TEXAS BLOGGERS: JOIN THE NEW TEXAS REVOLUTION!
Friday, December 24, 2004
The case against Dean II
President Bush knew about September 11th beforehand? Hamas, known to Americans as one of the biggest terrorist organizations in the world, has some “good aspects?” Bin Laden should be given a trial before being put to death? Saddam Hussein’s removal from power “may be a good thing?” Democrats want people who support the Confederate flag? These statements all came from the gaffe prone Howard Dean and will hang around him like a rock. While Dean did a tremendous job in rallying the liberal base, Democrats need to reach beyond that base.
I’m not committing to a back and forth argument on Dean because the DNC chair just isn’t that important a position to waste valuable brain power on, but Dean as its head will make it a position of power in a negative way.
Dean showed as a Presidential candidate that he doesn’t have the qualities to be DNC chair. I didn’t start disliking Dean because of “screamgate.” It came from comments and gaffes he would make off the cuff. While every candidate makes gaffes, Dean’s made himself look downright silly and cemented his reputation to the rest of America as a loose cannon. Democrats wouldn’t have been so concerned with electability had Howard Dean not made them think of it. Even with all that money, fame, and progressive support, Howard Dean made liberal Democrats extremely nervous because of his gaffes. The attacks of the other Democrats would have had no effect had the liberal Democratic primary voters not felt that Dean’s loose cannon persona wouldn’t sink the party.
As I noted earlier, Bill Clinton, based on his personal failings, was seen as un-electable and his Democratic rivals attacked him as such, yet he won and Dean lost. Elections are not won on crying foul over an unfair press or whatever the issue of the day. If the issue of the day is electability, then Dean should’ve allayed our concerns not thrown gasoline on the fire with his per week gaffes. If the most important issue to people is “who can defeat George Bush” then with all that money, endorsements, a lead in the polls, he should’ve ensured he fitted that bill. Electabilty was code for: “Is this Dean guy for real?”
To win elections, you need vision. Whatever Dean’s vision, it was blinded by his passionate disdain for Bush coupled with gaffes and missteps. Instead of being the man to reform health care, he became the man to bash Bush and not much else.
Before, when Howard Dean made the above mentioned gaffes, the Democrats in the West and South could say he was not part of their side of the Democratic Party. As the party spokesman, there is no escaping him. If liberals in urban and suburban America were the only Democrats, then he’d be great, but the Democrats must be more than its liberal base. Yet Dean and those who support him seem to think that their side is the only side of the Democratic party. Winning in blue states doesn’t seem much a problem, but Dean presents nothing but a target for Republicans in the West and South to defeat the remaining Democrats.
Dean’s other failing is that he created the laundry list Democrat, where instead of any of the Democrats focusing on a single, unifying vision (except for John “two America’s” Edwards), they all began to focus on who’s rhetoric against Bush made the best sound bite. Dean pushed the party not only to the left but pushed the party to hate/attack Bush first and then talk about the laundry list issues.
Second, you can’t be a chair if you denigrate the hard work of plenty of other Democrats. Dean created this environment where if Democrats supported the war, and weren’t “liberal” enough, they were shunned. Dean made this into a one party show of purification. Most polls show that the vast and united left consists of only 20% of the population and we aren’t going to win by circling the wagons and telling everyone else you supported the war or you are pro-life so screw you. Though Dean has changed his tune on those Democrats who may not agree with him, many will not forget his Presidential campaign. How do you connect with every Democrat by telling dismissing some of them as “Republican Lite?”Yes this war was a horrible mistake and I prayed hard that the entire Democratic establishment would cry foul, but a majority of Democrats supported the war when it started. We aren't going to win over those who now see it as a mistake by gloating it over them and basically implying they are responsible for the death of all those soldiers (though many of us feel that way). The Iraq failure isn't Bush's alone. This is all of America's cross to bear.
