These are important days for Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas.
The Yearly Kos convention he put together got substantial blog and mass media coverage, culminating with his appearance on Meet The Press where viewers could put a face to a name and to words they see on their computer screens (he came off quite well). And now the Drum Major Institute For Public Policy is honoring Moulitas for his impact on politics with the 2006 Drum Major for Justice Award in New York City.
Moulitsas’ impact is, of course, subject to debate with positions usually taken according to whether or not someone agrees with Moulitas and whether the ideal of impacting elections via the cyberspace community has produced any hard results — or whether it’s actually on the verge of doing so. Or not. Again, it depends on the person’s political position. Moulitas is a hero to many on the left and still remains highly controversial to many on the right. But there’s one thing on which his admirers and detractors would agree: politics would be a lot different in the Democratic party today if he had not burst upon the scene and created Daily Kos.
Tom Watson, who is involved with the institute and the award, has put together a “virtual committee” of progressive bloggers. He explains why he feels this matters:
Fresh off of YearlyKos (and don’t I wish I’d been there), the progressive netroots movement is on fire – but I think it means more than simply realigning one of the major parties in time for this year’s election. I think it means a new, more open, more transparent way of conducting ourselves in the public arena – and when I say “ourselves,” I do not mean the elected officials, candidates, party staff, consultants, and lobbyists. I mean everyone who wants a voice. Because if everyone who wants a voice has a voice, progressivism in American politics can’t lose. And policy will matter.
You can read the full DETAILS HERE in Watson’s post and also see the list of progressive bloggers on the committee so far (and they are still signing interested progressive bloggers up).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.