Let me reiterate what I say in the title.  This is one person’s perception.  

Let me put that into context.  I have attended all three conventions, and organized and led at least one panel at each.  I also write this as a long-time member of this community and someone who lives in the National Capital region and is somewhat politically active here.  That sentence is offered solely to perhaps help readers understand some of what I will offer.  While this is my perception, my observations, my analysis, I hope that this diary can provide an occasion of conversation, where others can provide evidence supporting or gainsaying what I have offered.  After all, I was but one of 2,000 attendees, and only saw a small fraction of the sessions.

So please join me below the fold.

    This wasn't the old Kos.

    In a dingy Austin hotel, eating delicious hot tortilla soup, the blogger stroked his Taxi Driver-style mohawk and screamed, "Ow! I pricked myself!" Wiping off the blood on his Sid Vicious t-shirt, he then reflected on what mission drove him here...

   It all started with the the shock, awe, and torrents of tears at YearlyKos 2007 when Gina Cooper announced that YK would now be known as NN, i.e., "NETROOTS NATION". How people wept! Their Internet god was being dissed!
    After that day, Kos wondered to himself as he stubbed out cigarette butts in his palm, "Are they gonna call it 'YearlyGina' the next year? ...Maybe they'll call it 'Kosapalooza' sometime if I'm really nice?"

    Then it got worse. He received a mail--snail mail--saying the "NN" organizing committee decided to really show him who's boss by burning his childhood sled. The sled with the Internet connection years before its time.

    The K crumpled the sheet of dead tree and screamed, "Oh hell, I'll just kill everybody. That'll show 'em!!"

    (mo mayhem)

    It's nice to see Fancy Nancy is now attending Netroots N, so that someone of some current political importance is attending. (If she shows up; remember what Pelosi did last year?) Still, what about You-Know-Who? Where the boo-hoo is Barack H.O.?
    (As per my previous diary, with poll showing Kossacks very much want him to attend)

    ...Back on the first July 4, when our ancestors were sweating to death at Valley Forge (maybe I've got the seasons wrong), did you hear THEM saying, "Ohhh, we're afraid to go to the big bad blog conference, we might get criticized?" Well o.k., NNation didn't exist, but they wouldn't have shied away if it did.
    (And anyway, Barack can do a better Sister Souljah if he attends NN and shouts, "You pinko pundits with Pentiums!", than if he stays away)

    I hear Mr. Obama likes faith-based initiatives these days. Well, let's see if he can keep some faith with the people who did so much for his campaign, and whom he expects to do more. I sure hope he has that cowboy hat, so he can wave it around onstage in Austin. . .

    Simple question.

    ...I may be missing something, but it seems that besides reliable fireplug Howard Dean and a few pundits, there seems to be a serious lack of political--I didn't say "star"--firepower at the upcoming NN.

    Especially compared to last year, when practically every Dem candidate came to the forum.

    If Barack Obama wants to Sister Souljah the netroots by refusing to attend Netroots Nation, that's a serious problem. After all the netroots did for him. (But how much will they do for him in the future if he doesn't pay appropriate respect? And I don't mean a "special videotaped message" from him, either. He can keep that for himself, I wouldn't want to see it.)

    So his absence (and maybe even the absence of others, including a New York senator, a former North Carolina senator, a present Nevada senator and majority leader, etc.) would be a serious comedown from previous conventions. Would the first Netroots Nation even be worth attending? One wonders.
       

The buzz builds....I was worried that during the primary conflama that the annual hysteria that is generated pre-Netroots Nation would be diminished.  But I can see that it is starting to grow--all those diaries about sponsoring scholarships were providing some terrific reminiscences for the previous years.  I'm so pleased to see the 30 folks who will now be able to attend with us!

Last year I was running a periodic compilation of some of the unofficial or off-the-record events that were going on around the conference.  It is time to start doing that again--this is the second.  Also, let's have a conversation about what works and what doesn't work for these conferences.  

