Far from being a chorus of approval, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi‘s appearance at Netroots Nation was peppered with some tough questioning. Just not tough enough for some. The meme for Sunday’s wrap-up was “hold her feet to the fire.” Several atendees got upset that the event’s organizers decided that there should be no excessive yelling, an opportunity to talk about more than just FISA and Iraq (yes, there are still other issues of importance), and something like what people have yearned after for years: reasoned discussion.
During the closing bloggers brunch, panelist Cheryl Contee (aka Jill Tubman of Jack and Jill Politics argued that the important part of the critics’ charge was “hold”: as in, if they’d just pointlessly beat up on Pelosi, it would have achieved nothing and discouraged the Dem hierarchy from being involved with the progressive movement.
Of course, keynote speaker and technological philosopher Lawrence Lessig (read our interview here) suggested something much more viral to remind Pelosi et al. that the world is still watching. He suggested adding nine cents to every contribution check to a congressional campaign. Nine percent, he noted, being the current approval rating for Congress.
This article appears in July 18 • 2008.
