YearlyKos day 1: pundit training

Ok, this YearlyKos conference is the hotness!!! I'll be posting as often as I can, but many of you remember I'm still behind on my BookExpo coverage.

Pundit Training

I started the day at crazy 8am by attending "pundit training" run by the Center for American Progress. I figured it was good for me, the vigilante pundit, to see how the official people do it. The session was all really practical covering

• How to prepare for media interviews on TV and radio


• What to wear, dealing with people cutting you off, etc


• Workshop examples involving people in the room being subjected to interviews, video taped and critiqued.

Some highlights

• One of the workshop moderators was asked, "What do we do if the host keeps talking over us?" The answer: "Well, the American people are smart, and they see through the bullshit." So I then asked a followup: "Um, yeah. I was just wondering what planet you were living on where the American people are smart and see through bullshit?"


• One of the key pieces of advice was how to dress for TV interviews. The general advice was 1) always where a jacket/blazer because it fills out your figure and gives you a place to clip the mic, and 2) don't dress like Ann Coulter (basically topless and trashy). An observant workshop attendee asked, "Well where does Ann Coulter clip her mic?" Another person answered: "Her Adam's Apple." Oops. Pow. Surprise.