Not every Republican is pro-life, anti-gay, pro-war, or anti-tax cut, but Dean’s message is that every Democrat must be pro-choice, anti-war, anti-tax cut and if you swerve ever so slightly, then maybe you are really a Republican. The very speech Mike alluded to draws the line in the sand. John Kerry ran on civil unions, against a gay marriage amendment (to the chagrin of Clinton), and for repealing parts of the tax cuts. Kerry (outside of the Iraq War) ran a near identical campaign on policy as Dean, and yet Dean implies Kerry is Republican Lite. If Kerry is Republican Lite, then who is the one true Democrat? That kind of talk shows a man who is more concerned with making a name for himself than truly rebuilding the party.
This is the party of Evan Bayh, John Breaux, Bill Richardson, and plenty of Southern and Western Democrats who do not deserve this ridicule considering they have had far more success at winning over supposed red staters than Mr. Dean. You don’t win elections by shunning the very people who have found the winning formula. And if Dean turns off these red state Democrats, how do you think moderate Republicans and independents in these states will feel about the man?
Lastly, Dean can hardly be called an outsider. He represents the party’s liberal base which already has significant reach. Kerry didn’t run on the right or toward the DLC during this election, but had one of the most progressive friendly agendas of any candidate. He ran as Kerry with Dean’s policies, yet Dean derides him as Republican Lite. This shows that as a candidate and as a party chairman, Dean doesn’t have what it takes to reach out to local, precinct level red state Democrats who can win. Flooding all 50 states with college aged kids from different states doesn’t win elections. You don’t build a party by relying on hired mercenaries as Dean did. Instead, you do, as Bush did, by getting people at the precinct level to reach out to their neighbors and friends and tell them why its important for them to vote for the Democratic ticket. While Dean may hold this view now, he already threw his candy in the dirt with plenty of Democrats. There are second chances in politics, but not so soon after establishing such a negative image the way Dean did.
The party is already activist friendly, but its not organized friendly. The Sierra Club, NOW, the unions, and every liberal special interest group alive had an active and open dialogue with Kerry. Kerry never waivered on supporting them, but having a united party isn’t enough. But I don’t think Dean understands that and even if he understands we must reach out to our red state brethren, the man who led the national charge to lynch Bush and Republicans shouldn’t be the one to do it.
A person like Dean (who has already made a negative name for himself in the South) can campaign across the South until he is red err blue in the face, but he’ll still lose and take every Democrat who comes near him with him. The Democrats that he mentions in his speech (who reside in Colorado, Montana, Alabama, and Louisiana) run as far away from Dean as possible. Indeed most of the Dean Dozen lost and were hindered by being associated with him.
Ken Salazar kept as far away from Kerry as possible and what made Kerry so toxic in the South and West would be no different (if not worse) in regards to Dean. Its one thing to be leader of liberals and progressives in your own Presidential campaign, but Dean will have to speak for pro-life Dems down South and west, who will run farther from him than they did from Kerry.
Democrats desperately need organization and a vision that unites us not divides us. Dean did not show during the primaries or as a governor, that he has the ability to organize. Joe Trippi did the hard task of creating the internet fundraising and most of Dean’s ideas in this regard were really Joe Trippi's. While Dean makes good points about what Democrats should do, he is not the man implement his ideas. He was known to be pushy, abrasive, and mean spirited toward the very people that he should be trying to reach out to.
Dean’s high name recognition won’t be a good thing for Bill Nelson in FL and Ben Nelson in Nebraska, or for the dozens of Democrats in tough races in 2006. I can see the ads morphing their face into the “face of the Democratic party:” the screaming and in rage Howard Dean. In politics, perception has always been far more important than reality. You can’t change the language of America if the majority of Americans have a stereotype (unfairly as it may be) about you. Mark my words, if Dean gets chosen, Republicans will hang him and that scream footage around our necks.
Though I will say that Mike G. made me much more comfortable with Dean being DNC chair. I do admire that he was willing to support losing candidates in places such as Texas and helped build a foundation by which they can continue challenging Republicans. I'd love more than anything to tell the other side "fuck off" and nominate a bombthrower to do battle with them, but while that may make us feel good, it just doesn't win. For all of these reasons, I respectfully dissent to Dean being at the wheel.
