The Mainstream Tour

I'm heading off this afternoon to Chicago for the weekend where Sara's going to be speaking at the DLC National Conversation and I intend to return believing that only spending cuts and endless war can save the Democratic Party from the McGovernite wilderness (actually, surely liberals and centrists alike can agree on the national popular vote), so expect weekend blogging to be perhaps lighter than usual.

Then after that, I'll be continuing my jetset lifestyle by going directly from Chicago to Aspen, Colorado for the Aspen Ideas Festival co-sponsored by The Atlantic (or as we like to think of it, the Atlantic Ideas Festival in Some Town in Colorado) so expect a lot of posts about what the famous people say. Also stuff about how you should make Allstate, Altria, Boeing, Booz Allen Hamilton, Chevron, Ernst & Young, JP Morgan, Mercedes Benz, and Thompson Reuters your choice for fine insurance, tobacco, aerospace, government contracting, oil, accounting, financial services, luxury cars, and "intelligent, information-based solutions, software tools, and applications" products respectively.

Photo by Flickr user cesposito 2035 used under a Creative Commons license

Comments

where will you be in Chicago? Inquiring minds want to know.

Posted by Jared | June 27, 2008 5:34 PM

Say hi to that sellout Harold Ford for me!

No more Liebermans! No more Fords!

Posted by Random Dude | June 27, 2008 5:34 PM

Does the meta, ironical, haha-I'm not establishment-but-actually-I-am tone make you feel better about yourself?

Posted by decoud | June 27, 2008 5:36 PM

Then after that, I'll be continuing my jetset lifestyle by going directly from Chicago to Aspen, Colorado for the Aspen Ideas Festival co-sponsored by The Atlantic

Not to be confused with the Aspen Comedy Festival. Well, maybe a little.

Why don't you ever come to someplace cool on the West Coast, like SF? Is it because of Hack?

Posted by scythia | June 27, 2008 5:46 PM

Also stuff about how you should make Allstate, Altria, Boeing, Booz Allen Hamilton, Chevron, Ernst & Young, JP Morgan, Mercedes Benz, and Thompson Reuters your choice for fine insurance, tobacco, aerospace, government contracting, oil, accounting, financial services, luxury cars, and "intelligent, information-based solutions, software tools, and applications" products respectively.

Well, OK, as long as you don't sell out along the way...

Posted by Al | June 27, 2008 5:48 PM

Whore.

Posted by C.S. | June 27, 2008 5:50 PM

Aspen is for asshats.

Posted by joejoejoe | June 27, 2008 6:04 PM

Well, OK, as long as you don't sell out along the way...

In today's Democratic party, it's not that you sell out that matters, but to whom you sell out. Someone needs to run the companies' names against the Obama donation list.

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | June 27, 2008 6:05 PM

Assuming that mostly democrats are driving this idea, I would think that they would have already changed their primary process to a popular vote model.

Posted by S. P. Gass | June 27, 2008 6:09 PM

The most impressive skyline in the world, and THAT'S the picture you use -- the one without a good shot of the Sears Tower or the Hancock Building? Geez...

(Wave when you're flying over Denver. That's the place where there's a bunch of buildings at the foot of some very tall mountains.)

Posted by Joe | June 27, 2008 6:10 PM

Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work — and life.

Posted by El Cid | June 27, 2008 6:13 PM

I, too, will be in Chicago this weekend, though just to make a connection at Union Station.

Posted by Brian Ulrich | June 27, 2008 6:23 PM

A DLC meeting? Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!! They are a bunch of cretins. Kick Al From in the nuts for all of your readers while you are there.

Posted by Joe Klein's conscience | June 27, 2008 6:36 PM

Hope that leaving your East Coast cocoon doesn't cause you to hyperventilate

Speaking of Colorado, are you coming here to Denver for the Democratic Convention?

Posted by Campesino | June 27, 2008 6:55 PM

Kick Al From in the nuts for all of your readers while you are there.

Should have put it in the request thread.

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | June 27, 2008 6:58 PM

I can't be the only Chicagoan wondering if you want beers while you're here with a bunch of non-sellouts (unless you're applying Petey standards to Obama supporters).

