Dean on C-SPAN , third showing
Sun Mar 07, 2004 at 01:02:16 AM PDT
The third showing of Dean's speech at the Pre-Gridiron event is just starting. It's worth watching a third time. Opportunities like this will probably be rare from now on.
Is Dean too shrill?
Fri Feb 13, 2004 at 11:08:27 PM PDT
In a post yesterday on
TNR (requires subscription), Noam Scheiber, who has been more favorable to Dean than most of the TNR crew, writes about how "shrill and grating" Dean has been in talking about Kerry. This is the passage he cites as evidence:
Mix of Dean supporters
Mon Feb 02, 2004 at 02:04:02 AM PDT
This is a poll question for committed Dean supporters--the ones who would be interested in working with some sort of Dean organization even if he doesn't get the nomination.
The media want to believe that his passionate supporters are all young and idealistic, but some of us are older but still idealistic.
Dean speaks often of the Sixties, the death of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and how he wants the world that he was promised when he was 21. What I mean by "From the Sixties" is that your support of Dean is connected in some way with what happened in the Sixties.
Dean merchandise
Sun Feb 01, 2004 at 07:16:36 PM PDT
I just ordered some "Dean for America"
merchandise. A fleece jacket (they're on sale), a polo shirt, and a tote bag. I can't see wearing a Dean button if he ends up dropping out, but I wanted something I could use to show my continued support. The logo won't be out of date:
Howard Dean for America along with the Web site address. No mention of "Dean for President", no mention of 2004. I suppose the Web site address could change, though I hope it doesn't. But I figure these items will be good forever, because Dean will still be standing up for America.
I've made up my mind about TNR
Sat Jan 31, 2004 at 07:01:58 PM PDT
I've been debating with myself about whether to renew The New Republic, which I've subscribed to since the early 1990's. I was just reading an entertaining
column by Michelle Cottle about Edwards' claim that he's more of a Southerner than Clark. It's billed as "Only at TNR Online". So what do I need the print edition for? With the thin covers, the issues arrive looking like the dog chewed them up. What I've decided to do is drop my subscription, and then when they cut off my access to TNR Online, I'll subscribe to that--I think it's only $19.95 for a year.
I wonder how many print vs. online subscribers they have now. Maybe the Web site is more popular. Maybe that's why they're letting the print edition go to the dogs.
The test for Dean
Fri Jan 30, 2004 at 12:27:29 AM PDT
This is from a
column by Doug Ireland on TomPaine.com:
Does he have the will, desire, and vision to transform his legions of enthusiastic Deaniacs into a permanent, on-the-ground electoral instrument to "take back" the Democratic Party in future contests? If he doesn't, can the Dean blogosphere, on its own, consciously coagulate itself into an institutionalized grassroots electoral fighting force capable of contesting future primaries against the moneyed, handpicked candidates of the party's establishment? Will Dean, when he inevitably loses, simply turn over his extensive computer lists to the national Democrats, in the hopes of some future reward from the party? Or will Dean fall victim to the kind of angry pique on display in his "I Have a Scream" speech, lock his lists in a closet, and go home and sulk--and let his movement evaporate, as so many other insurgent candidates, from Jerry Brown to Jesse Jackson to Ralph Nader, have done before him?
The answer to those questions will be the ultimate test of Howard Dean's true character.
Unlike Ireland, I haven't given up all hope that Dean could be the nominee, but if he isn't, I will be asking the same questions. A lot of my admiration for Dean is based on the belief that he will keep working to build a movement that can transform the Democratic party. I don't see him being co-opted by the Democratic establishment. What could they offer him that he really wants? And I don't see him as sulking. Ireland is wrong about the Iowa speech--it wasn't "angry pique", it was "rouse the troops". Dean's the type who would say "Don't get mad, get even". What better way of getting even than making sure the Democratic party can't just sink back into politics as usual?
Great column by Jonathan Alter
Sun Jan 25, 2004 at 01:39:08 PM PDT
The Doctor's Switch to DecafThe article discusses some serious weaknesses in Dean's campaign, but the last paragraph shows Alter's understanding of Dean's strength:
Last week at Martha's Exchange Restaurant in Nashua, N.H., a "recovering Republican" told the candidate that he was now working his heart out for him. You could see in Dean's eyes that he was deeply worried that he had let down this man and thousands like him. He will work like hell to redeem himself and what he created, if not to win. The wrestler won't quit until he's pinned to the mat for the full count.
Finally heard it
Fri Jan 23, 2004 at 12:09:07 AM PDT
I finally heard the YEAAAAHHHH. What a letdown. THAT is supposed to bring down a presidential candidacy? I was expecting something about three times longer.
Shrinking violet nation. It's pathetic.
Clark--there he goes again
Sat Jan 03, 2004 at 02:30:37 AM PDT
Wesley Clark seems to be doing his utmost to show how tin-eared he is about politics:
Gen. Wesley K. Clark played down the possibility of joining a Dean ticket on Friday, saying, "I'm not going to be Howard Dean's Dick Cheney."
So maybe he could be Howard Dean's Al Gore, or Howard Dean's LBJ, or Howard Dean's Harry Truman. There are lots of possibilities.
Harkin on C-SPAN blasting the Medicare bill
Sat Nov 22, 2003 at 06:34:11 PM PDT
Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is on C-SPAN giving a detailed explanation of what a disaster the Medicare bill will be. Great speech.
"You just wait until this program gets out there and see what happens."
"What's the hurry? This bill doesn't go into effect until 2006." Good question!
