Congrats.

I can't shake this feeling, though, that one of these days folks like you, me, and O'Neil are going to be called to account for our transgressions.

Well, I don't suppose it matters. Dear Leader will have stoked the nukular fires enough by that point that the rapture will save us anyways. Regardless of what we brought forth here on earth, Jesus love us!!

Hail Jerusalem!

Wear earplugs.

A Nuther Brownshirt and de Breeze appear to believe that attending CPAC as an accredited blogger means I'm a political conservative and am going as a cheerleader.

Neither is the case. I decided to use up vacation time, go though the insitutional hoops required for me to do this (in accordance with my employment contract) and spend a bunch of money because I'm deeply interested in the rise of the new media - in how bloggers will cover this conference compared to the way in which professional journalists will.

Conservatives and liberals are both using the Internet and blogs for political communication and activism, but they appear to be doing so in somewhat different ways. As a centrist, common-sense (or is it neo?) libertarian -- or somesuch -- I'm interested in what both sides of the political spectrum are doing with this.

Plus it will be a great opportunity to meet some other bloggers, share some stories over drinks and perhaps interview some people who have thoughtful input into our political and policy debates this year.

Congratulations, indeed!

I look forward to your usual fine reporting on all of the above.

I think the rise of blogging is a fundamental change in not simply reporting news or information, but in analyzing it, transforming it into knowledge.

Blogging is a decentralized process in contrast to the centralized Mass Media Systems. It is self-organizing, self-correcting and self-generated. By this I mean that if X posts something invalid and fallacious, then another blogger, Y, will immediately comment on this. The Mass Media doesn't have this capacity for self-correction and instead acts as 'pulpit sources' of information.

Blogging provides a vast and extensive input, a host of expertise (no, bloggers aren't all ignorant trolls), immediate connections to more data, to corrections and etc.

This networked dialogue and articulation will become part of the new economy, the new political global mode...and so on. So- I hope you'll provide us with a lot of discussion.

I'd be curious about how they're planning to explain the Jeff Gannon "Talon News" flap.

Don't miss Ann Coulter!

You are a "pro" as far as quality is concerned, Robin.

To answer the original question, the Novak/Donaldson debate and Hugh Hewitt's panel seem obvious. They missed a bet in not having Hewitt moderate Novak/Donaldson!

Also interested in the byplay in the discussions on cutting spending. This is one of the seams in the R coalition - who wants to drop the ax on what, and how hard will they push Dubya?

I don't know if this fits into the agenda, but:

To date, the blogosphere is composed primarily of punditry, opinon, analysis and reader commentary. These are all fine things. I think the blogosphere is a huge potential agent for change if it is also more involved in actual news gathering.

During the Iraq war, reporters from the traditional media were 'imbedded' with troops, reporting to their editors who in turned published their reports.

Could it be possible that some day, bloggers will have enough credibility and traction as news reporters that they might be imbedded in places where news coverage is critical?

The distinction between the press and blogs is a shifting but important one, I think. Issues of access, legal liability and protections all are up in the air with regard to bloggers.

That will continue, I think, as people begin to post personally-collected video and audio to their blogs. This sort of "citizen journalism" is exciting, but there are a minefield of issues to be sorted through. Do bloggers need a code of ethics? If so, should it look just like the one for professional journalists? What about privacy rights vs. the public's need to know? If a reporter writes a story and the subject of the story believes his privacy has illegally been violated, that person can sue the news organization which employs the reporter. Will bloggers face lawsuits that could cost them their homes and cars? Don't know. But maybe ....

Meanwhile, there is a convergence between the press, blogs and political activism that muddies the waters. It's going to be an interesting and turbulent time, I suspect, while this gets sorted out.

Robin: Conservatives and liberals are both using the Internet and blogs for political communication and activism, but they appear to be doing so in somewhat different ways.

I would say that they were totally different, unless someone can establish a case to the contrary.

When you say "liberals using the internet for political communication and activism" you might as well say "Daily Kos". It's the one blog that MSM and mainline Democratic squares know about, and it's fair to take it as the model. But the outstanding characteristic of Daily Kos is that its content is totally irrelevant to its function, except - as the Marquis of Montrose said - to "attract attention as shite draws flies."

The content is way out of line with mainstream Democratic thought, let alone public opinion. Anyone who doesn't agree can go argue with the Kerry campaign. It doesn't even provide interesting dissent, which would be another sort of usefulness. But it raises money, involves itself in the party machinery, and passes out marching orders. You can ignore the content but you can't ignore the potential. It's the very essence of Deanism - it doesn't matter what you say, all that matters is the "energy" you generate. And of course, the money, money, money ...

No way would I want anything to do with a "conservative blogosphere" that becomes a fund- and rabble-raising machine, or an adjunct of the RNC. Such a "conservative blogosphere" can burn in Hell for all I care.

I don't think most bloggers, conservative or liberal, aspire to be part of such an enterprise, either. Plugging for Bush or Kerry is one thing, being a partisan hack (paid or unpaid) is something else. Engaging in political discourse is one thing, tailoring your writing to serve the needs of a political party is something else.

I think most bloggers still care about the content of what they write, and care about some standard of truth and accuracy (as they see it). That's why we attack Churchill and Jordan, not because it serves some "activist" purpose.

