Kerry won it again. It was as I predicted not a slaughter. He was still as wrong as ever on the facts. But his style wasn't terrible as he was the last time. Still - when it comes to how the viewing audience will see this - it depends on if they check out the facts or not. If you check the facts - Kerry wins. If you don't know the facts then it depends on who's style you like better.
So - I'm going to watch Star Trek Enterprize. First show of the year in the new season. So - I'll be bask after I get my Trek fix.
Kerry, without a doubt won the first debate. Kerry, without a doubt lost this one.
I guess that is a subjective statement. It is just one man's opinion. It really boils down to what you are looking for in a candidate. I trully think that they both are the devil, and to coin an old phrase ... "The devil I know, is better than the devil I don't know."
Hey Marc... I really love reading your site. I got your link today from a friend about the Paypal stuff! By the way, i loved listening to your call to Paypal! They are just a bunch of arseholes!!!! Thanks for being on your toes! I'll be back.
Posted by: Kelly at October 8, 2004 08:59 PMI like how Bush decided not to answer the last question. He was asked to name 3 mistakes, and instead named three things he did right and defended himself.
Senator John Kerry claimed that President Bush and Vice President Cheney "may well be the last two people on the planet who can't face the truth about Iraq." Kerry's comments came as Bush and Cheney attempted to claim that the CIA's new report on Iraq justified the invasion. The 900-page report found Saddam Hussein had no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons and that Iraq's threat to the world was decreasing at the time of the invasion.
Interesting and true.
Posted by: BumontheRun at October 8, 2004 09:34 PMum.... is it just me or did Bush have the amphetamine hula jaw going on tonight? We wrote a little blurb on that if you are interested, Mark.
Posted by: PT at October 8, 2004 09:38 PMOnly a monkey like Tomocius would think that Chimpy McChimpster won last night's debate. From what I could tell, our Simian CEO lost it more than a few times while shrieking and ranting at the audience. It was quite a spectacle. I found his Dred Scott comment to underscore his painfully apparent imbecility. If I were a republican (and I'd never be one because I respect the commons, I think stealing is bad, I don't lust for power and I despise religion) I'd be heavily vested in stealing the election again.
Posted by: Antitomocius at October 9, 2004 12:27 PMAfter all the hoopla about Bush's hometown newspaper in Crawford endorsing Kerry, the score has now been evened as Kerry's hometown paper, the Lowell Sun, endorses Bush in yesterday's edition. :)
Posted by: Some Guy at October 11, 2004 02:31 PMI wonder if the editor of the Lowell Sun will recieve death threats too.
Somehow I doubt it.
Posted by: Jay at October 12, 2004 02:17 AMHere we are in October, 2005. Still, no Democrat can say "yes, we'll tax you more than they will, because we don't like borrowing from China."
Still, no Dem can say "we'll protect Roe v. Wade."
Still, no Dem can say "tax cuts for the rich aren't creating jobs and never have."
And no Dem will admit that abandoning that great coalition of "true Democrats," the poor (working or not), blacks, other minorities, and women -- a coalition which held the House for 40 years -- was a fatal mistake, and is all the DLC's fault.
The Democratic party, divided into the very "alive" Congressional Black Caucus, Dean's "dead" DNC, and the traitorous DLC which gives us Pelosi, Liebermann, Hillary, Biden and others (like my new Senator, Ken Salazar) who vote with the GOP so often, I'd ask Dean to demand their resignations.
Black turnout goes down, fewer women and young people vote Democratic, election after election, as the DLC drags the party to the "center," in search of REPUBLICAN voters, hoping to convert a few. Try converting someone's religion to see how stupid the DLC's hunt for "swing voters" is, especially when your "base" -- a coalition which won the House in 20 consecutive elections -- has less and less reason to bother or care.
I'm posting because I'm sick of the liberal radio talkshow hosts I listen to, as they celebrate Bush's low poll numbers 13 months before an off-year election. It's statistically unlikely Bush will remain that low in the polls all through 2006. He'll at least get to around 50%. The GOP, as we can all see, is doing it's house-cleaning now.