It's been ten months now since YearlyKos '07 inspired me to find and join a local CSA. I'm fortunate that living in Southern California allows me to receive fresh produce year-round, but at this time of year most every CSA in the northern hemisphere is in full swing.

The experience has changed the way I eat. I no longer keep meat in the house and usually pass it up when dining out. There is no taste that compares to that of a fresh berry just plucked from the vine that morning, or of fresh-picked salad greens with mustard-herb dressing. With the spotlight on crude oil, both for its soaring price and its CO2 by-products, I feel good that I’m doing a little something to reduce its use. My produce travels under 80 miles from farm to my fork, rather than the 200 miles from the Central Valley or the 1500 mile average our other food travels to reach us. When produce is recalled, I don't worry because I know where mine comes from and how it was grown. Eating lower on the food chain allows the vegetables to be used for my direct benefit, rather than serve as feed for animal meat, saving both farm land and the animals. And because the produce is organic, it hasn’t seen any oil-based fertilizers.

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I'm proud to say that the netroots convention that some you may have attended in Chicago last August has made a difference in the Obama-Hillary race as it cames down to the end.  Obama has a new ad out.  It's called "Guide":

Boasting a jaunty lounge-lizard soundtrack and faux film-reel effects, the ad matches the cool irony of Obama's "Annie Oakley" attack; with no voiceover and no mention of Obama's name, think Ginsu knife more than meat cleaver. But the slick style masks a typically aggressive Obama counterpunch: the implication that because Clinton has accepted more money from lobbyists "than any other candidate, Republican OR Democrat" (and once said "they represent real Americans"), she would, as president, put their priorities above the needs of average Americans--just like a typical Washington "player."

    The second part--about inviting Hillary R. Clinton--may seem counterintuitive, with her NAFTuzlA meltown, etc.; but I still think it would be not only good manners but also prudent and appropriate to invite Hill, and Barack Obama, to the inaugural Netroots Nation in Austin, Texas.
    (Maybe they got invited already. No one tells me these things.)

    There is the meme of the Hillaryista boycott of the Kos to combat, too, including some Clinton rep applauding that boycott on O'Reilly. Ouches.
    I.e., if the convention don't invite Clinton to attend, maybe folks will think of the netroots as a bunch of hostile kommunistas who are taking revenge on Hillary because of the boycott, etc. Therefore, Hillary should be embraced, not rejected, by the convention. (Individual attendees can reject her, sure, but not the convention as a whole...)

    No, I see no conspiracy here, but it's interesting to note anyway.

    Sidney Blumenthal, Clinton counselor (and YearlyKos 2 attendee; I spoke to him briefly at the Teamsters cookout, and he was cool/cold but polite), be in some trouble, see AP channeled by Yahoo, Police: Clinton aide to plead guilty,

   A senior adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has agreed to plead guilty to drunken driving after the arresting officer was ordered to Iraq making a trial on a more serious charge impossible, police said Monday. ...
    Now an unpaid adviser to Hillary Clinton's campaign, Blumenthal, 59, was arrested Jan. 7, the day before the New Hampshire primary, and charged with aggravated drunken driving. Police said Blumenthal was traveling 70 mph in a 30 mph zone. ...
    The plea deal was reached after the arresting officer was activated by the military and ordered to Iraq, Segal said, adding that without the officer's testimony a trial would not have been possible.

    I feel that a CRUCIAL issue in the Iowa Dem caucus has been neglected, i.e., what about the OrangeClouds115 factor?
    Iowa is a veggie-corn-ethanol sort of state, so what if everyone writes in Jill Richardson, aka OC115, rather than the expected Bill Richardson?

    If you forget who she is, see this foto from YearlyKos 2007, with OC115 in orange (surprise), and Eddie C in front of her, along with others around,

    Am not sure who some of the dishevelled-hair type characters are in background, but whatevs. (And see here for the original Eddie C source, thanks Eddie!)

