The Voting Mango

2004-04-15T10:16:00.000-04:00

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From the Department of Good Things

Today's Easterblogg entry is excellent. Money quote:

History may judge the attack on Iraq as anything from an idealistic liberation to crazed folly. But let's think for a moment about what's happened in the last 13 months solely from the perspective of the impact on U.S. and global security.

Since the United States and United Kingdom invaded Iraq, Libya has admitted to and voluntarily surrendered an atomic-weapons program that the world community did not know about. Pakistan has admitted to peddling atomic secrets, and presumably stopped. Pakistan's intelligence agency, the leading state supporter of Islamist fanatics, has stopped backing this movement. North Korea has admitted the true status of its atomic program. Iran has started talking honestly with the International Atomic Energy Agency about the true state of its nuclear facilities. All of these are huge advances for U.S. and global security. The ones that involve atomic threats may turn out--in terms of what doesn't happen--to mean more in the long run than what did happen on September 11.

Best part -- Ben-Veniste interrogates God:

As for Richard Ben-Veniste, his Know-It-All-In-Retrospect act at this point is insufferable, as is his open sneering at those who don't share his gift of retroactive clairvoyance. I imagine this would have happened if Ben-Veniste rather than Abraham had argued with God about the fate of Sodom:

BEN-VENISTE: Mr. God, isn't it true that before the creation, you received a memo saying that men would become wicked?

GOD: If I find at Sodom 50 righteous within the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.

BEN-VENISTE: According to the DDB, Divine Daily Brief, you were informed in advance about lack of righteousness, and yet still created humanity.

GOD: I will not destroy Sodom if I find 45 righteous there.

BEN-VENISTE: Why haven't all scrolls and vellum you received before the creation been declassified? What are you hiding?

GOD: For the sake of 40 righteous I will not do it.

BEN-VENISTE: Isn't it obvious you should have foreseen debauchery and licentiousness?

GOD: I will not do it if I find 30 righteous there.

BEN-VENISTE: Why wasn't more funding given to anti-sin programs?

GOD: For the sake of 20 righteous, I will not do it.

BEN-VENISTE: Mr. God, you claim to be all-knowing, yet the iniquity at Sodom was not prevented.

GOD: For the sake of 10 who are righteous, I will not destroy Sodom.

BEN-VENISTE: This witness is being evasive, He keeps changing numbers.

Read the whole thing.

2004-04-13T12:57:00.000-04:00

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From the Department of Alternative Universes

Gregg Easterbrook has a great post, based on what would have happened, had Bush taken strong preventative measures pre 9/11.

2004-03-13T16:02:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Specifics

The pacifist left likes to go on about the "illegal war" in Iraq, which begs the question, "Which law is being broken?"

If we're talking about anything to have come out of the UN, just remember, it was the UN resolutions that called for Saddam to submit to inspections or else. The US was operating under international law and with an international coalition. The UN wasn't.

2004-03-09T21:43:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Comparing Apples and Wombats

TIME: Would you say your position on Iraq is a) it was a mistaken war; b) it was a necessary war fought in a bad way; or c) fill in the blank?
KERRY: I think George Bush rushed to war without exhausting the remedies available to him, without exhausting the diplomacy necessary to put the U.S. in the strongest position possible, without pulling together the logistics and the plan to shore up Iraq immediately and effectively.
TIME: And you as Commander in Chief would not have made these mistakes but would have gone to war?
KERRY: I didn't say that.
TIME: I'm asking.
KERRY: I can't tell you.

Susan responded this passage from Kerry's Time interview saying, "This is priceless!" And she's right. Until you realize that there's a very real danger that this man might be elected leader of the free world. Except, really, there's no danger of that at all. He may be elected POTUS, but the fact of the matter is, Bush is running for Leader of the Free World, Kerry is running for Miss World. God spare us the swimsuit competition.

2004-03-08T22:58:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Fisks

USS Clueless has a beautiful fisk of Kerry's Time interview. He ends with this, which pretty much describes my voting plans:
Based on everything I know about him now, I cannot in good conscience consider voting for him. I would rather vote for a candidate with known policies with which I disagree than for a candidate whose true policies – if any – are kept hidden under a bushel basket, at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet, in a dis-used lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the leopard".

2004-03-08T22:52:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Peace Through Superior Firepower II

One more thing: How naive does John Kerry have to be to think that other heads of state would prefer to have him president? Does he see it as them wanting him to be part of their club? Maybe he thinks that they would prefer to toodle around on his yacht than to help Bush clear brush in Crawford? Yeah, not so much. They like him cuz he's the easy mark, the good cop, the prof of the blow-off class. None of these are good things to be.

2004-03-08T22:32:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Ostriches

"I suggested that all the evils of Saddam Hussein alone were not a cause to go to war." -- John Kerry in a new Time interview

Good God, man, what's wrong with you?!? Yet ol' Slobodan was worth it? I really would love you to look a group of Iraqis, liberated from decades of torture, fear, and brutality under Saddam, in the eye, and tell them that. You're a liberal, John. You're supposed to care about suffering people.

2004-03-08T19:42:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of With Friends Like These

Read this article. Keep a trashbin handy.

It begins "North Korea is staunchly in the "anybody but George W. Bush" camp in the U.S. election, but South Korean critics of the president say Pyongyang would be unwise to stall nuclear talks and hope for "regime change" in Washington."

Alright, reread that first bit: "North Korea is staunchly in the "anybody but George W. Bush" camp in the U.S. election."
Well, duh. Of course they are. This is an excellent reason to re-elect him. A blog I read earlier this evening (and for the life of me can't find again) said something to the effect of "Anybody who can count Saddam, Chirac, Kim Jong Il, Bin Laden and the mullahs as enemies has to be doing something right." Exactly.

Imagine how this would have read at various other points in history -- just fill in the dictator/country, leader, and country -- History Mad-Libs.

"(Dictator/country) is staunchly in the 'anybody but (leader)' camp in the (country) election."
"Hitler is staunchly in the 'anybody but Winston Churchill' camp in the British election."
"The USSR is staunchly in the 'anybody but Ronald Reagan' camp in the US election."
"Saddam Hussein is staunchly in the 'anybody not named Bush' camp in the US election."
Etc. Isn't this fun!

2004-03-08T19:29:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Peace Through Superior Firepower

Just when you thought he couldn't get any more disturbing, John Kerry starts running around declaring that a bunch of foreign leaders who-must-not-be-named support him for president, like it's a good thing. It's not. It doesn't take much imagination to guess who these leaders are. (In fact, it seems that Kim Jong Il is thrilled about the idea of Kerry.) The principal reason why those they dislike Bush is that, to borrow from Morpheus, his beliefs and actions do not require their agreement or approval. In fact, many of these leaders (Chirac, Putin) are textbook corrupt regime-stooges, what with under-the-table payoffs and deals with Saddam. The fact that he can't come out an name these leaders is probably proof enough that that they're probably not the sort the American people wants their president beholden to. I see a large number of freedom-fry-eating Americans having a problem with Kerry being endorsed by Jacque "I only ran for this office to postpone jail" Chirac on the grounds that he'd be more pliable.

Yet many Americans want us to be beholden to people like them who are beholden to dictators like him. Once again, not a good thing. Europe does not have America's best interests at heart. It would like to see America just strong enough to come in and save it if the need arises, but not smart enough or determined enough or independent enough to start making decisions on its own.

Contrary to what the existance of institutions like the UN might imply, geopolitics is not a team sport. Sure, there are times when coalitions are useful, but the mere existance of a coalition (think Germany, Italy, Japan) does not a good thing make. One of my friends recently, as reason for hating Bush, bemoaned that "now all the other countries hate us." First of all, it's not a new thing. I remember being in the Thessaloniki, Greece during the (Clinton Administration) Balkan War and seeing anti-American slogans everywhere, and being prepared to be Canadian if asked. Iran, Iraq, and a fair chunk of the Middle East have regarded us as terrorists for quite a while. As those governments are/were terroristic/despotic/evil, that wasn't too much sweat off our backs. If you want to be liked, be Miss America or something. Second, it's not a bad thing. There are two main types of countries that dislike us: 1) the kind that dislike us and are too civilized (or something) to do anything about it besides threaten a UN veto, and 2) the kind that dislike us and try to kill us. Fortunately, those kinds of societies tend to understand power. Therefore, while it is not critical for them to like us, it is essential that they respect us.

Beyond all this, I agree that it's entirely inappropriate for Kerry to be in contact with foriegn leaders at all. States aren't allowed to have their own foreign policies, and neither, I think, should citizens or, specifically, presidential candidates. They can have prospective foreign policies, they can have prefered foreign policies, but as for actually going out and committing acts of foreign policy, especially in ways that are not edifying to the current administration (and I'm looking at you too here, Mr. Carter), I consider that to be almost treason.

2004-03-08T10:32:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Tastlessness

Alright, follow closely here:

According to the Kerry website, at a fundraiser "when Teresa Heinz-Kerry arrived, she handed me a pin that read in the center: “Asses of Evil” with “Bush”, “Cheney”, “Rumsfeld” and “Ashcroft” surrounding it. She met, greeted and talked to a jam-packed room of Kerry supporters and others who came for the MoveOn documentary. Many were curious, others undecided, or belonging to other candidate camps. "

Bush, on the other hand, in his campaign ads, reminds Americans of his leadership through the first major attack on the American mainland in almost 200 years, and is widely derided as tasteless, crass, etc.

Right.

2004-03-08T10:25:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Touche

Alaa also has a magnificent take on whether or not the Zarqawi memo is true.

Money paragraph:
"I have been studying the Zarqawi letter very carefully and I think this is a most interesting and important document. Cynically speaking, it may be one of the most accurate and faithful appraisals of the situation in Iraq, notwithstanding the blind hatred and vituperation. Of course the chorus of monkeys have been jumping up and down and squeaking and screaming ever since its publication- It is a CIA forgery, American propaganda etc. etc.!! What I say is this: If the Americans are so clever as to produce this masterpiece of counterfeit, it might have been more worthwhile for them to do something about the missing WMD’s and the like. I mean if the CIA has such fine understanding of the mind of these people and such historical and theological depth a lot of this trouble might have been avoided. Forgive me for saying this folks; the “Americans” are just too dumb to produce something like this. "

2004-03-08T10:13:00.000-05:00

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From Baghdad

Alaa, an Iraqi blogger has this to say (thanks to Buzzmachine)

"Some time ago one friend commented something about my being anti-Bush!! And It has been in the back of mind ever since to say something about this. Me, anti-Bush!!!

