To read the tribute to SFC Marcus Muralles, please click here
Thursday, July 17, 2008
A Convergence In Austin
This is going to be an interesting weekend in Austin. At the downtown Hilton, Netroots Nation (otherwise known as the Yearly Kos) will be celebrating their special brand of "progressive" whackiness. Uptown at the Renaissance Hotel, Defending the American Dream (sponsored by Americans For Prosperity) will hold one of their state conferences.
The Kos Kids have a pretty decent line up, if you like listening to liberals whine . Honestly, I have never heard of most of them, but they seem important to Nutroots. General WesleyCrusher Clark will be there, as will Howard Dean. Glancing through the seminars, you can see how... um... diverse they are- they have a seminar for just about every liberal activist group you can name. I couldn't help but notice how pessimistic they are, though - there is no hope. Sad, really. But I guess if you think the world has let you down, you just can't help it.
There is one interesting little twist to the Nutroots gathering. Rick Noriega (the Democrat running against Senator John Cornyn) is being played up big time there. He's bragged that he's raised more money from the liberal blogosphere than any other congressional candidate. I wonder why he needs to raise so much money nationally... could it be that he can't raise enough in his home state to be a threat?
Onto the AFP conference. Granted, it is smaller, but it's only a state ramp up for the main event in October. The seminars are not quite so alarmist, and they follow two tracts- the individual and the organization. Makes sense. The list of speakers is nothing to sneeze at, either- Michelle Malkin, Michael Steele, Grover Norquist, Michael Williams, and John Carter, to name a few.
I'm biased. I don't even try to hide it. You can guess which one I'll be at.
The Kos Kids have a pretty decent line up, if you like listening to liberals whine . Honestly, I have never heard of most of them, but they seem important to Nutroots. General Wesley
There is one interesting little twist to the Nutroots gathering. Rick Noriega (the Democrat running against Senator John Cornyn) is being played up big time there. He's bragged that he's raised more money from the liberal blogosphere than any other congressional candidate. I wonder why he needs to raise so much money nationally... could it be that he can't raise enough in his home state to be a threat?
Onto the AFP conference. Granted, it is smaller, but it's only a state ramp up for the main event in October. The seminars are not quite so alarmist, and they follow two tracts- the individual and the organization. Makes sense. The list of speakers is nothing to sneeze at, either- Michelle Malkin, Michael Steele, Grover Norquist, Michael Williams, and John Carter, to name a few.
I'm biased. I don't even try to hide it. You can guess which one I'll be at.
