Rocket Man Mingles With Leftists

Tuesday night, I participated in a blogger seminar with Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of the left-wing Daily Kos and Ana Marie Cox, the Wonkette. The panel discussion took place in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and was sponsored by the Morning Call newspaper. Deacon and I reported on the event here.
I’m now back from this week’s business travel. I don’t have much to add to what Deacon and I said on Tuesday. As for the event itself, it was interesting to see how much the three of us, who are sharply divided politically, agreed on the role of the blogosphere in relation to the mainstream media. The highlight of the event for me was having Deacon drive 3 1/2 hours from Washington to attend. Here is a photo of Deacon and me in the hotel bar after the panel discussion; click to enlarge:

Spending the evening with Markos and Ana was interesting and a lot of fun. Markos is very far left, and disagrees with us on every possible political issue. Ana Marie, while not as far left as Markos, is a liberal Democrat. Nevertheless, we spent a very pleasant evening in the Bethlehem Hotel bar, talking about non-political subjects like children and pets. I don’t know what I expected from Markos and Ana Marie, whom I’d never actually met before, but they turned out to be highly intelligent and very cordial. I don’t know, maybe we struck a small blow for civility in political discourse. One thing I do know: it’s important that we on the right leave the politics of hate to our opponents on the left. Hate is a dead end, as we’ve seen during the present Presidential campaign.
The photo below is of me, Ana and Markos. And Markos, if you see this, I want you to know that I eliminated an extreme red-eye problem before posting it. You’re wild-eyed, yes: but red-eyed, no. Click to enlarge:

And for those whose prurient interest is aroused–like Deacon, for example, who found the Wonkette “stunningly attractive” in person–I have permission to record that she is a short hitter, having gone to bed at 10:30, leaving Markos and me in the bar by ourselves. Well, it just occurred to me–I suppose that could be a comment on Markos’s and my company, as opposed to Ana’s stamina. In any event, it was a fun evening.

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