Blog Heaven?

Shows how connected I am, Bush! I feel so darn foolish for having heard only yesterday, on reading the Sunday edition of the New York Times, about the Daily Kos liberal blogging convention in Las Vegas a couple of weeks from now. Better late than never, though. You'll be plesed to hear that I went online and signed up right away. We're going to Las Vegas, Bush, you and I and our daily conversation.

Not to mention, of course, "The Real Bush Diaries." What a great opportunity to let my fellow-bloggers know about the publication even as it happens--because as I think I've told you, books should be available by that time. The point of the book, for me, is to broaden the base (there you go, Bush: a term that you're familiar with!) of our daily readership even more than the number of copies sold--though of course I'd be delighted to cover the costs associated with publication and promotion, and wouldn't mind making a little money to boot.

I've published enough books, though, to be sanguine about that eventuality. You have to get really lucky to break through the immense barriers to success on this front. It's a miracle even to get through the distribution system and see your book on the shelves of the boostores, let alone to sell significant quantities of books. The competition is mind-boggling.

Success for us, though, Bush, will not be measured primarily in the number of books sold but in making the voice of "The Bush Diaries" heard along with all those other voices of liberal protest and anger. So let's bear in mind that we'll be going to this convention as much to learn as to put out word about ourselves. And, more than anything, to get hooked up with the vast left-wing conspiracy to change the course of politics and policies in this country.

I see real hope in the exchange of information and ideas that has been expanding exponentially in the blogosphere, and want to be a part of the movement to ensure a better future for this country and the planet earth. Or simply, perhaps, a future. Like many others, I suspect, I have been feeling powerless and weak in the grip of the aggressive power machine of the ruthless right. I happen to believe--as you claim to, Bush--in the freedom and democracy you have worked hard to undermine since your non-election in 2000. (A propos of which, how about that Al Gore, Bush! What a resurrection! Watch out, Hillary!) I also believe that the place where bloggers work, in the realm of discussion and ideas, is precisely where we might find those values once again. The blogosphere is a place where--along with all the blather--some simple truths are spoken and heard.

Anyway, Bush, all these developments are exciting, no? Las Vegas! A not inappropriate place, I say, because all this is a gamble. But the odds are getting better for us liberals all the time.