled over the wkend.... The candidates themselves may or may  not be here later this week.... depending on the storm.   Ironic that the terrible storm let Mccain do what he couldnt do on his own.. keep president bush and vp cheney far away from the convention
  We're in the hotel with the California delegation in nearby Bloomington, and I think they're now more excited about going to the famed "Mall of American'' which is about five min away than going to the almost empty Excel Center about 40 minutes away. I mean wouldn't you be... so stay tuned... that giant noise you may here in LA is the sound of all the wind being sucked out of the REpublican party in Minneapolis St Paul. 

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Outside the Excel Center in downtown St Paul, where the repubs were supposed to party, there's like a 50 foot tall video screen that all day long was on fox's coverage of gustav....sorry, st paul.  of course, to get to see that, you had to first navigate closed freeway exits, closed downtown streets,          

grimy  steel fences suitable for a WWE death match,

dogs, secret service, local cops... metal detectors.. and that's just to get inside the PERIMETER of the excel center.. once you're in the inner sanctum, you're still outside, and you gotta do it all again to actually get into the arena..... the claim to fame is that it's home to a professional lacrosse team  ( ok also an nhl team)... the point  is that conventions post 9/11 are just so security conscious that it's almost overwhelming and is certainly oppressive.  do we understand it ? yes.   is it too much ? perhaps... have things stayed safe due to security precuations ? yes.... so... let's just deal.. meantime, the manholes are sealed,

         

the credentialed are hologrammed, the machine guns are loaded, and sean hannity's hairspray  supply  has been re-stocked.. all is well....  (( see u tube)).  The hope here is that Gustav turns out to be meeker than expected and things can quickly get back to ''normal'' here where St Paulites are desparate to emerge from the shadow of their bigger, better known twin city... ( that would be ??? minneapolis )..... and yes.. st paul is where ''that mall '' is the 8 billion square foot Mall of America.. hope to get there for a story.. a convention related event was scheduled there for tues.. before everything was tossed up in the air.   more later

     I am generally fascinated by airports and the way they work.   It’s amazing given all the crowds and the often absurd rules and regulations post 9/11 that anybody gets anywhere close to on time and relatively sane. Having said that, I started things off on a bit of the wrong foot today at LAX en route to the Republican Convention.    After paying to check a bag, and waiting for like an hour at the bottom of the staircase in Terminal 2 while some robotic TSA employee SLOWLY checked ID’s against boarding passes ( more on that later )   and even shined some kind of James Bond flashlight at the drivers licenses… it was time for the real fun… the metal detector.  Huge line there….

Then… all of a sudden two well dressed gentlemen simply stepped into line at the front.. bypassing dozens of us patiently being herded down the chute.  This proved to be a bit too much for me.  “Uh, excuse me, the end of the line is over there “ I politely offered… The gentlemen told me they were instructed by ‘’the lady’’ to go where they did.. even said I could  ask her if I wanted.  I politely declined.  One of the two, wearing cool sunglasses and preppy blazer… graciously insisted I go in front of him… very nice.  “Are you going to the convention  ?” I asked, somewhat chagrined.  “Yes” was the tight reply.   I’m thinking they’re like Secret Service agents or Air Marshals or something cool.  Only a few minutes later, grabbing some food so I didn’t starve en route to Minneapolis St Paul  ( licorice , $3.00 no kidding, ) did I realize I was talking with none other than United States Congressman David Drier and one of his friendly staffers. The staffer  recognized me and explained who was who. The fact that someone recognized me was an additional surprise.. I mean.. if you’re recognizing me , I say ‘get a life’…. (Kidding). I have been on TV in LA since like the first Reagan Administration) . Oh well, I apologized profusely for not recognizing the Representative him as I boarded ( he was at least in coach too ).  So that was amusing….  On board lots of time to read more about McCain and the surprise # 2 Palin.  Talk about gambles… Of particular amusement was McCain aide Steve Schmidt ( himself quite the character) that Palin is by any objective measure more qualified to be President than Barack Obama. We’ll have to talk about that.. I mean she seems great….but Alaska ?  At least it’ll make the convention A LOT more interesting.  Did you know she used to wk in TV ? Can’t be all bad.

                

Before I go though please let me revisit an issue that is always   perplexing to many.. at the airports, why the constant and repetitive checking of ID’s against tickets and boarding passes.  I forget the exact # but most s of the 9/11 hijackers were flying w/ their true names and tickets… There is no point in checking id’s against tickets.  If you’re willing to die , you’ll use your own name … if you’re trying to board you aint gonna have a license that doesn’t match your ticket, unless you’ve been on Mars for the past ten years.. If someone has an explanation for this procedure, I’m all ears…. Airport security is a huge challenge and must be done, but since we’re in the political convention season, maybe Obama or McCain could include in their parties platform a pledge to re-evaluate the whole airport security process ( even though they all fly on private planes now .) I’ reminded of a quote from an Israeli aviation security expert post 9/11 .  “The  Americans look for the bomb.. the Israelis look for the bomber''

Let's be clear.. John Schwada is way more funnier and smarter than I is. That's why they sent him to the Democratic Convention... the main story line there seems so obvious that it takes a political operative like him to figure out what the hell is REALLY going on... as one of my old news directors told me once... ''when everyone is going in the front door.. you go in the side''..... if there's a side door to explore our man John will do it.. of course in that scenario he might get shot by the Secret Service, so i hope he''s careful. I am loving John's blogging and his reporting... I hope you are too.. cause, seriously, the man knows his stuff. Most of us TV types are real shallow... so his print background really shows. My print background is a 9th grade report on Rabbits for the Junior High Biology Newsletter ( I did get an A )

On Saturday, I will be heading to St Paul , Minneapolis w/ my friends and colleagues John and Greg to do our thing w/ the Republicans... John McCain is preparing for this by going on the "Tonight Show'' which of course is now standard operating procedure if you're a candidate.. something seems odd there.. you have to show that you can joke around to be taken seriously . The story line from the Republican convention, ( once he picks a VP) is a little less straightforward. McCain seems to be positioning himself as the underdog going up against the media darling.... so what if he doesn't know how many houses he has ? Good for him if he has a lot...So what if he's 90. he has a young blonde trophy wife... He complains about Obama being an 'elitist" yet tonite after the Jay Leno deal he's going to a Beverly Hills fundraiser himself.. So.... all this is, as we might say '' hot air.. and yes... the conventions are pre - ordained political theater.. but hey.. i love the theater... so i' m fired up. any thing you have in mind is should do in the 'Twin Cities'' that's suitable for a family newscaset, let me know... ttyl.