liberal

Oh wow!

I can't remember for how long I've been reading Kevin's column, but it is going to be at least 5 years now, if not more.

Kevin is the kind of centrist liberal that always throws me off-base; kind of like pro-choice Republicans --maybe it's the reason why I find him and Andrew Sullivan to be soul brothers. They have a lot in common, but only argue the minutiae about how big government ought to be.

So after weeks of reading his pro-Clinton posts, Kevin (who lives in California, btw) has done an about face : He's voting for Obama.

I've got some good reasons and some bad reasons for changing my mind. The good reasons include (a) the ugliness coming out of the Clinton camp over the past couple of weeks, which has turned me off, (b) a growing sense that Obama's steadiness running his campaign under fire is a good sign of what he'd be like as president, and (c) some of the red state endorsements Obama has gotten recently, which speak well for his potential to produce strong coattails in November.

There are also some not-so-good reasons. I'm half embarrassed to admit that this stuff even affects me, but the fact is that the actions of both the candidates' supporters and detractors has had an impact. Watching Andrew Sullivan rant and rave on a daily basis about Hillary, for example, has had the perverse effect of keeping me on her side. I just hated the thought of fever swamp hatred like that influencing my party's nomination. Conversely, today's Paul Krugman column, which was yet another installment in his months-long anti-Obama jihad had the opposite effect.

Drinking Liberally is a group I have been publicizing almost since its inception. The idea of liberals getting together regularly and drinking booze (or coffee, or tea, or whatever) creating grassroots, social bonds and just plain fun sounded like a perfect idea. Seems like the idea is taking off!

From AlterNet:

Drinking Liberally: A New Strategy for Progressive Politics

By Nick Pinto, AlterNet. Posted January 18, 2007.

Every week, in cities and towns all over the country, thousands of the nation's progressives are coming together to drink beer. But far from drowning their despair in drink, these progressives are building networks that could form the underpinning of a new renaissance for the American Left. What do they call this movement? Drinking Liberally, naturally.

Three years after it was founded in a Hell's Kitchen Dive Bar, the Drinking Liberally organization has grown to include 174 chapters. And they're not just in predictable cities like New York, Washington D.C., and San Francisco, but also scattered in seemingly unlikely places like Salt Lake City, Utah; Moscow, Idaho; Amarillo, Texas; and South Bend, Indiana.

In September, the Drinking Liberally regulars gathered in Denver for their second annual national convention, and under the umbrella name of "Living Liberally," the organization is developing a national comedy tour, networks of reading groups and movie clubs, and perhaps even a dating service...