Koss-riffic!

by von

IS IT JUST ME, or does it seem that every third attendee at YearlyKos is writing for a conservative blog?

This is the most-infiltrated event since Rick Solomon and Paris Hilton made the whoopee.

(Ed McMahon says, Heeyyy-Oh.)

Oh, look, and here's an open thread.  Have at it.

Comments

[hilzoy]

Note Ezra Klein's correction of the Byron York piece you cite:

"When the politely hostile host challenged that I was advocating socialism (in that interview, unlike in my writings, I'd advocated no such thing), I saw no reason to fight. It was just a training session, right? "We should stop running from that moniker," I chuckled. "If we're going to call what Canada, France, Germany, England, Japan, and essentially every -- actually, not essentially, just every -- other industrialized nation offers socialized health care, but they cover all of their citizens with better outcomes and lower costs than we do, then I'm happy to associate myself with that." It was glorious, and I'm only slightly paraphrasing -- at least I remember the "essentially" correction. So imagine my relief to see it on The National Review's website:

"One blogger wanted to talk about health care. After his criticism of the Bush administration, Trainer 2 asked, “You’re looking for socialized medicine?”

“Sure, why not?” the man answered. “I think it’s time people stopped ducking from the moniker socialized medicine. Every other industrialized nation on this planet has socialized medicine. I’m happy to associate myself with that label and that school of thought.”

There was applause all around. That was great, said Trainer 1. It was an example of bloggers speaking their minds: “Yeah, socialized medicine, bring it on.”""

[Steven Donegal]

AAAaaaarrrggghhhh! Links without a Malkin alert. Not nice, Von, not nice.

[Slartibartfast]

whoopee, von.

If you've forgotten how to spell it...

[Ugh]

Billmon's on a roll lately

Germany beats Costa Rice 4-2 in the first match of the 2006 World Cup.

[cleek]

"infiltrating" ?

how do you infiltrate a public event, publically announecd, in a place as public as Las Vegas ? are there Politics Police posted around the place, politely pointing non-approved or inappropriate partisans to the doors ?

and, what's the appeal for conservative bloggers ? are they there to disrupt, to march around with signs ? or, are they there trying to find that perfect out-of-context or poorly phrased gotcha quote ? the whole thing sounds a bit puerile, to me.

[SomeOtherDude]

So the Right-Wing Socialist at NRO, The Sun and RedState don't like the Left-Wing Socialist at DailyKos...what's new?

[lily]

I image they are there to find the remark that can be flogged endlessly as an example of liberal evilness. Puerile, indeed. I sort of adolescent bullying meanness is pretty common on the right side.

[hilzoy]

They do seem a bit disappointed to find that the people there are, well, normal...

[Paul]

Yes, well, I imagine the absence of all that free sex they've heard so much about was a bit of a letdown.

[radish]

speaking of kossacks, you'd think with all the money the government is spending on marketing the GWOTGSAVE they wouldn't have to recycle old sound bites...

Man, this country is in for a world of hurt all right. And check out this exchange from von's NYSun link. Somebody named jf said:

You people are nuts. You're following the Pied Piper into torture, massacres, undeclared wars, outing of CIA agents, environmental irresponsibility, fiscal bankruptcy, spying on the American public...And you call the *left* anti-US?? Just what do *you* stand for--besides perpetual war?

to which somebody named MG replied:

What torture? What massacres? What undeclared wars? What agents? What irresponsibility? What bankrupcy? What spying? [...]

MG goes on to ask for examples and a coherent argument in a way that makes me doubt it's a parody. Makes me sad either way though...

[Doctor Science]

IS IT JUST ME, or does it seem that every third attendee at YearlyKos is writing for a conservative blog?

It's just you.

The estimate on the yearlykos site was that they would get about 1500 attendees (I suspect the total will end up more like 2000). I very much doubt that there are more than 100 conservatives there, not counting the MSM. It seems like a lot to you because you're not surfing progressive blogs.

[Katherine]

This Pew Survey profiling political subgroups in the U.S. is interesting. (That link is to the profile of the 9 groups they identify.)

Survey results here. Apparently I am a member of the creatively-named "liberals" subgroup, whereas the subgroup that represents everything I despise would be the "enterprisers."

[Katherine]

And in the "WTF?" department:

who would i rather (have sex with)? Ann Coulter or Michael Moore? OK, not fair. How about Ann Coulter or Shakespeare's Sister then? Condy or Hillary? Alexandra von Maltzen or Arriana Huffington? Michelle Malkin or Obsidian Wings?

The answer is not explicitly stated, but you can see whose "lithe gaminish looks" he mentions and whose he doesn't--sorry, guys.

[Anarch]

Michelle Malkin or Obsidian Wings?

What, the whole hivemind? Yowza.

[spartikus]

Germany beats Costa Rice 4-2

No spoilers without warning, please! Some people have to watch on delay. Personally no harm in this case, but just for future reference.

[Jay C]

Germany beats Costa Rice 4-2

Is she Condi's kid sister?

