corrente

The good news: the DNC is going to invite bloggers to the Boston K Party! Yaaaay!

The bad news: MY invitation has yet to show up. And there's a kicker at the end, as cleverly foreshadowed by this link....

(via NYCluelessTimes)

Today's pamphleteers -- the "bloggers" who can put every idle thought on the Web -- are being invited to the Democratic National Convention.

"You've been doing it ever since the Revolutionary War," Eric Schnure, a former speech writer for Vice President Al Gore and the official 2004 DNC blogger, wrote in a pitch for the party's Web log, or blog.

"Dumping tea and deleting spam. They're kind of the same, don't you think?''

The DNC, in what its officials believe is a first in the world of politics, is granting convention credentials to a carefully selected group of bloggers. They will join thousands of conventional journalists covering the festivities July 26-29 at Boston's FleetCenter.

These traditionally non-establishment social commentators will be chosen based on their professionalism, the number of readers who check their blog on a regular basis, and how much of their content is original. DNC officials have not determined how many credentials will be issued.

American University broadcasting professor M.J. Bear said the DNC's blogger credentials have caused a buzz on the Internet.

``I think it's being seen as 'Our time has arrived,''' Bear said. ``This is a mainstream acknowledgment that we are an important way to communicate.''

California blogger Mary Spio argues, however, that endorsement by an official entity such as the DNC is not something that many of her colleagues will embrace.

``Bloggers have very little interest in being part of the establishment,'' said Spio, editor of One2One Magazine, which is dedicated to the singles lifestyle.
"The entire 'blogosphere' is founded on the basic distrust of traditional organizations."

Of course it would be SO hard to contact Atrios, or DKoss, or Billmon, or my esteemed colleagues of greater seniority here at Corrente, or ANYBODY with an actual Dem-oriented POLITICAL blog. They have to get a comment from the operator of a "singles lifestyle" site?? Snicker. Snort. Guffaw.

However, they say they want people with "more original content", eh? Not that I'm making notes for future reference or anything.