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August 29, 2003
Election Year Themes
Interesting article in today's WaPost about how Howard Dean's campaign is basically based on attracting Bush haters to combat the problem of uniting a fragmented party. I think the author's correct, that is what Dean is trying to do....and I don't think it's going to work.
We ran into an old friend of Mike's last night at dinner...a self-described Libertarian Centrist with Democratic leanings, whatever the hell that is....and during the at times passionate discussion he & Mike had about politics I heard several themes that are typical of Dean supporters. One, Bush is apparently too stupid to wipe his own butt. He only implements policies made by others because he's not smart enough to plan anything for himself. He was so vehement about this that at one point Mike jokingly asked him if he'd been reading the Democratic Underground. (No link....my site, my censorship choices)
Second, hates Bush with a fiery passion. Everything Bush has done is wrong. Tax cuts have helped no one. There's too much business going overseas and it should be made illegal to move a business overseas to cut costs. (Isolationism & protectionism worked so well in the past. /sarcasm) Third, Howard Dean is our new saviour, look at what he's done in Vermont, and he is going to easily defeat Bush in the general election.
I happen to think he's wrong on all counts, but it was interesting to hear how his deep dislike of Bush colored his opinions....which is, I think, the basis of the support for Dean. He's got that Barry Goldwater appeal. Popular among the fringes, but not electable.
"He's not running a campaign, he's running a movement," writes Natasha C. on the Dean Web site, if the New York Times is to be believed. "These are protest-size crowds, these are not politics-size crowds, and that makes a critical difference," Ms. C. asseverates. Indeed it does. Join the first protest of the 21st century. The only problem this protest movement faces is that there is almost nothing to protest.
Exactly. And as this author points out, the Dems are severely fragmented among the fringes. You gots your feminists, your anti-war peaceniks, your environmentalists, and so on ad nauseum....but no candidate that appeals to all of them or to the moderates in the party. You know, that large mass in the middle that actually votes. So far, I've not seen a Dem candidate that I thought had a snowball's chance in the general election.
Of course there's always Wesley Clark, whose stance on anything is largely unknown. Now there's a great idea for a campaign....Wesley Clark, the Mercenary Mysterion candidate. He's like the prize in a box of Cracker Jacks....you know, you're hoping for something cool like a decoder ring but find upon opening it a list of really lame knock-knock jokes.
Going to be an interesting election year.
Posted by Rita at August 29, 2003 09:23 AM
Comments
Actually, the one thing known about Wesley Clark is that he's a nutty prima donna...
Posted by: Paul Jané at August 29, 2003 11:58 AM
No kidding. There's all this fuss here about getting him to run. Sometimes I think most Arkansans are downright stupid.
Posted by: Rita at August 29, 2003 12:06 PM
I've got some links to a few of Clark's positions...and they ain't pretty.
Posted by: David at September 3, 2003 08:51 PM