Yearly Kos First Impression

I think that I am the only blogger at Yearly Kos without his laptop...argh. Being that I'm going to travel for a few weeks, it just wasn't feasible to lug around the west. Finally, I have found an somewhat affordable internet connection (20 cents per minute). So, here goes.

I don't know where to begin. Yearly Kos is phenomenal. I've met John Avarosis, Markos Moulitsas, Wes Clark, Joe Wilson, Mark Warner, and the best Bush impersonator I've ever seen. But Yearly Kos is about more than celebrity bloggers and politicians. It is convergence of the Netroots. Never in my life have I been surrounded by so many fellow progressives engaged in an earnest effort for change. Whether discussing the virtues of a candidate or metablogging, there is a real comfort in being surrounded by fellow Kossacks.

That being said, the media is out in force. Adam Nagourney wrote a huge article for the NyTimes, Maureen Dowd wrote an editorial, Time Magazine, Newsweek, even the Weekly Standard sent two reporters. (I might be quoted in The Weekly Standard about a Kos diary I wrote last night.) It's fantastic to see the old media acknowledging the blogosphere in such a positive manner.

I have lots more to say, but I'm running out of internet time/cash and will have to wait until tomorrow (hopefully).

The Cajun Jew Road Show

Friends and family alike know that I tend to procrastinate...a lot. Personally, I prefer to think of it as delayed diligence. After the Yearly Kos, I'm taking three of four weeks to travel, but have not been able to decide where. So, I intend use procrastination to my advantage and am planning nothing. I've booked a one way ticket to Vegas and am flying by the seat of my pants for the rest of the trip. Somehow I'll find a way to my next destination. Somehow I'll have an adventure. Somehow I'll find my way home. After Vegas, my first decision is to turn left or right (South or North). I'm leaning toward North.

Viva Las Vegas

Tonight, I'm off for Vegas and the Yearly Kos. Being thrown into the milieu of top bloggers, policy wonks, and politicos will be quite a change of environment from State College, cosmopolitan as it is. Aside from education and networking, I have one major goal: to meet Markos Moulitsas, the founder of Daily Kos, and ask him directly why he supported Bob Casey over Chuck Pennacchio. Hopefully I'll have the chutzpah to call him out on the hypocrisy of supporting both Bob Casey and Ned Lamont.