As just about everyone in blogdom knows, recently the Democrats decided to issue credentials to CERTAIN bloggers to attend the convention. I have long referred to what Skippy the Bush Kangaroo call blogtopia as blogdom, because in recent years it has turned into a rather feudal place where certain well-connected blog nobility seem to call the shots, from getting noticed by the national press to being invited to conventions.

Anyone who has lived in blogdom can predict who is on the list. I won’t increase their already inflated hit counts by citing them here. I will only say that these blogs are to the Net what ABC and CBS are to the mainstream media. Their voices are as predictable and as independent as the New York Times. These are not folks who will rock the boat. You won’t see any posts coming out of Denver that focus on Bill Clinton’s role in the mortgage crisis.

Sounding as if he were hyping a stale donut, Aaron Myers, Director of Online Communications for the DNCC, stated:

Since we began planning, one goal has been at the core of all our efforts: to engage as many communities as possible in the Convention experience. We’re excited to provide bloggers with the opportunity to be the eyes and ears of so many at this Convention. Today, we are shattering the standard we set just four years ago, when the 2004 Democratic Convention was the first to credential blogs. This year, we will more than triple the number of blogs credentialed to witness history in the making.

Bobby Clark, Deputy Director of ProgressNow–for whom progress is made one baby step at a time–uttered this BS about the credentials:

We are proud to cooperate with the DNCC to ensure that for the first time, so many citizen journalists will have the tools and access they need to cover a national Convention. The progressive movement really is a ‘Big Tent’, and we think this unique event will be a huge hit with bloggers, non-profit leaders, and even some members of the professional media.

Note that word “cooperate.” When this campaign is over check the final financial statement filed by the Convention and if you don’t find a payment to ProgressNow, I will be very surprised.

As for the number of bloggers, triple means 55. Fifty-five–that’s all the bloggers who will be invited to the Democratic National Convention–and some of those were invited only after the AfroSpear protested that the bloggers were predominantly white. Not only are they white they are Wonderbread white–long since grown stale and irrelevant.

Those of you who are reading this have randomly wandered on this blog–which according to my tracking stats a fair number are reading for the first time–or even got here because Google sent you to this site because this post mentions sex [just had to throw that in there]. Any Newbie who has cruised blogdom knows that choosing 55 blogs to cover the convention is about like choosing the winner for American Idol [we'll get that link in here also].

There are literally thousands of blogs of the Net. What is interesting about the Democrats’ choices is that the blogs that dominate their short list are old and stodgy and frankly somewhat middle-of-the-road. When you think about it this is not only narrow-minded, but stupid. This is going to be a close election and blogs could play a role in determining the outcome, but by choosing the old guard, they have revealed that they have little interest in reaching out to a variety of ideas.

Pam Spaulding at Pandagon all but predicted what would happen:

As a candidate in the general pool, which will be announced at the end of the month, I think that list will probably generate even more heat than the release of state blogs, given the volatile nature of the blogosphere “A-List” — and “everyone else” conflicts that erupt from time to time.

To top this off, a “Big Tent” for bloggers will be in part hosted (and no doubt raking in money) for the most notorious, hypocritical, exclusionary and frankly self-promoting blog on the net–the one with the orange pages. If the “Big Tent” is anything like the orange blog expect folks to be kicked out for drinking the wrong kind of coffee, wearing the wrong t-shirt, letting slip the wrong phrase, or speaking in the wrong accent. Also expect Big Orange to make Big Bucks off this effort.

In the official announcement the Democrats put out about inviting blogs to the Convention, you have to read the fine print to find out:

Bloggers will be required to pay for their own travel and accommodations. All bloggers are invited to apply for housing through the DNCC media housing process.

Now some of the better bloggers I know are not rich folks. We all know what will be the inflated price of lodging at the DNC, so if you’ve got a spare thousand or two lying around you might be able to cover the convention. In other words, the bloggers covering the DNC will be the same bloggers who fell all over millionaire Ned Lamont a few years ago because they did not have a clue what working class voters wanted or thought about. These are also the bloggers who said in 2006 the economy was not an issue and as late as last spring sang the same tune.

But guess what, even for the princes and princesses of Blogdom, covering the DNC will hardly be a picnic. Pam Spaulding relates the rules for bloggers that were laid out to her by Myers:

Floor access for the general pool bloggers (that includes the MSM), will given in 30-45 minute blocks of time via floor pass credential, which will be obtained at a specific table/area in the hall. There will be no limit on how many times a general pool blogger can receive this pass during the convention. The general pool bloggers will also have a designated area to obtain the pass separate from traditional media so they aren’t competing with them for floor access.

When you aren’t getting your valuable 30 minutes of floor time guess where you will be–on a basketball practice court that has been converted into a media room where you get to watch on TV just like the rest of us. Think about the thirty minutes? Have you ever been to or seen one of those conventions? It can a good part of thirty minutes just to get from one part of the floor to another or to find a specific delegate you might want to interview.

And here is another thing you can bet on: those passes will be very scarce for the “big moments” such as Obama’s speech. But just supposing you land one of those coveted passes–will someone drag you off the floor in the middle of the speech because your thirty minutes are up?

So in that overused phrase here is the bottom line for bloggers at the DNC–fork over $1,000 or so for airline tickets, lodging, food all to sit on a practice basketball court and watch the goings-on on television. Of course, we know certain bloggers will have their expenses paid.

Perhaps the best idea for the right way to do this came from Jason Rosenbaum at The Seminal:

I’d like to propose a different way of selecting blogs for these positions. Blogs are an outsider phenomenon. They represent the everyday citizen and activist commenting on political goings-on. Likewise, the Democratic party says it is the party of the average American. Given our party and our movement’s focus on people, I propose those bloggers with the least access should be given credentials.

This means people who work for the state or national party or traditional media outlets are passed over - those well connected in politics can find other ways to attend the convention and there will be plenty of traditional media coverage there already. The focus should be on those who traditionally are outsiders. This means bloggers going to the convention should be activists who occasionally work against the party establishment, women and minorities who are always underrepresented, and community builders who have brought together average citizens outside the normal political establishment.

As for the rest of us we’ll be watching on TV in comfortable chairs, maybe even wearing our pajamas (remember when they called us pajamahadeen), probably with our favorite brew on hand, and if like me you are disabled, maybe even blogging from bed.

Maybe in the end we got the better deal.

BTW: Just so this won’t be viewed as sour gripes, I did not apply or want to apply for blogging credentials. Seems like their application form said little about those of us with disabilities.

Tags: American Idol, Barack Obama, blogdom, bloggers, blogs, blogtopia, Democratic National Committee, Democratic National Convention, Democratic Party, sex, Wonderbread
Tagged with: American Idol • Barack Obama • blogdom • bloggers • blogs • blogtopia • Democratic National Committee • Democratic National Convention • Democratic Party • sex • Wonderbread