Regardless of any election campaign, this man has already established himself in our hearts and minds, and forever. And it is one of my cherished dreams that one day his statue will stand in the middle of Baghdad and that all the people realize finally and unequivocally the friendship that this president of America had for them and the great favor that he has done them.

We sure wish that he be re-elected to complete the great work that he started. The job does not need any new experimenting and trial and error. But of course this is not for us to decide and we have to wait for the decision of the American people.

Nevertheless, and for my self I wish to send my heartfelt best wishes to my favorite American, El Bush, the Liberator, the Avenger."

JFK2, if you're wondering what the answer to the 'unfair' "Was it worth it?" question is, this should help you along.

2004-03-08T09:23:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Impulsive Panderflipping

Mickey Kaus has yet another marvelous take on Kerry and his pandering, flipping, and flopping. He also coins the term 'Impulsive Panderflipping' which sounds like either a new Olympic sport, or some Iron Chef technique.

Updated: And another thing:
Last night I read an article someplace about how Kerry thought that "Was Iraq worth it?" was an unfair question because he couldn't see how it would turn out ten years from now. My feeling here is that automatically disqualifies him from being president. Not his opinion -- I would have a problem with him saying no, but I'd accept that as an answer -- but his inability to judge the merits of things. If he is only able to judge things with the benefit of hindsight, then he needs to go be a historian or a pundit. He has no business controlling the course of history.

2004-03-07T15:24:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Revamping the Political Process

For those of you who are a) still undecided and b) rather deranged, a new way determine which candidate deserves your vote.

2004-03-07T14:07:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Great Minds

It seems Non Sequitur and I are on the same page -- I still like the American Idol format better though.

(Thanks, Susan!)

2004-03-06T15:53:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of the Gullible

WOW! This is Dennis. I cannot thank all of you enough for the tremendous response we have received in just a couple of days from people all over the country who are urging us to stay in this contest and move forward with our message of hope, and optimism, and peace.

Just in a few days we raised about $200,000 which was really astonishing, and it puts us in a position where we are moving the campaign along. I'm now in Texas on the way from San Antonio to Corpus Christi and will be campaigning in South Texas all day. Tomorrow I'll be in the March in Selma, the commemoration of the march, and then I'll be back to Florida. We have strong campaigns going in both Texas and Florida, and it's because of you - because you're enabling us to move ahead.

So as you're thinking this weekend about the direction of this country just know that you're helping to move not only a message, but to move America in a new direction. I'm so proud to be part of this effort and so grateful to you for everything you're doing to make this happen. We are on the way to Boston, and you can help smooth the road and help us speed our path towards that convention, by continuing to support us financially, spiritually, in any way you can. This is the moment for us to continue to stay together, and to move ahead and to celebrate this wonderful effort which is changing America and the world.

Thank you so much, this is Dennis, and I'll be talking to all of you soon. Bye now.

Dennis Kucinich

Anybody who's still contributing to Kucinich at this point (aside from late-night talk show hosts) must be the sort of person who purchased Central High School elevator passes back in the days when Central didn't have one. And not only changing the country, the world? Thats a little rich, don't you think?

2004-03-05T01:05:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of ITD

Interestingly, my spam-blocker treats Kucinich mailings as spam. All the other candidates get through fine (except for Sharpton, who has never bothered to email me anything, despite my presence on his list of stalwart supporters. Granted, that list can't be long enough to count as spam -- any self-respecting spammer would spam at least a dozen people at a time...) but Kucinich gets blocked. Poor man, can't get votes, can't get delegates, has trouble getting time to speak in debates and now even the computers are out to get him. Then again, if he couldn't run as the underdog/media-conspiracy-out-to-get-me candidate, I don't know what he'd do.

2004-03-05T00:42:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Requests

Abigail has requested that I blog on Howard Dean's Vermont victory, so here goes.

I feel, for the most part, that there's not too much to say about it. Dean merely suspended his campaign; he did not drop out of the race per se. The goal behind this is to retain his delegates, and therefore maintain some sense of power over the party at the convention. This would, in theory, guarantee him a prime speaking slot at the convention, and give him some say in the party's platform. That said, the number of delegates Dean has under his control are so negligible it won't really matter -- Kerry's not gonna have to suck up to Dean to get his delegates to get the nomination.

At this point, the one type of real power Dean has is also the one type that he can't use -- while he doesn't have many delegates, what he does have is a network of about 500,000 enthusiastic supporters, many of whom live in swing states, and who would very gladly vote for Nader just to punish the Dems. In fact, many of them would vote for Bush to punish the Dems, who they see as having knee-capped their man. If Dean really wants to blackmail the convention, he can threaten to withhold the Deaniacs, and if it's close, that could matter. That said, a stunt like that would virtually guarantee him persona non grata status. That's a Sharpton tactic, and I think Dean has enough shame and instinct towards self-preservation to resist that. He could, of course, go for the damning-with-faint-praise strategy, never enthusiastically (or at all) endorsing the nominee, and leaving the Deaniacs to put two and two together.

In any case, why did Dean win Vermont? Well, he was their governor for a good chunk of time, he was popular and sucessful, his views are fairly representative of Vermont, a good number of the Deaniacs still believe, and when it comes down to it, any qualms Vermonters may have had with him disappeared under the need to provide a solid, unified front of support of probably the most famous Vermonter since the VonTrapps. Its too bad he's stopped campaigning. Somebody needs to keep snarking at Kerry, and he was definately interesting. He wouldn't be a good president, but for entertainment value, he was definately the best candidate.

2004-03-04T13:03:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Crikey!

I hear tell that Kerry's about to pick a running-mate. Smart money's on Gephart or Graham. I wouldn't be surprised if it went to Edwards, but don't see it happening.

For an interesting piece on the wisdom of (not) picking a running-mate right away, see this TNR piece.
For an assessment of various veeps, go here.

2004-03-04T12:54:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Disliking Kerry

Mickey Kaus writes:

" Here, then, in handy Super Tuesday printer-ready format, is an attempt to gather together in a sober and coherent form the serious considerations against the probable Democratic nominee. My target demographic niche is Democrats who may only now be entering the "don't tell me anything bad about Kerry, he's better than Bush" phase of self-deceptive doubt-suppression. It's about time I got this off my chest!"

Read it, especially if you're one of those Democrats. (Kaus a Democrat, by the way)

2004-03-04T00:12:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Eggo

In Slate, Michael Grunwald writes a fun piece to the effect of "If you don't like the Democratic nominee's views on something, just wait a week!" This is exactly my problem with him. Also he resembles Herman Munster without the jocularity.

Money Quote:
"Last week, President Bush offered a wry critique of his Democratic challengers. "They're for tax cuts and against them. They're for NAFTA and against NAFTA. They're for the Patriot Act and against the Patriot Act. They're in favor of liberating Iraq, and opposed to it. And that's just one senator from Massachusetts." Now that John Kerry is the presumptive Democratic nominee, Republicans are sure to focus the spotlight on his history of flip-flops. Kerry did vote for the Patriot Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, and the war in Iraq, even though he constantly trashes the Patriot Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, and the war in Iraq. He voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, which limited marriage to a man and a woman, but he now says marriage should be limited to a man and a woman. (Although he also points out that he once attended a gay wedding.) And those are just the better-known issues on which Kerry has "evolved.""

2004-03-04T00:05:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Gifted Advocacy

Over at Resplendent Mango, I have posted my response to an article about cuts to gifted education. Go read it. Fun anecdotes of childhood trauma. You know you wanna...

2004-03-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Bummer!

So John Edwards is gone. This is a pity. I can no longer play the "well, I'd at least consider voting for a Democrat" game. I don't think I'd have voted for Edwards, but could at least stomach the idea of him being president. Kerry, no. I absolutely loath Kerry. Lots of reasons, many of which relate to his insistance on having anything both ways. Bush I don't always agree with, but he makes decisions and follows through with them and I can respect that. Kerry's spent the last jillion years in the Senate, and still hasn't managed to accomplish anything, not even any legislation worth speaking about (there were three bills, altogether, and they were all something in the "create national shoelace awareness day" vein). Maybe my sensibilities just come from the "Don't just stand there and panic, SING SOMETHING!" school of musical theatre, but for the most part I'd prefer a president who is decisively wrong than a president who does nothing. And for the record, I still don't think Bush is wrong on Iraq. It's not perfect, but 26 million people are free, and it's getting better. When you're on stage, you have to commit to everything you do and do it with all you have. If you do half-hearted jazz-hands, you're gonna look like a moron. If you commit though, you look like you know what you're doing, even if you're doing something completely wrong. Don't think I'm so naive as not to realize there are lives at stake here, but I think more harm can come through indecision than through incorrect decisions.

There are plenty of other things I dislike about Kerry (and Bush), and I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to talk about it in the next 8 months. That's it for tonight though.

2004-02-28T16:29:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of The Obvious

"The costs of shutting down a national organization are costly. " -- Wes Clark, in a fundraising email to supporters, who he must assume are dumber than dirt.

(And I know dirt... more on that on my other blog later tonight.)

2004-02-21T09:47:00.000-05:00

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I'm going to Mexico in about 3 hours. I'll be back in a week. More updates then.

2004-02-21T09:46:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Revamping the Primary Process

There's a lot of talk about the current process of the Democratic Primaries, what with the frontloading or endloading or motherloading or whatever that wacky Terry McAuliffe came up with this year. People in late voting states complain that it's over before they get to cast a vote. People in non-Iowa/New Hampshire/Wisconsin complain because they don't get pandered to. Candidates complain they have to run in several states at once, or not at all in some states, and really, it seems like a stupid system. I have a solution: Turn the primaries over to the producers of American Idol and run it like that. Have a series of glitzy, entertaining primetime events involving the presidential contenders, and at the end of each one, the American Public gets to vote on which candidate they want to keep. The next night, the candidate with the least votes gets the boot. I'm sure we could come up with a system of Tele-voting -- if you can Telefile your tax return, this can be done. The trick, really, is getting people to watch it. Here's how:
First, the eternally perky, deliberately tousled Ryan Seacrest will host it. This is the only way.

Second, put the candidates in situations in which they are not necessarily comfortable. Have pop quizzes on important matters. Have them all sing a patriotic song. Give them strange phrases to put in their speeches. Make them do ridiculous video-taped skits. The possibilities are endless.

Third, there must be judges. I suggest Michael Moore or Al Franken, Ann Coulter, and Simon Cowell. Simon is required, the others should be chosen on the basis of their snarkiness. Maybe have guest judges.

