Dave Johnson On Getting Energized And Building Bridges

There were a ton of things I enjoyed about attended the Take Back America conference in Washington, DC last week but one of the most gratifying was once again getting to meet with and socialize with other political writers whose work I admire so much. I sat next to Dave Johnson of Seeing The Forest for the vast majority of my time on "Blogger Boulevard" and also had ample opportunity to visit various drinking establishments with the stout-hearted Dave and wanted to point you toward an excellent write-up he posted today on the conference, what it accomplished and a pitch to join all of us for Yearly Kos in Chicago later this summer.

Here's Dave:

I attended the Take Back America conference last week, and it was great. I am inspired, and you should be, too.

Two years ago I was at this same conference and it was a very different experience. I felt it was attending a tired, demoralized gathering of people associated with the older, Washington-based, established, celebrity-driven issue-organizations. I left discouraged, wondering when the liberal establishment would start to catch up with the ideas circulating around the blogosphere – especially with the ideas about building “progressive infrastructure” organizations for reaching out to the public and promoting core progressive values and ideas, instead of the focus on issues…

… This year's conference invited bloggers, had a “Blogger Boulevard,” gave a Maria Leavey activist award, and gave an award to the “progressive bloggers” at a Gala Dinner in front of a well-dressed Washington DC crowd. These are the people who had been hearing that bloggers are scary, uncivil, foul-mouthed and hairy. But we weren’t, and they saw that. Digby’s talk ( read a transcript here and see a video here) set just the right tone. This event built bridges between the progressive netroots and the Washington establishment, and the payoff for both will be huge. And I give credit and kudos to Bob Borosage and Roger Hickey and the Campaign for America’s Future for building this bridge!

Please go to Seeing The Forest to read the rest -- and consider joining us in August.