We Didn't Start The Fire

I like to look back on history to comfort myself that all of the trials we face now have been faced before. On the great canvas of history we fight out the internal, personal strugges of light against dark, good against evil, enlightenment against ignorance. Although the current battle for the presidency of the United States worries me, I look back on the thoughts from the first half of our century and find some solace. They faced much of what we have faced. And somehow they got us here.

"Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it." ~ George Orwell (1903 - 1950)

They apparently had their own Dub-yas to respond to:

"When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it."~ Clarence Seward Darrow (1857 - 1938)
"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts." ~ Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)
"I have always been among those who believed that the greatest freedom of speech was the greatest safety, because if a man is a fool, the best thing to do is to encourage him to advertise the fact by speaking."~ Woodrow Wilson (1856 - 1924)
"The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, and love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life." ~ Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919)
"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived and dishonest- but the myth- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic."~ John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)
"There ain't nothing that breaks up homes and nations like somebody publishing their memoirs."~ Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)
""Who controls the past," ran the Party slogan, "controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.""~ George Orwell (1903 - 1950)
"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.", "If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion."~ George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

They had their own Howard Dean:

"Do you realize the responsibility I carry? I'm the only person standing between Nixon and the White House." ~ John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)
"The Buck Stops Here.", "I never give them hell. I just tell the truth, and they think it is hell." ~ Harry S. Truman (1884-1972)
"The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.", "In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."~ Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919)
"Let's talk sense to the American people. Let's tell them the truth, that there are not gains without pains." ~ Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965)
"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people." ~ George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
"A radical is a man with both feet firmly planted - in the air; a conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward; . . .a liberal is a man who uses his legs and his hands at the behest - at the command - of his head.", "A government can be no better than the public opinion which sustains it."~ Franklin D. [Delano] Roosevelt (1882 - 1945)
"Without enthusiasm, there is no progress in the world."~ Woodrow Wilson (1856 - 1924)

Even Milhouse has a few pieces of advice for Dean:

"A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.", "It is necessary for me to establish a winner image. Therefore, I have to beat somebody." ~ Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994)

And they faced the challenges that Dean has faced this month:

"It is not enough to have every intelligent person in the country voting for me. I need a majority." ~ Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965)
"Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money to even be defeated." ~ Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)

The battle for the presidency essentially comes down to the battle within ourselves between hope and fear. In retrospect I think that in November hope always wins. Howard Dean gives us hope that our future can be better. He will be our next President.

Just need to get this off my chest...

I supported Howard Dean before I ever heard of a blog, Joe Trippi, or Zephyr Teachout.

I supported Howard Dean because I heard Howard Dean speak, and it was first Democrat I'd heard in a long while who acted as if the Democratic party was an opposition party.

I support Howard Dean because he's the only man in the race who can say he's made it easier for kids w/out health insurance to live.

I support Howard Dean because he approved civil unions when it could have cost him his career, and his life.

I support Howard Dean because this deficit needs to get cleaned up now or our kids will have to do it.

I support Howard Dean because he started "Success by Six", a program that not only cut down on child abuse, but in the long term will save money on prisons and drug abuse centers. You hear that, Republicans, a government program that's effective AND efficient. Shove that up your collective asses, THAT's how you're supposed to run government.

I could ramble on like this for a long time, but with everyone laughing at Deanies now because the campaign's running out of money, I say fuck that, I gave them money so Howard Dean could be president.

And if he needs any more of my goddamn money, he can have it.

Recovery Efforts

Nevsky thinks that I'm not worried enough. But I'm not panicked and worried about the house falling down because the house already fell down. It fell down when the Patriot Act was passed. It fell when the Congress gave our cowboy/frat boy President carte blanche to start war. It fell when our Congress, our elected officials whose SOLE job is to work in our best interests as a people, started passing bills that had names in direct opposition of what they actually do - such as "No Child Left Behind". An unfunded mandate is useless to me. Worse yet, it is useless to the children of America and that means the future of America.

A hurricane of bad policies and politics has ripped our country apart. What we need to do now is grimly determine who will work on the recovery effort. We aren't who we were as a nation, so now we have to determine who we will be. That is the criteria I use when I look at the candidates to oppose George W. Bush.