But the Dem's remain divided, sending mixed messages to all of us. Mixed messages signal to people "weakness and indecision." The relative silence of the Dem's (their big names, like Kerry, Clinton, Dean) signals to the base that this party either isn't willing to fight for anything, or can't make up its mind what it stands for.
On top of that unresolved division, a division which began with the birth of the DLC in 1992, a division which shows the party to be "uncertain" on just about everything, we have examples of true weakness. I'll give two. One, is the case of the 3 judges the Dem's didn't filibuster, as part of a bargain, to prevent Frist's "nuclear option" which would have forbidden filibusters, but when the time came to Filibuster John Roberts the Democrats folded. Another sign of true weakness is the Democrats' general refusal to capitalize upon the existence of left-wing radio, where either Dean or whoever speaks for the party should be appearing regularly.
As the GOP goes through its own setbacks, the Dem's are deferring all efforts to fix their party. Here in October, 2005, they're the same broken "flip-flop" party they were a year ago. They will stumble their way into July, August, September of 2006, trying to resolve huge differences between the DLC and the traditional base.
There is NO reason any liberal, or any liberal talkshow host, should expect 2006 to be anything other than a repeat of 2002.
I mean, when all Al Franken can do is play cuts of Bill O'Reilly saying strange things (I can no longer tolerate Franken) one not only sees the same spiteful Demo's of 2004, but one sees that no spokesperson for the Left has got the guts to end all of this DENIAL. We were poking fun at O'Reilly in 2004. I guess that's the game-plan for 2006.
I wish I could call Howard Dean "out" and tell him if he won't fix this party, I will. Let's go back to the winning formula, the true Democratic coalition which outnumbers rich, white, males at least 20 to 1. The coalition that couldn't lose, despite its flaws.
Let's get rid of the DLC and their disloyal members who are constantly at odds with the REST of us who have no interest in war or in the Military Industrial Complex, and are horrified by this nation's debts largely created by those very things. Let's be the peace party again, because as you know, peace is not a policy -- it is the solution, it is the end game.
But recently I heard Nancy Pelosi say she's all for continued losses in Iraq. That's the DLC talking, searching for a few white votes in the suburbs, as the base drifts away or doesn't get any say.
When I called Jay Marvin's show here in Denver about a month ago to complain of Dean's silence, Jay, like Ed Schulz has done to callers like me on his show, got angry, defensive, & hung up on me for pointing out that the Democrats have solved none of there problems. Allegedly, Bush is in violation of two federal crimes, and all I wanted to know was "were are the Democrats?"
I now know. They're tied in knots. The party has been left with two personalities, and when most voters -- unaware of what crimes Bush could have allegedly done because the Democrats never ALLEGE the crimes -- when the voters go to vote in 2006, they'll basically say to themselves about the Democrats: "Well, I don't know what they stand for, but I know they'll tax me more."
I blame the DNC and liberal talk radio equally, for not even attempting to patch this party back up over the summer. I heard the party and the Leftist talk radio drift from day to day, chasing headlines & playing clips of Bill O'Reilly.
It's only become worse. On Sunday nights we get a non Air America talkshow on the Air America affiliate, & the host of that show does nothing but giggle and joke (from what I did in fact hear) about the woes of Tom Delay, and, of course, Bill O'Reilly.
I don't like O'Reilly either, but the Dem's aren't running against him. Why is their side of the media bothering with him at all? Why ISN'T leftwing talk radio demanding the high-profile Dem's get onto their shows and explain where the hell the Dem's stand on Iraq, guns, Roe, re-taxing the rich, national health insurance, minimum wage, polluters, Medicaid (which we're losing, quickly), and Social Security?
Well, the talkshow hosts on the left CAN'T ask these questions, or similar ones, because all that would do is expose the deep divisions in the party.