Fourth, sprinkle in some other entertainment. Bring back Clay and Ruben. Maybe let them be guest judges.

Some would say this sounds undignified, a mockery of the solemn electoral process; these people have obviously never watched the electoral process.

2004-02-20T09:45:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Make This Story Go Away Already

An excellent point from the National Review:

"Instead, they floated old accusations that a twenty-something George Bush, who strapped himself into something as dangerous as an obsolete, fire-belching, and occasionally explosive F-102, was somehow near treasonous. Young Bush may have been impetuous and he apparently missed some roll calls, but anyone who rides the stratosphere a few inches above a jet engine is neither a coward nor a man who shirks either danger or responsibility. "

2004-02-20T09:38:00.000-05:00

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Tolkien Explains Why I Am A Hawk

"'It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two, Master Warden,' answered Eowyn. 'And those who have not swords can still die upon them. Would you have the folk of Gondor gather you herbs only, when the Dark Lord gathers armies? And it is not always good to be healed in body. Nor is it always evil to die in battle, even in bitter pain. Were I permitted, in this dark hour I would choose the latter.'"

2004-02-19T16:43:00.000-05:00

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From Our Own Michigan Daily

Eugene Volokh has a good take on the Michigan Daily's piece on the KKK's support for the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, which basically seeks an end to racial preferences.
The Daily basically says that the KKK's support makes the MCRI a very bad thing. What it neglects to mention, however, is that the other side of the issue is strongly supported by BAMN (The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action and Integration and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary) which is a front for the Revolutionary Workers League, a Trotskyist organization.
The BAMN members are for the most part not students, and are dedicated to building "a new, militant, integrated, mass civil rights movement." [bold mine]They're scary. Among other creepy things, they have alerts out asking anyone who sees people collecting signatures for the MCRI petitions to let them know so they can deal with them. Nathan Newman has more on them, saying, "In twenty years of political organizing, I have never seen such violent and thuggish behavior, a step beyond the worst sectarian acts I had ever imagined. " They're no better to have on your side than the Klan.

2004-02-18T13:44:00.000-05:00

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Death of A Candidacy or The Church of Howard Dean

Select quotes from the comments of the Blog, by topic:

Denial is not just a river in Egypt

"My Dean sign stays up. I'm sending Howard $100 today."

"Tell your friends. The campaign continues.
Let's get the Americans for Dean number to over 1 million by the end of this month!"
Right... the Americans for Dean number was at about 596,000 before Iowa. It's currently at about 641,000. How on earth do you propose getting 359,000 people to sign up to support a candidate who's no longer running, and do it in less than two weeks?

"You and a handful of other leaders have been the greatest American patriots of a very dark time in our history."
"Thank you, Governor. Thank you for giving me hope again. God bless you and your family.
Thank you to Joe Trippi, Zephyr, Matt Gross, and all the staff in Burlington. You are true patriots, and for the rest of my life I will be proud to tell people that I stood with you in America's darkest hour."
Darkest hour? I would argue that Iraqi Freedom was not America's darkest hour. 9/11, Pearl Harbor, the Civil War, 1812 when the British were coming, the first winter when the pilgrims sat around on Plymoth Rock and froze their hat buckles off... those are all candidates for darkest hours. This is not.

"We cannot win now if we lose hope and become bitter. We have come too far to suddenly turn back. Press on." Incidentally, at this point, you can't win if you don't lose hope and don't become bitter either.

"Keep campaigning.
Keep sending in money.
Keep swinging the bat."

"I will vote for Howard Dean in California.
I will put up more signs
My vote is not transferable
We will put Howard on our shoulders and carry him to Boston
This changes nothing."

"Govenor [sic] Dean:
If I've got the power, then I'm going to use it to DRAFT you as my candidate for president.
And I'm going to use that power to raise every dollar and secure every vote for you that I can.
PLEASE do not end your candidacy.
PLEASE stay in the race.
PLEASE fight with us all the way to the convention.
This nominating process is a long long way from being over.
Kerry is wounded. Edwards is broke. And YOU, Howard Dean, are the ONLY candidate with any integrity left in the race.
Come on. Dig down deep and stick with us. We will carry you when you're tired. We will lift you up when you're weak.
We are willing to fight for you and this movement all the way to the convention and beyond.
PLEASE!!!!!
PLEASE stay in this race. It's NOT over by a long shot. It's just getting interesting. You don't want to miss the best part, do you?!?!?!
I want you to stay in and fight.
I want to fight for you.
NEVER give in.
NEVER give up.
NEVER surrender."

"This is not the end of the fight. We are at the scene in Star Wars where Vader strikes down Kenobi. At that moment, he became more powerful than we could possibly imagine. So too Governor Dean. You have just become more powerful than the Democratic Party can ever comprehend. Keep up the fight, and thank you."

"Howard may be abandoning his bid for the nomination, but he will remain on the ballot. I plan to continue to do everything in my power to get this man into the White House. " Good luck with that

"My name is Donovan.
I live in San Francisco.
This country belongs to me.
Thank you Gov. Howard Dean M.D."
Oh yes... remember that brilliant bit of poetry?

"Keep your name on the ballots Howard...and I assure you we WILL TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK!!!! I'm still waiting to swing hard at the bat...so please tell me you're still in...please!!!"

"I am crying my eyes out as I type."

The Church of Howard Dean

"today is a sad day for america, the people has ignored the voice of one calling in the wildereness for change ..... AMEMRICA has resisted change..... like the persians, mesopotanians, greeks, romans, the american empire shall fall, and thus what we see today is just the beginning...novemeber will be another election of the lesser of 2 evils.... i have concluded today... i will stay home on election day"

"I hope this community continues in some way. You have all meant very much to me over the months. This is where I have gone to lift my spirits and renew my motivation.
I don't know what's next, but I do know two things. This campaign has changed me and I will never be the same. I will support Howard with everything I have."
Messianic, aren't they. It's like reading the blog of the Church of Howard Dean.

"Sometimes Dean works in mysterious ways."

"Our MESSAGE is the JUST and TRUE one."

"Thank you Howard Dean for giving me a voice.
Thank you Howard Dean for fighting for my rights.
Thank you Howard Dean for hearing me.
Thank you Howard Dean for speaking the truth.
Thank you Howard Dean for giving me hope again."
All you have to do is substitute 'Jesus' for 'Howard Dean' and they begin to sound like those Southern Fundamentalist wackmobiles that get the Democrats all jittery -- except the SFWs credit this to a divinity, not a doctor...

"And to you fellow deanies, i love you all. isn't it funny that i don't actually *know* any of you, but i feel such a strong connection to each and everyone of you, all because of one man with a plan?
I am crying too much now. I would like to hug you all. (((hugs)))"
If the disciples had had blogs, I feel that this might have been what they blogged on Good Friday. On second thought...nah...

Deaniacs, Denial, and the Obvious

"I'm upset. It sounds like Howard is ending his candidacy." Yes dear, it does...
"Still Howard Dean for President
Because the media doesn't get to choose our president. The voters do." ...which seems to be the problem, in this case.

"HOWARD DEAN
It does not take a title to be my president.
YOU ARE MY PRESIDENT!!" Uh... right...

"I'll be a foot soldier in this war as long as it takes. Run and hide DLC we're comin' for you! The dishonest and spineless had better seek cover, cause we're mad as hell and we're not gonna tak it anymore!" It's interesting, Democrats and war... When there's an actual threat, or actual people being fed into actual woodchippers, foot soldiers and wars are somewhat less appealing...

"We will stay together...it's different than McCain because he had nothing to hold his followers together...but we have the blog and we have the newly-found knowledge that we can elect people without media, regular money funnels, or even the label of a "committee" behind us." Can you? Cuz you didn't. Just thought I'd point that out...

Interestingly, support on the Blog is about 10% any democrat/ABB, 25% Edwards. The other 65% seems to be of the opinion that the DNC kneecapped their guy, so they're gonna return the favor and either vote Green, Bush, or not at all. Not a huge voting block, but if the election's close, it could make a difference.

Rush Limbaugh said today, "Goodbye, Howard, you were too good for your party." And I agree. I did strongly dislike Dean, but I don't anymore. I don't agree with him, but I like him. He truly seems like a real, honest person. I think he'd be a decent governor, and I'd consider voting for him as such. Based on his positions on defense, I wouldn't vote for him for president, but he's a good guy. And as such, Rush is right.

2004-02-18T10:11:00.000-05:00

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And then there were Two (and Two more who wouldn't go away)

Dean's bowing out. I'll blog it later when I have more time. However, until then, from the Blog:

I’ll cast my vote and encourage all others to cast their votes for Howard in Illinois.

Remember that we are the sane ones, from decisions of war to financial and moral restoration. Dean put out the strongest call against pre-emptive strike, a call that resonated all over the world, perhaps averting worldwide catastrophe, we may never know. Dean called for fiscal responsibility and all candidates were made to respond.

Howard Dean’s mission is to change America. So why don’t we continue to put his plan into effect. Can this be done over the period of a few months? No, but we can change America. This campaign has taught us that we have the power.

Ya'll are the sane ones, eh? Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? And no, you do not have the power to change America, cuz if you did, you would have used it... So Dean going on against the war "averted worldwide catastrophe?" That seems a bit rich.

2004-02-17T09:58:00.000-05:00

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A Brilliant Fisk

Andrew Sullivan has fisked John Kerry in a thorough and beautiful manner. Definately go read it all. Money quotes:
I think we have an answer [the question: where does Kerry stand on the war on Terror?] here: no war in Iraq; no war anywhere; just law enforcement measures and cooperation with the French, Russians, and Germans. All the problems of the world stem from U.S. policy. Nowhere does Kerry say anything about the threat of Al Qaeda, or the designs of the Syrians or Iranians, or of Islamist terror-states more broadly. These real threats just don't seem to register on his radar screen. If this is the Democratic candidate's recipe to tackling the nexus of global terror, then he will be creamed in the fall. And he'll deserve to be.

Kerry is pro-war, except when he's antiwar. He votes for war against Saddam but opposes financing it. He's for equality for gays, but against equality for gays in marriage. And his attempts to explain his having it every which way only confuse matters even further. Not a good sign for November.

2004-02-17T00:04:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Things the Anti-war Left Would Prefer You Didn't Know

That, for example, they were in part bankrolled by Saddam. "Think of the children," they said...

