Kos joins New Politics Institute

The Wednesday edition of The Hill ("the newspaper for and about the U.S. Congress") announces the formation of the New Politics Institute. Significant figures in the new enterprise include Simon Rosenberg, Joe Trippi, and our very own Markos Moulitsas Zuniga.

More details after the break.

Politics, not Policy
The article makes the point quite clearly that the forces brought together to form the NPI are not interested in yet another conventional think tank "that churns out white papers and policy briefs", but are instead focused on beating Rove and Mehlman at the game of politics. The major figures, and the funding sources (primarily Silicon Valley progressives and a major labor union), may disagree at the policy level on many things, but they all realize that the country desperately needs to elect Democrats.

In addition to its support from SEIU (the union) and the Rappaports (the Silicon Valley philanthropists), NPI has enlisted the help of Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of the popular liberal blog dailykos.com, as well as (Joe)Trippi, to find innovative ways to deliver their ideas in a changing media landscape.

Pollsters Sergio Bendixen and Mark Penn, SEIU official Gina Glantz and Theo Yedinsky, formerly of the Kerry campaign and currently with NDN, will all play a role in the new startup.

Zuniga was dismissive of the existing progressive thinks tanks' capacity to change the debate or influence elections in the Democrats' favor. "Policy think tanks are pretty useless," he said, without naming any in particular.

"All the great policy white papers aren't going to do any good," he added. NPI will be focused on "building a Democratic Party that is focused on winning."

- snip -

Rosenberg said NPI would focus on three specific themes: the ascendancy of the conservative movement, demographic trends and the demise of the traditional broadcast media.

"Each of these three trends is making the practice of progressive politics very different in this century than the one that came before," Rosenberg said. "NPI has been established to help progressives of all stripes master the challenges of 21st century politics."

Rosenberg said that Democrats need to be prepared to compete in a media environment where the 30-second political ad is no longer relevant and could be eclipsed by new forms of political communication.

So - 3 cheers to our boy for getting his rightful seat at the adult's table, and I look forward to his thoughts on how we Kossaks can help the NPI achieve it's goals.

•  This is great news! I recommended

  then accidentally clicked on "unrecommend" (d'oh!) but I'm sure others will make up for it.

  by wont get fooled again on Tue May 10, 2005 at 11:45:13 PM PDT

  •  Ok then

    I recommended in your staid.

    by southernblues on Wed May 11, 2005 at 12:54:28 AM PDT

•  Good

  At the rate that things are going there is not a second to spare.

  This country is going down the tubes at warp speed.

  by mm201 on Wed May 11, 2005 at 12:22:19 AM PDT

•  I like this...

  ...and the demise of the traditional broadcast media.

  The NewsCorpse meme is catching on.

  by KingOneEye on Wed May 11, 2005 at 01:20:54 AM PDT

•  puzzled that Kos hasn't mentioned it here

    Maybe he wants to compartmentalize his activities.  Sure, why not?  Whatever he wants.

  But after the kerfuffle about his helping out the Dean campaign with technical advice, some sort of announcement here seems prudent.

  by Tulip on Wed May 11, 2005 at 05:57:05 AM PDT