January 23, 2004, New Hampshire Blogburst-- Let's Get Going!!!
I am pleased to say that New Hampshire bloggers (and bloggers from nearby... San Diego) have stepped up to the plate with some fabulous stuff, blowing little old me away. More throughout the day and the weekend (so stay tuned). But first...
This exclusive post comes to us from (perhaps retired) New Hampshire blogger Matthew Cheney (no relation?) of Occasional Subversion. Warning-- it might blow you away too:
"Having spent most of my life in New Hampshire, Iıve grown accustomed to the
momentary rush of attention we get during each primary season. This year
has been different, though, for all the reasons the whole primary has been
different. Starting about a year ago, candidates have been showing up
everywhere, their events popping up with an almost numbing consistency at
high school auditoriums, church multipurpose rooms, coffee shops and diners,
and even living rooms.
"We started to take them for granted, like annoying relatives who pop up from
time to time. But after Iowa this year, everything has changed. Itıs
difficult to step outside without somebody asking who youıre going to vote
for, and I get at least 3 calls each day from various campaigns and polling
agencies.
"For me, itıs a clear choice, though a clear choice fraught with
complications. Howard Dean. Heıs the only candidate who has consistently
held my attention, but the Howard Dean we knew before he got beaten to a
pulp in Iowa is a very different Howard Dean than the one who has been
careening through the state since then. And the response I get from people
I talk to about Dean is very different now than a week or two ago. Now,
when I say Iım planning on voting for Dean, the response tends to be,
³Still?²
"Iowa put klieg lights on the weaknesses of the Dean organization, and I
expect those weaknesses will probably lead to him coming in second or even
third in New Hampshire. Those weaknesses can be summed up as the
superficiality of passion in the face of fear.
"What unites Democrats is a strong desire to get rid of George W. Bush. Dean
will suffer from exactly the same tendency that kept Ralph Nader from
getting 5% or more of the vote in 2000: fear makes us all fall back on what
seems easiest and most popular. More than 5% of the population of the U.S.
liked what Nader had to say in 2000, but less than 5% wanted to risk George
Bush beating Al Gore, and so even in states which were almost certainly
going to Gore, Nader didnıt get the vote from people who supported him. In
an election year when we werenıt facing a president and administration with
fascist leanings, Dennis Kucinich would be a more viable candidate, but too
many of us want to make sure the Democratic nominee has enough broad appeal to be able to beat Bush. The nominee this year will be the one who seems to Democratic voters to pose the least risk of losing to Bush.
"To be honest, I donıt know if this is good or not. My biggest fear is that
we will end up with a Mondale or Dukakis somebody who is broadly appealing
but not the least bit inspiring, and who gets trampled by Bushıs faux
populism. Dean suffers from hitting people in one of two ways: he inspires
you or he frightens you. The other major candidates donıt have that kind of
effect. The concerns about them are mostly ones of experience or
presentation, not temperament. Many people have said to me, ³I wish we
could take the good qualities of a few of them and morph them together into
one candidate.² Yeah, me too. And I wish more of them had voted against
the war and the Patriot Act, because then whoever gets the nomination would
have some moral ground to stand on.
"But I still have faith in Dean, because the reason I decided to support him
in the first place (back in July, I think) has not changed: heıs the only
candidate who has created a structure different from that of the beltway
politicians and made it viable. Heıs truly tried to create a campaign which
honors democracy in its structure and organization, and I believe heıs
serious about empowering ordinary people. The other candidates speak the
same rhetoric, but none have been as successful at making it into a reality
as Dean has. An aspirant to the White House needs to be judged on how he or
she runs a campaign, and if that were the only criterion, Deanıs the clear
choice, at least from my point of view.
"But he probably wonıt play well in the South. He scares people in the
Northeast with his gaffes and blunders (far, far, far fewer than Mr.
Bushıs). The other parts of the country? Seems like a crapshoot.
"What, then, happens if Dean doesnıt win in New Hampshire? Some people say
his campaign is over, but I would be sorry to see him give up so easily.
The number of delegates awarded by Iowa and New Hampshire is not
particularly large, but the publicity is. Still, no matter how he does
here, Dean will have plenty of money left, which is not true of all the
other candidates, even Kerry and Edwards. Money is certainly not
everything, but itıs important for moving beyond New Hampshire and Iowa, as
numerous other people who did well in those two states only to flounder on
the shoals of impoverishment have discovered. Deanıs organization and
funding are in good shape for the days after New Hampshire, but his image
may not be.