2004-02-17T00:00:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Denial and Faulty Vote Counting

The Dean blog, while short on cash and votes, is quite long on denial. Much of it is garden-variety "this isn't over yet, 75% of the delegates remain to be assigned" optimism. The more intriguing bits are like this one:

EVEN IF Howard were not to win the nomination, he is the leader of an enormous, essential Grassroots Movement (us!) and the Democratic Party ought to be smart enough to NOT get Howard and John Edwards to get out before California (By which time *I,* by the way, think Howard will be getting through to people and the bloom will be off the Kerry rose) -- IT IS FREE MEDIA for the Democratic Party, these debates etc etc.
AND if he (sadly & stupidly Oh America) doesn't get the nomination, Howard needs to work with us all to figure out how next time we translate all this savvy and energy more effectively into primary and caucus votes.
WE all know we got the sanest, sensiblest candidate. Somehow we didn't manage to get through the brutal establishment flak. They want us to fade away. I have zero interest in an endlessly hopeless third party, but I am very interested in our holding the tiny toes of the Democratic Party to the GrassRoots fire. We have been empowered by Howard!! Let's never give it up.

The tiny toes, eh? Not so much. Based on calculations elsewhere in the comments on the BFA, there are 50 million voting Democrats (and roughly equal Republicans). Based on the idea that about 15% of Democrats prefer Dean, that makes 7.5 million voters who should prefer Dean. Except that doesn't seem to be right. I would guess that the current count of supporters on the Blog is probably closer, on the assumption that one doesn't casually support a candidate like Dean. You can casually support Edwards or Kerry. You cannot casually support Dean. (I'm postulating. My blog. Deal.) Thus, I suspect that most of his supporters have cast their vote, whereas I'm sure there are some Kerry/Edwards folks who like their man but don't care enough to vote in a primary. The Blog puts the number of Dean supporters at 640,545, one of which is me, and I don't know how many other similarly non-supportive supporters are included in that number. Being generous, I'd give Dean maybe a million total supporters. That's not a lot.
For a bit of perspective on what is a large movement and what is a small one, consider that there are over two million people in prison in the US, Pat Buchanan got 448,895 votes in the last election, and there are 1000-2000 snakehandlers. These are all smallish, marginalized populations we're talking about here. In contrast, there are over 30 million African Americans and about that many LGBT folks. These groups are big enough to be influential. If 1 millionish Deaniacs think they're a grassroots groundswell that's gonna rouse the fat-'n-happy majority, they're nuts.

2004-02-16T21:26:00.000-05:00

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More from the Department of Money Grubbers

Today John Kerry sent out a plea to his supporters that we must raise $100,000 by tomorrow in order to win Wisconsin. Hogwash. Kerry's polling 40 points higher than Dean, and while not as far above Edwards, he's still in absolutely no danger. So what do we get for our money?

$500 = 2500 last minute "Get out the Vote" calls
$220 = buys radio ads on WKLH-FM Classic Hits in Milwaukee
$100 = 250 "Bring.It.On." bumper stickers for visibility
$50 = a van to take volunteers and supporters to their primary location tomorrow night
$35 = 1 drive time spot on WJMR-FM Urban Adult Contemporary radio in Milwaukee

So if Joe Democrat gives $100 now, by morning, the Kerriers will have affixed 250 poorly punctuated bumper stickers to the unsuspecting bumpers of 250 Joe Cheeseheads? That could lead to some very interesting, visible moments indeed.

On the other hand, the Dean people, whose funds at this point are buying deckchairs for the Titanic, keep begging HQ to give them a "bat" (Deanish for fundraising goal -- you hit the bat when you give money. Cute, eh?) so that they can keep giving it money. To borrow from John Kerry, how do you ask a man to be the last man to give to Dean? How do you ask a man to be the last man to give to a lost cause?

2004-02-15T19:58:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of So There

There's an interesting article comparing the backgrounds of Bush and Kerry. An important point:

The standard rap against Bush is that he was ducking combat by joining the Guard. Actually, the Texas Air Guard had a program called Palace Alert that allowed pilots to volunteer for flight time in Vietnam. Three of Bush's fellow pilots—Udell, Woodfin and Fred Bradley—recalled to NEWSWEEK that Bush inquired with the base commander about signing up for Palace Alert. He was told no; he had too few flying hours at the time and his plane, the F-102, was by then deemed obsolete for air combat.

2004-02-15T19:47:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Stupid Arguments

This is a brilliant refutation of the "gay marriage will destroy heterosexual marriage" argument.

2004-02-15T00:08:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Bad Analysis

"well, yes, as a matter of fact the country HAS been brainwashed!!
Not to hard to do really when (statistically speaking) half of the voters are below average in intelligence." -- Comments to the BlogForAmerica

Though the answer to this may seem obvious, are people with below-average intelligence more easily brainwashed? I would argue this is not necessarily the case, because there are plenty of dumb people who are more than capable of clinging to completely idiotic ideas with more conviction that you could imagine.

2004-02-14T22:53:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Things You Can't Call the Incumbent

"She'd always watch CNN, C-SPAN, and you know, she'd just swear at the TV and say
'Oh, Bush, he's such a whistle ass!' She'd just get so mad," Bettilyon said."

These are the words of Maureen Bettilyon, whose mother, Sally Baron, died
on August 18 at the age of 71. When asked what if there was a cause to
which people could contribute in Sally's honor, her children decided to include
these words in her obituary: "Memorials in her honor can be made to any organization working for the removal of President Bush."

Like most Americans, Sally Baron was a hard-working person who led a simple life. We never would have known about her at all had her children not chosen to give her such a feisty send-off. Although we will not have Sally's vote in 2004, we can have her inspiration. In honor of Sally Baron, and for all the honest, hard-working Americans whose stories we will never know, let's work together like never before to defeat old "Whistle Ass" in 2004!

-- From the Blog For America comments. Cute, eh?

2004-02-14T15:51:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Gag Me

The BlogForAmerica, seems, in honor of Valentine's Day, to have been coated in Pepto-Bismol. Gack.

2004-02-13T23:45:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Unorthodox Opinions

I got my letter posted on Andrew Sullivan! Woohoo! Since this is my politics blog, I'll repost here:

"I really enjoyed listening to you on Boston's NPR tonight. After listening to the Christian Coalition spokesman tonight, I write in what I suppose is a defense of Evangelicals -- we're not all like that. I'm 20 years old, a senior at a large (liberal) public university, straight, female, an evangelical christian, a conservative, and a vehement supporter of civil gay marriage. I've been involved in theatre and the arts for most of my life, and have known and loved a number of gays, and seen the war waged on them by the religious right, which is what brings me to this fight anyway.

As far as I can tell, the only good reason why gays shouldn't be allowed to marry is a "the Bible says it's bad" argument, and while I think that "the Bible says" is an excellent reason to do things on an individual level, it's insane on a governmental level, especially when a good chunk of those being governed think that the Bible has the same amount of authority as, say, Hamlet. So that falls, and we're left with all the good pragmatic reasons to let gays marry. You know all those -- so if you remove the religion, there's no good reason not to. And all of this "we have to defend the family" stuff is garbage. What they're saying is "Homosexuals make us uncomfortable. Maybe they'll go away."

Basically, then we're stuck with religious arguments. Here's where I start to get a little unorthodox. I support gay marriage for religious reasons. I think that Jesus loves everyone, and wants everyone to know him. I think that's more or less the only way to heaven. And I think that the Christian Coalition and their ilk are doing their darnest to drive gays away from the church, and the peace, love, joy, forgiveness, etc that can be found there. Now, if you ask them, they'll tell you they want the gays to repent and then they'll be welcome. The hymn "Just as I am" apparently does not apply to homosexuals. This makes me nuts.

I was once walking across campus and found myself trying to navigate between a group of LGBT folks and the Fred Phelps psychos, and I thought "If I have to pick sides here, whose side do I stand on?" and it was without question with the LGBT folks. I'm willing to cede gay marriage because it's practical, and because I dream of the day that gay people don't automatically assume that Christians are out to get them. What Jesus has to offer is for everyone, not just heteros, and in any case, he never sought to change the laws of his culture, he set out to change people. And he hung out with the beautiful people that made the Pharisees uncomfortable. I still have issues with gay marriage in the church (if I thought I could rationalize it with the Bible, I'd support it in a heartbeat, but as much as it kills me, I can't) but as far as I'm concerned, if you want to marry the man you love at the courthouse (or wherever, really), that's fine by me. The amazing thing is that most of my conservative Christian friends agree with me on civil marriage for various reasons. We're not all the Christian Coalition.
"

2004-02-13T23:30:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Misbegotten Sex Symbols

This is creepy. So is this. If you want to drool after Dean's idealogy, just don't get your latte-spit on me, but lusting after the man himself... creepy. Go look at the pictures. (Memo to the Crushies: Your man resembles a ferret.)

2004-02-13T22:25:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of If You Can't Take the Heat...

Earlier today, Bush's campaign sent out a link to a webvideo ad that accuses John Kerry of taking gobs of money from "special interests" and engaging in a bit of quid pro quo. As Kerry has indeed taken gobs of money from special interests, and done some very nice string pulling for donors, this ad did not disturb me. Kerry, however, sent out a rather hysterical email entitled "Republican Smear Tactics and Clark's Endorsement." The main thrust of it was that Bush accuses him of taking money from special interests, but Bush takes money from special interests. Good God, what are we going to do?!?
I can't say I like it, but I feel like most politicians take money from special interests (Yes, Howard, I know you don't, I know the organic chai-drinking idealists are your special interest. This is not less scary.) and I don't really see much we can do about it. I also have no really issue with negative campaigning if the accusations are true. I mean, we want to make an informed decision, and the candidates are certainly not going to give us the dirt on themselves. Furthermore, the main thrust of the Bush ad is that JFKerry campains against special interests, and yet takes there money. For the most part, one of the nicer things about Republicans is that at least they don't pretend. Anyway, if you'd like to see for yourself, the Bush ad is here (turn off your pop-up blocker) and I've reprinted the highlights of Kerry's statement below (with my commentary).

(Incidentally, nice work, John, distracting attention from the real accusations about you...)

"Trailing badly in the polls, George W. Bush is launching a negative attack on John Kerry. Bush couldn't even put this ad on television -- because he won't appear in it to back up its claims."

Do we know this? Personally, I think if you can reach millions of people around the country for a few thousand dollars over the web, why spend many times more than that on television, especially in an already crowded ad market. And anyway, maybe having Bush's mug in there would further the association that this commercial belongs to him, but it's not like you're seeing this ad on TV between ads for Pampers and Gas-X -- it's on the Bush website, and for the most part, you had to get there by way of an email from the Bush people. So it's not like they can say "Oh, we have no idea how THAT got there." It's their content. If they wanted to hide that, they could have someone create a conservative answer to MoveOn.org and host it there.

