NN08

I'm too tired to talk about the Donna Edwards keynote tonight, so I'll just link to this liveblog of her remarks at OpenLeft. It's appropriate, since Chris Bowers is sitting at the table next to me.

I agree - it was a very good speech.

I added a link to my Netroots Nation photo album in the right sidebar, and here's a sampling:

[UPDATE: Al Gore is in the house!]

I'm sitting in the big hall here at the Austin convention center with several hundred of my fellow progressives and the Speaker of the House. You can stream the video live here: http://www.netrootsnation.org/node/982

Nancy Pelosi is taking questions - moderated by Netroots Nation organizer Gina Cooper and one of my favorite writers, Jeffrey Feldman. Pelosi was introduced by Congressman Lloyd Doggett.

First question was about inherent contempt; short version of the answer is that she trusts Congressman Conyers' judgment, and that he is taking the lead on the strategy of dealing with contempt.

Throughout her answers, she's doing a good job of talking about what the House has been able to accomplish - something that really gets overlooked in the talk of what they haven't done.

Second question was about FISA; she argued that the House version was forced by the Senate vote, and elaborated on this theme. She made a powerful case as to why the House version was better, but most people in the crowd weren't buying it. Most interesting was that she argued that even court proceedings wouldn't have allowed any more of the facts about the White House's spying programs to come to light.

I am really impressed by the way Pelosi seems to be able to connect issues - she definitely has a larger, strategic vision of the country that doesn't get a chance to come through in sound bites.

I'll be in the convention center all day today - I got here about an hour ago, and I'll probably be here until about 9:30 tonight. Luckily, wireless coverage is much better here than it is over at the Hilton.

A quick glance around the net shows that there's been a lot of analysis about the "debate" between Markos and Harold Ford yesterday. I didn't think it was quite as disappointing as Christian Progressive Liberal at Jack & Jill Politics, but it did lack for any real spark or clash.

I don't want to talk to much about Markos' performance, but here are just a few things I noticed about Harold Ford's comments:

• When discussing the history of the DLC, Ford explicitly invoked the what David Sirota calls the McGovern myth.
• When defending Democrats who vote outside of the mainstream of their constituents, Ford explicitly mentioned the "rational actor" theory that George Lakoff calls an "18th-century idea of the mind".

Individually, these might not mean much. But the fact that Ford invoked both of these ideas shows how truly out of touch with the current political reality he is. I'll elaborate on Lakoff's theory later, but to me this indicates that the declining relevance of the DLC is due not to their candidates or their funding, but rather their basic intellectual approach to politics and the world at large.

During the Q&A period, the activist in me was frustrated by Ford's evasiveness, but my practical campaign side was impressed with his message discipline. Ford's three-legged dog, so to speak, was the basic economic ideas that will be crucial in this election. Unfortunately, some poorly-asked questions allowed Ford to dodge the questions and hide behind basic platitudes.

Not really, but I did just give an interview to the Austin ABC affiliate, KVUE. I'll see if I can find the video and post it.

On an unrelated note, there's something uncomfortable about having the author of the book you're reading walk by you. Especially when you're furiously scribbling notes about it.

I wanted to wait until I had a little time to reflect on the opening night speeches, just to see how it affected my perception of things.

On Thursday evening, the Netroots Nation crowd was treated to speeches by General Wes Clark and Howard Dean. The emcee for the event was the immensely entertaining Baratunde Thurston. However, the highlight of the evening was the show-stealing speech by DFT Political Director and former Texas state legislator Glen Maxey introducing Governor Dean.

Wes Clark consistently impresses me - more than almost anyone in the media or politics, he has a real understanding of what is is that we do. By that I mean everything from the online Netroots & blogging communities to everyday activism and DIY politics. Maybe it's because his first major foray into politics was preceded by the online DraftClark petition, but regardless, he seems to understand and appreciate the role of what we do. His comments struck an excellent tone with the crowd, and definitely seemed to be tailored to our role in politics.

