For my long time readers, you know I grew up with Jim Hightower. I remember the Karl Rove smear campaign that ended his political career, giving a young Democrat named Rick Perry a chance to beat Jim Hightower in the primary. (Go a head, look it up if you don’t believe me, Rick Perry was a Democrat and it was Karl Rove’s first campaign.)
I remember Jim Hightower doing the occasional editorial on local TV after that.
Jim Hightower, lost in the political landscape, inspired by I.F. Stone, who was lost in a similar fashion when he was blacklisted in the 50s, started his own small media company, publishing his ideas. (And doing so before the internet.) His folksy populism has made him into someone who the Democrats should emulate while they center on the most marginalized in our society.
If you don’t follow Jim Hightower, you should. I also think his book “If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote, They'd Have Given Us Candidates” is worth reading even though it focuses on the 2000 election. It’s about the history of how the Democratic establishment became a right-wing corporate owned party and some smart ideas of how to start winning elections again.
Also, check out his bi-weekly podcast “The Jim Hightower Radio Lowdown.” It’s where this quote is from and is the type of editorial I remember back in the early 90’s on my local Texas station.
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