"In an attempt to avoid an honest discussion of the issues, Bush has chosen to make his first campaign message to the American people a misleading, negative attack on John Kerry -- before the Democratic nominee has been chosen."

It's misleading? Show me. As a Missourian by upbringing and constitution, I demand this. It's misleading? Give me the real numbers. And shouldn't we want to know the dirt on the candidates before they're the only choice of millions of straight-ticket voting Americans?

"The video clip Bush sent, titled "Unprincipled," sounds like a campaign ad, although it was sent to millions of Internet users. This video demonstrates two things: the Bush White House is going to run a gutter campaign, and their worst fear is a Democratic nominee named John Kerry."

Uh...no, and no. First off, if the Bushies had really wanted to run a gutter campaign, they would have mentioned that little thing that we're not mentioning. Also, can we please accept that all campaigns are going to be negative (except for John Edwards, but that's a whole different story) and that's okay? If Bush said that, for example, if was John Kerry was, as it turns out, born a woman, that would be out of line. If, however, they say that he takes money from special interests, well, he does! Second -- all of the candidates, GWB has more political courage than all the rest put together (you could make an argument for Dean, but I feel there's a difference between being courageous and getting yourself into scary political situations because you're an idiot. And don't tell me Dean had to be politically gutsy to stand up against the war...) and the rest know it. This is why they all run around talking about how they are the man most feared by Bush, Rove et al. Hogwash. I would say that the biggest threat to Bush was Leiberman, on the grounds that he had the best chance of appealing to the middle, and also seeming sane. Leiberman's the kind of guy you'd trust with your daughter, not just because you know he wouldn't touch her, but also because he'd beat down (or die trying) anyone else who did. But he's gone. Of the Dems remaining, Edwards is the most trouble. I can't dislike Edwards. I try, but I can't actively dislike him. Kerry, I actively dislike, and I would only vote for if you thrust a stylus into my cold, dead fingers and punched my chad for me. Edwards is likeable, he's family oriented, he's more or less squeaky clean, and he's only owned by one special interest (trial lawyers) which presumably he'd be anyway, even if they gave him no money. In any case, I don't think Kerry has Rove especially worried. I think they're attacking him because he's the front-runner, and sending out attack ads on, say, Kucinich, would not be especially value-added at this point. If anyone beats Bush this November, it's gonna be Bush. That's the who Rove shold be worried about.

"The clip attempts to cast Kerry as a pawn of the special interests. Well, we have three words for George W. Bush and his tactics:
"Bring. It. On.""

Topic one: Yes. He is. We covered that. Topic two: Writing. One. Word. Sentances. For. Emphasis. Is. Really. Annoying. Especially. When. They. Remind. Us. Of. A. Cheerleading. Movie. We'd. Like. To. Forget.

"We welcome a debate on special interests because there's nobody more vulnerable on this issue than George W. Bush. The fact is, George W. Bush has taken more special interest money than any person in history."

You don't sound like you welcome a debate over special interests. You sound like you have "discussion of special interests" induced wedgie. If Dubya's vulnerable on this issue, show us. Now we have unsubstantiated claims from both sides. That was educational! And really, more special interest money, thananyone else in history? More than, say, those people who took millions of dollars and/or barrels of oil from Saddam?

"It seems that since the Bush campaign can't attack job loss, health care costs, rising deficits, or other problems facing America, they've decided to attack John Kerry."

The Scene: Bush's cabinent meeting

Bush: Can anyone here attack job loss, health care costs, rising deficits, or other problems facing America?

Rumsfeld: Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!

Bush: Anyone other than Donald?

Cabinet: (blank stares and murmuring)

Bush: Well, we've got to do something! The taxpayers aren't paying us just to sit here! This is still wartime, and I'm a war president! We've got to attack something! (A long pause)
I know! John Kerry! Maybe we can say he's a WMD because of the suspected presence of botulinim toxin in his forehead!

Cabinet: (Wanton adulation)

The groundswell of support you've created is putting the Bush campaign on the defensive. Bush/Cheney '04 will use its $130 million -- and counting -- to consistently attack our cause.
Now, Kerry was a soldier at one point, and therefore should be aware that when one attacks, it generally is called "offensive" whereas responding to an attack is "defensive." Therefore, the ad was put out by the Bush offense, the email was part of the Kerry defense. Are we all clear here? And anyway, if Kerry gets to be the frontrunner, what on earth does he expect Bush to do with his money? Buy truffles and ballbats? Sponsor an American Idor tour? No! It's to campaign, which means attacking the other guy. For Pete's sake, John, if you can't take the heat, get out of the race.

2004-02-13T11:17:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Standing Up to George Bush

I find it a bit creepy when doomed candidates go on like their election as the nominee, and maybe president and Secretary General for that matter, is imminent. Today's missive from Howard Dean is a cute little bit of parallel rhetoric that rotates around the phrase "This fall, I will stand up to George Bush and say..." Well, you might, Howie, but don't be surprised if the Secret Service start giving you funny looks. Generally, they only let the nominee debate... ask Ralph Nader. Anyway, if you're curious as to what Dean will be saying while he's being herded over to the "Free Speech Zone" by large, stern men, here is an abridged version, with my summary of the deleted bits in the brackets:

"[I'm a doctor, I know healthcare.] I will stand up to George Bush and say, "I've provided Americans with health care. Why haven't you?"

[My education programs have educated students, stopped child abuse, and ended teen pregnancy, insolence, and acne.] I will stand up to George Bush and say, "I've provided Americans with education. Why haven't you?"

[Only an evil bastard president would try to get Saddam out of power. An evil bastard who shall remain nameless. Also the Washington Democrats who supported it.] Next fall, I will stand up to George W. Bush and say, "I knew that we shouldn't go to war with Iraq because it was not an imminent threat to the United States. Why didn't you?"

[I balanced my budgets. Sometimes I balanced not only my budgets, but also a running chainsaw on my nose, all while standing on a ball -- that's how good at balancing I am.] I will stand up to George Bush and say, "I've balanced budgets. Why haven't you?" (He has a point here.)

[I halved unemployment (when he was governor was also under Clinton, when gross fiduciary misconduct could have halved unemployment). Vermont is now paradise. There is milk and honey. ] In the campaign next fall I will stand up to George Bush and say, "I've created new jobs. Why haven't you?"

[630,029 white liberal yuppies support me. And they give me their latte money. Because of this, we have Changed the Face of American Politics Forever. It now has an eyebrow ring and a chin stud.] Because of your support, I am the\ [sic.] only one who can stand up to George Bush and sincerely say, "My only special interests are the American people. Who are yours?"
(Apparently you lose your citizenship when you make over a certain amount, own a company, work for a company, buy products from a company, or vote for the evil bastard Republicans.)

And now to bring it home, we present... Contradictory Statements!

"Mine is a record of getting things done, not just talking about getting things done.

The way to beat George W. Bush is with a candidate who has already stood up to him - when it mattered, on issues that matter - like health care, investing in our children, the Iraq war, the national debt, and jobs."

Now, he may have done the governor-y things, but he hasn't stood up to Bush. He may have opposed Bush, but to stand up to someone, you pretty much either have to defy them, or go do something similar, and in this case, have it matter. Oh yeah, Dean, I'm sure Bush was shaking in his boots when you stood up to him. Not so much. I can stand up to, say, Yassir Arafat, from the comfort of my own home, but unless he notices, it's not real useful. Perhaps if Dean had debated Bush, challenged him to a duel, etc, he could say he stood up to him, but complaining about someone is not standing up to them. Neither is doing something well (health care, education, etc) when the person you're defying is not even President yet. So basically, on the all-important issue of standing up to GWB, Dean's record is not one of getting things done, it's one of talking about it.

2004-02-12T16:12:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Money Grubbers

I just got an email from the now defunct campaign of Wes Clark, strangely, asking for money.
"With a contribution of $100 today, we will add your name to a special plaque to be presented to General Clark, commemorating the American patriots like you who have fueled his campaign and will stand with him in the months and years ahead. Your name will appear alongside hundreds of others who have been integral to the success of our effort and pledge their ongoing support to Wes Clark."

Gee, that's worth a hundred bucks! Where does that money go? Can we get a list of those people and either neuter them or hose them for money? Maybe both?

2004-02-12T14:50:00.000-05:00

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More on the Kerry story -- I have no idea whether there's truth to it, but as seems to be about par for the course with Kerry, and Drudge tends to be right, I'm not inclined to dismiss it off-hand. Obernews has a fun post on Theresa Heinz Kerry's (understandable) desire to maim her husband if he cheated. This could be fun...

2004-02-12T14:47:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Free Speech

The interesting thing about liberals (and I'm not talking about all liberals here, just a certain flavor) is that you are free to say anything you want -- be it profane, obscene, madonna-of-dung, whatever, as long as it's liberal. All opinions and beliefs are equal and good, unless those beliefs disagree with theirs, in which case the person with the "incorrect" beliefs is a bigot, a racist, or in the case of the campaign blogs, trolls.

Especially on the Dean blog, anyone who expresses the slightest reservations about the delusional group-think of the comment threads is labeled a troll, a term derived fishing, when one slowly drags a line through the water, waiting for someone to bite. In other words, the blogs consider trolls to be those kids in middle school who picked on you and your mother told you they were just trying to provoke a reaction from you, but you knew in your heart they were evil. Instead of encouraging debate, which might actually make the campaigns stronger, anyone who expresses doubt (as in, "Since we haven't won a state yet, I'm afraid we might not win the nomination!") is quickly denounced.
Some great quotes from the Left, that bastion of the 1st Amendment:

"Drudge and his evil ilk need to be disenfranchised at every opportunity."

"PDX is a troll. go away."

"Go AWAY PDX Troll! No one wants your negativity here."

"I am so glad that we will be able to keep those trolls out. It is about time! "

Incidentally, this is the same demographic that is apoplectic over the idea of "free-speech zones."

Apparently The Blog occurs in a warped parallel universe where Dean has a chance and gravity is optional, and other general laws of the universe do not apply. For example:
"The DrudgeReport isn't true. He usually is right, but this time he isn't. " Why? Do you know? Generally, if someone is usually right, it's safe to believe them, unless you know something to the contrary.

2004-02-12T13:16:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Holy Garbanzo Beans!

Drudge is in beside himself, complete with flashing red and blue light graphic, about this, and if it's true, he has full rights to be. Apparently some Kerry+intern story is breaking at the moment. I have no idea what's going on, but I'm sure I'll write about it when I do. Kerry does have a history of womanizing though...

