Critical thinking about the public good
I believe that at every level of society - familial, tribal, national and international - the key to a happier and more successful world is the growth of compassion. We do not need to become religious, nor do we need to believe in an ideology. All that is necessary is for each of us to develop our good human qualities.
His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso
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Monday, August 11, 2003 |
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Sunday, August 10, 2003 |
Proposition 54
As folks might know my Dad is here visiting from Israel, and TBG is in the midst of a serious demolition/reconstruction job on our front porch. So my time on-line has been a bit curtailed. But an NPR report on California’s proposition 54 earlier this week, and Prometheus_6’s August 4th post, “But what do you do in the meantime?” have been simmering in the rear of my mind for a few days and so I thought it was time to be blogging it.
This will be a very long post; continue reading it here, ...
1:44:49 PM 
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Wednesday, August 06, 2003 |
Memo to Kerry's Team
Dissing some of the most active, politically engaged and mobilized grassroots democrats is probably not the way to woo them ... From Time's cover story on Dean:
Dean has plenty of doubters. "They've very deftly and cleverly caught a wave here, and they're surfing it pretty smart," says Kerry campaign manager Jim Jordan. As for the Internet-driven engine of the Dean insurgency: "It's like watching my 13-year-old daughter instant-messaging," Jordan says. "It's not particularly about politics and policy. It's almost like a reality show."
5:00:39 PM
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Tuesday, August 05, 2003 |
Dean on Larry King - Highlights
The transcript of Dean's appearance on Larry King Live in now available on-line. Some of my fav parts [all emphasis is, of course, mine]:
When asked by King whether he was "hurt" by the recent attacks by his fellow '04 Dems:
Listen, if that's the worst I get in this campaign, I'll be in good shape.
Look, these guys have worked hard. They want to be president. Any one of them would be better than the president they have now. But what our party really has to have is some backbone. We are not going to beat George Bush by voting for things like No Child Left Behind, which is a huge middle class tax increase, property tax increase. We're not going to beat him by doing as Senator Lieberman and others did, voting for some of the president's tax cuts because those tax cuts have really harmed our economy and taken jobs away from Americans; and we're not going to beat the president without casting a critical eye on the statements that he made leading up to the Iraq war, when so many of them have now turned out not to be so.
I love that he acknowledges his competition in that positive way. Contrast that with what Lieberman has been saying about him and Gephart. Similarly, when asked by a caller later in the program whether Dean would run as an independent if he does not receive the nomination, Dean says, emphatically:
No, I will not.
I will not run as independent. I will support the nominee. It is essential that George Bush not be re-elected for the future of this country. It is essential for our economy. It's essential, so we can regain the respect we had around the world. And I will under no circumstances run as a third party and independent. I will back the nominee.
And he continues:
I hope I am the nominee because I can bring about half those votes that voted for Ralph Nader back into the party. That's how we are going to win. And I think at this point there is no other evidence that any of the other candidates can do that and I think that's why I'm the most likely to beat George Bush.
Given that the Green party has selfishly and unwisely chosen to run a presidential candidate, I hope the Doctor is right about that.
When asked by King how can he "account" for his fundraising success so far, Dean says:
It's average people in my party and independents. You know, I was in a fund-raiser in San Diego at 8:00 in the morning, which is sacrilege in California, and we had Perot people, we had McCain people, we had Green Party people, and we had a huge number of Democrats. There are a lot of independents and Democrats who don't think huge budget deficits are a good thing, who were really upset about the nearly three million private sector jobs that this president has lost, and upset, frankly, about his foreign policy, which appears to be based on things that the president didn't think were necessary to share with the American people.
So I think by standing up and being who you are, people reward you for that. There are going to be some things that people don't agree with me on, but they're going to know where I stand and they're going to know that I'm not going to be afraid to tell them what the facts are.
I loved this last quote. This, above all, is what attracts me to Dean, and this is what I think the professional pundits and polticos are missing about him. We are so thirsty for a no bull-shit real leader. If one was going to use words based on what they really mean, rather than how they have been spun and co-opted than the phrase compassionate [fiscal] conservative would suit Dean well. Speaking of spin, King seems to be buying into the meme that Dean is too liberal to win when he asks:
Would you say, Governor, that you will have to move more towards the center? Is the center where American politics lies?
And, Dean hits his answer out of the park.
Larry, I am [emphasis in original] in the center. I balanced budget. The president hasn't done so. I believe that states have the right to make their own gun laws, after enforcing the federal laws vigorously. I believe that we ought to have health insurance for every single American. Harry Truman put that in the Democratic Party platform in 1948. There's nothing that's not centrist about me. I just think that the party and the electorate, the Republican Party and even my own party has simply moved too far to the right.
Amen to that.
