Even trolls come to Yearly Kos.....
Well yes and no. Below we have Scott Finch pretending to be ErrinF. But Carl Nyberg did show up, and it was good to meet him, albeit briefly at the Netroots Candidates Party. Carl is not really a true troll, in my opinion, just a victim of the insanity that is the I/P diary and a subject that seems to bring out the worst and most vile side of people.
For me, the most emotional moment of the Convention was the first five minutes of Markos' keynote speech on Saturday. He paid tribute to the Kossacks and bloggers we lost this past year, especially Jim Capozzola of Rittenhouse Review, our fellow Kossack stationwagon, and Steve Gilliard. Tears welled in the eyes of everyone in the room as a minute long standing ovation followed.
Another funny aspect of the convention was the "live open thread" present in the main convention hall (room 100) prior to speeches and the presidential forum. And when you mix snarky Kossacks with alcohol, you get this:
The Presidential Forum/Debate was obviously the highlight of the Convention. I am still dumbfounded that it actually happened. And it was the first debate in my political memory that was truly a debate. The round robin on Lobbying and Campaign Finance was spectactular. And we all need to credit Matt Bai, McJoan and Jeffrey Feldman with moderating the debate and asking very good questions. They all did a spectactular job.
And what made that debate was allowing the crowd to react positively or negatively to what the candidates had to say. Democracy is messy, and all of our politicians have been surrounded too long by a protective bubble to allows them only to hear accolades from supporters, rather than criticism from detractors.
Here is a messy and blurry crowd shot cheering during the debate:
I've gotta say: Hillary won the weekend. No, she did not win the debate. Actually, in talks over drinks after the forum, I was hard pressed to find anyone who thought any candidate clearly won the debate. Sure, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson impressed, and Edwards and Obama had their moments, but the one I heard consistently over the weekend was about how well Hillary did. People who were either concerned about her chances in the general or were not going to enthusiastically support her or campaign for her if she was our nominee are now comfortable with her possible nomination and with campaigning for her.
Sure, we still have disagreements with her on various issues or with what her candidacy represents (i.e. Clinton Dynasty); but she did engage us, and she did not just pander to us. She stood firm on some rather unpopular issues, such as taking money from lobbyists. I disagree with her, but I do respect the candor and the courage to say that, knowing she was going to be booed. And she was booed.
Hillary also bent over backwards to satisfy us during the whole Breakout Session Mix-Up. On Thursday night, we were informed that Hillary would not be attending the breakout sessions following the Presidential Forum. The news was booed heartily. As I understand it, what had happened however was that there was a miscommunication between the Yearly Kos convention organizers and the Clinton campaign in that it was assumed that she would be attending the breakout sessions, when in fact the campaign knew nothing about it. Hillary Clinton could have been arrogant and not made an effort to reschedule or attend the scheduled breakout session. I commend her for coming, because I think it was good to see her engaging the audience and answering our questions directly, which she did.
So, while she did not win my primary vote, she has won my enthusiatic support in the general election if she is our nominee. I think that was her mission this weekend. It was accomplished.
Another aspect to this convention was the press.
They were everywhere, in every room, asking questions of everyone. I tried to avoid them, but they captured me and Plutonium Page talking and looking at the latest headlines on her laptop. I think everyone handled themselves well from what I have seen.
And that leads me to my overall impression of the significance of this convention.
Symbiotic Change.
Many have said that this convention was different in feel from Las Vegas. That convention was the first time in the history of Daily Kos that many Kossacks and bloggers gathered in a large place. Thus, and necessarily, that convention was all about meta. Everyone was really getting to know each other for the first time. And while there was speeches with Harry Reid and Howard Dean and panels featuring important subjects of policy, meta was more important in Las Vegas because the story was us.
And then the Democrats won the election in November. Local, state and national blogs were on display. Our power demonstrated. Our people powered candidates, like Tester and Webb, won; and those that lost still made previously safe Republican seats competitive for the first time in decades.
Now, as we gathered in Chicago, we had the chance to discuss policy and substance, and actually have the chance to affect policy change. So this convention was not primarily the family reunion as Las Vegas was. This convention was more serious. At the same time, the Democratic Party continues to reach out to us, and continues their own "maturation" process with respect to using this technology and employing our message to grow a spine, stand up to the Republicans and represent true progressive values and policies.
They have a long way to go, as evidenced by the FISA vote this weekend. They still disappoint us on a regular basis. But they are making progress. The next President of the United States attended the Yearly Kos Convention, engaged us and answered our questions. That's progress on their part and ours.
It took 30 or more years for the Democrats to become such wimps where standing up to Republicans is concerned. It is going to take more time to get them to stand up again.
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