Politics

In the cult classic movie "Swingers," the crew of guys throws the line "This place is dead anyways" around when at a party and itching to leave. It doesn't matter whether the party is actually dead or not. At the DNC convention, where party-hopping is a sport, everyone seems to always be looking for the next spot and I've never seen a situation where the "This place is dead anyways" line  (and various facsimiles of it) is used more.

By one account, there are more than 1200 convention-related events in Denver this week. This includes panels, lunches, breakfasts, and screenings, but the events which seem to pique the most interest (at least amongst my peers) are the parties that take place each night after the convention program is finished.

Last night, I started at the Chairman's reception, hosted by Howard Dean. It was close to the Pepsi Center, so it was a natural place to start. The median age was about 45 and the featured act was the Goo Goo Dolls. Despite Dean's rousing introduction, the band and the crowd didn't mesh. Place was dead anyway. 

So, Twitter is really owning liveblogging, and I'm sure that what will come across more than the insightful views from people with big brains that I am being bombarded with here at the SeaChange Ideas Forum at the Starz Green Room in Denver, which has better A/C and food than all other refuges.
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I just left a panel that Walter Isaacson moderated about nonmilitary solutions to combatting terrorism, and left feeling horrified about how inefficient and underfunded our perfunctory nods to this concept are compared to Britain, etc.
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The United We Vote panel with Mario Solis Marich, Baratunde Thurston and Eric Garcetti, all of whom I'm a fan of is particularly interesting as an LA resident, where we watch wedges get driven between the two groups every three minutes. The overall question seems to be about the narrative, and the consensus that despite the lack of a continuous black-brown coalition, the rift is greatly overstated.

After spending years in the political closet (one of the dangers of a politically mixed marriage) I have emerged with a flourish, and a job as Press Person for a Michigan candidate for the United States House of Representatives. I have been working for Bob Alexander, a Democrat running in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District, against Mike Rogers, a four-term Republican incumbent. Bob is the kind of Democrat my parents are – a Joan Baez, “if you want peace, work for justice” kind of guy who spent years circulating petitions and working crowds “cold” to promote the value of a living wage for working people, and eventually persuaded the Michigan legislature to raise the minimum wage by 29 percent. He was not holding office at the time, mind you; it was just the right thing to do.

I am sitting in panel featuring Ted Sorensen (JFK's Senior Advisor and "alter-ego") and Michael Eric Dyson (Georgetown professor of the hip hop generation). They are full of knowledge. Sorensen's is largely rooted in history and experience, and Dyson's is rooted largely in study and also observation. Whatever your politics, there is plenty to learn from these gentlemen and listening to them has been enlightening. Unfortunately, it seems like we are at a point as a society where everything is based on soundbites. It is always refreshing to hear ideas discussed intelligently, and unfortunately, that opportunity does not seem to present itself as much as it should.