I’m not committing to a back and forth argument on Dean because the DNC chair just isn’t that important a position to waste valuable brain power on, but Dean as its head will make it a position of power in a negative way.
Dean showed as a Presidential candidate that he doesn’t have the qualities to be DNC chair. I didn’t start disliking Dean because of “screamgate.” It came from comments and gaffes he would make off the cuff. While every candidate makes gaffes, Dean’s made himself look downright silly and cemented his reputation to the rest of America as a loose cannon. Democrats wouldn’t have been so concerned with electability had Howard Dean not made them think of it. Even with all that money, fame, and progressive support, Howard Dean made liberal Democrats extremely nervous because of his gaffes. The attacks of the other Democrats would have had no effect had the liberal Democratic primary voters not felt that Dean’s loose cannon persona wouldn’t sink the party.
As I noted earlier, Bill Clinton, based on his personal failings, was seen as un-electable and his Democratic rivals attacked him as such, yet he won and Dean lost. Elections are not won on crying foul over an unfair press or whatever the issue of the day. If the issue of the day is electability, then Dean should’ve allayed our concerns not thrown gasoline on the fire with his per week gaffes. If the most important issue to people is “who can defeat George Bush” then with all that money, endorsements, a lead in the polls, he should’ve ensured he fitted that bill. Electabilty was code for: “Is this Dean guy for real?”
To win elections, you need vision. Whatever Dean’s vision, it was blinded by his passionate disdain for Bush coupled with gaffes and missteps. Instead of being the man to reform health care, he became the man to bash Bush and not much else.
Before, when Howard Dean made the above mentioned gaffes, the Democrats in the West and South could say he was not part of their side of the Democratic Party. As the party spokesman, there is no escaping him. If liberals in urban and suburban America were the only Democrats, then he’d be great, but the Democrats must be more than its liberal base. Yet Dean and those who support him seem to think that their side is the only side of the Democratic party. Winning in blue states doesn’t seem much a problem, but Dean presents nothing but a target for Republicans in the West and South to defeat the remaining Democrats.
Dean’s other failing is that he created the laundry list Democrat, where instead of any of the Democrats focusing on a single, unifying vision (except for John “two America’s” Edwards), they all began to focus on who’s rhetoric against Bush made the best sound bite. Dean pushed the party not only to the left but pushed the party to hate/attack Bush first and then talk about the laundry list issues.
Second, you can’t be a chair if you denigrate the hard work of plenty of other Democrats. Dean created this environment where if Democrats supported the war, and weren’t “liberal” enough, they were shunned. Dean made this into a one party show of purification. Most polls show that the vast and united left consists of only 20% of the population and we aren’t going to win by circling the wagons and telling everyone else you supported the war or you are pro-life so screw you. Though Dean has changed his tune on those Democrats who may not agree with him, many will not forget his Presidential campaign. How do you connect with every Democrat by telling dismissing some of them as “Republican Lite?”Yes this war was a horrible mistake and I prayed hard that the entire Democratic establishment would cry foul, but a majority of Democrats supported the war when it started. We aren't going to win over those who now see it as a mistake by gloating it over them and basically implying they are responsible for the death of all those soldiers (though many of us feel that way). The Iraq failure isn't Bush's alone. This is all of America's cross to bear.
Not every Republican is pro-life, anti-gay, pro-war, or anti-tax cut, but Dean’s message is that every Democrat must be pro-choice, anti-war, anti-tax cut and if you swerve ever so slightly, then maybe you are really a Republican. The very speech Mike alluded to draws the line in the sand. John Kerry ran on civil unions, against a gay marriage amendment (to the chagrin of Clinton), and for repealing parts of the tax cuts. Kerry (outside of the Iraq War) ran a near identical campaign on policy as Dean, and yet Dean implies Kerry is Republican Lite. If Kerry is Republican Lite, then who is the one true Democrat? That kind of talk shows a man who is more concerned with making a name for himself than truly rebuilding the party.
