https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2008-07-19/646642/

Pelosi on the Spot - UPDATE

By Richard Whittaker, July 19, 2008, 9:56am, Newsdesk

Talk about the lion's den: Speaker Nancy Pelosi is this morning's keynote speaker at Netroots Nation. With the latest FISA immunity vote, the lack of impeachment proceedings, and the ongoing war in Iraq, walking into a room of annoyed and disappointed progressives may not be her ideal brunch date. But the event (so far) has been pretty calm (even for the presence of political show-boaters Code Pink. What was it that Jon Stewart of The Daily Show said about them? Oh, yes. NOT HELPING.)

The format helps. Questions were submitted in advance by the website askthespeaker.org, and then voted on in advance to establish order of asking (online democracy!). This morning, the crowd was told in advance that any attempts to turn this into a screaming match would lead to the expulsion of said screamers and removal of their credentials. That actually got a big round of applause from an audience that (hey, here's a shocker!) actually wanted to hear what Pelosi has to say.

"This is a historic moment," said moderator and Netroots Nation executive director Gina Cooper in her introduction. "The speaker's office embraced a new technology so she could be closer to her people."

UPDATE: Code Pink were finally asked to leave the hall because they weren't prepared to abide by the rules or act like grown-ups. Seriously, wasn't there a Michelle Malkin in town to annoy?