Posted by dbt | June 27, 2008 7:05 PM

El Cid wins the week.

Posted by jhupp | June 27, 2008 7:25 PM

Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work — and life.

Posted by El Cid | June 27, 2008 6:13 PM

=================================================

Nah, aspens won't start turning till September

Posted by Campesino | June 27, 2008 7:27 PM

Taste of Chicago starts today, I'm headed over there now for some dinner. Mmm...delicious errands.

Posted by doofman | June 27, 2008 7:41 PM

Oh Holy Mother of Politics... Sara is speaking at the DLC? Now, whenever you kiss up to the Man, we'll never know if it was because of that Al From personal affirmations tape she put under your pillow. ;)

Posted by cmholm | June 27, 2008 7:45 PM

Sara is speaking at the DLC? Now, whenever you kiss up to the Man, we'll never know if it was because of that Al From personal affirmations tape she put under your pillow. ;)

She worked at the DLC for years, in fact.

Posted by Matthew Yglesias | June 27, 2008 8:01 PM

"Why don't you ever come to someplace cool on the West Coast, like SF? Is it because of Hack?"

Yeah, he's scared to death he'll run into me at Starbucks or some swank restaurant or New York pizza parlor.

Oh, wait, he eats at Wendy's! So he'll never see me at the nearby Burger King.

Or maybe he's just scared he might run into some gay guy out here.

Had he not already answered my two questions on Iran, if he had shown up here in SF and I could get in, I would have definitely confronted him with my two questions. That would have been fun.

Now - the only thing I probably would confront him on is why he doesn't like the Terminator show (based on the first episode which is not representative of the subsequent shows.) Or maybe why he's so clueless about the appropriate policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Or why the The Atlantic Web server is so fucked up.

Actually, he probably doesn't come here because nobody in this highly liberal town would bother to invite him just for HITS - it's not radical enough.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | June 27, 2008 8:04 PM

Here's a request: I disagree with you, on a policy level, about the gun issue. In fact, I disagree with your little blog posse about the issue-- McArdle, Capps, Ezra Klein, etc. That's a policy disagreement and they happen.

What makes me personally aggravated by the way you all talk about it, however, is that I have never seen one of you mention the fact that, yes, gun violence is an incredibly damaging and painful problem in DC, the largely poor, largely black community is desperate for a solution, and with good cause. You all like guns in the "guns are cool and make me feel powerful" vein. Well, that's your right, I hope you enjoy them. But you've never demonstrated anything approaching respect or compassion on this issue for the actual community of Washington DC, and I find it extremely disappointing, considering how intelligent and thoughtful you usually are. Just a little acknowledgment of the enormity of pain guns has cause DC would go a long way, instead of snark and thick-headedness.

Posted by Freddie | June 27, 2008 8:42 PM

If you happen to run across the Mayor mentioning your views on Heller is a good way to break the ice.

Posted by Hustler | June 27, 2008 8:49 PM

Those of you agitated about Sara speaking at, or MY attending, the DLC gathering should get ready for some real cognitive dissonance: Markos Moulitsas is speaking there, too. Big tent party, man, big tent party.

Posted by Ed Kilgore | June 27, 2008 9:03 PM

Chicago's Green Mill (pre-Prohibition jazz club) can be a fun late-night hang on the weekends, though sometimes obnoxiously crowded. Saturday night they're open til 5 AM, and the late band is better.

Carol's Pub, not far from the Mill, is the country-western late night equivalent.

Hopleaf, also not far from there, has great beer selection and good food.

Of course, you're probably staying downtown, not especially close to any of that.

Drop a clue about your whereabouts, unless of course you'd rather not.

Posted by live | June 27, 2008 9:21 PM

Come to think of it, since you'll be with your GF, I'd imagine she (and you) might well be slightly less than enthused at the prospect of meeting random jackasses, well-meaning or otherwise, from your comments section.

Posted by live | June 27, 2008 9:28 PM

Are you sure there's a "p" in Thomson-Reuters?

