Do not make the mistake of thinking that because my conclusion is the same as another person's that my reasoning is the same
I tell you, if these idiots keep it up, they're going to force me into the Dean camp as opposed to the "get rid of Bush" camp. They Rayne can say "nyah, nyah!" all she wants, and I'll have no defense.
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 15 — Howard Dean declared on Monday that "the capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America safer," provoking an avalanche of new attacks from rivals who have seized on Sunday's surprise news as a way of redrawing the foreign policy debate in the Democratic presidential campaign.
…"Saddam's apprehension does not end our security challenges in Iraq or around the world," Dr. Dean said. "I hope the administration will use Saddam's capture as an opportunity to move policy in a more effective direction. America's interests will be best served by acting with dispatch to work as partners with free Iraqis to help them build a stable, self–governing nation, not by prolonging our term as Iraq's ruler."
what Lieberman said:
"If he truly believes the capture of this evil man has not made America safer, then Howard Dean has put himself in his own spider hole of denial," Mr. Lieberman said. "I fear that the American people will wonder if they will be safer with him as president."
Not that there was a snowball's chance in Gehenna that ol' "Smokin' Joe" would get my vote because there's a snowball's chance in Gehenna that he'll get the nomination. But c'mon dude…
what Wesley Clark said:
He said the capture of Mr. Hussein was "only one step" toward success in Iraq, which he said would take "tens of billions of dollars," "enormous stamina" and renewed cooperation between the United States and Europe.
Okay, not stupid. Clark hasn't written himself off in my eyes yet.
what Richard Gephardt said:
"We can't beat George Bush by playing politics with foreign policy," Mr. Gephardt told reporters in a campaign swing in Ecorse, Mich. "We've got to stand up for what we think is right. That's what I've always done and that's what I'll always do."
I repeat: DEAN IS A CENTRIST, NOT A PROGRESSIVE.
Gephardt is good for his immediate constituents. If I could be convinced he'd do for the nation what he does for them (essentially "sell out") I could be convinced to move him up from around the bottom of the heap.
what John Kerry said:
"In a world where terrorist threats loom large, and they do, our fellow Americans are looking for real leadership," Mr. Kerry said. "To earn your trust, we have to show through our own actions, and our own experiences, that our approach to national security and foreign policy is credible, legitimate, and the best way to defend our nation."
Not stupid, but it doesn't distinguish Kerry from Dean, not actually. Like Kerry writes his own speeches.
what "a group of Democrats" said:
It seems from this recap that Edwards, Kucinich, Sharpton, and Moseley Braun should still be in the running for you since they didn't do anything to Dean. This sort of thing doesn't make me more likely than I already was to vote for Dean, but it may make me less likely to vote for some of the other candidates.
You're going to hate me.
Edwards, Kucinich, Sharpton, and Moseley Braun are primary votes, not general election votes. I base this onthe fact that people vote image. not substance. Most people vote for the candidate that projects where they want to be and how they want to be seen. Never mind the inevitable compromises…
I'm supporting Kucinich precisely so I can vote for him in the primaries (technically, in the Washington caucuses) and I wish more people would do so. I spend a fair amount of my time telling people to vote their heart in the primaries and their head in the general. That wasn't really my point. You said that certain candidates might lose your support because of their actions, I merely listed the candidates who had not taken any such actions so by that criteria (as I mentioned in my comment) they should still be in the running.
And my real point was that I can dislike the candidates who attacked Dean without liking Dean because of it. You said that you were more likely to support Dean because he was under attack. So again, I was drawing a contrasting view. That's all :-)
P.S. Are you still planning to vote for Sharpton in the NY primary as you mentioned? Or are you thinking about voting for Dean?
Definitely Sharpton in the NY primary, for the reasons brought out in The Black Commentator last week. That's if he can get on the ballot…NY's primary system is tightly controlled. I don't know how many people remember how much grief McCain had getting on the ballot vs. Bush. Both parties have that level of stranglehold.
And Dean still gets default support.
Some of these states do seem to make it very difficult for candidates to get on the ballot. My feeling is that this would tend to favor wealthy, establishment candidates. There's a lot we could be doing to improve democracy in our own country, to make it easier for diverse viewpoints and candidates to be included in the process.
When the race started, I favored Kerry quite a bit because of his platform but I really dislike the kind of opportunistic attacks he's always making against Dean. I also dislike the way Lieberman attacks Dean and it makes me think that Lieberman should be a Republican, but at least it's consistent with his stated positions on those issues. I also have some questions about Clark and I feel he's too much of an unknown quantity at this time. And I feel that Gephardt showed a serious lack of leadership in Congress. For those three candidates it's really character questions as much as anything rather than their platforms as it is with Lieberman.
In any case, Kucinich is speaking up to say things that need to be said as is Sharpton. They both need to stay in the race to keep saying those things and they both need active support from those who agree with their stands. They need it so that they can keep going, and they need it so that they have the numbers to make the rest of the party listen. I also think that their candidacies are important towards developing a strong progressive movement in the country because we're going to need one if we want to counteract this shift to the right.
For those reasons, I feel that it's worth my time and energy to support Kucinich as much as I can, no matter what happens with his candidacy. I hope that he and Sharpton will be able to make it through to the convention so that they and their delegates will play a role there.