As noted many places around the blogosphere, Dean reannounced his candidacy yesterday. I like Dean quite a bit – of all the electable candidates I think he’s currently striking the best tone regarding both the Bushies and the DLC. But I must admit, I am somewhat perturbed by his faux-liberalism – this Saletan piece reads like a hit, but it’s correct in noting that, despite Dean’s campaign strategy, the good doctor is more DLC than true lefty…in fact, Dean himself is guilty of savaging his own left flank as governor. So, Dean’s definitely in the hunt for my vote, but he still has to contend with Kerry and Edwards for the time being.
Tag: Election 2004
Dominance without Hegemony.
The Washington Post offers yet another story on the GOP belief in their upcoming electoral dominance. (It is counterpoised with an article on the lost and wayward Dems.) Didn’t we hear all this before, after the 1994 midterms? What goes around comes around, and while Dubya’s support may be a mile wide, it’s also an inch deep, particularly when you consider that 3 out of 4 Americans didn’t vote for him in 2000. Whether it be Weaponsgate, corporate malfeasance, handouts to the rich, intemperate buffoons, or, much more likely, just the simple fact of the Dubya dip, the GOP is strutting about on feet of clay.
Willful Disbelief.
Salon examines the reasons for Dubya’s continued public support despite the WMD shenanigans. “Just imagine how much shock and complaining there would be if we learned that ‘American Idol’ had been rigged. But Bush and his comrades can use deceptive means to launch a war and to pass trillion-dollar tax cuts that bust the bank — and then skate away.” In related news, the New Republic offers a concise overview of the story to date.
Card-Carrying Conservatism.
While the Democratic party as a whole continues to seem as divided and stymied by the Dubya dip as they do Weaponsgate, several of the candidates lash out on their own, including John Edwards, who calls the Dubya tax cuts the “most radical and dangerous economic theory to hit our shores since Socialism.” I’d think Eugene Debs is probably turning over in his grave at the comparison.
Reason to Deceive.
Weaponsgate update: While Dubya rails against “revisionist historians” (what, then, was he doing in Poland?), the British parliamentary inquiry into WMDs heats up. I’m going to be supremely annoyed if Blair goes down for this and Dubya doesn’t.
Exterminated.
As expected, the DeLay House has attempted to kill the child credit by passing a swollen $82 billion tax cut that has little hope of passing the Senate. Apparently the House bill pays a whopping “96 percent of its benefits to middle- and upper-income taxpayers.” Said Charlie Rangel of the bill, “it was ‘one of the most cynical and hypocritical moves’ he had ever seen,” and you have to think that at this point Rangel’s seen a lot. For shame. Yet another reason why we should be embarrassed as a nation to have a guy like Tom DeLay calling the shots in Congress.
Energy Influx.
Election 2004 update: Kerry tries to separate from the herd by announcing his proposed national energy policy today, which includes raising fuel-efficiency standards (currently at 20.7 and 27.5 miles per gallon for SUVs and cars respectively) to 36mpg by 2015. (Of the other leading candidates, Dean appears to concur with tougher standards, while Edwards – also in Iowa today to call for pension reform – has voted for a truck exemption in the past…the perils of a pickup state.)I like the “Of Big Oil, by Big Oil, for Big Oil” line…hopefully the pack will continue to call out Bush before turning on each other anew.
Know thy enemy.
The Boston Globe sheds a little light into the dark corridors of oppo research. Of course we already know Dubya was a alcoholic cokehead who went AWOL for a year to escape a drug test and had so little sense that he’d drive around drunk…and we still elected him for four years. So skeletons in the closet just ain’t what they used to be.
“Lockbox” is still up for grabs…
Ryan Lizza looks at the charges of plagiarism and kleptomania resounding across the Democratic field at the moment, singling out the Dean campaign as the most “protective–some might say paranoid.” It seems to me that, while there’s clearly a lot of protective camouflage going on, one would have to expect some degree of overlap in a field of nine candidates, particularly when the allowable range of leftiness is so frustratingly small.
The Ministry of Information at Work.
In related news, how are your federal anti-terrorist tax dollars being spent? Thanks to Ashcroft and Tom DeLay, to interdict Texas Democrats, not terrorists. Apparently, DeLay and his Texas cronies brought the Feds in to spy on their political enemies (during their redistricting sojourn to Oklahoma), and then engaged in a shredding-fest the day federal involvement came to light. I suppose with Ashcroft at the helm it was only a matter of time before our terrorist defense shield started operating this way.