Have you watched/listened to the Bush Flash animation linked in yesterday’s post yet? It should be a prerequisite to any discussion about Kucinich and Dean.
Kidding. Almost. It is an ingenious compilation well worth the short download, a moving experience and uniquely helpful since although Kucinich is working hard on his campaign, his pre-determined status as ‘irrelevant’ translates to mainstream death.
Internet death, as well. The New Republicans still haven’t included him on their primary scorecard. And even the more left-leaning blogs that generate the greatest traffic consider him a non-starter an attitude they formed before the candidates ever made it out of the gate.
Via Body and Soul I found this link to a discussion on Alas, a blog. In the opener Ampersand wonders if there’s a place for progressives in the Democratic party considering Dean is getting more support from the left than Kucinich.
I think they like having us around but don’t trust us with the keys, and probably won’t in my lifetime. Here’s one reason why. They’re frightened the elusive majority would think them mad, whoever they are. In order for that to change a clear consensus of the American people would have to agree that a foreign policy with roots firmly planted in foundations of peace as opposed to reactionary in terms of defence, and unbelievably pre-emptive ‘defence’, is a sounder long-term solution not only for the U.S. but the world they secretly covet. That would involve waging an educational campaign capable of reaching young and old alike, one that could penetrate the din we’re faced with daily [Kick Their Ass, Steal Their Gas] in nearly all of our waking activities. Right now there isn’t enough financial support, and dare I say interest, to create even an occasional break in the regularly scheduled programming. What daylight can be found is dug out from underneath piles of garbage by the few who have an interest in finding it. Hardly converts.
If I weren’t so disappointed in the way things are going I’d laugh at how easily Dean is manipulating his audience. If I were one who fell into theories of conspiracy I’d bet that the DLC’s ‘campaign’ against him is a clever marketing strategy, intended to hook the ‘rad’ lefties while reeling in the center. Dean is very good at massaging whatever kink is causing a potential supporter to cringe. That’s his biggest draw, I think. He gives off signals he can mend the broken dems..he’s so cute…his name is easy to say…he’s so cute…
That’s entertainment. Maybe a part of it too, is that people have lost faith the system will ever change and they feel powerless to change it. It’s not as if we can point to recent milestones and say look, it’s possible. And well liberals are just so accomodating, in a constant state of flux due to diffuse viewpoints as liberalism encompasses complicated and transient ideals, unlike their conservative counterparts who have a very simple, cohesive agenda they agree to defend with lies if necessary.
Maybe Dean will tell us what exactly his foreign policy entails and how it will play out if he’s elected. Better to hash it out now than in debate with Rove, I mean George.
My guess is there’ll be more interest in what they’re wearing.
With Dennis Kucinich’s campaign apparently too enlightened and ahead of the curve for 2004, Democrats in Iowa and elsewhere have a choice: Either support Dean, or let a pro-war DLC Democrat get the nomination. I hope that you will support Kucinich if you still believe in your heart he has a chance, but if you are reconsidering, I hope Dean is your second choice. If you see things shaping up as I do, I hope you will urge people to support Dean.
Sincerely,
Mike Hersh
Why I’m for Dean
Mike Hersh Endorses Howard Dean and other Dean articles at MikeHersh.com. See: http://tinyurl.com/349uz – http://www.mikehersh.com
Why William Greider, author of “Who Will Tell the People” and other insightful books, is for Dean
“Dean is opening the possibility of transforming politics–shaking up the tired, timid old order, inviting plain-wrapper citizens back into an active role–and that’s why so many people, myself included, are for him.” – William Greider
Why I’m for Dean by William Greider – The Nation magazine, November 26, 2003
First, the rivals saw him as a McGovernite lefty from the 1960s. When that didn’t take, they decided to depict him as a right-wing clone of Newt Gingrich who wants to dismantle Medicare and Social Security. Finally, opponents sold political reporters on the story of Mr. Malaprop, an oddball from tiny, liberal Vermont so insensitive to the nuances of American politics his mouth will destroy him.
Howard Dean surged ahead through all this. The other candidates and witting collaborators in the press got him wrong every time. Howard Dean is an odd duck, certainly, in the milieu of the contemporary Democratic Party. He is, I surmise, a tough and savvy politician of the old school–a shrewd, intuitive pol who develops his own sense of where the people are and where events are likely to take public opinion, then has the guts to act on his perceptions. That approach–leading, it’s called–seems dangerously unscientific in this era of high-quality polling and focus groups….
[Link to Complete Article see: http://smileatdean.blogspot.com/ ]
Why Former Nader Voter Ted Rall is for Dean
HOWARD DEAN FOR PRESIDENT
Ted Rall Nov 23, 2003 – Key excerpts:
I don’t regret voting for Ralph Nader in 2000. Given the information we had at the time…. Boy, was I wrong. To paraphrase National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, who could have imagined back then that a dozen maniacs would hijack our democracy, bankrupt the treasury and subvert our basic values?
I’m a charter member of the 2004 ABB (Anybody But Bush) society. Whether the nominee turns out to be a right-winger (Clark, Lieberman) or a colorless bore (Edwards, Kerry, Gephardt), I’ll vote for him over Bush, in the same spirit with which the late Afghan warlord Ahmed Shah Massoud reportedly toasted a meeting of anti-Soviet factions during the ’80s occupation: “First we kill the Russians. Then we kill each other.” But I have a preference:
Howard Dean has the best chance to beat Bush. Dean’s got lots more going for him, not the least of which is running as an insurgent small-state governor disliked by his own party’s top leaders (the ex-governor thing casts him as even more of an outsider). Polls show Dean leading his nearest rival, John Kerry, 33 percent to 19 percent in the crucial New Hampshire primary. Coming out early and hard against the war in Iraq wins him major props with the liberal base and makes him seem ahead-of-the-curve to everyone else.
Most importantly, he’s his own man. “He doesn’t really owe his current standing to any of them, not to labor, not to minority groups, not environmental organizations, so he’ll have more leeway as a nominee to follow his own course,” says Darrel West, a political science professor at Cornell. But the rubber would really tear up the road at the presidential debates, where Dean’s dry, sardonic Long Island wit would devastate the hapless Bush–and charm television viewers.
His natural pugnacity could help Dems deal more aggressively than usual with the nasty attack ads they can expect in the campaign ahead. Frankly, the other Democratic contenders don’t have what it takes to stand up to Karl Rove’s brutal war machine.
[Link to Complete Article see: http://smileatdean.blogspot.com/ ]
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“I’m tired of my party being bullied by the right wing.”
— Howard Dean, Oct. 6, 2002 – http://www.deanforamerica.com
MikeHersh.com – http://www.mikehersh.com
What conditions must be present in order for someone to be described as ‘too enlightened’? The existence of, in this case, a body of people who are in the dark?
Why is that the case? It couldn’t be due in part to a swell of rationalisers who decided early on that Kucinich doesn’t have the physical attributes necessary to sate the aesthetic appetites of this same vapid pool of voters?
Mr. Hersh, you are a very intelligent and prolific writer. Don’t tarnish that image by describing Dean as antiwar. Not here.
I can’t support contradictions as truth, or claim that replacing one barker with another is a welcome solution to our current problems.