Attending the YearlyKos Convention, Report II

Guest Commentary by Bill Ritter

I wish to thank Doug Paul Davis and the People’s Vanguard of Davis for allowing me to report last Sunday from Chicago and again today on the phenomenally successful YearlyKos Convention, which took place August 1 through August 5.

As I mentioned last week, attending the YearlyKos Convention in Chicago was a real eye opener for me. For four days, fifteen hundred bloggers, political activists and journalists traveling from all over the country learned from each other and exchanged ideas about the Netroots, a national on-line internet community which is dedicated to returning democracy to the people and spawning the “Dawn of a New Politics” for America.

The YearlyKos Convention is the annual gathering of bloggers who use the DailyKos.com blog founded by Markos Moulitsas as a way to fight back against the Republican right-wingers, conservative/right-wing talk radio and the Republican propaganda network—Fox News, who have dominated politics in our country for the past 25 years.

It was simply a thrill to be amongst so many progressive citizens committed to taking our country back and repairing the damage of the Bush/Cheney administration.

I have also posted several photos (which will be posted later today) from the convention including a picture of the main stage and the media stage where over one hundred electronic and print media reporters and journalists from across America sat as well as one of me with Charlie & Jan Brown who along with their congressional campaign staff attended the convention too.

Finally, I wish to share with Davis Vanguard readers what the conservative and Republican leaning Chicago Tribune editorialized to their readers on Monday, August 6:

THE RISE OF THE NETROOTS

“We might as well admit it up front: The first time we heard of the liberal blogging network known as Daily Kos was when Bill O’Reilly discussed it on his show. Next thing we know, hundreds of ‘Kossacks’ are hunched over their laptops at McCormick Place South, and seven Democratic presidential candidates are lined up to take their questions. Very impressive.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Chairman Howard Dean and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also RSVP’d to YearlyKos, a three day convention for liberal writer-activists. The event drew so much Democratic star power (and so much press) that it didn’t feel like too much of a stretch for the Washington Post to declare it the ‘Democrats’ Other Convention.’

Dailykos.com, once the personal Web log of native Chicagoan Markos Moulitsas, has evolved into ‘the flagship netroots liberal/progressive/Democratic Web site,’ in other words of a member who blogs under the name “paradox.” That particular entry, posted to welcome and inform curious O’Reilly viewers who are net-savvy enough to find the site, labors to explain what ‘netroots’ are all about. Suffice it to say that Hillary Clinton is the group’s third-favorite presidential candidate, thanks to her relatively hawkish stand on Iraq.

Though they couldn’t find time for the centrist Democratic Leadership Council’s conference earlier in the week, Hillary, Barack and the gang went all-out for YearlyKos, wagering that the bloggers can do for the left what Fox News and Rush Limbaugh have done for the right.

The Republican candidates, meanwhile, are still harrumphing about the format of last month’s CNN/You-Tube debate, in which Democrats responded to videotaped questions submitted by viewers—including one about global warming posed by a digitally enhanced snowman. A similar debate for Republicans looking iffy, with several candidates offering their regrets due to “scheduling conflicts’ while muttering about the erosion of dignity in campaign forums.

‘I don’t know that it makes sense to have people running for president answering questions posed by snowmen,’ former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney sniffed.

The Republican National Committee is similarly dismissive of YearlyKos, calling it a ‘panderfest to liberal partisans,’ maybe it is. But in 2007, freedom of the press belongs to anyone who owns a laptop. The YouTube debate drew 2.6 million television viewers and 45.5 million Web page viewers. Candidates who want to harness the power of the new media are going to have to muster up some respect for snowmen—and for bloggers.”

Author

  • David Greenwald

    Greenwald is the founder, editor, and executive director of the Davis Vanguard. He founded the Vanguard in 2006. David Greenwald moved to Davis in 1996 to attend Graduate School at UC Davis in Political Science. He lives in South Davis with his wife Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald and three children.

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88 comments

  1. As our hometown blogger, “Doug Paul Davis” has definitely earned our respect and appreciation for bringing The Vanguard to our community.

  2. As our hometown blogger, “Doug Paul Davis” has definitely earned our respect and appreciation for bringing The Vanguard to our community.

  3. As our hometown blogger, “Doug Paul Davis” has definitely earned our respect and appreciation for bringing The Vanguard to our community.

  4. As our hometown blogger, “Doug Paul Davis” has definitely earned our respect and appreciation for bringing The Vanguard to our community.

  5. The fact that Hillary is the third choice of the blogging community tells me that new bloggers like me need to speak up on national politics as well as local issues. So here is my first national political statement … Hillary is the best person for the job of President. She is #1 in my head and #1 in my heart.

  6. The fact that Hillary is the third choice of the blogging community tells me that new bloggers like me need to speak up on national politics as well as local issues. So here is my first national political statement … Hillary is the best person for the job of President. She is #1 in my head and #1 in my heart.

  7. The fact that Hillary is the third choice of the blogging community tells me that new bloggers like me need to speak up on national politics as well as local issues. So here is my first national political statement … Hillary is the best person for the job of President. She is #1 in my head and #1 in my heart.

  8. The fact that Hillary is the third choice of the blogging community tells me that new bloggers like me need to speak up on national politics as well as local issues. So here is my first national political statement … Hillary is the best person for the job of President. She is #1 in my head and #1 in my heart.

  9. The fact that Hillary is the third choice of the blogging community tells me that new bloggers like me need to speak up on national politics as well as local issues. So here is my first national political statement … Hillary is the best person for the job of President. She is #1 in my head and #1 in my heart.

  10. The fact that Hillary is the third choice of the blogging community tells me that new bloggers like me need to speak up on national politics as well as local issues. So here is my first national political statement … Hillary is the best person for the job of President. She is #1 in my head and #1 in my heart.

