Political discussion in the past few years has moved almost entirely online with the rise of blogs. But now people are using the internet to organize face to face meetings where the politically conscious can get their dose of serious discussion with a side of booze.  
 
A group of six on one Tuesday and 12 the following Tuesday sit on low interchangeable benches on wheels, talking over ambient electronic music. Most are sipping from a beer, a glass of wine or a cocktail. On Tuesday nights, Liberals, mostly from Cambridge and Somerville, gather at the Middlesex Lounge  on Massachusetts Avenue, outside of Central Square in Cambridge. It's an example of a recent phenomenon--equal parts political and social--of social networking in person, without the MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn. The trend includes Drinking Liberally  chapters in Boston and Brookline as well as Laughing, Screening, and Reading Liberally, Socializing for Justice (JSONS story) and monthly meetings of the Greater Boston Young Republicans, among others.  
 
"The Right has it's Hitler Youth meetings. We have Drinking Liberally," says host Baratunde Thurston. "Seriously though, I think we are
all looking for new ways to find and define community. Our country has become so individualistic and isolated that we are desperate for
connection. The blogosphere does something to fix that by connecting people virtually, but we also require real, live human community, and what you see in these offline social networks is an attempt to create that." Hosts Thurston and Shai Sachs want to inject some serious discussion into the work week.
 
"People go to bars everyday" Thurston said. "We want to provide at least one day a week where they don't talk about reality TV but about social and political affairs which affect us all. To me, that is the most valuable effect we could have." 
 
The Cambridge chapter, who Sachs calls "a pretty temperate bunch," started independently of the national organization, and was later annexed.
 
"In the summer of 2004, I organized a weekly event for myself and other activists I knew to go to John Kerry's office for phonebanking," he said. Afterwards we would go out drinking. When I found out about the national Drinking Liberally group, I realized that I was already exactly that, so I decided I might as well join the group, and get listed on their website." 
 
Having a weekly summit of liberals in an ultra-blue city like Cambridge reminds people that "there is no complacency," Thurston says. 
 
"It's not that we have no issues or have 'won,'" he says. We're going to face the consequences of global warming, a driving culture, living wages, home affordabilty and a lot more. It's not about battling the Right constantly. It's about solving our own problems, whatever they may be."
 
When Thurston joined in 2005, Drinking Liberally was suffering from "election hangover,"  from the Bush victory, he said. Still, he credits President  and his policies with galvanizing liberals into organizing.
 
"I do think the response was to Bush, and I thank him for that," he said. "I think [Drinking Liberally] will continue under Clinton II or Obama or
whoever. This is not about the democratic party, which is as dysfunctional as anything. This is about progressive politics, and no party can own that."

The mainstream media also shares some credit, according to Sachs.

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