2004-02-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Things that Merit Further Investigation

Today there's a new article from the devil herself, Ann Coulter. She talks about Max Cleland, and explains his story in a way I'd never heard before. She claims that he didn't lose his legs and an arm to a grenade in battle, he lost them because he was drinking one night and he picked up a grenade that was lying on the ground. Now, the tone's a little shrill (this is Ann Coulter, after all -- that's what makes it fun to read) and I don't know if this is true or not. But it's very interesting.

"Cleland also expressed outrage that Bush left the National Guard nine months early in 1973 to go to Harvard Business School. [...]When Bush left the National Guard in 1973 to go to business school, the war was over. It might as well have been 1986. [...] If Bush had demanded active combat, there was no war to send him to. To put this in perspective, by 1973, John Kerry had already accused American soldiers of committing war crimes in Vietnam, thrown someone else's medals to the ground in an anti-war demonstration, and married his first heiress.

Moreover, if we're going to start delving into exactly who did what back then, maybe Max Cleland should stop allowing Democrats to portray him as a war hero who lost his limbs taking enemy fire on the battlefields of Vietnam. Cleland lost three limbs in an accident during a routine noncombat mission where he was about to drink beer with friends. He saw a grenade on the ground and picked it up. He could have done that at Fort Dix. In fact, Cleland could have dropped a grenade on his foot as a National Guardsman –- or what Cleland sneeringly calls "weekend warriors." Luckily for Cleland's political career and current pomposity about Bush, he happened to do it while in Vietnam.""

2004-02-12T09:46:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Keeping Clark out of Public Office

Susan just posted a bit of an article talking about how perhaps Clark should be secretary of state, or maybe be veep for Hillary in 2008. My opinion: Good God, no! There are few things scarier to me than having Clark within one or two people of being leader of the free world. He's demonstrably loopy, and as voters, we should take it as our duty to keep this man out of office. And in any case, just because Colin Powell was a general and now is secretary of state, that doesn't mean that's a career pathway that he should expect to emulate. I don't know if this matters, but as far as I can tell, Colin Powell is very different in that he's a) far more humble (or so it seems) and b) he's not ambitious (he doesn't want to be king). In any case, Clark is a lobbyist, and now obviously not competent as a campaigner, and I would also argue that he's be a poor diplomat on the grounds that he's insane. You think DoD and State have a hard time getting along now, imagine of State was run by Clark; in Kosovo, he co-opted the air control, micromanaging it himself, even though he's an Army man, much to the chagrin of the people with some competency in the area. Also, he tended to go around the chain of command and call Clinton personally, which made his superiors apoplectic. I feel like if he was SoS, something similar would happen. And that would be bad.

Tangentially, I heard Clarks resignation speech last night on NPR, and was struck by two things. First, the man sounds like he swallowed a Speak-and-Spell with limited memory capacities. He says his two words or so, and then has to stop and reload. Second, he doth protest too much. With politicians in general and Clark in particular, if he goes on an on about how he really didn't want to be President, what with the power and the fame and the personal 747 and power and gifts from other soverign nations and the nuclear launch codes and all, but he was doing it for the American people-- he really really wants to be President.

2004-02-12T01:46:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Curious Blog Comments

On the BlogForAmerica, often the grassroots do cute (read: stupid) things in the comment threads to get the word out.
For example, TK in PA posts:

"(English)
My name is Thad.
I live in Springfield, PA (Philly suburb).
My vote is my voice.
I will not be silenced!

(Español)
Me llamo Tadeo.
Vivo en Springfield, PA.
Mi voto es mi voz.
¡No seré silenciado!

(Italiano)
Mi chiamo Taddeo.
Abito a Springfield, PA.
Il mio voto è la mia voce.
Non sarò silenziato!

Anyone who speaks foreign languages, feel free to post the "My name is . . . " message in those languages!"

Why, exactly? What are the chances, exactly, that someone who only speaks, say, Polish will be cruising through the comments of the Dean blog, and suddenly be converted when the knowledge that there is a man named Thad in Springfield, PA who's vote will not be silenced is brought to him in the mother tongue? Are we trying to reach out to other countries? There are a decent number of non-citizen types on the blog, just random people from, say, the Netherlands trying their hands at American politics. But why reach out to them? They can't vote, they can't contribute -- they can blog and meet-up and do all those other Deany things, but they can't make it count. The whole Dean blog is like this. Odd.

UPDATE: Inspired by Thad, that comment thread also featured the following:

"My name is Patti.
I live in Dallas, Texas.
My vote is my voice.
I will not be silenced."

"My name is Liz.

Dean won a delegate from my Congressional district in Tucson (thanks in no small part to the blog's support of last-minute radio ads).

My voice will be heard again and again.
Because of this campaign, I am joining the Arizona Women's Political Caucus."

Hi, Liz.

"My name is Renee
I live in Columbus, Ohio
My vote is my voice
I will not be silenced

I still plan to win this thing
and trolls can bite me!"

Trolls are those who do not believe in the good doctor. Or the tooth fairy. Dean bloggers use this word much like BAMN uses "racist."

"My name is Dan
I live in the Boston suburbs, Massachusetts
My vote is my voice
I will NOT be silenced!
We gonna open up a barrel-'o'-whup-a$$
...for our own corrupt waffler...
......in his home state!"

And this:

" My name is Reality
I live directly behind Karl Rove
I hope he doesn't stop too quickly
or I will be silenced"

...which I don't entirely understand, and this:

"What a great idea for a super ad!!! 10-15 people repeating this:
My name is ABC
I live in X, Y
My vote is my voice
I will not be silenced

I wonder what song could go best with this message..."

With grassroots ideas like that, it's a shock Dean's not got this locked up already. Honestly. I guess the trouble is that the Deaniacs see themselves as the most attractive part of Dean, whereas the rest of the world sees them as one of the more frightening parts. And then it grows:

"***IDEA***
Can we work with truthandhope to get a few radio ads made from our "My name is... I will not be silenced"
Add in some comments about the media trying to coronate a nominee...
We can have people call in and record their statement, and put together a few different spots...
I'll kick in some $ to T&H if we get this moving... What do u think?"

Somehow I assume this one will not fly, in part because it's about America, not about the Blog, and in part because it seems to support Bush.
"I am an American.
I love my country.
I love my Constitution, which is the very lifeblood of my country.
I will stand up and fight for Liberty, even when it's inconvenient, even when it's hard, even when others call me "traitor", because I know Liberty's value.
I will speak when others cower.
I will serve my nation gladly, whether in the voting booth or in the jury box.
I do not love war, nor do I seek it, nor support those who do, but neither will I shy from it if it is brought upon me. I will defend America with my life.
I am an American.
I love my country."
I wish I had written that.

2004-02-11T15:21:00.000-05:00

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Euphemism Watch

From Wes Clark's soon-to-be-defunct Campaign website:

"Today General Clark returns to Little Rock with his staff to reassess the status of his campaign. He will deliver an address to supporters this afternoon."

"Re-assess," my foot.

2004-02-11T15:00:00.000-05:00

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A Must-Read article on Bush's military service.

It's written by a guardsman who served with Bush, who provides a good explaination of the way things work.

2004-02-11T01:29:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Political Correctness

Incidentally, when did Susan B. Anthony co-opt President's Day. Now it's Susan B. Anthony President's Day, or at least according to the DeanForAmerica folks. I mean, Susan B, you go girl!...I think that she should have some recognition, but either she should get a stand alone day, or perhaps put her with MLK day (that'll never happen) because suffrage is more an issue of civil rights than it is of...dead presidents. And it sounds like it's the day for presidents of Susan B. Anthony. Or something. I'd like to think it's because they want to honor her, but I feel like it was more a question of a bunch of feminists sitting around in a herbal-smoky back room and ranting about how Presidents day is all about the dead white men, and we ought to have a day, so they added SBA. But that just might be the cynic in me talking.

2004-02-10T23:17:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of St Jude, Patron Saint of Lost Causes

Howie, Wes, you lost. The American People do not want you to be their president. If they did, they would have voted for you. But they didn't. So drop out now, before you become pathetic. You're allowed to stay till Wisconsin, in fact, Howard, you should stay through Wisconsin. And then stop. If you do not win Wisconsin, you must stop. Please.

Incidentally, does it seem unethical to anyone else for candidates to continue raising money during the period between their doom and their withdrawl? Howard Dean has raised almost $1.4 million in the past week, from almost 20,000 people. Now, I know the Democrats generally think that money is better used by people other than those who earned it, but honestly -- if you're going to go on about making the finances of "ordinary Americans" (does anyone else find that insulting?) one way to do it would be to stop hosing them for money. It's like trying to sell deck chairs on the Titanic. I'm sure there are better ways to spend that money. Apparently the average contribution this time around is $77. Thats almost a month worth of tall lattes.

(UPDATE: Not long thereafter, Clark announced he was dropping out. Good -- now maybe we can get this man some proper psychiatric treatment.)

2004-02-10T17:55:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of the Exceedingly Surreal

"It did not take Kaelynn Adams-Haack long to decide she wanted to support the re-election campaign of Representative Tammy Baldwin, Democrat of Wisconsin. The two met at a dinner party, talked for part of the evening and by the time Kaelynn left she had decided that she wanted to give the congresswoman a $1,000 contribution.

And she did — as soon as she checked with her parents. Then Kaelynn headed home to resume the life of a first grader: homework, chores and the usual fun and games.

"I knew not to give her too much and not to give her too little, so I gave her $1,000," said Kaelynn, who is now 8 and says she hopes to make more donations in the future."

-- From the New York Times

Excuse me? So a first-grader can just come hope and decide she wants to give $1000 to a campaign? What first-grader has any concept of how much money that is? And who in their right mind allows a child that young to make decisions about any amount of money over, say $10? I mean, it's nice that she decided to give it to something, not keep it, but still...

2004-02-10T17:21:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Tattered Documents

It seems that the White House has produced documents proving that in fact Bush did complete his required make-up National Guard service in Alabama, and did accrue 56 of the 50 service points required of him that year. Therefore, he was not AWOL, he did not desert, he was honorably discharged, and we can all go back to scratching ourselves.

Incidentally, kausfiles has some thoughts on this whole brouhaha, pointing out that by raising this contraversy now, it actually blunts the impact it could have in November, and really is just a ploy to make Kerry look better. He argues it much more convincingly than I just did. Go read it.

