“Amazing … unique … magical …. ruling the earth …. freak show …. crushingly boring.”
Those were just a few of the adjectives inspired when 1,000 or so liberal bloggers gathered together in the same building in the same city and tried to describe to the rest of us what went on.
Over the weekend, the clan descended on Las Vegas to wax wondrous at their own self-importance and listen to various Democratic politicians vie for their affection. The so-called YearlyKos 2006 convention, hosted in part by uber-blogger Markos Moulitsas, also brought in dozens of print journalists, who circulated around the festivities like ants at a picnic.
“There were the bloggers — nearly a thousand of them, many of them familiar names by now — emerging from the shadows of their computers for a three-day blur of workshops, panels and speeches about politics, the power of the Internet and the shortcomings of the Washington media,” reported Adam Nagourney of the New York Times.
“They may think of themselves as rebels, separate from mainstream politics and media,” the Times added. “But by the end of a day on which the convention halls were shoulder to shoulder with bloggers, Democratic operatives, candidates and Washington reporters, it seemed that bloggers were well on the way to becoming — dare we say it? — part of the American political establishment.”
But attendees are not about to let their enthusiasm be dampened by the likes of Nagourney, and today bloggers are basking in the afterglow of the events.
“Let me say upfront that I’m still buzzing about the YearlyKos conference and will probably talk about it endlessly for the next month, continue to reference it for the next six and obsess for the following five months until the second YearlyKos conference comes around,” writes Java Fiend.
“There are so many thoughts going through my head,” adds Java Fiend, abandoning any thought of specificity or of actually telling us what went on. “This conference was amazing. It truly was unique and it was magical.”
“Increasingly, bloggers are ruling the earth,” notes Vermont Hum.
“I think the convention signals a major shift in journalism, politics and democracy itself,” writes California Progress Report, in a post entitled, “Yearly Kos Convention: The Woodstock of 2006.”
“Hopefully there’s a sequel,”writes Left Word.
“With Yearly Kos, liberal blogging has finally arrived,” writes Fink Tank 3000. “But only the 2006 and 2008 election results will prove how broad their money, muscle and message can go.”
In the meantime, a few conservative bloggers who infiltrated the conference with expectations of uncovering some radical leftwing skullduggery appear, for the most part, to have come away somewhat disappointed.
“Did you really think, after those promos, we were going to let this freak show pass without sending someone out to cover it?,” writes Hot Air.
“Expecting a catharsis of nutroots fury, our man on in the inside faces the terrible truth about YK,” concludes Hot Air. “It’s crushingly boring.”
Felix Gillette writes about the media for The New York Observer.