(Semi-)seriously, though: that was a ">http://www.tacitus.org/?op=displaystory;sid=2006/6/9/151910/5206"> weird post , even for Tacitus. I noticed though, that of all the diarist's nominal "sex objects"; only one was NOT mentioned by name, but by blog.
Hmm... I wonder what that means....?

[matttbastard]

Hamas' military wing declares end to ceasefire with Israel after IDF shelling kills Palestinian civilians: The Independent

Israeli naval gunboats killed at least 10 Palestinian civilians yesterday and wounded about 40 others who were relaxing in the summer heat on a northern Gaza beach. Palestinian medical sources reported that the shelling wiped out the entire Ghalia family, including four children aged one, two, three and seven.

The military wing of Hamas responded by ending the fragile ceasefire it has maintained for the past 16 months. "We are going back to work, to fight," it said in a press statement. "The earth will shake in the Zionist cities. The only choice for these settlers will be to pack up and leave."

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, condemned the killings as a "bloody massacre", but the Hamas political leadership was slow to endorse its military wing's announcement.

Lt-Gen Dan Halutz, the Israeli Chief of Staff, suspended the shelling from land and sea, which had continued throughout the day in retaliation for Palestinian rocket fire into the Negev. Four rockets fell there yesterday, damaging property but causing no casualties.

The army apologised for the incident, saying it "regretted the strike on innocent people". Maj-Gen Yoav Galant, the chief of southern command, ordered an investigation. "It is not our intention to harm innocent civilians," he said. One possibility, he suggested, was that a shell had strayed from its path. Israel was also checking whether the disaster was caused by what they call a "work accident" - a Palestinian bomb exploding prematurely.

But Maj-Gen Galant insisted that, despite the pause, the army would continue to do everything to defend its own civilians, who have come under incessant attack from Qassam rockets launched across the border from the Gaza Strip. Two sonic booms shook Gaza City later last night.

More from the Telegraph

[cleek]

"sex objects"

may i re-use my word-of-the-day: puerile ?

[von]

If you've forgotten how to spell it...

Thanks, Slarti.

[Ugh]

No spoilers without warning, please! Some people have to watch on delay. Personally no harm in this case, but just for future reference.

My bad.

[elendil]

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and a few other NGOs, have designated June Torture Awareness Month. I've created a blogroll you can join if you're interested. You can find it here. The idea is that everyone is linked to from the blogroll, and in exchange, you discuss torture (as you already do), and link to the Torture Awareness site to help support the NGOs.

There's a lot of bloggers concerned about human rights abuse in the War on Terror. If we coordinate, we can show our support and help Amnesty and HRW make Torture Awareness Month a success.

[Paul]

"Congratulations on doing a great job of diverting hostile fire away from the leader."

Heckuva Job Brownie says Bush was grateful he took the blame for the government's incompetence during Katrina.

[xanax]

And now, turning to matters of grave consequences for the future of civilization... any of you ObWi geniuses care to take a stab at explaining to my 5 year old daughter why mosquito bites itch so much?

I'm lost....

hilzoy? Gary? slarti? von? hellooooo??

grazie...

[hilzoy]

xanax: sorry; no clue ;(

[liberal japonicus]

The formal answer is that the anti-coagulant injected by the mosquito causes an allergic reaction. The functional answer is that if animals never noticed mosquitoes taking blood out of us all the time, we would be exposing ourselves to an unacceptable level of risk for us and genes down the line.

[xanax]

Wow! At ObWi, ask and you shall receive! Thanks LJ... I've just called Clara in (she's sitting right here with me) and I'm about to explain. OK. Here goes....

Clara says (and is typing): I get it. Thank you!!

(this blog is so cool...!).

[xanax]

Course, there's always this via google but, then, where's the fun? And how else might my little munchkin have communicated her curiosity with the brilliant, divine and ever-accommodating liberal japonicus and received such a quick and full reply from a distant genius so far across the sea?

And, what, hilzoy? They don't have mosquitos at bioethicist camp? (slacker!)

[hilzoy]

xanax: they do, but most of the mosquitos at bioethicist camp are involved in transmitting malaria.

By the way, in re the Beinart thread: it is that Fred. If You're still in touch with him, no need to draw his attention to it.

[liberal japonicus]

the brilliant, divine and ever-accommodating liberal japonicus

Wow, this is the first time I really regret posting under a pseudonym. At least I can walk around with a grin on my face for the next month. Thanks!

[xanax]

"By the way, in re the Beinart thread: it is that Fred."

Fascinating, hil, mainly because the entire exchange sounds so absolutely, totally un-Fred. Especially citing Ayn Rand (or any other source of quasi-literature to support an argument or concept)... not that Fred's not bright, in a politco-diplomatic way; he's just not literate. I'd love to hear more about your source for the identity... unless, of course, you'd have to kill me after.

What color is your favorite "new" room? Be as precise as possible. Yes, there's a reason for the question. Email me if it's some bizarre, kinky, offbeat, horribly embarassing and not-for-public-consumption color.