Memorable RNC phrases? By making a “quantitative snapshot of the media’s” most influential news and business newspapers and magazines in the United States, Factiva says the following were the most “memorable phrases” of the 2004 RNC:

Arnold Schwarzenegger: “Economic girlie man” - (157 on the “index”)

John McCain: “A disingenuous filmmaker” - 72

Zell Miller: “Armed with what? Spitballs?” - 67

Arnold Schwarzenegger: “America is back” - 55

Rudy Giuliani: “Thank God that George Bush is our President” - 44

I’m surprised the following didn’t make the list: “Flip-flop,” “Four More Years,” “a swagger in Texas called walking,” “Read my lips, no new taxes” (oh, wait, that’s another RNC convention).

(via ResourceShelf.com)

Men in blue: I’m amazed how one can be oblivious to a protest taking place a block away, but now, after reading this NYT piece on “post-Seattle” tactics for preparing for large-scale protests, I get it. And before I forget it, the NYPD has been impressive this week. I know they didn’t sign on for this gig when they joined the force (a weird blend of tourist wrangling and anti-terrorist warrioring), but from my personal experience, their calm, friendly yet firm presence has been at the same time overwhelming and reassuring. Many of those I talked with are funny, as well. The conventioneers talk about them in reverent tones. There are a lot of “thank yous” being said in non-New York accents. The NYT reports that 1,768 protesters have been arrested. I’m hoping they can round off the number to 1776.

Rexblogumentary III: In what is likely my final videoblog post from the RNC, I recap my visit to the RNC goo-gah fest at the Hilton Hotel. Words can’t capture the experience, so I did this piece I call “Bazar” (QT 1.9 MB) instead. My two previous videoblog posts are called Gonna Make You Sweat (QT 1.1 MB) and Express Yourself (QT 4 MB).

It’s the media economics, stupid: For more than a year I tried scoffing at the MediaPost.com’s practice of reporting magazine advertising results by focusing on the number of pages rather than the amount of revenue. In other words, the story would always be: “Pages still down, and oh by the way, revenues are up.” So, I was a little amused today to see MediaPost.com’s handling of the Fox News GOP rating story that takes the opposite approach: The viewership is way up, but revenue is the only thing that matters. It’s nice when you can take both sides of the same argument. As for me, however, always “show me the money.”

Bush twins: I’m falling down on the blog. It’s what, Wednesday or Thursday (they’ve run together by now) and I’m only now getting around to noting this week’s [Macro error: Can't evaluate the expression because the name "ftpSite" hasn't been defined.]
(thanks to Bill). (Clone covers [Macro error: Can't evaluate the expression because the name "ftpSite" hasn't been defined.]
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September 6, 2004

Just between us: All week, I’ve been telling my wife that all I’ve had time to eat was fruit from the deli down the street so please, no one tell her about the two-hour lunch I had today in a noted wine cellar of a noted restaurant which included, well, an impressive sampling of a wide array of fruit-related products stored in the noted cellar. Oh, and yesterday, I had lunch with the noted blogger boy, media man and serial luncher, Jeff Jarvis, in his day-job’s noted employee cafeteria, designed by one of the world’s noted architects and funded by a noted publishing magnate. But tonight (wait, make that last night), I just had some fruit from the deli down the street. (If you don’t count the other grazing.)

Too busy being seen: A very insightful A-list blogger whose name I won’t drop observed last night that individuals in the media-political-industrial-protestor complex (although he didn’t call them that) come to political conventions in order to renew and review the pecking order. It’s all determined by what kind of pass they have, what parties they are invited to (or can crash) and if they are included in such psuedo, insta-status happenings like CNN’s diner. He’s right. Unfortunately, I’m busy all day and night today attending pecking-order functions that I doubt I’ll be blogging much more until late night.

Magazine news break: If you’re one of this blog’s seven regular readers, there will be nothing new in this Newsday story about 2004 magazine launches. It is a big year for Samir Husni quotes.

Power of the press: The front page of the New York Times today is, itself, the news of the morning. One of those moments when the power of photojournalism is displayed in repulsive, yet definitive fashion.

Blogger central: Forget Arnold. In the last few hours I’ve met Matt Welch, Jay Rosen, David Siffry and, okay, I’ll stop the blogerati name-dropping. It’s like Julian Sanchez said, oh, wait, or was it Jeff Jarvis. Anyway, it was something about blogging. In fact, I’ve heard alot of blogging during the last few hours. But duty calls and I must head in a different direction. Catch-up blogging in the morning.

The oscarfication of political conventions: What you are about to witness in this post is messy: a stream-of-consciousness theory being slung out rather than written (which, come to think of it, about sums up all of my posts). Here goes:

While it is a culmination of a transition that has taken a few decades to unfold (dating from the realization by states that they could get some national media attention if they held a presidential primary with the unintended consequence of devaluing the importance of smokey rooms), this Republican National Convention marks the full realization that these quaderinel events are considered by the producers as nationally televised Oscars/Grammy Awards Ceremonies rather than any exercise in the democratic process. (Except the networks don’t have to pay for broadcast rights.)