"The real challenge for the Democratic party if they donıt nominate Dean will
be to capture the passion and energy of the ³Deaniacs². The worst thing for
us this year would be for Dean supporters to be abandoned, to have no
outlet, no hope, because if George Bush is to be defeated, weıve got to have
passion, hope, and voters going to the polls. The first two pieces can be
cobbled together from various sources, but, as Dean learned in Iowa, the
final one can never be taken for granted.
"Okay, so Iıve been rambling and probably contradicting myself. What do I
really think? That all bets are off, even after New Hampshire. My only
guess is that weıll have to wait till the February primaries to have any
sense of where this election is headed.
"For now, though, itıs fun to feel like we live in the center of the universe
here in New Hampshire. A tiny state, not particularly diverse ethnically or
even ideologically, full of cranky Yankees and tax-fleeing Massachusetts
transplants we get all this attention? The only native son weıve sent to
the White House was Franklin Pierce, and yet the world thinks weıve got
astute political judgment? The wonders never cease...."
--Matthew Cheney
What could top a personal, heartfelt statement like that? You got it-- the concurrence of a major league commenter-- eventhe liberal Ann Coulter agrees with the sentiment of this assessment, the money lines being:
"The Iowa caucus was just another one of the Democrats' ongoing public
debates about how to fake out the American people. Fifty percent of Iowa
Democrats participating in the caucus said they "strongly disapprove" of the
war with Iraq and another 25 percent "somewhat disapprove."
"But more important to Democrats than their pacifism was "electability." The
entire Iowa electorate was committed to the proposition: How do we fool the
neighbors? In the end, the caucus-goers chose a decorated war hero who voted
in favor of the very war that 75 percent of them oppose. So much for the
anti-war fever sweeping the country. The Democrats aren't even man enough to
run a genuine coward for president."
What can I say? While Ann Coulter frightens me in general, the fact that she has stumbled onto the truth in its purest forms frightens me even more. Democrats-- we will win this election by being Democrats-- the party of Jefferson, Jackson, FDR and LBJ--period. The party that stands for the power of the people-- not the power of the power. Opposing the Iraq discretionary aggressive war is huge; I personally am suspect of anyone who calls themsleves a liberal who did not oppose the war. I respect people's support of the war-- don't get me wrong-- but you are not a liberal if you supported it (I'm sorry-- but that's how I feel).
Among the candidates remaining (no, Sharpton and Kucinich don't count), Howard Dean alone was unequivocally correct on that issue (and courageously so). Wesley Clark, to his credit, was probably opposed to the war (for different reasons, perhaps), thougn not as outspoken as Dean. John Edwards voted for the war, and is proud of his vote, and is willing to defend it, and I accept that. Ditto Joe Lieberman, btw. If you want my opinion, I consider Lieberman a decent man, even if he is almost by definition not a liberal. Certainly, I consider Edwards a decent man-- and I cannot tell you how happy I would be if he ends up the nominee. And Howard Dean, God damn it, is a decent man, who did not deserve the shit his fellow Democrats poured on him in Iowa; what the fuck kind of party are we? As Ann Coulter would tell us" losers, that's what. Well, Dick Gephardt (usually himself a decent man) took Dean to task in Iowa, his reward being an early exit. Of course, John Kerry kind of did too-- come to think of it-- now making him the frontrunner. (I especially like his refusal to own up to, or even apologize for, his "yea" vote on giving Bush a blank check for the war).
Well, let me just say this: if John Kerry convinces the voters that he has the best program and issue positions, or that his experience is superior and would make him a better President, or even that his "character" (Vietnam War hero, his voting record, or whatever) would make him a better President-- fine. I respect that. But... I don't think that's what happening. If Democratic voters, as I think happened in Iowa, have decided that the man who best exemplifies what they want in a President "just can't beat Bush", so we go with a compromise who we think can ("John Kerry looks Presidential and will sway moderates and swing voters"), then Ann Coulter is right: we Democrats can go to hell. We may as well let Bush win.
You see, George W. Bush has, in three years, turned everything on its head. Democrats are now fiscally responsible; Republicans are now the social policy activists, though in usually unsavory ways. We don't even have to go into traditional differences between the parties such as the environment, other social programs, hell, war and peace. The differences are there-- and staggering. This is about values. Do we want our current crony-capitalist elitist set up, where the wealth disparity in this country quickly approaches Victorian levels and the national finances approach Argentina's, or do we want to take our God damned country back in the best tradition of our nation and our party?
Its as simple as that.
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