Tweeting Democracy
I spend a lot of time trying to cajole Republicans towards understanding and better using technology and so I wanted to give credit where credit is due: John Culberson and other House Republicans are really doing some ground-breaking stuff in their energy protest in the House.
You can read my full Capital Commentary on the subject here.
McCain and the Internets
I’m really concerned about the extent to which John McCain has checked out of the technological era and so spent this week’s Capital Commentary talking about it:
There was a time back in 2000 during his maverick, Straight Talk Express-debuting run for the White House when John McCain was the master of online technology. It was, after all, his surprisingly strong online fundraising haul that allowed him to stay competitive after a strong showing in the New Hampshire primary. The Web back then was a different place. In the parlance of the Internet, it was Web 1.0óbrochure-like Web sites focused mostly on e-commerce with little to no interactivity. It was a one-way medium.
Over the last eight years, thereís been an explosion of innovation online as the Web moved into what is now known as Web 2.0óhighly interactive and engaging Web sites characterized by information sharing and collaboration on projects, as well as sites like Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, YouTube, Flickr, and Digg that allow users to network, create content, and build communities. John McCain seems to have missed this movementóan oversight that may have profound implications both for his campaign and the entire nation if he is to become president.
You can read the whole thing here. This has been an issue I’ve been following since last fall (here’s my Washington Post op-ed on the subject) and that I explore in much greater depth in “The First Campaign.”
Politico Props
Thanks to Micah Sifry and Andrew Rasiej for including “The First Campaign” in their roundup of the best “Politics 2.0″ books for summer reading.
Netroots Nation
I’m starting to write a weekly political/Washington column for the magazine website entitled “Capital Commentary,” playing off my section, Capital Comment. The first column deals with the Netroots Nation convention in Austin, Texas, where I spent the last week. It’s certainly come a long way since the first convention two years ago in Las Vegas.
The blogger convention in Las Vegas, then called YearlyKos, was fiery and filled with the tensions of a new power base emerging in the party. Columnists like Maureen Dowd trooped out to the Riviera Hotel, on the seedy end of the Las Vegas strip, and Democratic leaders like Harry Reid spoke, albeit warily at times.
The environment this past weekend bespoke a new level of maturity and acceptance among the blogging crowd. This year