The Democratic Party: too Corporatist for the traditional base to care anymore (as in "monetary donations"), too scared to say it's the party of "limited Capitalism," and truthfully, from the grass roots upward, too socialistic for the DLC to let anyone like myself get a word in edgewise.
Ed Schulz this past week asked his Senator, Conrad, where he stood on tax cuts for the rich. Conrad froze, then babbled something about tax cuts for the middle class, the same shrinking demographic they've been chasing since 1994. Look at Congress to see the results.
I won't call this party "dead" yet, as Mike Malloy has (when he's being polite to the Dem's) because I respect the Congressional Black Caucus. But they're not allowed much media exposure (yes, we ARE still a racist country, and no, there's NO Santa Claus either). They're muted, ignored, often dismissed as too "extreme," when I hear them say what white Democrats USED TO say all the time.
So I'll do it. I'm CALLING OUT Howard Dean, to end the division in my party by the end of 2005, and NO later. And the only way to do that is to declare war, privately or out in the open, on the DLC.
Imagine this. Dean announces a press conference, "an historic event," about 6 days in advance. When the day arrives, he appears on TV, with a sheet of paper in his hand...
"Hello. On this paper I have the voting records of the 25 most untrustworthy Democrats in Congress -- those who vote againt their constituents more than other Democrats. They've all been asked to resign, and I'm fielding candidates against all of them. They'll get no DNC funding whatsoever. I'll be watching the party over the next 30 days, after which I may, or may not, have another list of 25 disloyal Democrats, depending on what I observe. I'm determined to lead a unified party in 2006, and this is the only way I can achieve such a thing. Simple as that."
I know it won't happen. Dean's a chicken, & everyone thinks Hillary will win in 2008 anyway. No she won't, not as a Democrat, and neither will the Dem's pick up one seat in the House in 2006 unless Dean "pulls the trigger," so to speak, on this DLC menace which brought us Speaker Newt, and has only done worse things since.
Maybe the lefty talkshow hosts are celebrating Bush's low poll numbers because they know all that I say here is true, but prefer to enjoy whatever small, moral victories come their way. I can understand that. Radio is mostly for entertainment anyways, from the host's point of view. We can tell none of them really WANT the Dem's to win, because not a single one of them can get past the denial. They loved Bill Clinton, father of the DLC, so much. They're all on record as defending him, at least in comparison to Bush. Yet Clinton destroyed his own party by creating the money-generating, right-wing DLC.
Not to mention Clinton oversaw the genocide of about a million Iraqis in his eight years.
You see, throwing out the DLC means throwing out Bill Clinton, and all he allegedly did to "help" the average person. With garbage like NAFTA. But these lefty talkshow hosts cling to the DLC anyway. I guess they do it for ratings. I guess their "handlers" say it's the thing to do, to defend Clinton, & play nice with the DLC, for ratings.
It's DEAN I can't understand, because he's chasing votes. Lost votes, thanks to the DLC. I know he wants to take the party back Left, to that winning coalition that didn't rely on right-wingers like Joe Biden to raise a few bucks. If he's got a plan, he better get on with it. Folks are already fundraising for 2006 in some places. We can't go into the summer with this divide in the party dragging us back under water.
Maybe Dean has NO plan, and if that turns out to be the case I'll join Malloy and be an ex-Democrat too. My Democrat father shocked me the other week saying he's "never" voting again. I asked him why.
"I'm sick of it," he said. Spoken like so many others who feel abandoned by this Democratic party, by the DLC who seems to speak for the entire party.
Maybe Dean has no interest in anything drastic. Maybe his plan his to rebuild the party over 10, 15 years, or so, and has no harsh measures in mind for the DLC here in 2005.
But I ask everyone: what would Dean have to lose by declaring "war" on the DLC? What has any center-right Demo done for YOU lately, other than sign Bush's bills?