Kerry is considered the current frontrunner because of his wins in Iowa and New Hampshire. As well as suffering from a charm deficit (Nevsky's brother is right - Lurch, but without all the charm), Kerry was also a of very little use as a Senator. He was neither a strong leader or a good follower. (Sorry, but a good politician is either one or the other and a great politician is both.) I would love to see Kerry in charge of the Veterans Administration - it is in dire need of help and he has a strong passion for the work. I would hate to see him as President. As Nevsky just wandered over and pointed out, he comes off as FrankenKerry. He has all of the same things going against him that Al Gore did, but without any of the benefits. Kerry will not be able to lead our national recovery effort.

Lieberman is in last place of the 'serious' candidates right now, and for good reason. Lieberman excels at negotiation, compromise, and getting along with Republicans. Lieberman will not be able to lead our national recovery effort.

Clark came late to the party and is now only hanging out with people he thinks will like him. People who worked with him either loved him or hated him, a classic profile for a brown-nosing Golden Boy. Being an approval seeker myself, I don't want one in the White House. Tough decisions are hard enough to make without secretly wondering how everyone else feels about it. If he won the Presidency I would entirely expect him to bound up to the stage and say, "You like me! You really LIKE me!" As far as military cred is concerned, I like Kerry's better. Clark will not be able to lead our national recovery effort.

Edwards seems earnest enough. Did he mention that he dad worked in a mill....? I wouldn't be bothered by an earnest President with populist tendencies. I like most of his voting record and stated views, especially on education when he pointed out, "The president continues to tout private school vouchers. I oppose them because they divert resources and energy from reform and divert students into the only schools that don't have to meet high standards." His youth bothers me a bit. Would the UN put him at the kiddie table? But the pace of the campaign seems to be taking a toll on him so it's quite possible that he will look like an adult by November. I sincerely doubt that Edwards will be able to lead our national recovery effort.

Dean was the frontrunner right up until the voting started. I still believe that when the dust settles in November Dean will be the last man standing. You may not agree with Dean, but you have to respect him. Reviewing his record he proves to be both a strong leader and a good follower - and is judicious in his use of both talents. I find him to be charming and intelligent. He's trying very hard to get people to understand the relationship between taxes and programs - something I've been trying to do for years but have never seen a politician do before. Dean doesn't get along with Republicans but he is willing to handwrite a note of apology if, in his own opinion, he has tripped over disagreement and into insult. He doesn't worry overly much about what other people think because he trusts his instincts and his own mind. (He's like Captain Kirk, but without the Orion slavebabes.) He's a top-shelf manager, has infectious enthusiasm, and has been the only candidate to change the landscape of future elections with his campaign. He has managed to give hope for a brighter future along with a dose of pragmatic counseling. Dean is already leading our national recovery effort. Now all we have to do is move him into the White House.

It's disappointing.

As of now, about 10:15 pm, Kerry is beating Dean 38-26, and though the numbers might narrow a tad, a Dean nomination is becoming less and less likely.

I'm not giving up on him. I'm going to work for him here in Virginia right up through to the primary on Feb. 10.

But right now, I'm just wondering for the life of me how a guy who has been nothing but a success politically, a guy whose policies seem like a common-sense centrist's wet dream, a guy that can engage people intelligently and charmingly, a frickin' Democrat who got people to open their wallets and their hearts to the political process for the first time in years, is losing to a guy who makes me think "fire BAD!!!!"

If it turns out to be Kerry, I hope someday someone writes a book about what happened to the Dean campaign, because right now, I just can't figure it out.

Oooooooh, my stomach hurts.

I just can't take the excitement before the day of the NH primary. Recent polls from both Zogby and SUSA have my man, Howard Dean, within 5 points of John "uuuuuuuuuh, friennnnnnnnd" Kerry and closing in. But the Iowa burn has left me shaken and unlike my colleague, CmdrSue, who feels that Howard will pull it out eventually in a 50-state contest, I'm fearing that anything less than a convincing second means the Doctor is toast.

I recently did some time at a Dean table down here in Virginia and was amazed by the positive response; people clamoring to vote for Dean, lots of bumper stickers given away, even those not supporting him saying he was getting hosed by the media. C'mon, people! Do you really want to deal w/Kerry for the next 6 months? My biggest fear is Kerry's going to seal the deal and become the Democratic nominee, only for voters to discover he's (as my brother humorously put it) "Lurch without the charm" just in time for Dubya to sober up and win the election.

We need Dean because he's the best shot we got to beat Bush. Simple as that. I just hope my stomach lining can take it.