Achebe, what's &c? Not sure I know it. Got a link? I was among the people furious (and still mad) about Kerry and the rest on Iraq (especially Gephardt), but Kerry's defense of the regime change thing was freaking awesome. And I loved him on Iran Contra too. There is still a lot to recommend his candidacy and the race won't turn entirely on Iraq. The depth of opposition to Bush is incredible and, as such, 'electability's' gonna be huge this time around. I think Dean has a shot at winning the electability race as well as the issues one and the fire in the belly one, but he hasn't turned that trick yet. The Lieberman argument you cited makes sense. He's not gonna draw a single vote from Dean, regardless of the fact that his attacks are aimed directly at him. So if he draws votes, it'll be from Kerry, Gephardt, Edwards, Graham. The converse to the argument is that people might buy his argument that Dean's too liberal and switch to Kerry. I'm not ready to agree that Dean's a lock, but I'd be very surprised if the last two were not Kerry and Dean. And I would love that race and how it would change and strengthen the eventual nominee.
Hey Batman, I think we was unclear re: Lieberman v Kerry and its affects on Dean's candidacy. &c is an editorial @ tnr.com Their article will clarify the point (though I disagree w/ the conclusion that Lieberman will inadvertently cause the nomination of an unelectable candidate; again tnr has a lot of DLCesque writers).
I read an article a long time ago that the Republicans had specific personality traits to hammer on for each Demo candidate and would try to destroy Kerry by claiming he was too stiff. They stay on the attack message very well. It would be interesting to see if the Washingon Post writer is a Republican in on the game. Kerry is a genuine down in the mud sluggin it out war hero and Dubya was awol from this Air National Guard. However, Dubya knows how to get drunk (before the age of 40) and stuff down some barbq like a ranch hand. As an aside, the Hispanics in South Texas still talk about how Jimmy Carter was see eating the corn husk on a tamale the first time he went down their to campaing. They voted for him. I still think Kerry is the guy to beat, but maybe you need a fighter like Dean to take Dubya on. Kerry might be too polite-- like Gore. You can't be embarassed to take Dubya on but must make him turn confused, mean and stuttering in a debate.. He usually relies on his complete lack of shamelessness and boldness to compensate for lack of info and inability to think or talk without reading a script. A fighter might just melt down Dubya as he searches vainly for bits of memorized script to throw into the debate. I think Will's main beef with Dean is that he opposed the Iraq war.
Batman, it must be the blackout. glynch, we definitely need a fighter... and that's why I suggest that right now Dean is the candidate to beat. He wasn't accountable in the Senate last fall... so he is in a position to dog the candidates re: Iraq. It's simply a point of argument that the other candidates can't take, since they generally (except for Graham) supported the President. It sounds as if the language in the Senate's proclamation for war was written in such a way that it makes it difficult for the other candidates to criticize even Bush's unilateralism (b/c they granted him the ability to act unilaterally; and hence the critiques that Kerry is 'trying to have it both ways' as well as Lieberman's most recent announcement that none of the other candidates know a just war when they see one). Dean is in an admirable position. He didn't have to vote to support the tax cuts. He didn't have to vote on the war w/ Iraq. If he were a war hero (instead of an Aspen hero) it'd be over.
I heard one woman say after seeing Bob Dole's Visa commercial, "Oh, if I knew he had a sense of humor, I would've voted for him!" I was like
The last few times I have came in the D&D forum I see "Would you have any Grey Poupon, Monsieur Kerry?" and think it is "Would you have Gary Payton, Monsieur Kerry?". I think it is another trade proposal and I'm actually in the GARM.
Just as a general observation, the more posts of MacBeth that I read, the more I tend to question his veracity. After reading that sappy post in the Blackout thread in the Hangout, I simply think he is lying. GOOD DAY
I am so happy that you are in love with yourself. That makes exactly one person in the world who is in love with you. BUH-BYE
It is ludicrous to think that the average senator or house rep. has a true link to the average person. And there is nothing wrong with that. Just like Kerry and Dean, Bush and others are financially very well off and have never had to worry about basic necessities. But is that a problem? It almost seems nowadays that there is this stigma with being rich or successful. Its like something that many wish to hide. Because its not 'fair' or some garbage like that? I think the difference is that Dean and Kerry, and many of the most prominent democrats are extremely rich, yet they act otherwise and talk about those rich people as winning 'life's lottery' ?? Then again, from an economic perspective the only people that could believe in the Democratic socialist Policies are either so rich they don't understand the concept that there must be levels in society, and the poor who want more output than their input into society.
