Guess who will be blogging this year from CPAC? by James Panero

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Feb 27, 2007 04:18 PM

Guess who will be blogging this year from CPAC?

by James Panero

Who-hoo! It’s me!

Check out Armavirumque this Thursday for the real deal from the floor of the Conservative Political Action Conference.

As part of my research for CPAC, I have made extensive notes of the film Shattered Glass. You may recall that this movie recounts how the disgraced reporter Stephen Glass fabricates a debaucherous evening at CPAC for the pages of The New Republic. The debauchery was fake, but the article was real. (Alas, TNR removed Glass’s article, called "Spring Breakdown," from the internet long ago.)

Anyway, in Shattered Glass , we first find Glass pitching the CPAC story in an editorial meeting:

What are you working on?

Young Republicans at a CPAC Conference.

Pretty standard stuff.

Hotel ballrooms, boring speeches. Chicken dinners.

Which is why everybody spends their time in the suites upstairs

committing felonies.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah. I went to one. The ballroom was empty.

Every delegate under the age of was on the fifth floor getting loaded.

Drugs, binge drinking, hookers...

it gets pretty ugly.

- Sounds great, Steve.

This story catches up with Glass later on, in a chilling scene in which Glass is confronted by his editor:

Do you have a minute?
Of course.

We have a problem with the "Spring Breakdown" piece.
Just got a letter from David Keene. He ran the CPAC Conference.

- He’s made...
- Are you mad at me?

He’s made some pretty serious charges. We need to answer them.

Okay. My notes are at home.
I can be back in minutes. Is that too long?

Do your notes have anything about the minibars? That would help.

I think so. No, I’m sure. Why?

He claims the Omni Shoreham doesn’t even have minibars.
- He mentioned it specifically.
- No, I saw them.

There were little bottles of booze all over the room.

Okay. I’ll get Aaron and Rob into it,

and start the fact-check again.

I’ll get my notes.
- Thank you...

Keene was right, Michael.

I messed up.

I made a huge error.

I don’t know what to say. If you want me to resign, I will.

I want you to tell me what happened. They don’t have minibars at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.

The message of this film prompted me to suggest that Ellie Thermansen, our Assistant to the Publishers, conduct some original research into Glass’s story.

I am happy to report that the Omni Shoreham Hotel now has minibars.

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