Posted by sab | June 27, 2008 10:12 PM

Interesting that the DLC is gathering across the street from Obama's national headquarters. May be coincidence, but..

No, there's no "p" in Thomson-Reuters - and their "solutions" generally suck.

Posted by TH | June 27, 2008 10:34 PM

whore!!!!!!!!!!!! puta!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by kate | June 27, 2008 10:34 PM

whore!!!!!!!!!!!! puta!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by kate | June 27, 2008 10:34 PM

It's not really a tour if we don't have a chance to meet you in Chicago...

Posted by Barkeep49 | June 27, 2008 11:35 PM

Ed Kilgore:
Does that include HoJo or Harold Ford, Jr.? Or what about the selling out of the American worker? And contrary to Mayor Daley, no one is anti-business(we all need jobs after all), some of us believe there should be some enforceable regulations on business(to prevent things like the housing/credit crisis).

Posted by Joe Klein's conscience | June 28, 2008 12:19 AM

surely liberals and centrists alike can agree on the national popular vote

This is such a revoltingly stupid idea that I don't see how anyone could possibly agree with it. Koza makes the claim that 99% of campaign money was spent in only 16 states in 2004 and that is likely to be only 14 states in 2008. What he doesn't say is whether these are the same states. Alaska? Virginia? Minnesota? North Carolina? Georgia? Colorado? Nevada? Were these battleground states in 04? We know for sure that a national popular vote would result in a majority of money being spent on the exact same large states in election after election.

Koza also fails to mention where the campaigns collect most of their loot. Do they hold their biggest fund raisers in the battleground states? I don't think so. Candidates must already pander to the New Yorks, Californias, and Texases, because that's where the money is. A national popular vote would mean that no one would ever pander anywhere else. But of course, that's the point isn't it? Flyover country doesn't deserve any influence.

This is an absurd idea and the ridiculous bill is destined to go nowhere. It's the result of spoiled people who demand to be the center of attention in all things. Nobody is stopping you from moving to Ohio if your vote is that important to you.

Posted by Just Karl | June 28, 2008 12:20 AM

Does this mean you really are trust fund scum after all?

Posted by Sherry | June 28, 2008 12:55 AM

John Yoo will be speaking at Aspen. Now *that's* who he should kick in the nuts. Or worse.

Posted by mq | June 28, 2008 2:48 AM

I eagerly anticipate Yglesias's observations upon visiting a small Western town, albeit a very upscale one and during an event full of East Coast intellectuals.

Also, Just Karl hit the nail on the head:

1. The notion that there's a consensus on the National Popular Vote plan is absurd.

2. The whole notion of using the popular vote to determine the President is one worth debating, but ultimately I oppose it for a variety of reasons.

3. But even if I did favor it, no way would I go with this asinine back-door "we'll just have our state's electors completely ignore our state's voters" plan, whose sole advantage seems to be that its backers get to cackle with glee at how goddamn clever they are for changing the nature of the Presidential election without a Constitutional amendment. Listen, folks, if you really want the popular vote to determine the President, at least go about it honestly.

Posted by Adam Villani | June 28, 2008 5:18 AM

You may not own a car and you are quite anxious to get everyone else out of theirs (not without some justification, I would add) but, with all that flying, don't kid yourself about the size of your "carbon footprint."

Posted by Roberto | June 28, 2008 7:24 AM

what a weekend here in chicago: cubs vs. sox at the Cell, Stevie Wonder at the Taste (be prepared for a million folks at the Taste), Orchestra Baobab at Millenium Park and of course the Pride Parade on sunday. now we have to keep our eyes peeled for Yglesias sightings...oh, and today is the 80th anniversary of West End Blues recorded here in Chicago.

Posted by larrybob | June 28, 2008 9:59 AM

Your jet-set lifestyle isn't going to make it all the way to Aspen. If you fly all the way to the town, your last leg will be on a small plane with a precipitous landing pattern. They call it the "vomit comet" for a reason. (Not that driving there is much less hair-raising.)

Posted by allbetsareoff | June 29, 2008 9:03 AM