Blogosphere: June 2011 Archives

The Wells Fargo Building in the fog Saturday night.

Herman Cain speaking to the conference.

At a blogger press conference, Evan McMorris-Santoro asks Herman Cain a question he'd already answered. See Stacy McCain and Nice Deb's accounts of the confrontation, in which Herman Cain spoke a few words in a slightly louder voice. (This is the confrontation that The Gateway Pundit falsely characterized as Cain "screaming.")

After the news conference, Herman Cain greets Arkansas blogger Bill Smith. In the background, Stacy McCain, John Sexton of Verum Serum, Steve Eggleston of No Runny Eggs, and Nice Deb.

After the press conference, Herman Cain with Nice Deb, with John Sexton and Steve Eggleston. Stacy McCain's hat and camera can be seen in the foreground left.

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

Michelle Malkin.

RedState's Erick Erickson.

Stacy McCain.

Tabitha Hale at Brit's Pub.

PUBLISHED 2024/10/01: I'm not sure why I left this in draft, but I came across this while writing about my distrust of The Gateway Pundit, whose editor, Jim Hoft, was not present, but nevertheless falsely characterized Herman Cain at the blogger press conference as "screaming." (Note that the commenters at the time didn't buy Hoft's characterization. NiceDeb's video linked above, and commentary from her and Stacy McCain report the event as I remember it.) I haven't trusted Gateway Pundit ever since, and I have been even more put off by Hoft's ingratitude toward Dana Loesch, who with her husband Chris helped to nurse him back to health after a major health scare; Hoft trashed her over their differences of opinion in the 2016 Republican primary race.

Video of the main session speeches and the policy track panels for RightOnline 2011 have now been posted.

Available videos include:

• Opening general session: Congressman Marsha Blackburn (TN), Congressman John Kline (MN), Ann McElhinney of Not Evil Just Wrong, Melissa Clouthier @MelissaTweets, John Hinderaker of PowerLineBlog.com
• Grassroots Awards Dinner: Andrew Breitbart of BigGovernment.com, John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, Tim Phillips of Americans for Prosperity Foundation, Tracy Henke of Americans for Prosperity Foundation, and Erik Telford of Americans for Prosperity Foundation.
• Saturday general session: Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN), Congressman Tim Huelskamp (KS), Michelle Malkin, Commentator Jason Lewis, John Fund of The Wall Street Journal, Author and Conservative Commentator S.E. Cupp, Ed Morrissey of HotAir.com, Erick Erickson of RedState.com, Guy Benson of Townhall.com
• Special session with former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (Part 1, Part 2)
• Closing Session With Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli, Michigan Congressman Thad McCotter, artist Steve Penley, and Herman Cain.

Many of the speeches are available as individual videos on RightOnline's YouTube channel.

The public policy panel discussions available for viewing:

• Cutting Red Tape: Reining in Out-of-Control Regulators
• Healthcare: Obamacare vs. Patient Freedom
• Job Creation: Standing Up To Obama's Union Thugs
• Tax Reform: A Return to Economic Growth
• Internet Freedom: Washington's Internet Takeover
• Extreme Power Abuse: Global Warming & Energy Regulation

UPDATED 2024/10/01 to replace a dead link to the RightOnline website with an Internet Archive link and to add direct links to AFPHQ's Vimeo account and the RightOnline YouTube channel. This must have been before YouTube allowed videos longer than 10 minutes.

A quick update before dinner:

I went to two excellent presentations this afternoon:

Earl Glynn of Kansas Watchdog spoke on "Freedom of Information and How to Use It Effectively." He dealt not only with the federal FOIA, but also with using state and local open records laws to research and investigate.

Tom Steward and Jonathan Blake of the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota spoke on "Exposing Crony Capitalism," focusing on a case involving President Obama's weatherization czar and the "green" replacement window company owned by the czar's husband.

Time for dinner and a speech by Andrew Breitbart. I'll add links and some more details relating to these talks later.

In just a few hours, Jamison Faught (the Muskogee Politico) and I will be on our way to Minneapolis for the 4th annual RightOnline conference. As in years past, the conference is scheduled to take place in the same city as the left-wing Netroots Nation convention.

The conference is all about how to be a more effective online activist; breakout sessions include such topics as using the Freedom of Information Act, Podcasting 101, Exposing Crony Capitalism, and Effective Blogging at the State and Local Level.

The speakers' list includes three announced presidential candidates -- Tim Pawlenty, Michelle Bachmann, and Herman Cain -- conservative columnists Michelle Malkin, S. E. Cupp, and John Fund, and prominent online commentators and activists like Andrew Breitbart, Ed Morrissey of Hot Air, Erick Erickson of RedState, Melissa Clouthier, and John Hinderaker of PowerLine blog.

Most of the plenary sessions and the public policy seminar track will be live-streamed, starting at 1 pm CDT Friday.

It is likely to be easier for me to tweet than to blog, so be sure to follow BatesLine on Twitter for my latest thoughts. You can also follow @ExJon's list of RightOnline tweeps, or what appears to be the official RightOnline 2011 Twitter list.

(Disclosure: My hotel and airfare is being paid for by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation.)

UPDATED 2024/10/01: Here are my tweets from Right Online 2011, and tweets with the #ro11 hashtag before, during, and after the conference.