This is the party of Evan Bayh, John Breaux, Bill Richardson, and plenty of Southern and Western Democrats who do not deserve this ridicule considering they have had far more success at winning over supposed red staters than Mr. Dean. You don’t win elections by shunning the very people who have found the winning formula. And if Dean turns off these red state Democrats, how do you think moderate Republicans and independents in these states will feel about the man?
Lastly, Dean can hardly be called an outsider. He represents the party’s liberal base which already has significant reach. Kerry didn’t run on the right or toward the DLC during this election, but had one of the most progressive friendly agendas of any candidate. He ran as Kerry with Dean’s policies, yet Dean derides him as Republican Lite. This shows that as a candidate and as a party chairman, Dean doesn’t have what it takes to reach out to local, precinct level red state Democrats who can win. Flooding all 50 states with college aged kids from different states doesn’t win elections. You don’t build a party by relying on hired mercenaries as Dean did. Instead, you do, as Bush did, by getting people at the precinct level to reach out to their neighbors and friends and tell them why its important for them to vote for the Democratic ticket. While Dean may hold this view now, he already threw his candy in the dirt with plenty of Democrats. There are second chances in politics, but not so soon after establishing such a negative image the way Dean did.
The party is already activist friendly, but its not organized friendly. The Sierra Club, NOW, the unions, and every liberal special interest group alive had an active and open dialogue with Kerry. Kerry never waivered on supporting them, but having a united party isn’t enough. But I don’t think Dean understands that and even if he understands we must reach out to our red state brethren, the man who led the national charge to lynch Bush and Republicans shouldn’t be the one to do it.
A person like Dean (who has already made a negative name for himself in the South) can campaign across the South until he is red err blue in the face, but he’ll still lose and take every Democrat who comes near him with him. The Democrats that he mentions in his speech (who reside in Colorado, Montana, Alabama, and Louisiana) run as far away from Dean as possible. Indeed most of the Dean Dozen lost and were hindered by being associated with him.
Ken Salazar kept as far away from Kerry as possible and what made Kerry so toxic in the South and West would be no different (if not worse) in regards to Dean. Its one thing to be leader of liberals and progressives in your own Presidential campaign, but Dean will have to speak for pro-life Dems down South and west, who will run farther from him than they did from Kerry.
Democrats desperately need organization and a vision that unites us not divides us. Dean did not show during the primaries or as a governor, that he has the ability to organize. Joe Trippi did the hard task of creating the internet fundraising and most of Dean’s ideas in this regard were really Joe Trippi's. While Dean makes good points about what Democrats should do, he is not the man implement his ideas. He was known to be pushy, abrasive, and mean spirited toward the very people that he should be trying to reach out to.
Dean’s high name recognition won’t be a good thing for Bill Nelson in FL and Ben Nelson in Nebraska, or for the dozens of Democrats in tough races in 2006. I can see the ads morphing their face into the “face of the Democratic party:” the screaming and in rage Howard Dean. In politics, perception has always been far more important than reality. You can’t change the language of America if the majority of Americans have a stereotype (unfairly as it may be) about you. Mark my words, if Dean gets chosen, Republicans will hang him and that scream footage around our necks.
Though I will say that Mike G. made me much more comfortable with Dean being DNC chair. I do admire that he was willing to support losing candidates in places such as Texas and helped build a foundation by which they can continue challenging Republicans. I'd love more than anything to tell the other side "fuck off" and nominate a bombthrower to do battle with them, but while that may make us feel good, it just doesn't win. For all of these reasons, I respectfully dissent to Dean being at the wheel.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
The Steve Martin Social Security Proposal
Right Thinking Girl thinks all people should treat their parents like Steve Martin treats his mother:
Well, excuuuoohoohse MMMEEEEEE!
My mother, who's 102 years old, calls me up the other day and wanted to borrow TEN dollars for some FOOD.
