Here is the link to the
original in today's
Le Monde, (a major Paris newspaper) in French. Or you can read the translation I've provided below. DevilsTower, Pastor Dan, LondonYank, Momster and others are mentioned.
Cleaned up a few sentences...the first go-round was a very quick translation. [PT]
The Future of the Democrats hangs by a blog
by Corinne Lesnes, Special Correspondent.
The man responsible for all this strolls down the convention aisles wearing Bermuda shorts. He displays a satisfied smile. In 2004, Markos Moulitsas was a complete unknown. Today, people claim that he's a kingmaker within the Democratic Party. His blog, The Daily Kos, has on average 500,000 readers a day, more than all opinion sites combined. He has just published a book, (Crashing the Gate) in which he pillories the establishment. But that does not stop the politico-media class from flocking to his convention.
The event was held from Thursday 8 June to Sunday 10 June in Las Vegas because the hotels offer deep discounts, says Gina Cooper, who was an instructor in Tennessee a year ago. Kos's blog seized her with passion and she volunteered to become the convention organizer. Among the slot machines and scantily clothed showgirls, the bloggers are plotting to upset the Republicans.
The convention offered workshops ("Behind Enemy Lines: How to Respond to the Right-Wing Media"), receptions offered by presidential hopefuls (Bill Richardson, Tom Vilsack, Wesley Clark) and a Sunday service led by "Pastor Dan". It was a real political party convention. Markos Moulitsas is 34 and when he started his blog to express his rage against Bush, he titled it after the nickname used by his Army buddies: Kos. Born in Chicago to a Greek family from El Salvador, he believes that joining the Army was the "best decision" of his life. I had no self confidence. But after I was discharged, I was convinced that I could conquer the world.
The bane and destroyer of Republicans and weak-willed Democrats, Markos is one of few to earn a living from this blog, aided by advertising. In 2005, he made a profit of $80,000. Daily Kos has become a term of jargon and given birth to an entire generation of "Kossacks". The authors (and there are dozens) write on the topic of their choice. Readers rank the opinion posts from 0 to 4. The best articles are promoted to the front page.
There are sometimes "wars", like that pitting the feminists against Markos over an advertisement in poor taste (they unsubscribed). And high drama, such as when Armando was outed as a business lawyer who had defended a corporation detested by the Left: The Wal-Mart supermarket chain.
These Democrat bloggers believe that their time has come. Thanks to technology, every person can become a leader. Everyone has a voice. We can no longer be marginalized. It's 2006, and here we are!, declares Markos at the podium. At five months away from the November mid-term Congressional elections, the political machine is courting the Kossacks and is listening to them. Party Chairman Howard Dean has created a 8-person Internet team to monitor reactions at their blogs. Senators Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer showed up in defense of recognizing the establishment. Anyone who doesn't understand what we do is making a mistake, said New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.
This is a community that represents the democratization of the public space, adds future Presidential hopeful and centrist Mark Warner, after having blown away attendees with a reception on the 109th floor of the Stratosphere Casino. The "old media" has acknowledged their power, even though no one really knows how it is constituted.
On Sunday 11 June, Markos entered the inner sanctum, Meet the Press, the well-known Sunday talk show on NBC. He wore a sober jacket and measured his tone: Can we win the elections? Probably not. But we can make some noise, collect money and play the same role as conservative media outlets such a Fox News have played for the Republicans.
Kossacks raised 700,000 dollars during the 2004 elections (Moveon.org is able to raise the same amount of money in a single day). But bloggers don't want to become a money machine, says novelist Mark Sumner, aka "Devilstower". We are here to spread ideas. And as to Markos, he is there to push the party toward the Left. He believes that the Bill Clinton's Third Way is a waste of time or worse and had led to today's position of weakness. The political elite have betrayed us, he says. The Republicans because they are unable to govern; the Democrats because they can't get elected. Now it's our turn.
The convention is one way of turning the page on centrism. Even one of the strategists behind The Third Way, Simon Rosenberg, recognizes this: As powerful as it was in the 1990's, it's an obsolete lens through which to view the word. Hillary Clinton was noticeably absent. At the top of opinion polls, she claimed that she had a "scheduling conflict" but Markos has already sent her a message through The Washington Post that her candidacy was "all but inevitable".
Among the ranks, she has few supporters. My mother was a close friend of Betty Friedan (feminist author), explains Eve Gittelson, a New Yorker. It hurts me to think that that I could not support a woman. But the media will destroy her and will bring up her marriage. I don't want to go through that again.
But she would make a fine Cabinet Secretary, interjects George Karayannis.
The other bête noire of the Kossacks is Senator Joe Lieberman, who shared the ticket with Al Gore, and is a Democrat hawk. Friends of Markos have vowed to throw him out of office and are supporting an anti-war candidate running against him in Connecticut.
The primary will prove to be highly symbolic. The takeover of the party is at stake. If Lieberman loses, there will be another party entering the scene, says a blogger at AmericaBlog. But for the moment, the bloggers are happily engaged in meeting one another. It is a general coming out party. They had exchanging views in the comments section for a couple of months and they've finally met. They thought I was an old banker jokes Kathleen Tyson-Quah, a young woman who writes on strategic questions from London using the handle LondonYank.
Among the thousands of bloggers present, there are very few under 25. According to a readership survey, the average age of the Daily Kos audience is 45. The media sought out the doyenne of the bloggers to interview her under a nude Sin City poster. Did she play the slots? Did she win? No way! Ellie Pirelli, 78, is there to blog. She began when she moved from California to the heart of Republican Country in Utah. It's like another country, she says. A total theocracy. But the blogs have saved her from depression. In Las Vegas, someone showed her how to write. She's published her first article under the handle "Momster." She hopes to write about the human condition and politics. Her first post is already among the favorites. I am going to become a celebrity, she announces.
Corine Lesnes, 13 June 2006