10:46:49 AM
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Monday, August 04, 2003 |
The Doctor is Lookin' Good
Just watched Dean on Larry King. He looked a little overwhelmed at first, but quickly got his sea legs. I hope the King show or the Dean Team posts a transcript because there were a few really good quotes I'm excited to share but I am not going to be able to recreate them from memory. One that I do remember [more or less]:
King asked: "Do you think you are going to have move more toward the center?"
Dean: "I am the center..."
My vote is his to lose at this point... I am looking forward to the Meet-Up on Wednesday.
Update:
(1) Not that the Daily KOS needs any traffic from me, but there might be a few folks new to the blogosphere that haven't found him yet. In any case, this post on Dean is a nice, pragmatic complement to my idealistic enthusiasm.
(2) The Likely Story saw Lieberman in CNN on Sunday and had the same reaction to him that I did today.
I saw a Democratic presidential contender repeating talking points that Karl Rove might very well have written in an effort to scare Democrats away from standing up against the failed polices and bankrupt leadership of George W. Bush in the '04 presidential election.
The truth is presidential candidates Joe Lieberman and John Kerry are effectively conceding the presidential race to Bush. Worse, they are echoing the preferred talking points of Karl Rove, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and the rest of the far Right. Their argument boils down to a blatant attempt to scare Democrats into pandering to the Right and effectively conceding the playing field for '04 and most likely the general election.
[...]
This is politics and everyone understands that passionate criticism is to be expected. I don't think anyone has a problem with real criticism, but this is not legitimate. It's crap. Lieberman and Kerry are using the same distortions and attacks favored by Republicans against a fellow Democrat. This does a disservice to all Democrats as Kerry and Lieberman are doing the dirty work of Karl Rove.
Kerry has thrown his lot in with the likes of Lieberman and the DLC in the hopes that playing to the Left's fears and subscribing to the Right's manipulations will move him up in the polls against a very energetic insurgent. Kerry and Lieberman are not attempting to lead. They are using the same scare mongering that has muted all opposition to Bush and left the Democratic party reeling. This comes as the media and public are finally starting to wake up to see the disastrous effects of Bush's policies.
9:36:20 PM
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This makes me angry
Lieberman spoke at National Press Club today and evidently came out swinging against his fellow '04 Dems. I know, I know -- I'm on board for voting for whichever Dem gets the official nod, but damn I hope it's not Lieberman. He sounds exactly like a friggin' cheap-labor conservative in his [mis]characterization of his opponents below. [Emphasis below, mine.]
Lieberman Warns U.S. Democrats Against Turn to Left
Aug 4, 4:26 pm ET, By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent, WASHINGTON (Reuters)
... The Connecticut senator, the most conservative of the nine Democrats vying to challenge President Bush next year, said he shared the anger of party activists over Bush's policies.
"But the answer to his outdated, extremist ideology is not to be found in outdated extremes of our own," Lieberman said in a speech on the party's future delivered at the National Press Club.
"That path will not solve the challenges of our time, and it could well send us Democrats back to the political wilderness for a long time," said Lieberman, the party's vice presidential candidate in the last election.
Asked about Dean after the speech, Lieberman said a party led by a candidate who opposed the war against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and would raise taxes was buying a "ticket to nowhere."
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Last week, Lieberman lashed out at Dean, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri for making Democrats look weak on defense by failing to recognize the war in Iraq was justified.
Oh Joe! Are you really saying that there is no room for an intelligent person with a healthy instinct for self-defense to argue that the war in Iraq -- as undertaken by the current admin -- was unjustified? Really? It's inconceivable to you that someone could be very concerned about the safety and wellbeing of US citizens and still believe the war was a wrong step? That all those who thought the war was unjustified really are treasonous bastards hoping to see the US go down in flames? Okay, Okay.. I know you didn't say that, but folks out there [and we know who they are, don't we, dear reader?] are saying that and your little barbs are just a coded way of co-opting those fears and accusations for your own purposes.
On Monday he broadened the attacks, referring in general to proposals by Dean to eliminate Bush's tax cuts and the broad health care insurance plan offered by Gephardt.
"Some Democrats still prefer old, big government solutions to our problems, but with record deficits, a stalled economy and Social Security in danger, we can't afford that," Lieberman said.
"Fueled by understandable frustration, some in my party are grasping failed solutions that will not meet our 21st century needs, and will not save America from another four years of Republican misrule," Lieberman said.
He said "old Democratic policies like higher taxes and weakness on defense are not the solution. We need to reclaim the vital center, and that is the leadership I offer my party and my country."
It just really fries my potatoes to hear a Democrat using right-winger rhetoric against fellow Dems. This to me is such an ugly and classically conservative move -- motivating folks out of fear. "Weakness on defense." Harumph! How stupid does he think his fellow Dems are?
8:31:53 PM
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© 2003 ibyx
Last Update: 8/12/2003; 8:04:35 PM
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