Comments on: Questions

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 22:26:17 +0000

There is also the factor that a lot of people just don’t like conventions. I had to go to a computer equipment convention in Las Vegas every year it was possible, but it wasn’t the world of excitement that other people found it to be.

I wouldn’t have gone if it had been in Destin, so I can’t complain really.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 22:12:35 +0000

The process by which Chicago was chosen was fairly transparent. Anyone who’s interested can go rummage through the dKos archives and find the pertinent diaries. One factor I know they looked at was having the convention at a unionized site, which let out a lot of places. Chicago was attractive for that, plus the fact that it’s centrally located and a major transportation hub–and it has convention facilities that could handle a group of the size they expected. (Though I’ve been hearing complaints that McCormick Place was too doggone big, so go figure.) Attempts were made to keep the costs as low as possible, and mechanisms were in place whereby people could be subsidized. Hell, I let someone else have my registration when I couldn’t go. Most of the people slinging mud are the types who would be slinging mud anyway, so I’m paying them no mind.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:08:26 +0000

I keep hearing about “vacation” and “time off,” Jill. Some day I will try to experience those rarities.

Actually, Elayne, the diversity on the liberal side is confirmed by the number of people who are mindless jerks on certain issues. Some people don’t see beyond the process, while most are championing views and values. When I was on an affirmative action committee, I was always struck by the number of otherwise intelligent people who had a total blindspot when it came to “dummy messages.” They just didn’t understand why other people might find their words or actions offensive.

There is no way anything that costs as much as a convention in Chicago is going to be diverse, because the real diversity is at the bottom of the income scale.

By: Elayne Riggs

Elayne Riggs — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:43:52 +0000

Yes and no. The people defending the lack of diversity at YearlyKos include folks who’ve put blackface on their blogs and mocked feminists as “the sanctimonious women’s studies set.” The liberal blogosphere desperately needs to get its own house in order.

By: Cookie Jill

Cookie Jill — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 06:48:50 +0000

I agree. There’s no way in blazing Hades (AKA California or Montana these days) I could afford to go.

I barely managed to snake together time and a few stray buck-o-lahs to escape to Cambria, just up the coast.