Over at Daily Kos, there's a lot of discussion about Virginia's own Mark Warner, who is attending the conference along with many other politicians - Wesley Clark, Bill Richardson, Tom Vilsack, Russ Feingold, Barbara Boxer, and Howard Dean. The reviews are coming in, and for Gov. Warner, they're mixed. On the plus side, this diary talks leads off by declaring, "Mark Warner gave a beautiful speech at YearlyKos today about getting a fair shot at the American dream that could have been lifted right of the frontpages of dKos." Sounds great. Unfortunately, it then turns to foreign policy:
But what about his foreign policy? He spoke of wanting to unite America's friends and divide its enemies, in contrast to what the current administration has done for the last few years. But can he really do this if he's bought into the conventional, neocon wisdom about who America's enemies are?
Uh oh. Apparently, Mark Warner came across as a bit too centrist for some of the far left wing at Yearly Kos. Criticizing Venezuelan strong man Hugo Chavez, "Condoleezza's favorite Latin American whipping boy and one of Rummy's new Hitlers?" Apparently not a good idea. Desribing (accurately) Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad "as a jihadist?" Whoops, that's ok because "Iran was invaded by a country with financial support from several western nations, several of their Arab neighbors and the United States."
Yeah, great point. Iran was invaded by Iraq so that means it's ok for Iran's current President to threaten Israel with nuclear annhilation? Ahhhh...I get it.
Another Daily Kos diary has this to say about Gov. Warner, comparing him unfavorably to Democratic minority leader Harry Reid:
I want to fall in love. I do. He said all the right things, and he laughed, and he said nice things about us. He bought us sushi and free (freakin' shit-ass scary) rides at the Stratosphere. Nice tee-shirts - union bug and everything. Plus, he's tall. And striking. Nice hair. More teeth than....IDK....something with a lot of teeth.But I didn't feel the spark. And I blamed myself. I thought I was being picky. Goddamn high-standards!
But then Harry Reid spoke to us.
Sure - Harry's a little older. Cute, but not dashing. A smidge shy maybe. Definitely softspoken. He stumbled across his words a little bit, and he was obviously reading from his prepared text at times.....but....
There was something there.
This diary also criticized Warner for delivering a "stump speech" and concludes:
I'm sure Warner is a great guy, and we know he has a strong record as Guv in Virginny. Bully for him. We should consider him. We should dance with him, and go on a second date. But dammit - we gotta look to all of our leaders for the kind of spark and drive and understanding that we need. Not just for the next five months, but the two years after that, and the next two after that....
Finally, a popular diary questions whether it's right for Markos and Daily Kos to be "getting a little cozy," or whether they should instead continue to "fight for a more progressive candidate and more progressive politics a full two years before the election."
In other words, it's going to be a tough row to hoe for Mark Warner - and other Democratic 2008 contenders - with the liberal blogosphere.
Does that matter? Well, according to today's Washington Post, it does. The Post quotes Harry Reid as saying that ""I pay as much attention [to the bloggers] as I can" and that "I think it's a voice I need to listen to. I listen." Markos himself "said he expects the power of the blogosphere to grow." The Post article concludes that Yearly Kos "offered a glimpse into the future," but also that "there is still a long way to go before they turn ideals and ambitions into action and accomplishment."
As of June 2006, that's about where we are now with Mark Warner as a 2008 Presidential candidate, and with the Progresssive political blogosphere in general. Not bad, but still some way to go.
And one more test for that blogosphere will take place right here in Virginia this Tuesday, with Jim Webb - the netroots candidate who is ALSO backed by John Kerry, nearly the entire national Democratic leadership, and over 60 Virginia political figures - facing off against "same old, same old"/"top-down" candidate Harris Miller, who ironically headed a high tech organization yet doesn't seem to "get it" in the least bit when it comes to the netroots or bottom-up, "crashing the gate" Democracy. This will be very interesting, and possibly very telling, about whether determined activists can take charge of the Democratic Party, or whether the "usual suspects" will win out once again.
And as to foreign policy, well, come on, he's a governor. Chavez would probably talk to a president other than Bush, though I expect that Ahmedinejad will be a raving jerk no matter who out president is.
But the biggest "complaint" was that the reception he held was "over the top" -- I walked into the reception with a fighting Dem congressional candidate whom I will not name, who took a look, walked around a bit, then walked over to another fighting Dem and said "you know, with what he's spending on this we could fund both our campaigns."
When he met with key bloggers (and I do not have a low enough user id at dkos to qualify, but I am close with several people who were there) he was asked how much he spent. he said $50,000, but most thought that was an underestimate. After all, the booze and food were free for arounde 1,000 people, he reneted the entire topp of the Stratosphere - including all the rides - for several hours. One person of a cdertain amount of eminence responded to my musing that perhaps this was his way of showing Hillary he was not afraid of her ability to raise money by responding "you are right - it's a pissing contest."
As far as Warner and forign policy, one concern for many is that he has never had a very clear position on Iraq. In this group of people that matters quite a bit.
I have not been blogging because I have been so busy. I had my own panel session -- on education, naturally, with Tom VIlsack and a guy named Jamie Vollmer - yesterday morning.
BTW -- I am in the lead in a story in the Sunday Chicago Tribune by Jeff Zeleny, although they messed up my user handle a bit. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0606110281jun11,1,7491754.story?ctrack=1&cset=true".Here's the article.
The little joke he likes to tell about the cell phone ringing is cute to us because we know him and love him. But others find "flaunting" your wealth offensive.