Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., addresses a breakout session of the Yearly Kos Convention's Presidential Leadership Forum in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Posted on 08/04/2007 12:54:54 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CHICAGO - Plunging headlong into the Internet era, Democratic presidential candidates on Saturday fought for the support of powerful and polarizing liberal bloggers by promising universal health care, aggressive government spending and dramatic change from the Bush era.
"Who will be about change? Who is the candidate for change? And how do we bring about change?" asked former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, suggesting his rivals are creatures of the status quo.
Seven of the eight leading candidates attended the second Yearly Kos convention, participating in a candidate forum and conducting individual sessions designed to be more freewheeling.
The convention drew 1,500 bloggers, most of them liberal, who represent the latest advancement in communicating and community.
Gone are the days when candidates and political parties could talk to passive voters through mass media, largely controlling what messages were distributed, how the messages went out and who heard them.
The Internet has help create millions of media outlets and given anyone the power to express an opinion or disseminate information in a global forum, and connect with others who have similar interests.
One way of doing this is through online journals, or blogs, such as those celebrated Saturday.
Other people are getting involved politically through social networking sites such as MySpace.com and via video-sharing sites such as YouTube.com.
The candidates were put on the spot from the start.
The first question went to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was asked why he once cited Justice Byron White, a conservative, as a model Supreme Court justice. "I screwed up on that," he said. "I love John F. Kennedy and figured if Kennedy had supported him ...," Richardson said.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was asked what three lessons she learned from her failed health care reform effort during the presidency of her husband, Bill Clinton.
"It is not enough to have a plan. You've got to have a political strategy," the New York senator, adding: "In 90 seconds, I don't have the time to tell you all the mistakes I made."
Another leading candidate, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, said he would allow the U.S. to continue running a budget deficit to meet health care and other needs. "We've got to make some investments."
Edwards received the largest applause when he suggested his rivals were tinkering around the edges — "I just heard some discussion about negotiation, compromise" — rather than overhauling government. He said the nation needs "big change, not small change."
Edwards, the party's 2004 vice presidential nominee, called on the field to join him, along with Obama, to forsake donations from lobbyists. That is a pledge he said Republicans should take, too.
"We don't want to trade their insiders for ours," he said.
Clinton, who accepts such donations, did not respond.
Some political bloggers have huge audiences of people who trust their opinions. One such new media powerbroker is the convention's spiritual leader, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, founder of Daily Kos, among the first and most widely read political blogs.
"This really is democracy in action," he said of the convention, which connected online activists though a traditional off-line gathering. "This is regular Americans using technology to engage in politics."
While there is little hard data to support the theory, Zuniga and other observers contend that Clinton is viewed skeptically by the netroots community. The knock against her is that she is too moderate or too calculating, or both, particularly when it comes to the Iraq war. She has evolved from a hawkish Democrat to a candidate determined to improve her standing in the anti-war community.
Zuniga, who said he is in no hurry to endorse a candidate, said Clinton has improved her standing with the Kos community. Still, he said, Clinton's best hope may be to mitigate the damage.
"We may decide she's not our first choice, but she's not a bad choice," he said.
The Clinton campaign won no fans in the convention when word leaked that she did not plan to attend the individual breakout session following the forum. She eventually decided to participate.
Though she fielded just four questions, Clinton was received warmly. She drew laugher and applause by blaming a microphone malfunction on the "vast right-wing conspiracy" and lightheartedly acknowledged her own critics among liberal bloggers. "I appreciate what you're doing. Not everything," she said to laughter. "Enough."
The hottest item at the convention were wrist bands admitting people to Obama's breakout session. Clinton's wristbands disappeared much slower, organizers said.
On Thursday and Friday, representatives for each candidate manned tables at the convention center.
Obama had two eager aides handing out pins and shirts. Edwards surrounded his table with funky inflatable furniture, drawing weary bloggers looking for a place to sit down. Clinton's table was often not staffed, though an aide scratched out a note telling activists how to find her campaign on the Internet.
Convention site: http://www.yearlykosconvention.org
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., addresses a breakout session of the Yearly Kos Convention's Presidential Leadership Forum in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
In other words, it's not enough to have a plan, you've got to have a plan.
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., enjoys the applause during a breakout session of the Yearly Kos Convention's Presidential Leadership Forum in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Laugh your asses off libs. Just remember that The Hildabeaste would stab you in the back in a New York minute if it was in her best interest to do so. Claiming she is vicious and ruthless is being VERY kind.
How nice of Ron Fournier to report on the four questions she took and her answers.
All of the Democrats are running as out-and-out socialists, the line in the sand has been drawn and the contrast couldn't be any clearer. All the GOP has to do is return with a strong conservative message, and you'll see a return to the Reagan landslides.
I'd like to think that my use of the word 'army' is a literary tool to describe a large froup of people.
Instead, I have a gut feeling that a real war is developing, and a real enemy has aligned itself with a formidable cadre of players.
America is the prize, and politics is the front to lull the populace into a sense of normalcy ... that this is an election and they want to win .. to be elected.
The socialists do not want to be elected .. to win ... the socialists are not playing politics .. they are at war with patriotic Americans and intend to take our nation from us. They intend to make it look like an election, but the voting is just another excersize they have to endure in order to own America.
When I first discovered FreeRepublic, we were awash in the Clinton's and the evil they were suspected of being.
That evil manifested itself in the teflon frying pan of a complicit media.
I fear the same evil is alive and drilling for oil in the alternative media and if we're not careful nor viligant, we'll be discussing the same tactics and results but a different cast of characters ....
or victims.
Lalapalooza is currently playing in Chicago. That could be drawing away a lot of the crazies from this convention. But still, considering Chicago is a union town, you would think there would be better attendance.
Lalapalooza is currently playing in Chicago. That could be drawing away a lot of the crazies from this convention. But still, considering Chicago is a union town, you would think there would be better attendance.
This is a true story. My wife and I went to the movies today (The Bourne Ultimatum, good movie) and on our way back we pulled up behind an SUV full of liberal bumper stickers. While I was perusing the ones that called for a Department of Peace and the one saying wouldn’t it be nice if we had a functional government (images of the House vote debacle popped into my mind and I actually had to agree with that sentiment) my wife asked “did you see that?” I missed it but she said one of the bumper stickers said (I’m not making this up) “God was my co-pilot but we crashed in the mountains and I had to eat him”. I swear I’m not making it up and my wife isn’t perverse enough to invent something like that.
Good Lord! That’s what an enraged teeth-baring HORSE looks like as it rears up to strike with its hooves!
We have gun shows that easily beat that attendance...
LOL.. I get a kick out of some of the bumper sticker here in the South Bay too,
btw,, check out Rescue Dawn , another movie , based on a true story,,
The socialist take over is already well under way in the state of Washington. The key to control in this state is the water. They are using the Indians as an excuse.
He who controls the water, controls the people.
One such new media powerbroker is the convention's spiritual leader, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, founder of Daily Kos, among the first and most widely read political blogs. "This really is democracy in action," he said of the convention, which connected online activists though a traditional off-line gathering. "This is regular Americans using technology to engage in politics."
Kos is about as interested in democracy as Lenin or Stalin was. For him, it's just away for elitists to ultimately take control of the country. To these people, the vision of our founding fathers is just a foolish idea. They crave the raw and absolute power of someone like Stalin the way a junkie craves heroin.
The picture of presidential hopeful Clinton should read..... With her usual forced phoney smile, pasted on Hillary takes forty winks.
"We've got to raise some taxes."
Same old party, same OLD ideas.
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