After the Governor took center stage for a panel discussion at Netroots Nation earlier today about Building a 21st Century economy, he took a moment with Rosi and Adam to offer a few words:Matt Yglesias from over at Think Progress sends out this twitpic of a flyer that was on the tables at Netroots nation directing people to the NJ State AFLCIO site therealchrischristie.org
Clammyc liveblogged the Governor's panel discussion with the Governor, Kevin Drum, Dean Baker and Anna Burger over at DailyKos. Corzine dropped by to offer this comment in the thread after finishing the panel:
Clammyc told me this diary was up, and I wanted to quickly thank everyone who followed our discussion on Kos, Blue Jersey, and uStream.
I'd like to continue this, so I'll post a diary on some of the topics we touched in our conversation very, very soon.
It was a great conversation, and thanks to Netroots Nation for inviting me. Talk to you all soon.
Jon
Shout out to Clammy for a good liveblog, since I couldn't watch the Governor live, but was able to go back later and check out his coverage. When the archived video is available, we'll post that. You can also follow along with what other people were saying at Netroots Nation by checking out the #nn09 hashtag.
Republican NJ-Gov candidate Chris Christie doesn't seem too interested in letting Spanish-speaking voters know he's a Republican. Compare the English and Spanish versions of his new "Bringing Back Our Cities" web ad. The Spanish one omits the word "Republican" in a couple places where the English one identifies Christie with his party.
Here's the first ad in english. In the opening 30 seconds, he mentions the fact that he is a Republican twice:And here is the ad in spanish. While I'm no expert, I don't hear the word Republican at all:A viewer of the Spanish version was insulted by the omission and left this comment:
Hablamos diferente idioma, no somos estupidos.
That's exactly right, they may speak a different language, but they're not stupid. So what gives with the Christie campaign and what is their explanation for only being a Republican in English? Maybe it's just like he was only a conservative for the primary too.
Update (Juan): They called you "swamp rats". Are you going to take that? Jeff is only behind by one vote. So vote!
If you've never heard of Netroots Nation, let me tell you about it. Formerly known as "YearlyKos," it's an annual convention begun in 2006, that brings together progressive bloggers and online activists from around the country. This year, the event takes place in Austin, TX in July, and promises to be better than ever:
The third annual gathering of the Netroots community will include panels and caucuses led by national and international experts; prominent political, issue and policy-oriented speakers; a progressive film screening series and the most concentrated gathering of high-profile progressive bloggers to date.
So, why am I telling you this?
Well, Democracy for America is offering scholarships to send nine lucky individuals from across the county to this year's Netroots Nation in Austin, TX, and I applied.
DFA is considering the level of grassroots support for each applicant in making its selection, so now, I'm writing to ask for support from the Blue Jersey community to help me get to Austin! You can help me with little more than a click on this link.
New Jersey needs more good government progressives like Josh. Promoted from the diaries -- Juan
Josh Aronovitch, running for Mayor of Washington Township (the one in Gloucester County), has a pretty cool diary up right now at Daily Kos about progressive local government. It definitely will give you some good background on Josh, why he's running for Mayor, and what has driven him into politics.
They say there is not a Democratic or Republican way to pick up trash.
However, there IS a progressive way to govern. It means open honest transparent government. It means building consensus in the community, not imposing a vision on the town. It means not kowtowing to a county democratic party that seems to be more about rewarding contributors and amassing power than about doing right by the people.
Local government isn't as sexy as the latest Obama vs Hillary diary, but it is crucial to the future success (or lack thereof) of our experiment in democratic self government.
Josh is someone I work with, and he's also someone I support wholeheartedly. So head over to dKos and show some love to someone who's been a good friend to Blue Jersey and who will make a great Mayor of Washington Township.
I am not sure, because I didn't read Crashing the Gate nor do I have any intention to read it, because in the grand scheme of things, I don't really care that much about the blogosphere. But it has been my sense since blogging became hip that the blogosphere is viewed by many both inside and outside of it as the next step in the evolution of journalism. I think that the jury is still out on that, but if I had to guess, it probably won't be anything more than a temporary phenomenon.