2004-02-10T17:15:00.000-05:00

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From John Kerry's Department of Dirty Tricks

There are plenty of anecdotes, and I'll be posting more of them as I get around to it, but this one will suffice for now. From DailyKos:

"I just heard about the latest slimy maneuver, this time here in DC. Tonight was the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club Dinner. The group voted for their endorsement in the DC Caucus for this Saturday. While, yes, Dean supporters were the greatest collection (followed by Kusinich, as I understand), there was no clear majority, so the Club made no endorsement for the Caucus. Note, no one got it, so there was no one getting any gain out of this.

Then, after the dinner was over, the big whopping 20 Kerry supporters snuck back in after everyone left. Then a crony on the Board used an obscure by-law to reconviene and they voted the endorsement to Kerry."

2004-02-10T16:46:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of We Don't Like Those Newfangled Blog Things

This article pretty much slams the Dean blog, and while I can't really blame it for that, it also knocks the whole blogosphere, which I take issue with. In a comment that reinforces my rantings this morning:

"The Dean campaign has one last Web gimmick up its sleeve before sliding beneath the waves. You can visit the website and "vote" for one of three unprepossessing ads it plans to run in Wisconsin. There is a larger theme here, best illustrated many years ago by a Russian newspaper's challenge to its readers to battle a chess grandmaster. The master moved, then the readers voted on the countermove. The majority was always wrong."

Yes.

2004-02-10T11:04:00.000-05:00

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From the Populism Police

John Kerry is hereby banned from pretending to be a populist. His rhetoric is all about redistributing wealth, except, of course his own. According to the New York Post, "In 1993, for instance, living on a senator's salary of about $100,000, he managed to give a total of $135 to charity. Yet that same year, he was somehow able to scrape together $8,600 for a brand-new, imported Italian motorcycle, a Ducati Paso 907 IE. "

Now, this is fine. It's his money to do with what he wants. That said, to then go around denouncing the millionaires, the corporations, the overprivileged... well, it sounds a little contrived coming from a man who's married two heiresses, is decended from the Forbes family, and once bought a $700,000ish yacht for cash.

Incidentally, John Edwards is almost as bad, except that he did, in fact, earn his money, even if it was through some huge lawsuits. It's fun to listen to him talk about his "two americas," one of the wealthy and one of the working. One of the privileged and one of the people. Which are you, John?

2004-02-10T10:47:00.000-05:00

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From the Peanut Gallery

A comment on Dean's Blog for America:
"1st Timers,
Donate $5 or $10. Let's get the number of contributors up!
Howard is the most electable Democrat running. Karl Rove knows this, why don't other Democrats."

Okay, let's deconstruct this. First line, fine. Plea for money, normal. Exhortation to boost number of contributors, dumb. While it's nice to say you have lots of little saintly donors instead of a few big evil ones, in real practical terms, it means nothing. Final line, trouble. Now, I could be wrong here, but I've always felt that 'electable' referred to the ability to be elected, presumably in elections. As far as I can tell, based on the elections that have happened over the past few weeks, Dean is less electable than Kerry and Edwards, and I think Clark (I know he's got more delegates if you count superdelegates, but I don't for this analysis because they weren't determined by people electing) because less people have voted for him. Now, I don't know what this guy thinks Karl Rove's been smoking, but I'm fairly sure that Karl Rove is currently snickering as Dean implodes. Or weeping, because he thinks Bush could beat the pants of Dean if he ever had to try and spanking Dean seems more fun than, say, Lieberman. (Incidentally, "Spanking Al Sharpton" would be a good book title. And if he were ever to become a professional wrestler, he could be 'Spankin' Al Sharpton.')
(Originally posted on The Resplendent Mango)

2004-02-10T10:44:00.000-05:00

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Dean, by the Numbers

"Organization on the ground is critical to winning Wisconsin, and every contribution helps:

$162 contribution pays for 1000 reminder calls to Wisconsin voters
$133 contribution pays for 1021 door-knockers to get Badger students out to vote
$73 contribution pays for food and lodging for a volunteer
$42 contribution rents a van to take volunteers and supporters to their primary location
Please contribute today.

The past five days have been extraordinary. Grassroots organizations drove second-place finishes in Maine, Michigan and Washington. Governor Dean picked up delegates in all three caucus states. He is second in the overall delegate count, and the only candidate besides Kerry to gain delegates this weekend."

I'm a little tired of grassroots-this and grassroots-that. Also "We represent the people, not the corporations." Who do they think make up the corporations? Who employs the people? And really, given that most of the people who run corporations have a) some training in economics b) experience in administration and leadership and c) a vested interest in having the economy strong, shouldn't their opinions count for something? I think I want a president who was endorsed by the Fortune 500 and the League of Small Businesses. Anyway, I digress. My point is, many of the campaigns, and especially Dean brag about being "people-powered" and outside of the circle of the Washington establishment. It's insane to me that Americans purportedly want someone who has very little experience with Washington, and no contact with the business world? Why is it somehow better for Howard Dean's "special interest" to be sign-waving yuppies? If we picked our surgeons the same way we picked our Presidents, we'd probably go for the taxidermists, on the grounds that they have related experience, but aren't tainted by actually having operated on people. And taxidermists who knew nurses, anesthesiologists, etc, would be highly suspect, because they might be tainted. Personally, I'd rather have a small number of informed, competent people making the decisions, and if they're powerful or rich, I won't hold it against them, than put things in the hands of the emotional masses. Socrates would be proud. Actually, I suppose the Framers agreed with me, hence Congress. It was a good theory.

2004-02-10T00:16:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Ain't That Sweet

It seems to me that of all of the campaigns going on at the moment, the most family-oriented or family-centered one is John Edwards. Aside from the aforementioned giveaway of his mom's peanutbutter pie recipe to donors, one nice feature they have is the Family Blog. Both Edwards and his wife Elizabeth write on it, and it's quite homey. John writes about his campaign stops and mentions his awful handwriting, Elizabeth polls the readers for Christmas ideas for John. It's sweet.

I know I shouldn't like Edwards. I don't agree with him. I know it's a bad idea. But as a candidate, he's very attractive. Like a guy you like who's a jerk and you know it but gosh he's cute...

2004-02-09T17:59:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Statements That Will Come Back To Haunt You

"We do not need to divide America over who served [in Vietnam] and how." -- John Kerry, defending Clinton. Let's hope someone dusts this one off if Kerry becomes the nominee and tries to attack Bush for being a fighter pilot in the National Guard.

"I don't need any lectures in courage from Howard Dean," -- John Kerry, in response to the attacks of Howard Dean over gay rights, an issue which is, of course, closely related to service in Vietnam.

John Kerry clearly does not mean this. He reminds me very much of a certain composition grad student with whom I had a class. He had gone to Harvard, and could work that fact into almost any statement ("Oh yes, well, at Harvard, we learned that the frequency of A was 440...""Well, at Harvard, we wrote much longer compositions...") Extremely obnoxious. Same deal with Kerry. I read a dead-on spoof article by Rick Lowry to the effect of "John Kerry finally breaks silence about Vietnam." It is a fake interview in which "Kerry" answers every question with some reference to Vietnam. You really ought to read the whole thing because it's very funny and very accurate, but I'll post one Q&A here:

"Q: Senator, the Vietnam War is often a subtle undercurrent to your campaign, and some Democrats have been criticizing President Bush for serving in the Texas Air National Guard. Are you making Vietnam an issue?

A: No. I have always said, across my long, distinguished career of public service, that I would never judge the choices of anyone during the Vietnam War. Not those who chose to burn their draft cards. Not those who chose to flee to Canada. Not those who chose to drop acid and commit public sex acts. Not even those cowardly weasels who chose to serve in the National Guard.

When I was maneuvering through the Mekong Delta, and the jungle heat was nearly intolerable, some of my comrades in arms would say, "I hate those cowardly pantywaists who stayed home to serve in the National Guard." And I would say to my men as we dodged incoming fire: "No. No! We are here risking our lives every single hour of every single day in order to defend the freedom and security of even those cowardly weasels back home in the National Guard.""

As the OpinionJournal article points out, "The transparent answer is that the Senator is trying to use his Vietnam biography as a political shield against his national security voting record. [...] Mr. Kerry (who was Mr. Dukakis's lieutenant governor) wants voters to focus on his medals, not his voting record."

And really, he ought not want us to focus too closely on his medals, or we might remember that "throwing his friends' medals on the steps of the Capitol in protest and making everyony think they were his" incident. For more on Kerry's Vietnam tick, the Washington Post has a great article on the Dem's enthusiasm for it.

(Hat tip to Dr. Armstrong, via Susan for the OpinionJournal Article)

2004-02-09T17:19:00.000-05:00

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From Edwards' Multimedia Department

We just got an email entitled "My View from the Road..." I had hoped it was going to be another 1st person missive from Johnny himself, but this was from a supporter. Nothing hysterical, very down to earth. Not worth quoting. However, said supporter has made a video that he wants us to see.

You can see his view from the road here.

2004-02-09T17:14:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Evil Media Conspiracies

Kucinich's campaign just sent out a snarky little email complaining that though their man is "surging," the media is neglecting them. The email reads:

"Dennis Kucinich has finished both the Washington and Maine caucuses ahead of candidates John Edwards, Wesley Clark and Al Sharpton. This represents the strongest back-to-back showing of his campaign to date. One would think that such a clear surge would require coverage from the national media. One would be wrong.

[CNN said that Dean was the only candidate to campaign in Washington, but Kucinich did too! CNN is mean!]

Dennis Kucinich has begun a strong surge in the race for the Democratic nomination. He is in this race to the end. The time has come for the national media to get wise to this, and at a minimum, to begin reporting basic facts with accuracy and integrity."

Well, yes and no. If you consider the fact that John Edwards and Wesley Clark did not compete in the aforementioned states, beating them seems like less of an accomplishment. Kucinich beat me too, but I'm not running, so it's not that newsworthy. I guess it might be worth a one-line mention, perhaps something "In the super-liberal Seattle region, a few people voted for Kucinich" vein. But the fact is, Edwards and Clark have a semi-respectable number of delegates to their name, and thus they are news. They are viable. Until Kucinich hits the threshold of viability in a state (15%), he's just an asterisk. And if the media doesn't start covering it, what's he gonna do? Assult them with well-aged tofu?