That this subject was made into a thread and people are responding to it with genuine interest is really distressing.
That's not what people are saying, they are just saying that rich people don't relate to the average voter. I'm not saying I agree with that notion but that is the sentiment. It has nothing to do with rich people being evil.
I don't even understand this post...Is this another point that people will say is merely T_J trying to rile me up? Calling me a liar is merely being an ass, and an incorrect ass at that. I have never lied in here once...and what is more, I don't even understand what I'm supposed to have lied about in that post...making up an account of a really great night?!!?!? Man, you need help if you think that people would come in here and invent something which serves no purpose to deceive people they've never met...to what end? Oh, wait, I forgot I'm talking to someone who is supposed to do that on a regular basis. T_J, and I say this with great relish, you and I are completely different kinds of human beings. Don't assume that everyone is as messed up as you are.
If you believe that there are "Democratic Socialist Policies", then you surely must believe that there are "Republican Facist Policies" as well, correct?
A brief history of politics and food: In presidential politics, there is no free lunch WASHINGTON (Creators Syndicate) -- President Gerald R. Ford faced a stiff challenge from former California Gov. Ronald Reagan in the 1976 Texas Republican primary. Because presidents command local media attention, TV cameras in San Antonio recorded the president's embarrassment when he tried to eat a tamale without first removing the husk. The line on the press bus was that Ford had sewed up the " klutz vote." Four years earlier, South Dakota Sen. George McGovern, the Democratic presidential nominee, while campaigning in New York City, had committed his own gastronomical gaffe: In a kosher delicatessen to go with his corned beef sandwich, McGovern asked for a glass of milk. Now it is Sen. John Kerry's, D-Massachusetts, turn for a food faux pas. Last Monday afternoon, at 9th and Wharton in South Philadelphia, Kerry showed up for a scheduled visit with supporters and customers at "Pat's King of Steaks." There, Kerry did what presidential candidates are supposed to do. He ordered the local favorite, a Philadelphia cheesesteak hoagie. Apparently, unlike candidates John McCain and Al Gore, who knew when they stopped in South Philly that the cheese in a cheesesteak is Cheese Whiz, John Kerry made the mistake of asking for Swiss cheese. Owner Frank Olivieri confided to reporters that he had persuaded the Democratic presidential candidate (who as a 10-year-old had actually gone to boarding school in Switzerland) that what he really wanted was Cheese Whiz. But the invited press had heard the exchange and the damage was done. American candidates have long used their food preferences to define their politics. When England's King George VI, on the eve of World War II, visited President Franklin Roosevelt at Hyde Park, FDR offered the British monarch and his royal entourage a menu of very American hot dogs and decidedly non-premium Rupert's beer To prove he was just folks, President George Herbert Walker Bush, like Kerry an alumnus of a prestigious boarding school and Yale, emphasized his incurable appetite for pork rinds. And who could forget Bush's 1990 declaration of dietary independence? "My mother made me eat broccoli. I hate broccoli. I am president of the United States. I will not eat any more broccoli." New York is a tossed ethnic salad. The late Republican Nelson Rockefeller (who was born not with a silver spoon in his mouth but instead with complete silver place-settings for 12) demonstrated an unmatched common touch while campaigning for governor by feasting on knishes and kung pao chicken and tacos and hot dogs and cannolis. Because politics is probably the most imitative of all the American arts, candidates ever since have tried -- mostly unsuccessfully -- to match the delightfully ravenous Rocky. In the knife and fork department (or, more accurately, in the carry-out line), Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton was undeniably a small 'd' democrat. Who couldn't identify with the Arkansas governor's weakness for Big Macs and fries? Nothing pretentious about that. Ketchup has played its own important political role. The administration of Ronald Reagan stupidly and indefensibly classified -- for school lunch purposes -- America's favorite condiment as a vegetable. A favorite dish of President Richard M. Nixon, a man of undeniably different tastes, was cottage cheese with ketchup on it. All of which brings us back to ketchup and John Kerry, whose own pockets became very deep indeed after he married an heiress to the Heinz fortune. As a Massachusetts Democrat with a patrician pedigree and a fondness for $75 haircuts, Kerry -- who proved his courage in the dangerous waters of Vietnam's Mekong Delta, when he commanded swift boats through enemy attacks -- needs to spend some real quality time with the kind of people who were in his crew then. People who know what it's like to fall behind on a 48-month car note and whose favorite cheese is not brie, but Velveeta. He can be grateful that his Philly cheesesteak stumble was in the week of Arnold-mania and in the month of August 2003, rather than September 2004. Otherwise, he would be eating only crow.