The session (show? ceremony? performance?) each night (there are four shows at a convention to make up for the years skipped between each one) is tightly staged so that the big awards (Award for Best Hero from the Vietnam era goes to…., and the Award for Best icon of courage and leadership in a time of crisis goes to….) will appear when the TV audience is peaking. The other awards (Best Speaker of the House who we all love but are afraid will scare people at home goes to…) all happens “before the telecast” — that is, unless you are a C-SPAN junkie or watch the Oscars via streaming video.

The evening is a series of quick obligatory tributes and traditions that could be compared to the Lifetime Achievement Awards (past-president videos) and the Accounting firm disclosure statement (the roll call of the states).

Interspersed are musical numbers (the top five nominated movie theme songs) performed by the original artists (unless they are too busy to make it or are afraid that appearing at the convention would do harm to their career). Like at the Oscars, at a convention there are plenty of “presenters” — people who come out on stage for a moment of glory as some form of pay-back or as an expression of diversity or a nuanced nod to a certain group or cause.

The outdoor “red carpet” (except at a convention, the carpet is inside) is the same, except with political conventions, the networks have decided that all of their coverage should be outside rather than inside the convention hall…and when inside, a belief that people are more interested in predicting and reviewing what will happen in five minutes and what happened five minutes ago, than what is actually happening.

However, the real reason I believe we have finally entered the “Convention as Awards Show Era” has more to do with economic and cultural similarities than with the production values and blocking.

This is an event where the industry (with a central part of that industry being the media covering it) can all gather and network, party and deal. After 24 hours at my first convention, I can attest that the pre-parties, post-parties, who’s who wondering, big-wig gawking, promotional gifts for the presenters, etc., all have similar analogies here.

One more thing. If you’re truly, truly hip, you skip all this stuff and spend time developing theories on how the movie and recording and broadcasting and news and political and educational and military and whatever else industries are all one big conspiracy anyway, and besides, truth can only be found at the Burning Man Festival.

At least that’s my theory. Aren’t you glad I didn’t go with the earlier one I had that would have used college bowl games as a metaphor?

Update: Arnold apparently agrees with me: “This is like winning an Oscar,” he tells the audience, adding the self-deprecating caveat, “Like I would know.”

Totally random observation of RNC Monday, II: Some advice for those with “guest” access, not “media” access. You can avoid the sense of being in a mouse maze if you enter the “convention bubble” from the north (uptown) via 8th Avenue. Enter “the bubble” next to the Duane Reade at 34th and 8th.

Totally random observation of RNC Monday, I: Culled from notes, now that I’ve had a few hours sleep…The elevator/hydrolic “round music pit” next to the main stage became a focus of curiousity for me: I keep wondering how bizarre the next musical segment can be: starts with a broadway show tune medley (ironic choice of last tune: There’s No Business Like Show Business) and throughout the evening down-and-up pops country, pop, gospel and choral musicians. The house band is stationed near me and provides a steady stream of Mo-Town and “lite” jazz. They’re no Funk Brothers, but seem deep with solid session players.

Acting PC: While magazine news is preempted this week, I wanted to follow up on an item blogged last month. Late yesterday, Ziff Davis announced it will reclassify about 20 percent of PC Magazine’s circulation from paid to non-paid. Still apparently blaming Time Inc. subsidiary Synapse Group, a subscription agent. It will reclassify about 260,000 of its 1.2 million subscriptions from 2003 and the first half of 2004 from “paid” to the category of “analyzed non-paid” under ABC circulation rules. The total circulation figures remain unchanged.

Observations of Monday night’s session: Didn’t blog real-time, but here are some thoughts triggered by the notes I took. Tuesday sometime, I hope to post a Quicktime piece called “things from the convention hall I doubt you saw on TV.”

1. I think the networks did a good thing by limiting coverage to an hour of prime time as there’s little there there. Unless, that is, you’re a C-SPAN junkie like me. Then, being at an event like this is more entertaining than the Rolling Stones in 1972. Sad when I think about it.

2. Reminds me of the way I felt about attending the Super Bowl (don’t ask which one or what team lost by the length of an outstretched arm holding a football). Unlike a regular season football game where I feel (even with the timeouts for commercials) that the TV viewers are watching what I’m seeing for real. At the Super Bowl, I felt like “the real thing” was what the TV viewers were watching…that I was just getting to observe what was being staged for the folks at home. Attending a political convention in 2004 is like being in a studio audience. The real thing is what’s being seen on TV.

3. And then, just when I think all I’m witnessing is a made-for-TV event, Rudy Giuliani provides a glimpse back into history…what it must have been like when politicians could make rousing speeches without teleprompters. (Sure, he had one, but did he need it?) I have absolutely no idea how the speech was perceived on TV and am writing this before reading any blogging remarks about it. From my vantage point, sitting a couple hundred feet in front of him, I felt like I was experiencing something great: someone with rhetorical skills rarely found today, at his peak, preaching from his heart. He had the crowd mesmerized.

4. Never has something so difficult to get into had so many empty seats.

5. The convention jockies, CJs, are perhaps the dumbest idea ever conceived…dumber still, having them all females. However, it is so dumb, the CJs could develop a cult following complete with fan clubs and tribute websites. Hey, it could happen.

6. John McCain is to Republicans what Bill Bradley is to Democrats. Bigger than life. Genuine greatness. But totally lacking the whole speech-making thing.

7. Lots more notes but gotta sleep.