Letter to the Editor
Was it a coincidence that Dean's campaign took a turn for the worse after Al Gore endorsed him? Al Gore is not the king maker he thinks he is. Gore isn't really a player in the Democratic party these days. Four years ago Gore failed to become president because he separated himself from Clinton in a way that was extremely offensive to Clinton supporters. Then - after Bush stole the election - Gore was the first one to shout down the critics who objected to the Supreme Court stopping the recount process and appointing Bush president.
Dean tried to run as an outsider - but when he accepted the blessing of Al Gore - who is as much an insider as you can get - it ruined Dean's image. Gore's endorsement might have been the "Kiss of Death" for Dean. Makes me wonder if it would be better if Al Gore were to endorse Bush than another Democratic candidate. And Al - please - skip the Democratic convention!
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For what its worth - I had the first Gore for President site on the web. I've got some emails about this letter from Gore supporters pointing out that the news media played up the Dean screech and that's what killed his campaign. But - if you remember - Dean "screeched" after coming in a distant third in Iowa after spending 43 million bucks - so - it wasn't the screech that did that! Clearly Dean had problems before that occurred.
At the time Gore ebdorsed Dean - Dean was #1. Or so it seemed anyhow. Gore came in as "kingmaker" probably to try to take credit for putting Dean over the top. I remember at the time cringing because Dean had a strong campaign and then the day Gore did it I thought - this makes it look like Dean was appointed by insiders - not earned it. Gore turned an outsider campaign into an insider campaign and it fucked it up. And - I was right - Dean dived from that point.
Whatever happened to Dean it happened in a period starting at Gore's endorsement and Dean losing big in Iowa - before he screeched. So - if you disagree with me - you figure it out!
Posted by marc at February 21, 2004 06:09 AM | TrackBack