Into the Belly of the Beast: A Conservative Goes to YearlyKos

I wanted to go to the YearlyKos event but circumstances did not permit. Thankfully, at least one sane person did go. Rick Moran gives this account:

I can assure you that they are at least as similar to us as chimpanzees – except chimps are cuter and don’t constantly interrupt you when you’re speaking and trying to make a point. However, all that aside, liberals are pretty normal. They have a different sense of humor of course. And they may not laugh as much as conservatives although I wonder who will be doing the chuckling on election day 2008? [...]

One observation I would never have dared put in a piece for PJ Media or anywhere else I write is that for a movement and party that prides itself on inclusion, the gathering appeared very white. There were definitely more people of color than there would be at a conservative or Republican event. But as I scanned the faces of attendees to the Presidential Leadership Forum where almost all YKos was gathered, my rough estimate was 75% white – perhaps larger.

I read nothing untoward into this figure. The conference had no control over the color of those signing up (unlike the Democratic convention that mandates racial diversity in precise amounts to the decimal point). And it can hardly be called hypocritical when attendance was voluntary. I’m also sure they didn’t turn anyone away because of race.

And yet, there it is. Does that say something about the netroots? About America? Or is it inconsequential?

The fact that is that if it had been a GOP event and that high percentage of whites were in attendance, we’d never hear the end of it. So perhaps the netroots will grant conservatives a little leeway in their criticism next time, right?

Right.

Read the rest. La Shawn Barber has more on the blogging left's diversity problem:

I think the whole chasing-diversity thing is a bit ridiculous…but…since white liberals — not white conservatives, thank goodness — are the ones preaching it to the rest of us, I find them hypocritical and the situation ironic (and funny) when they end up with lily white conferences.

Look, I’m used to being either the only black or one of a few blacks at conservative and/or Christian bloggers conferences. Wish it were different, but I’m not complaining too loudly. I like going to events to meet like-minded people, regardless of color. I like being around the kind of whites who aren’t nervous about the “lack of diversity” at a particular conference or constantly asking me about “black” issues.

Ace, meanwhile, catches the Washington Post falsely burnishing the military record of Markos Moulitsas, calling him a "Gulf War veteran" when he actually never served in the region.

At least the Post reporter did note the gathering's diversity problem, something I would bet that  Bryant Gumbel never would do.