Before anyone starts to rant about my headline. Give this some thought..
I worked on the Janet Reno campaign for governor in Florida and the parallels with the Dem presidential primary are quite evident to me.
After the 2000, I really had no energy to get involved again. But along came Janet Reno, I really thought she could really make a difference in Florida to improve education while in the process ridding us of Jeb and perhaps allow Floridians to have a fair vote in 2004.
But something happened along the way, the DEMS did not think Janet Reno should be the right candidate and failed to support her financially or politically.
At the time, Dems were saying that she was a devisive candidate and the Cubans would come out against her because of Elian...
So they decided to throw their support behind an unknown and unexperienced politico by the name of Bill McBride. I was soo disappointed because McBride and his people seemed to act Republican lite characters.
Janet was pushed to second fiddle status while the Dems support of McBride.
Now remember the Hatred for JB in Florida was just as intense as the hatred for GWB in this election.
So it was McBride vs JB, who went on to beat McBride soundly, albeit, a fishy one, but it was a win nonetheless....
Fast forward to 2004 Prez. election, again Dean has the hearts of the people and although you have some people that strongly dislike Dean and those that love him, you knew where he stood,, sounds familiar.
Well, it was the same way with Reno, although there were some that depised for her actions as AG, they knew where she stood.
But the DEMS decided no, Dean was too weak and the Repubs would eat him up alive and that Kerry was the one destined to have the party support.
I will give Rove this one stroke of genius, they were scared to death of Dean, because in many ways he and W. are similar in how they held their beliefs and toughness. Do you guys recall rumours of how the Repubs wanted Dean instead of Kerry?
But again we were outsmarted and fooled. Kerry was not the best candidate for the DEMS, Dean was because he is a straight shooter and could match up well with Bush.
But the DEMS did not pay attention and proceeded to destroy Dean and select Kerry.
I like Kerry but it is quite evident that he had a lot of baggage that could be attacked by the Repubs and they did a masterful job.
Going back to Florida and the parallels:
- JB won handily over McBride, although fishy
- GWB won handily over Kerry, although fishy
So you see as long as the DEMS are not willing to have strong convictions about their candidate, not because it's political expedient to do so.
DEMS, some of us are phonies and let our hatred for the other side cloud our judgment in picking the right candidate.
And then we wonder why middle america doesn't trust us, because we are not loyal to those who have served us well.