Looks like an interesting conference.

After reviewing the agenda quickly, the three topics that interest me most are:

-- gay marriage (and whatever else they are talking about in the sessions on marriage)

-- the U.N. (I was interested to see a speaker on this topic from the Objectivist Center)

-- Cuba.

For all three issues, I'd like to get a sense of how much dissent or controversy or agreement there is among the crowd.

Thanks for asking!

With new nukes and new missles starting to appear in countries around the world, I would like to know if our (in development) anti-missle system is ever going to be operational, and if so, when?

Papa Ray
West Texas
USA

When talking with friends to the left, Karl Rove and his brilliantly diabolic machinations always enters the conversation. Perhaps because I don't watch much TV (or perhaps as an illustration of his brilliance), I don't quite catch what makes him worth so much angst. Could you check him for horns?

Glen Wishard (#11), there's plenty of lively commentary on the Left beyond the unpalatable Kos. Go to Crooked Timbers or Obsidian Wings, and click onwards from there. Not that you'll like what you read--but there are smart people, writing perceptively.

Well congrats Robin, wish I was going too! At any rate I'd be interested in anything Newt has to say about the 21st Century Contract with America. I'm also intersted in Bob Novak and Sam Donaldson - Did the Media Out Do Itself in 2004? I'm also curious about the UN: What they're Up to and Why We Should Care. I guess I could plan all you're sessions for you and believe me I'm trying not to be greedy with requests. Good luck and most of all enjoy yourself.

AMac: Glen Wishard (#11), there's plenty of lively commentary on the Left beyond the unpalatable Kos.

Of course. Kos is, in fact, very unrepresentative of left-blogs in general. But Kos is the model of a Blog-Tool for the Political Establishment. When a guy like McAuliffe thinks about the potential of blogs, Kos is the first thing that springs to mind.

Nobody cares about the "commentary" on Daily Kos, only the heat and the revenue that it generates. It's the triumph of sleaze over substance.

I am not sure what accredited blogging is, but it must be good. It looks like you are checking out the heavyweights. I see Larry Kudlow on the agenda, you might relate. Most of it looks like book signings.

I would like to know if there is any awareness in the conservative camp about the significance of the Information revolution or at least paradigm shift to free information and cheap bandwidth to the benefit of our economy and the common good.

Implicit in an appropriate awareness might be a regulatory support of small business and competitive deployment of bandwidth. Such support might contain untaxed, unregulated and un-auctioned radio frequency, fiber-optics, ISP and consumer access to the communication grid and to wireless, and not least a more liberal interpretation of copyright over the Internet.

Ask when the Bushies will get serious about reining in the Federal budget. Ask about the welfare queens on farm subsidies. Ask about getting rid of corn-based ethanol that's economically and ecologically wasteful.

I would strongly second what slimedog just posted ... and I earn my living as a full-time farmer. Please see if some of those conservatives have a rational explanation as to why the government should be redistributing tens of billion of dollars with the primary result of disconnecting farmers' production decisions from market feedback.

When we are up to our collective arses in corn, why on earth are we subsidising it?

And why does anyone think that using 130,000 btu to grow the corn and produce a gallon of ethanol--containing just 76,000 btus of energy--makes any sense? It neither solves an energy problem nor addresses the underlying issue of surplus corn.

"I'll be especially interested in the sessions on the media..."

"I'm deeply interested in the rise of the new media - in how bloggers will cover this conference compared to the way in which professional journalists will."

Robin:

I would be especially interested in the same...with a twist...

I would be especially interested in direct conversations between you and 'professional journalists' and how you are recieved and addressed by the same once they ID you as a blogger. As quality bloggers' percieved credentials are on the rise, I suspect deeper resentment among the traditionally credentialed who need to work ever harder to justify the same salary. Just a hunch that cannot be universally applied, naturally.

I would be very, very interested in what Zell Miller has to say about how ordinary Democrat voters can/must salvage their party and divest it from the current leadership, which in fewer and fewer ways represents the thinking and lifestyles of the majority of registered Democrats.

While I often do not understand the thinking of liberals, America needs a healthy and reasonable Democrat Party. Neither party should feel comfortable and safe (unchecked), but also neither should be flying off the rails. I think what Zell has said to date should be heeded and am curious about new thoughts he may discuss.

Looking forward to your reports.

Knock our socks off, Robin.

CPAC 2005 - Topics To Report

How the Bad Guys Tried to Stop Us and How We Can Guard Against Future Cheating
Thwarting the Liberal Drive to Govern Through Judicial Edict
Speech: Ann Coulter, Syndicated Columnist and Author
Immigration Reform: Recognizing Reality or Surrendering Principles?

Could it be possible that some day, bloggers will have enough credibility and traction as news reporters that they might be imbedded in places where news coverage is critical?

That's a rather silly question, particularly asked on a page where the Mudville Gazette and the Questing Cat (to name just two among many) are a couple of mouse clicks away. The end point of blogging is not to create a new special class of people, parallel to the special class of professional media employees; the point is that the people in those "places" can talk directly about their experience, and that we can hear the reports of experts without filtering them through the ignorance of some blow-dried guy in his new Banana Republic vest.

This looking forward to "some day", when bloggers will become just like conventional journalists (only, presumably, with a lower status) misses the whole reason blogging is revolutionary.