I said, "hey, I WORK for a living!"
So then she calls me up and says she can't pay me back for a while.
I said, "hey, what is this bullshit?"
So I worked it out with her. I'm having her work on my transmission. If she can't fix that I'll have her move my barbells up to the attic.
Well, excuuuoohoohse MMMEEEEEE!
Bush Authorized Torture in an Executive Order
The ACLU has uncovered an FBI email that references an Executive Order authorizing torture. The New Standard says that the email refer to the EO ten times. Here:
Read that and other uplifting tales here. Oh, and, write your papers about this. People need to know that Preznit Bush ordered abuse directly and knew about it.
The email, which was obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, represents the first hard evidence directly connecting the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal and the White House. The author of the email, whose name is blanked out but whose title is described as "On Scene Commander -- Baghdad," contains ten explicit mentions of an "Executive Order" that the author said mandated US military personnel to engage in extraordinary interrogation tactics.
Read that and other uplifting tales here. Oh, and, write your papers about this. People need to know that Preznit Bush ordered abuse directly and knew about it.
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Iraq Prediction
Immediately after we went into Fallujah, Mosul erupted in violence. This violence culminated today in the bombing of a mess hall at a base outside the city.
It is clear beyond any doubt now that the insurgents have nearly total freedom of movement in Iraq, while we have an armor and personel shortage. My prediction is that violence will immediately erupt in Fallujah once again and decrease in Mosul in the coming weeks as the insurgents freely move back to their old stomping ground. I ask again:
Just what the hell did we accomplish in Fallujah?
It is clear beyond any doubt now that the insurgents have nearly total freedom of movement in Iraq, while we have an armor and personel shortage. My prediction is that violence will immediately erupt in Fallujah once again and decrease in Mosul in the coming weeks as the insurgents freely move back to their old stomping ground. I ask again:
Just what the hell did we accomplish in Fallujah?
The Virtue of Humility
I felt that I needed to pass this on.
My brother on sharing burdens:
Thanks, Ethan. Beautiful advice.
*He posts his music here. He will soon be added to a "culture" section of the blogroll. That is coming soon.
My brother on sharing burdens:
EG: always remember Dave Roberts
EG: he was a starter in LA
EG: he comes to Boston [Red Sox]
EG: gets demoted to the bench
EG: sits on the bench for a half a season
EG: he sucks it up like a man
EG: THEN
EG: THEN
EG: 9th inning
EG: game 4 [American League Championship Series vs. NY Yankees]
EG: must fucking win
EG: Millar walks after 4 straight balls
EG: Tito Francona gives Roberts the nod
EG: legs still very cold
EG: and still very much midnight
EG: he takes a HUGE FUCKING LEAD OFF FIRST
EG: Mo throws to first
EG: BACK
EG: safe
EG: HE TAKES AN EVEN BIGGER FUCKING LEAD OFF FIRST
EG: BACK
EG: safe
EG: a LEAD SO FUCKING HUGE IT RATTLES MO TO THE CORE
EG: BACK
EG: safe by an inch
EG: THIS LEAD IS SO FUCKING HUGE NOW
EG: GONE
EG: FUCKING GONE
EG: slow motion
EG: slide
EG: tag
EG: SAFE
EG: HE IS IN THERE
EG: SAFE HE MADE IT WE HAVE A CHANCE
EG: billy mueller the yankee killer steps up
EG: with his gray beard
EG: BAM UP THE MIDDLE
EG: ROBERTS ROUNDS THIRD HE WILL SCORE
EG: TIE GAME
EG: THE YANKEES ARE CUT
EG: THE YANKEES ARE CUT
EG: see Mike
EG: you are Dave Roberts
EG: wait for your time
EG: and you will never have to buy a beer or pizza in New England again
Thanks, Ethan. Beautiful advice.
*He posts his music here. He will soon be added to a "culture" section of the blogroll. That is coming soon.
Monday, December 20, 2004
Framing Social Security
Great dKos diary here.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Hilarious!