I'm also sick of it. Howard Dean, respectfully, I ask that you consider my example of "the worst 25" and implement that plan at once. If...you're still running the party, that is. If you're not, let someone with nothing to lose take your post. Given how fast the middle class shrunk under the DLC's founder, the father of NAFTA, I bet about 75% of Americans now have nothing to lose. Of if they do, they certainly won't care if you put the DLC to rest for good.
Anyone have any idea which of the "two Americas" Dean will be asking for votes? The 75% or so which made up a coalition that couldn't be beat for 40 years? Or is Dean TOO, like Kerry and Hillary (and Jay Marvin and Ed Schulz) another water-boy for the upper 25%?
Well, if it's the latter, Dean will have a hell of a time adding voters to the Democratic party IF HIS GOAL IS TO PLEASE THE REPUBLICANS.
Woops, raising my voice. That means it's time to quit. Howard Dean, I've just called you out. I'll know by December 31, 2005 whether you're a winner or a flake.
I urge the rest of you who've read this to pass it around. The Left has slept for too long.
And if you hear anymore nonsense from some allegedly "progressive" talkshow host about the "grass roots" of the party needing to be rebuilt, tell them two things: we already have a grass roots which the DLC abandoned, and, tell him or her you can get right-wing talking points eleswhere. I'm SICK of talkshow hosts saying the Dem's will be "bashed" for doing this, or doing that. IT'S POLITICS. The other side will bash the Dem's no matter what they do. All I'm proposing the the Dem's go after their own base and stop digging in that minute 5% of people who call themselves "centrists." The emotions that politics brings out in each of us turn us all into fanatics in the weeks before Election Day. Those who aren't polarized by this system won't be voting.
That's what's wrong with chasing the elusive "center" in a non-parliamentarian system -- you meet a bunch of nice folks who either don't know which party to support, or don't support either, or "flip-flop" every election. Talk to any third-party "centrist" about how easy it is for their anonymous candidates to win 280 Electoral Delegates. It's never happened, not once. That's why the Dem's always lose when they don't go to the Left, where there already IS a "grass roots."
Sorry, but hearing GOP talking-points on Air America just about daily has driven me to a mild madness
Howard Dean, get off your butt and go kick some DLC asses. If you think that's too hard, if you can't take heat from the lowly DLC, you won't have a prayer against the Republicans. You may as well learn now, in October, 2005, how to talk like an FDR socialist, rather than do that kind of OJT in the heat of the campaign. We watched the Dem's fail at that stunt in 2004.
FDR won FOUR TIMES IN A ROW, in case you forgot. Was anyone more of a socialist than him?
That arrogant Bill Clinton has it all wrong with his oft-quoted "when people vote, Democrats win" line. He's got it almost backward. When Democrats give people reasons TO vote, Democrats win. Nobody who's read this article knows what the Democrats of October, 2005 are willing to fight for, and worse still it appears they're not willing to fight for anything much. They should be abusing the media, the way the Republicans do, but they don't even call in to Air America Radio. And neither do you, Howard Dean, when I expected at least two regular calls a week by now, informing us just what the hell the Democrats plan for Iraq, and everything else.
I can't support the party as it now stands, in October, 2005. Neither can millions of others; I hear the frustration in the callers to radio talkshows.
Maybe Mike Malloy is right & I'm the one still in denial. But Mr. Dean, seriously, I could do better than you've done. The voters will win the election for you if you simply get rid of the traitors in your party.
I'll give you a week to get your press briefing together. Keep it short and don't take questions. Co-ordinate with Randi Rhodes; you can't lose with her. Resurface on her program the next day and say:
"This is real; we're dumping the DLC. They don't care about America. All they do is vote with Bush. I can't win with them on my side; every voter I meet says so."
Saying that would give you some good practice in lying, as well as waking up the Vast Socialist Coalition that's had no reason to vote since the SIXTIES. I wasn't even BORN then.
Really, how hard could it be to steal from FDR? You can't argue with success such as his.
Angry Bryan,
Colorado