Hey y’all! I’m back from Netroots Nation 2008. It was great to see everybody and get a good look at the Texroots. There’s a thriving online group of people working to turn Texas blue – some of them happen to be black – and it was good to see that up close. It gave me goosebumps when someone stood up at the end of the conference at the Bloggers Brunch and said that he’d come to Netroots Nation because he’d seen it here on Jack and Jill Politics.

FYI — the right wing tried to have a counter-conference at the same time during NN08. Punks. They didn’t fare so well compared to the superior energy that we be bringin’. I hope :he 2008 election results look like this:

And this weekend’s dueling blogapaloozas glaringly expose the fact that, as many conservatives concede, Netroots and the right-roots don’t belong in the same ring, at least right now. Consider the numbers. About 500 people — including 30 credentialed press — are scheduled to fill a hotel ballroom for RightOnline. Across town, at least 2,500 people — including 200 credentialed press — are strolling through the convention center for the third annual Netroots Nation, formerly called YearlyKos.

Also consider the casts: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, retired Gen. Wesley Clark, all party bigwigs, are among the speakers at Netroots Nation. At RightOnline, the speakers include Michelle Malkin, Robert Novak and Grover Norquist, icons in the conservative wing of the party but not exactly the GOP’s leadership.

I’m going to be providing some highlights from the conference for those who weren’t able to attend in person. Here’s Al Gore who made a surprise visit during Nancy Pelosi’s “AsktheSpeaker.org” session. It was interesting to see Nancy, although personally I was very disappointed that so few of the questions that had been chosen focused on the economic crisis facing us and what the Democratic leadership plans to do about it. We need to hear more — much more from Dems about their solutions on energy and food prices, the looming banking crisis and the mortgage meltdown in America.

Al Gore has some solutions to share. He says We Can Solve It. I sure hope so. Check out his remarks below.

Related Posts with Thumbnails