    (MORE Richardsonia below--)

(Courtesy of 24-7TMZGawkerHillaryGotcha.com)

    Our reporter on the scene says that Hillary Rodham Clinton is claiming that she is be the most experienced and prepared presidential candidate, ready for the job from the start. Or close.
    As her sub-sub-campaign manager, known as "Mr. Bab Janhson from Chicaaago", obsequiously fluttered about, strewing breath mints and campaign materials, the wife of former president Bill Clinton announced to a rally crowd, "I'll be ready to be President from day 14!!" The crowd gasped as the clumsy Mr. Jahnson, wiping pie off his tie, blubbered, "D-day 1, Mrs. Clinton means! Just because she MADE A HUGE MISTAKE LAST WEEK and sent out caucus cards saying THE CAUCUS WAS ON JANUARY 14TH, and is Freudian-slipping the 14th date again, ain't no reason not to vote for this Great Lady!!! !"

(more happy Hillary below)

    Should Kos endorse someone before Iowa?

    This is actually a pretty important question. --It's one thing to host the candidates to YearlyKos (which was great), but an endorsement by Kos could potentially be even more important.
    And you get to vote on it, below!

    ...First, let's look at the cons and pros of Kos endorsing a Dem presidential candidate before the 1/3/08 Iowa caucus:

(starting below fold)

Originally Posted on Citizen Orange

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) recently partnered with Blue America in order to hold Rahm Emanuel accountable for his anti-migrant posturing as the representative of one of the most diverse congressional districts in the nation .

ICIRR began this fight with a rubber chicken campaign at YearlyKos (see left) in an effort to get Emmanuel to stand for migrant rights.  

The exact opposite happened.  After a close electoral fight in Massachusetts, Emmanuel assumed the role of Tom Tancredo of the Democrats, and issued this comment to the Washington Post:

It's true.  
It was during her YearlyKos 07 breakout session.  I was the last questioner and  she called on me because it was all planned in advance and I didn't even know it.  

It all started during registration check-in when I was asked who I wanted to see during break out.  At first I thought Edwards, but then Obama is so dreamy.  It was a tough call and Richardson was offering little cinnamon cookies.  Then all of a sudden, this little voice told me to pick Hillary.  "Yeah, go with her.  The other hot candidates are going to be booked and she'll be all by herself.  We know you're PO'd with her IWR vote but c'mon, you may never get another chance to ask her about it."

I thought it was one of the elves in my head egging me on but now I'm sure there was a Clinton guy standing next to me that actually said it.  So, like a chump, I took the Yellow Bracelet!

Some of you might have caught the big announcement yesterday regarding Hillary’s new website - The Fact Hub.  It’s getting quite a bit of attention already - The New York Times just did an article on it.  Since that site was announced I’ve been thinking about all the ways Hillary’s gone out of her way to engage the good people at DailyKos and other progressive online communities over the past 6 or 7 months, and I couldn’t help but come to the realization that Hillary is INDEED  the one and only true Grassroots / NetRoots Candidate out there right now.

Seriously – hear me out you guys.  I’m not just rambling here – make the jump cos there’s a whole lot more...

The expert is Rick Stiggins, who is the founder of ETS's Assement Training Institute in Portland OR.   The sage commentary appears in the current )Oct 17) edition of Education Week, the national weekly indispensable for news on Education (and even if you are not a subscriber you can register for free to read two articles a week).  The article to which I refer is entitled Five Assessment Myths and Their Consequences (this link might require you to register before you can use it).  Below I will offer all five of the myths, a bit of what Stiggins has to say about each, and as per my custom, offer a few comments of my own.

We're continuing the Virtually Speaking interview series we started as a run up to YearlyKos.  Tonight, Ilona Meagher is coming by to talk about her book, Moving a Nation to Care about post-traumatic stress disorder and the impact PTSD has had on soldiers coming back from Iraq.  If you missed Ilona at YearlyKos, where she attracted a throng to her signing, you can stop by the Virtually Speaking studio tonight at 6 pm Pacific, 9 pm Eastern.  

As always, we'll get together for a dance party afterwards.