Dean and Clark stroke YearlyKos

The nutroots have gathered in Austin for their annual circle jerk known as the YearlyKos. To start off the convention, Wesley Clark and Howard Dean addressed the assembled malcontents last night according to Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire;

Both men received standing ovations by the crowd (which didn’t look to be at full strength yet, but included well over a 1,000 by Washington Wire’s unofficial count). Many had also been taking advantage of several cash bars set up inside the convention hall. Neither delivered what would be considered barn-burner speeches, but the crowd was attentive.

Clark officially kicked off the conference with a speech thanking the bloggers for being “a major force in my life” and for their support over the years. Like Dean, Clark was an unsuccessful 2004 Democratic presidential candidate. “You are the guiding compass for America,” he told the crowd, which thanked him with rousing applause.

Dean recounted his trip to nearby (by Texas standards anyway) Crawford earlier in the day, joking that change was also coming to that town: “It’s going to become a retirement community for George W. Bush,” he said, to laughs and cheers.

The DNC chairman appealed to the crowd to support Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (not exactly a hard sell in a crowd filled with people sporting Obama stickers on their iBooks) and other Democratic candidates running this year.

It sounds more like a Bash-Bush-One-Last-Time convention. But “a major force in my life”? The “guiding compass for America”? Obviously he hasn’t read the profane trash that passes for thoughtful commentary on the Left side of the blogosphere lately.

Category: Bloggers, Politics