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CH-CH-CHANGES. The first Yearly Kos conference in Las Vegas had two basic story lines. For conference participants, it was, "Wow! So that's what you look like in person!" And for the press it was some mix of "Geez, these people are so much more normal than I expected!" and "Huh, maybe they are a little quirky after all." The conference hotel was the Riviera in Las Vegas, which could not have been seedier, and the Las Vegas Convention Center where the sessions were held gave the whole thing an air of slightly menacing grunge.
This time around, the conference is being held in the beautiful, modern, sparkling McCormick Place Convention Center, and the hotel is a nearby Hyatt, sleek and boutique-hotel posh. All this dusts the proceedings -- and the conference attendees -- with a more established air, and elevates the proceedings aesthetically, much the way a white cube gallery in Chelsea can make people seem more elegant than they appeared while on the subway on the way over.
More importantly, this conference does not feel as grassroots or exciting as last year's. It feels like a cross between the annual Institute for Politics, Democracy, and the Internet conference in Washington (which draws a who's who in political technology circles), a Bloggingheads.tv marathon viewing session, and a bunch of National Press Club press conferences by liberal interest groups. It's possible I am simply following the wrong track and going to the wrong panels at this conference, and that I'd have gotten a very different impression if I'd been attending the local bloggers track, or doing a goofy "mock track" (my -- joking! -- designation for the exact series of panels you could attend if you wanted to write a story making fun of the conference, from the Knitting Caucus to the "Mock Iowa Caucus Workshop"). The conference hotel cost more this year, too, which may have led to a slightly different group of attendees. But there are so many more blue sports coats and pleated beige chinos here than last year -- as well as so many of the regular inside-the-Beltway suspects -- that I feel like I'm still in D.C.
--Garance Franke-Ruta
COMMENTS (8)
much the way a white cube gallery in Chelsea can make people seem more elegant than they appeared while on the subway on the way over.
...and nothing says "Manhattan liberal" quite like this metaphor. You're beautiful, G. :) Myself, I took a taxi.
Posted by: weboy | August 3, 2007 4:58 PM
Perhaps this means that more people inside the beltway - despite their fashion sense - are taking the blogosphere more seriously, and the important work of bloggers (I read them, but I'm not a blogger) is more recognized as credible and legitimate. While there are dangers to institutionalization, don't progressives want more serious play amongst those whom we might not traditionally have had leverage. And I'm wearing beige chinos...but they're not pleated.
Posted by: srao30 | August 3, 2007 5:32 PM
Perhaps this means that more people inside the beltway - despite their fashion sense - are taking the blogosphere more seriously, and the important work of bloggers (I read them, but I'm not a blogger) is more recognized as credible and legitimate. While there are dangers to institutionalization, don't progressives want more serious play amongst those whom we might not traditionally have had leverage. And I'm wearing beige chinos...but they're not pleated.
Posted by: srao30 | August 3, 2007 5:32 PM
The DC voices present do seem to be predominately the left-of-the-mainstream DC voices, except for the MSM panelists who are there explicitly and Ken Baer's foreign policy crew.
But again, that's unsurprising; these left-of-the-current mainstream voices have always been around, just suppresed; and the blogosphere isn't *that* leftist.
Posted by: Nicholas Beaudrot | August 3, 2007 6:06 PM
Connecticut local blogger Spazeboy looks like he has been doing the "local blogger track" in his Yearly Kos coverage if you want to compare virtual notes.
http://www.spazeboy.net/
Posted by: joejoejoe | August 3, 2007 8:03 PM
Maybe design is destiny -- totally agree that the conference center's architecture and 50 foot ceilings totally change the vibe here.
Posted by: AriM | August 4, 2007 12:21 PM
What you experience is simple to explain: the literary device is called 'fore-shadowing':
Nobody there doesn't wanna be Beltway insider by this time in '09...
they got on their best shit-eating grins, gladdest hands, and heartless hugs.
They all think they're potential "Villagers."
Posted by: konopelli/wgg | August 4, 2007 6:38 PM
Anybody who prefers the "sleek and boutique-hotel posh" Hyatt to the "seedy" Riviera, sounds like a dam Republican to me. You probably like the "improvements" made to Times Square too.
Posted by: Mutaman | August 6, 2007 2:09 AM