[Repeating an earlier post eaten by Vista.]
Well, I did win a pony
at the EschaCon08 auction, which Atrios autographed (“Wheee!”), so when Lord Eschaton becomes chair of the Fed, I can sell it on E-Bay, in its original packaging, as a collectible! Finally, a retirement plan!
Despite the patchouli, I did go to a massive dinner for thirty organized by Susie at a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown, with doodlebean and teresa.
And Paul Krugman.
Who I sat next to. (What a mensch. We chatted about his three sons.)
Anyhow, I don’t have the bandwidth for an exhaustive report, so herewith some sentences and phrases overheard in the halls. The subject matter is, in most cases, evident; you can probably guess the speakers:
0. “Cause them pain.”
1. “Bad system, bad choices.” (Paul Krugman)
2. “I think the best we’re going to be able to do is universal health care for children.” (Echidne)
3. “We need a national liberal newspaper,” which would cost
4. “$8 million dollars.” “That’s not very much.”
5. “Why do we even have to explain this now?”
6. “Glib and aloof.”
7. “Like Argentina.”
7. “Laziness and dishonesty.”
8. “Incestuous amplification.”
9. “The Responsible Plan is a chance to get our dignity back.”
10. “Brains… Brains… Brains…” (Lyrics from The Zombie Blues, by Tom Smith.)
11. And Jane reminds me to mention Paul Krugman’s “We live in the age of the anti-Cassandra; she was always right, and never believed. And we’re ruled by people who are never right, and always believe.” Sigh.
12. “I censor myself.”
13. Classic truckdriver quote in the Inky’s Sunday campaign coverage: “What part of the Clinton era don’t they like? The peace? Or the prosperity?”
14. “We think of Karl Rove as being from Texas, but he really got his start in a Alabama.” (Scott Horton)
I have to say that I attended the conference with some trepidation, expecting at best “Oh, he’s really different in person!” and at worst to be punched out, but instead was greeted with many hugs, and happy cries of “Lambert!” I was touched. What a great community. Not insane.
Oh, and FeralLiberal’s pear wine is great. Now, if only we could make some cheese to go with it…
Many, many thanks to the conference organizers watertiger, res ipsa loquitur, NYMary, QL in NY, and Vicki, and, of course, Atrios, who in some mysterious way made it all possible. You rawk.
Oh, almost forgot:
Fuck!
NOTE Thanks also to Paul Lukasiak, who kindly allowed me to crash at his place, and even attempted to explain his next post on the numbers for this election. He really does have two great dogs.
UPDATE There was a rumor going around at the Sunday brunch that NTodd crashed the wedding party next door to the conference, waving a brutally large and fully functional silicone euphemism, and was body-tackled by the outraged bride, then dragged out by the slower-moving bouncers. That guy should really get a blog.
UPDATE And how could I forget this, from Paul Krugman (the man is a quote machine!):
15. “There’s this idea that if you believe in capitalism, you have to believe that markets always go up.”Via actual Philly journalist Will Bunch at Attytood, who I don’t link to often enough, and who deserves the hits.
Front page
Love the title
It sounds exactly like conversations with my brother when he was still living at home. I used to sit and LMAO watching him frustrate efforts to pin down his whereabouts.
So, how much of a topic was Hillbama...
And the purges of roughly half the constituents of Kos, DU, MoveOn, etc.?
Are the Atriots mostly above the fray?
See #5
I heard that, or the equivalent, a lot, though maybe that was just the people I hung out with. See Susie here. I’d categorize it as a “Don’t get mad, get even” mood. And even things soon, not later. I’d be very surprised if the Obama camp “backing down” wasn’t a result of pushback from many, including our own tiny little effort. (I put the purge in a misogynist frame, seeing as how the recommended diaries at Big Orange don’t even pretend to make a positive case any more. Just Hillary Hate
24/7, going all the way back to Vince Foster.)
Amazingly, I was in a three-person conversation where the other two people also recognized a reference to this cartoon.
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
it was a pleasure...
…to finally meet you, lambert!
my impression was that the con was remarkably civil. the obama-clinton wars were alluded to by some of the panelists (e.g. ted rall, beinhert, echidne, krugman) but for the most part we were refreshingly focused on the real enemy rather than each other.
Gotta go....
… still on vacation, i.e., working on other stuff.
Upyernoz, the feelling is mutual.
I don’t use the word Civil, because it implies an attitude of deference that is fostered by aristocracies like the Village. Dirty Fucking Hippies are, by definition, not civil. (It’s also possible to eviscerate somebody and be perfectly civil about it.)
I’d charactize the conference as friendly and productive, though — and most of that is down to the Escachon community being that way.
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
my dogs are now traumatized...
so, I get home from Mom’s (after dropping lambert off at the train station — big shock, traffic was fucked up trying to get to the bridge — thanx L!), and I walk in the door alone, and my dogs are like “Hi! We’re really really happy…uh, um.. Dude! Why is there just one of you?”
Dogs can count to two?
I did not know that. Cats, of course, have staff to do their counting for them during their naps.
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
dogs can count how many people like them and will play
w/them and who they were and their distinctive smell/sound/etc—they care deeply about that kind of thing and remember it always—it’s one of the best things about them (of course, they also remember who’s been mean to them too, but why dwell on the negative?—they don’t.) : >
It seems like it was a good time—what’s the self-censor thing about rudepundit? was he kidding, or no?
I don't know rude pundit well enough to know...
… whether he was kidding, or not.
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
ahhh
i wonder….
Or to put this another way...
… it may be that it’s irony all the way down, and that he meant to propose nothing of the sort. Remember that the rude pundit really is rude.
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
well RP was nice to everyone there...
so I’d say he was censoring himself! :)
Dog's don't count to two..
Dogs count BY twos… the number of hands available to pet them, give them treats, etc….
paul --
: >
thanks for the report, lb
sounds much like other cons i’ve been to, we bloggers are an aimable and happy lot in person. sigh, when will we all get serious about the commune idea?
don’t forget to check your bags for lil critters, tho. you never know who a dog will sleep with. i just can’t resist, lukasiak. mrrow, swish.