Howard Dean at Yearly Kos: "The American People Are With Us"

Howard Dean at Yearly Kos: "The American People Are With Us"

Adam Howard
AlterNet
August 3, 2007

.
Howard Dean gave a stirring speech to kick off the Yearly Kos convention this weekend and here are a few highlights:

"Democracy is a value of the democratic party," Dean said. On the GOP 2008 presidential candidates: "Don't they look like something out of the 1950s." On the differences between the parties, he said "we're the ones who believe something is more important than our party, and that's our country.

Dean talked about Democratic efforts to address voting issues in every county and every precinct in America and encouraged all 1,500 Yearly Kos attendees to write their congressmen about H811, the bill to establish better voting machines. "2010, may be too late," he warned.

He pointed out that this coming week would mark the 42nd anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and the more votes that are cast "the better it is for our country but also the better it is for Democrats."

Dean applauded the CNN/YouTube debate as a sign of the future and mocked the Republicans for refusing to hold one of their own. "It's ok to make politicians uncomfortable," he said, "it's good for us."

Some of the loudest applause came for Dean's impassioned plea (echoed before Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) in a videotaped speech before him) for a "free, open, commercially unfettered internet that empowers people around the world." He argued that the internet could just be our best weapon in the battle for a democratic world.

Dean defended the record of the Democratic congress and concluded with the most intriguing part of his speech a call to look at the vital importance of younf people in progressive politics. He talked about a generational change and about how young voters are embracing the progressive vision more and more with each election but also want to build bridges beyond it.

"This is not a one day or one election struggle, this is something we need to fight for for the rest of our lives," said Dean. In the end Dean brought the crowd to its feet and I overheard more than a few attendees lamenting that Dean, who was looking fit and supremely confident, wasn't a candidate himself this go round.

Speaking of candidates, the evening ended on a sour note when it was announced that Hillary Clinton, unlike all the other Democratic presidential candidates attending Yearly Kos would not be holding an individual breakout session with attendees. This was met by a chorus of boos only matched during the brief mention of Joe Lieberman's name.

Instead of Clinton, attendees who had do doubt gone through a lot to secure tickets to her breakout session would have to settle for Clinton's campaign manager. No explanation was given for this snub but it definitely left a bad taste in many a mouth.

I saw people offering up their Clinton tickets in exchange for any other candidate (Obama was sold out first thing in the morning, which left Edwards, Gravel, Richardson, Dodd and Kucinich as the only remaining options) and I have a feeling by the time the Presidential Forum takes place on Saturday that enough of a backlash will have built up that Sen. Clinton may receive as chilly a reception as she did at this year's Take Back America conference. It was definitely seen as a major blunder and hopefully not a capitulation to the O'Reilly crowd. By the way O'Reilly was routinely mocked to great effect at the night's event. Speakers remarked on the startling lack of KKK members on the crowd and another saluted the crowd with a loofah on his hand.

Spirits are high and the kind of hope and optimism Dean talked about as the future of progressive politics was definitely in the air. It should be an interesting weekend.

UPDATE: Obama campaign puzzled by Clinton decision to skip questioning from YearlyKos attendees

This post, written by Nick Juliano, originally appeared on Raw Story

Barack Obama's presidential campaign is puzzled by Hillary Clinton's decision to skip a question-and-answer session with liberal activists at this weekend's YearlyKos convention in Chicago.

"Why turn down the opportunity to hear from people excited about bringing change to Washington and new leadership to the White House?" spokeswoman for the Illinois Senator's campaign, Jen Psaki, said in an e-mail to RAW STORY. "It is Barack Obama's birthday and he can't think of a better place to be."

The comment is the latest salvo sent Clinton's way from the Obama camp as exchanges between the top two Democratic contenders has heated up in recent weeks. The stepped-up sparring began last month over the candidates' foreign policy positions, and the candidates have been trading increasingly sharp barbs since then.

Although Clinton will attend Saturday's presidential forum during the gathering of bloggers and activists, she will not stick around for more intimate "breakout sessions" where a smaller number of conference-goers will have the opportunity to question the candidates. Other Democratic candidates will be answering questions themselves, while Clinton will be sending one of her senior advisers, Anne Lewis.

Clinton's campaign did not immediately respond to requests from RAW STORY to clarify the nature of her scheduling conflict.

YearlyKos organizers and the campaign say the New York senator never intended to appear because of a prior scheduling conflict. Because of a "miscommunication" among YearlyKos and Clinton campaign staffers, conference attendees did not learn that Clinton would not appear until Thursday night.

Clinton's decision and its last-minute announcement upset many conference attendees who had already reserved a spot for what they thought would be an up-close encounter with the Democratic frontrunner. By the time attendees learned Clinton would not be attending, tickets to breakout sessions with other candidates already were sold out.

Daily Kos contributor el gandor said several attendees were upset when they learned they would be unable to register for another breakout session.

"And, notice to the Clinton campaign - the rumbling was unanimous - we WANT to give Hillary a chance. WE WANT TO. Seriously. But this was just effing rude," el gandor wrote in a post entitled "Effing Hillary Jilts Kossacks!".

The post, which went live Thursday evening just after the announcement, generated hundreds of comments, and prompted a response from YearlyKos Convention Executive Director Gina Cooper, who said "Yearlykos wholeheartedly disagrees" with el gandor's sentiment and explained the miscommunication.

"We are ecstatic she will be attending the forum and that Anne Lewis will be representing her in the breakout session," Cooper wrote.

El gandor updated her post and apologized to the Clinton campaign, but the diarist lamented the miscommunication and the impression it left with attendees.

"But I SINCERELY wish that this had been communicated better at the end of the keynote," el gandor wrote. "I assure you that I and my mom were NOT the only ones who jumped to the conclusion that we had been snubbed."

Adam Howard is the editor of PEEK.
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers//58730/