Howard Dean's speech was essentially a longer version of what he gave at the rally earlier in the day. While there was nothing bad about his comments, they just didn't seem to really fit the audience or occasion. The one line that stood out, though, was when he took things a step further than his earlier remarks. While exhorting the crowd to avoid making the mistake of his generation - that assuming electoral victories would be good enough - he again said that democracy needs to be constantly nurtured. But he went one step further, arguing that democracy is more than just still an experiment: it's an unnatural system. The tone of that section of his speech was just not quite forceful enough, though, to really reflect this very interesting line of thought. I found that idea very interesting, and very much in character with a discussion I had been having earlier about the attitude of the founders toward democracy.

The hands-down highlight of the evening, though, was Glen Maxey's introduction of Howard Dean. Maxey tapped into the notion that the Dean campaign was a transformational moment in American politics. His simple refrain: "We were empowered by Howard and the internet." In excellent Texas storytelling style, he wove a narrative about Texas politics, national politics, and the Dean campaign's lasting impact.

Sorry for the dearth of posts yesterday, but not having wireless in my room is more of a disadvantage than I thought. I was up late talking politics with other DFA folks from around the county, and getting some great ideas for programs for DFMC.

More pics added:

• General NN pics
• Register for Change pics

Yesterday was mostly caucus day, meeting with different groups. I spent a couple of hours working the DFA booth in the exhibition hall, and I met a number of tremendously inspirational and interesting people. I spoke with Ed Brayton (author of Dispatches from the Culture Wars, among other sites). I had lunch with Isaac, the internet director for J Street, then spent the evening talking about red state politics with John from Mississippi's Cotton Mouth blog. In the afternoon, I was sitting in the small DFA hospitality suite, just a few feet away from George Lakoff during the DFA Night School session. I said hello to Jim Slattery, Wes Clark, Darcy Burner, Charlie Brown, and some guy named Markos.

Once I get a chance to clean things up a bit, I'll post my thoughts on last night's keynote featuring comedian Baratunde Thurston, DFT Political Director Glen Maxey, Wes Clark, and Howard Dean.

[Update: I posted pictures of the Austin Register for Change rally to my Picasa albums -bmk]

Greetings from Austin! I am currently working in the DFA booth here at Netroots Nation, encouraging people to sign our giant thank you card to Howard Dean. I've managed to swipe quite a bit of swag for my fellow DFMC-ers, so I'll return to Bloomington bearing gifts.

This morning was some of the informal caucus meetings, and the big DFA caucus is tonight.

At noon, there was a rally in the little park across the street, featuring the Chairman of the Texas Democratic party and Howard Dean. Ostensibly, Dean was encouraging people to register to vote - but as he's always said, voting is the bare minimum of democratic participation. The general theme of Dean's remarks, though, was that democracy has to be nurtured. It isn't enough to work to get people elected. After the election, we have to continue to work to secure the future of America.

That is the vision I have for Democracy for Monroe County - to become the organization that provides a consistent progressive voice in local and state politics.

I'll update the site with pictures later, and fill you in on Governor Dean's keynote address tonight.

Well, nothing exciting to report yet. I did manage to find a nice little Thai restaurant and pick up my NN nametag & bag-o-swag:

I'll post other photos as the conference progresses at my Picasa page.

Right now, I'm still trying to figure out which panels to attend tomorrow - there's just too many people I'd like to hear from. (If you've got any input, please consider this post an open thread!)

This is my first post from Austin; I'm currently sitting in the lobby of the Hilton in Austin, waiting until check-in time. Luckily, the wireless is up and seems to be working well.

There's not much official NetrootsNation stuff going on today, but I'm hoping to meet with as many people as I can, and do a little exploring around Austin.

Tonight, I hope to post a short video blog; if it goes well, then I'll try to do that nightly from here on out.