Netroots Nation

Netroots Nation Strives To Keep Right Online Away From Next Year's Convention

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 22, 2011, 12:24PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Political Columnist S.E. Cupp

The organizers of Netroots Nation 2012 are doing their darndest to keep the conservative Right Online conference from horning in on their action.

Netroots is headed to Providence, RI next year -- offering attendees a chance to be close to major cities on the East Coast for less bucks, organizers say -- and, unlike this year's conference in Minneapolis, RightOnline won't be able to crash it.

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Right Online

Hijab-Wearing 'Flash Mob' Invades RightOnline

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 18, 2011, 5:42PM

MINNEAPOLIS -- A group of around ten women in Muslim headscarves crashed the RightOnline conference for about ten minutes Saturday, protesting what they said was an incident targeting Muslim women Thursday night.

The event was the latest spark kicked up by the proximity of Netroots Nation and RightOnline. The two conferences are blocks apart -- RightOnline is being held in a hotel many Netrootsers are staying in -- and interaction between the progressives at Netroots and the conservatives at RightOnline has been inevitable.

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Van Jones

Van Jones Calls End Of Glenn Beck's Fox Show A 'Triumph Of American Capitalism'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 18, 2011, 3:51PM

Van Jones, Fmr. Obama Green Jobs Advisor

MINNEAPOLIS -- Van Jones, the Saturday keynote speaker at the Netroots Nation conference here, has a special relationship with Glenn Beck.

Asked to ponder the end of Beck's Fox News show on June 30, Jones pointed to what regular Beck viewers might see as an unlikely ally: capitalism.

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Al Franken

Al Franken: Congress Needs To Vote On Libya

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 18, 2011, 2:02PM

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN)

MINNEAPOLIS -- Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) told TPM this morning that if the President Obama wants to keep bombing Libya, he'll need to ask Congress' permission.

"We're going to have to vote," Franken said shortly after his speech to the Netroots Nation crowd gathered here in his home state Saturday.

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Andrew Breitbart

Andrew Breitbart (Briefly) Crashes Netroots Nation, Commotion Ensues

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 17, 2011, 2:59PM

Andrew Breitbart

MINNEAPOLIS -- There will be no Weiner-style gatecrashing from Andrew Breitbart at the Netroots Nation conference here.

That is, unless Breitbart wants to pony up $355 for a ticket.

With the annual conservative Right Online conference just down the street from Netroots Nation, it was inevitable that some sort of shenanigan would occur in Minneapolis this week. And so it did, early Friday afternoon when Breitbart, camera crew in tow, showed up at Netroots unannounced and uncredentialed.

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DNC

New DNC Chair Showers Howard Dean With Praise, Says She'll Ask Him For Ideas

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 17, 2011, 12:54PM

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)

MINNEAPOLIS -- Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), who was named chair of the Democratic National Committee in April, praised Howard Dean for his tenure leading the party and told progressives gathered here at Netroots Nation on Friday that she intends to turn to him for ideas.

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Netroots Nation

Netroots Challenge White House Spokesman on Gay Rights

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 17, 2011, 10:14AM

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer

MINNEAPOLIS -- Here's how Netroots works: Just about everyone here plans on voting for President Obama next year, and more than a few of them will work on his behalf, too. But you don't come here to talk about how great the White House is -- you come here to talk about how disappointed you are in the team that's running it.

On Friday morning, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer came to Minneapolis to face the music. In an hour-long grilling session led by DailyKos blogger Kaili Joy Gray, Pfeiffer took tough questions about tax cuts, the health care plan, the environment, the general ineffectiveness of Congress, Afghanistan, Libya and progressives' number one beef, Obama's compromising nature.

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Howard Dean

Howard Dean's Koch Brothers 'Freudian Slip' (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 17, 2011, 9:41AM

MINNEAPOLIS -- Howard Dean gave a classic Netroots Nation keynote here last night, hitting all the buttons with the crowd of progressive activists and bloggers gathered here for their annual conference.

One of the most Netroots-friendly buttons he hit accidentally. Or so he told the crowd. While launching into an attack on the right and the conservative funders/progressive bogeymen known as the Koch Brothers, Dean first pronounced their name more like a famous part of ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner's anatomy than the classic cola.

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Netroots Nation

Russ Feingold: Democratic Super PACs Are 'Dancing With The Devil'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 16, 2011, 10:21PM

Former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI)

MINNEAPOLIS -- Former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) took direct aim at a key part of the Democrats' 2012 electoral strategy during his keynote address at Netroots Nation here Thursday evening.

The Super PAC Priorities USA, which was founded by former Obama White House aides to collect and spend the unlimited corporate funds allowed under the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, and other Democratic Super PACs are nothing short of a disaster for the party, Feingold said.

"It's dancing with the devil," he told hundreds of liberal activists gathered at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

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Netroots Nation

Howard Dean: I'd Get A Congressional Authorization On Libya War

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 16, 2011, 5:26PM

Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean

MINNEAPOLIS -- Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor and 2004 presidential candidate who helped spark the Netroots Nation conference being held here, told TPM that he would not continue the war in Libya without congressional authorization the way President Obama has.

But he declined to criticize Obama over his choice to continue the fighting without asking Congress to weigh in.

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Anthony Weiner

Markos On Weiner: 'The Guy's An Idiot. No Sympathy.'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 16, 2011, 4:30PM

Markos Moulitsas, Founder of the Daily Kos

MINNEAPOLIS -- If Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Resigned) thought his progressive allies would stand by him through his resignation, he must not have talked to Markos Moulitsas recently.

Asked about Weiner's resignation after a panel at the Netroots Nation conference here, Moulitsas was blunt. Weiner didn't need to resign, he said, but the Democratic firebrand doesn't need to be defended either.

"The guy's an idiot," Moulitsas said. "No sympathy."

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netroots2011

Progressives Still Fighting Obama, Democrats At Netroots 2011

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 16, 2011, 5:45AM

The last time thousands of progressive activists and left-leaning bloggers came together for their annual Netroots Nation conference, Democrats controlled Washington. Much of the focus was on pushing the party -- and President Obama -- further to the left, to stand up for things like the public option, an end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the value of government spending to fix the economy.

A year later, with the Republicans firmly in control of the House and the 2012 presidential cycle underway, the focus is expected to be much the same. Except there's an expediency: The only way Democrats are going to win back what they lost and keep what they have, organizers and participants in this year's conference say, is to get closer to their progressive roots.

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