  11. The fact that Hillary is the third choice of the blogging community tells me that new bloggers like me need to speak up on national politics as well as local issues. So here is my first national political statement … Hillary is the best person for the job of President. She is #1 in my head and #1 in my heart.

  12. The fact that Hillary is the third choice of the blogging community tells me that new bloggers like me need to speak up on national politics as well as local issues. So here is my first national political statement … Hillary is the best person for the job of President. She is #1 in my head and #1 in my heart.

  13. The People’s Vanguard of Davis is our local version of the progressive DailyKos website. Our community now has a daily alternative to the Davis Enterprise’s monopoly on what has been reported as news or even reported on at all.

  14. The People’s Vanguard of Davis is our local version of the progressive DailyKos website. Our community now has a daily alternative to the Davis Enterprise’s monopoly on what has been reported as news or even reported on at all.

  15. The People’s Vanguard of Davis is our local version of the progressive DailyKos website. Our community now has a daily alternative to the Davis Enterprise’s monopoly on what has been reported as news or even reported on at all.

  16. The People’s Vanguard of Davis is our local version of the progressive DailyKos website. Our community now has a daily alternative to the Davis Enterprise’s monopoly on what has been reported as news or even reported on at all.

  17. Re: Hillary as #1:
    There is some truth in the mashing together of celeb couple’s names, “Brangelina,” “Bennifer,” and now “HillBilly.”
    You get a two-for-one deal, baggage included, if you vote for Hillary.

  18. Re: Hillary as #1:
    There is some truth in the mashing together of celeb couple’s names, “Brangelina,” “Bennifer,” and now “HillBilly.”
    You get a two-for-one deal, baggage included, if you vote for Hillary.

  19. Re: Hillary as #1:
    There is some truth in the mashing together of celeb couple’s names, “Brangelina,” “Bennifer,” and now “HillBilly.”
    You get a two-for-one deal, baggage included, if you vote for Hillary.

  20. Re: Hillary as #1:
    There is some truth in the mashing together of celeb couple’s names, “Brangelina,” “Bennifer,” and now “HillBilly.”
    You get a two-for-one deal, baggage included, if you vote for Hillary.

  21. Anonymous said…
    Re: Hillary as #1:
    There is some truth in the mashing together of celeb couple’s names, “Brangelina,” “Bennifer,” and now “HillBilly.”
    You get a two-for-one deal, baggage included, if you vote for Hillary.

    I have absolutely no problem with that baggage.

  22. Anonymous said…
    Re: Hillary as #1:
    There is some truth in the mashing together of celeb couple’s names, “Brangelina,” “Bennifer,” and now “HillBilly.”
    You get a two-for-one deal, baggage included, if you vote for Hillary.

    I have absolutely no problem with that baggage.

  23. Anonymous said…
    Re: Hillary as #1:
    There is some truth in the mashing together of celeb couple’s names, “Brangelina,” “Bennifer,” and now “HillBilly.”
    You get a two-for-one deal, baggage included, if you vote for Hillary.

    I have absolutely no problem with that baggage.

  24. Anonymous said…
    Re: Hillary as #1:
    There is some truth in the mashing together of celeb couple’s names, “Brangelina,” “Bennifer,” and now “HillBilly.”
    You get a two-for-one deal, baggage included, if you vote for Hillary.

    I have absolutely no problem with that baggage.

  25. America is in desperate need of massive corrections from the corrupt and disastrous Bush/Cheney policies. As John Dean says in his book “Worse than Watergate” the corruption of the Bush/Cheney administration and the prior 12 years of Republican congresses have bankrupted this country both fiscally and morally. The Bush/Cheney people do not believe in the Rule of Law.

    Every Democratic presidential candidate: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden etc. offers new and positive direction to remedy these massive failures and return our nation to a government for the people and by the people. In 2008, the voters must take back our country.

  26. America is in desperate need of massive corrections from the corrupt and disastrous Bush/Cheney policies. As John Dean says in his book “Worse than Watergate” the corruption of the Bush/Cheney administration and the prior 12 years of Republican congresses have bankrupted this country both fiscally and morally. The Bush/Cheney people do not believe in the Rule of Law.

    Every Democratic presidential candidate: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden etc. offers new and positive direction to remedy these massive failures and return our nation to a government for the people and by the people. In 2008, the voters must take back our country.

  27. America is in desperate need of massive corrections from the corrupt and disastrous Bush/Cheney policies. As John Dean says in his book “Worse than Watergate” the corruption of the Bush/Cheney administration and the prior 12 years of Republican congresses have bankrupted this country both fiscally and morally. The Bush/Cheney people do not believe in the Rule of Law.

    Every Democratic presidential candidate: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden etc. offers new and positive direction to remedy these massive failures and return our nation to a government for the people and by the people. In 2008, the voters must take back our country.

  28. America is in desperate need of massive corrections from the corrupt and disastrous Bush/Cheney policies. As John Dean says in his book “Worse than Watergate” the corruption of the Bush/Cheney administration and the prior 12 years of Republican congresses have bankrupted this country both fiscally and morally. The Bush/Cheney people do not believe in the Rule of Law.

    Every Democratic presidential candidate: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden etc. offers new and positive direction to remedy these massive failures and return our nation to a government for the people and by the people. In 2008, the voters must take back our country.

  29. I’ll gladly take and vote for “HillBilly.” Baggage and all. They have proven that they can handle the hard times. That, coupled with Hillary’s leadership and experience is only one of the reasons that I will be giving her my vote.

  30. I’ll gladly take and vote for “HillBilly.” Baggage and all. They have proven that they can handle the hard times. That, coupled with Hillary’s leadership and experience is only one of the reasons that I will be giving her my vote.