News From Yearly Kos Yearly Kos

Juan Cole 08/03/2007

News from Yearly Kos

The Yearly Kos netroots convention is celebrating grassroots democratic activism.

The Sun-Times covers the events Thursday evening. Howard Dean spoke with perceptiveness and passion about grassroots democracy and the internet.

I was even impressed by Dick Durbin’s appearance by video (he was leaving for Iraq and Afghanistan). He was on top of internet issues and also avoided the robot-speak so common among Washington politicians. He came across as a genuine human being.

Senator Clinton won’t stay for a smaller breakout session after an appearance on Saturday afternoon, unlike the other candidates. This appears to be an innocent mix-up between her staff and that of Yearly Kos, but the bloggers are deeply disappointed and I think Clinton missed an important opportunity.

Update: Senator Clinton will do the breakout session after all, at 12 pm.

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page