2004-02-09T12:53:00.000-05:00

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A Dispatch from the Department of Liking John Kerry

Today's New Republic has a nice article on the not-immediately-obvious political courage of John Kerry. A bit wonkish, but here are the key quotes:

"The rap on John Kerry is well known: He's an incorrigible panderer who constantly tilts with the prevailing political winds. But just over a decade ago, Kerry did the exact opposite, leading an investigation into money laundering at the shadowy Bank of Credit and Commerce International--better known by its infamous acronym, BCCI--in the face of overwhelming political pressure. The episode paints a picture of Kerry at once courageous and humane--and lends credence to the heroic persona his campaign is attempting to project. "

"Not that Kerry's performance in the episode was entirely above reproach. Critics across the spectrum--and not just Clifford apologists--accused the senator of using his subcommittee as an ersatz court, with public opinion as its jury and self-aggrandizement as the goal. And Kerry wasn't always the coolest operator under fire--at one point during the BCCI hearings, he told a group of reporters that the Bush administration was trying to block his efforts by digging up dirt on him. Then there was the fact that Kerry himself had ties to BCCI, however inadvertently. As head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, he had, it turns out, worked with a BCCI-linked banker, David Paul, to raise over $16 million in campaign contributions. (Kerry aides did not return calls seeking comment on this issue.) None of this mattered to the substance of the case, of course. But these moments did in some sense foreshadow flaws in Kerry's political persona that would become more apparent down the road.

....And Kerry, at a time when all of Washington was pressuring him to do otherwise, clearly chose to do the right thing--first seeing to it that justice would be served, then refusing to heap unnecessary humiliation on a man who was, by then, broken in body and spirit. Kerry may or may not be the right Democrat to nominate for president. But he clearly does have it within him to do the right thing."

2004-02-09T10:30:00.000-05:00

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From the Department of Almost Entirely False Statements

Wes Clark on CNN.com:

"And, Wolf, the second point is, Saddam Hussein may well have been a bad guy. But since when does the United States go to war with people because we don't like them? There's any number of bad people around the world. Why did the president choose this particular man to go to war with?

We've never done this before, that I know of, in American history. We picked the guy out, we made him a villain. We had him contained. We went to war with Iraq, despite the fact there was no imminent threat to the United States, no connection to 9/11. The diplomatic options were not exhausted. We didn't have a plan as to what to do when we got to Baghdad. We didn't have the forces to do it with."

Now, if I recall correctly, the whole reason we're supposed to take this guy seriously is because he went to Kosovo and took out Milosevic, to some extent. And good ol' Slobodan had never tried to make WMDs, invaded several countries, supplied terrorists in other countries, or tried to assassinate an American President. He was just calmly minding his own genocidal business over there in Eastern Europe. Saddam makes this guy look like a Cub Scout. You can see why Clark was removed from command. He's scary.

2004-02-08T21:37:00.000-05:00

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New Emails from the Campaigns:

From Dean:

"Dear Michigan,
Thank you.
I'm proud of the thousands of supporters in Michigan who worked tirelessly over the last six months to spread the vision and message of our campaign. One of the key tenets of our campaign remains getting people to reengage in the political process, and it's evident by yesterday's surprisingly large turnout in both Washington and Michigan that we continue to cause people to stand up and be counted in this important election.
I started this campaign for the presidency one year ago with the simple notion that America can be better. I had virtually no staff and no money, but I wanted to talk about health care. I wanted to talk about early childhood development. And I wanted to talk about fiscal responsibility and the importance of balancing the budget.
It was during my first trip to Iowa when I heard people speak of a profound fear
and distrust. Everywhere I went people were asking fundamental questions: Who
can we trust? Is the media reporting the truth? What is happening to our country?
So I offered a campaign in which you could participate, and you have done so -- beyond anything we imagined. This campaign not is mine -- it belongsto the people who are building it.
Thanks in part to your efforts, we have 174 delegates out of the 2,162 required to win the nomination.
I look forward to going forward with you.
Thank you, Michigan,
Howard Dean"

So, Howie, if you win, do we the people get to fly around in Air Force One, crash 1600 Penn, get invited to state dinners, etc? After all, it's not about you...

And Now... a supporter of Dennis Kucinich performs... An Act of Desperation!

"Dear Kucinich supporters,

Today we have Kucinich supporters all over Indiana collecting our last remaining signatures needed to be on the ballot in that state. We are so close, and we just have Monday to finish gathering the needed signatures. If you want to help assure your Indiana neighbors the chance to cast their votes for a true progressive voice within the Democratic Party -- if you want to give them a chance to vote for Dennis J. Kucinich -- then please contact one of our Field Signature Coordinators on the ground today in Indiana and travel to Indiana to help them collect signatures. Along with many other volunteers and interns, they are working hard today to assure that Indiana has a voice. Please connect with them today!"

Please! We just want to be on the ballot. And we want it to be printed with soy ink.

Incidentally, all of the Kucinich emails have the following tacked on the bottom:
"If you don't vote for your heart, you heart will never win! Now is the time to define the Democratic Party! Now is the time to put an end to fear, and let hope begin! Vote for hope and true security... vote for an experienced political leader! Vote for a platform that reflects Human Rights and Social Equality/Justice at the core! Vote Dennis John Kucinich in 2004."

As Susan commented, I find this a tad bit creepy. Also, I'm a little wary of "social justice" in general, because it tends to try to engineer a "just society," which seems to trample all over individual justice. I'm not so much all about that.

A note: I added the Bush ticker because they seem to be the only campaign with something that nifty. I hope to add others if the other candidates get their acts together.

2004-02-08T21:22:00.000-05:00

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Fun things to do on candidate websites:

Invade a State with Wes Clark!

"It's the ultimate way for Clark Grassroots supporters to participate in the election. State Invasions will put you where the action is. You'll canvass and call voters, recruit volunteers, participate in events, help get mailings out and take part in other high value activities.
Clark Invaders will see and feel the excitement of the campaign close-up. Invasions Days are crucial to our success. The next invasion is scheduled for January 31 - February 1, the weekend leading up to the primary."

Adopt-An-Intern with Dennis Kucinich!

"At Kucinich for President, we have a special team of dedicated people who bring boundless energy and optimism - our interns. Adopt-An-Intern allows you to show your direct support for our Internship program with your recurring contribution. "

[insert Clinton joke here]

Watch John Edwards do Letterman's Top Ten list!

Man, does that guy have a drawl!

Create and Send your own Dean Postcard!

This would be more fun if there was a way for you to supply a picture of your face and it would add it to a stock photo so it looked like you were with Dean. Think of the possibilities.

I can't find anything amusing to do on the John Kerry website. This is not surprising.

2004-02-08T20:06:00.000-05:00

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Today, because I was bored and find politics amusing, I joined the campaign email lists of all of the presidential candidates. Some observations:

Dean -- I had joined the Dean for America list a week or so ago, not out of any support for him, but because I find the Blog interesting reading, and I assumed the emails would be too. So far, I've received reminders to vote in my caucus, an opportunity to vote on a new ad for Wisconsin, and a few thoughts on how I could be involved.

The email welcoming me to the campaign said, "Your participation, combined with hundreds of thousands of Americans, is taking our political process back from the special interests. Together, we will reclaim a government of, by and for the people. How can you take action today? [Lots of ways to take action -- give money, wave signs, make calls, write letters, etc] America was founded by individuals working together in common cause to reject a government that had forgotten them and favored special interests. We are reclaiming the power of individual action and strengthening our great American community. Together, we not only will win the White House in 2004, we will fulfill the promise of America.

We are Dean for America."

I find the "We Are Dean" bits a little creepy.

Kerry -- I just joined the Kerry list. One of my options as I signed up was to get the daily Kerry news updates, a digest entitled "Kerry Forth the Good News." Gag me. Anyway, the email I got from the Kerry folks said,
"Thank you very much for registering at JohnKerry.com -- your support is instrumental in the success of our campaign -- and you have made the first step by signing up today. [List of ways to be useful and links] Thanks for your support! And onward to the White House!

Sincerely,
The John Kerry Team"

Not especially inspiring, but respectable. Fitting. Incidentally, it seems they sent me two copies. Maybe it's a one-time glitch, but points will definately be deducted if this continues.

Clark -- Now, for the record, I consider Clark to be a few tanks short of a battalion, but I joined his email list anyway. Interestingly, www.wesleyclark.com leads you to a musician's website with an uber-patriotic background and midi piano music. I thought at first it was Gen. Clark...it was alarming. Anyway, the Clark folks welcomed me on board with this:
"Dear Friend,

Thank you for registering on Clark04.com. We are pleased that you have joined our online community. At least once a week, we will send you the latest campaign news. In the meantime, please consider getting even more involved in the following ways:
1) Tell a friend about our campaign. Together we can keep this historic movement going!

2) [Go to a Meetup]

3) Make a contribution to the Clark campaign. Help us spread Wes Clark's vision for a New American Patriotism across the country!

Again, we appreciate your interest. Know that your involvement is crucial to the success of our campaign. Your efforts and support really will make a difference.

Clark for President"

Tonight's award for overexuberance and grandiosity goes to... Clark! Historic! New American Patriotism (which is? maybe if I give them money they'll tell me)!

Edwards -- In a cute touch, the email welcoming me to the Edwards campaign purports to be from Edwards himself. Edwards' site looks a bit different from the others because it's got a white header, and a red news ticker running across. It's a hair busy. Thrillingly, if you contribute to the campaign, Edwards' mother, Bobbie, will send you her recipe for peanut butter pie. It's like giving to public television, but without the complementary totebag. "John" emailed me the following:
"Dear Friend,
Your support is crucial to my campaign. Thank you for getting
involved and staying connected.
[Webpage info]
I look forward to working with you to win back the White House.

Sincerely,
John Edwards"

I suppose it has that "small-town-everyone-knows-everyone-and-we're-all-friends-or-cousins" flavor.

Kucinich -- I thought perhaps it would be amusing to be on Kucinich's list. So far, I was wrong. While all the other emails were rather effusive, Kucinich's had the subject "Kucinich For President Has Received Your Information" and the text was:
"Thank you, your information has been received.
Thank you."

I guess there's a limit to the automatic message-generating capacities of tofu-based computing systems.

Sharpton -- I submitted my email address, but I haven't gotten welcomed to the list yet.

Bush -- Bush's updates tend to be the most, well, monumental of the others. Shots of W. looking presidential, thoughtful, with leadership oozing from his pores. His webpage looks pretty much like everyone else's though. Navy blue header and menu on the left side. Pictures of Bush in a hard hat. I don't still have my Bush email, but I recall immediately being invited to be a Team Leader. This basically worked out to recruiting other people to be Team Leaders/Bush followers. Think Amway.

Conclusion: Kucinich and Sharpton aren't too good at this. But we knew that.

2004-02-08T19:36:00.000-05:00

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From now till November, this blog will be dedicated to the presidential race. Much fun.