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posted by Jerry Bowles 9:07 PM

Et Tu Nicholas?

Nicholas Kristof today joins the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" parade with a piece called Time to Get Religion. I wonder if Nick really wants to share a common theological viewpoint with folks who believe with every fiber of their being that there is only one, true, God and that God hovers benevolently over America, in the heavens, somewhere just west of Topeka, Kansas, and that very same God has "called" George Walker Bush to lead us at this difficult time in history, and that all of the people who do not believe in this American God and "accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior" are doomed to burn forever in a fiery hell. This includes all "unsaved" Protestants Jews, Muslims, Catholics and every person on the planet who is not "born-again" in the Protestant faith. Can I sign you up, Nick?

posted by Jerry Bowles 6:52 PM

Holy Crusaders

Tell me over and over and over again, my friend, why you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

posted by Jerry Bowles 2:10 PM

And the #1 lie from America's top liar is... bipartisanship

More Americans voted against George "I'm a uniter, not a divider" Bush than any sitting president and he believes that we expect bipartisanship. " But not on stuff like this."

posted by Groom 10:28 AM

Vote-jacking redux

The Associated Press has reported that in Franklin County (Columbus) Ohio, an e-vote error gave Bush 3,893 votes from nowhere. This would have changed the outcome had it been Florida 2000. But this go-round thanks to "Concession Kerry" nobody's looking too hard. Al From is talking about bridging the "culture gap" with a bunch of Jerry Falwell jock sniffers, not a nationwide e-vote audit. Could the fix be in? Was "Vegas Harry" Reid friends with Vegas power broker and Nixon pal Bob Maheu in his younger days? ... the same Bob Maheu who worked with Howard Hughes and set Larry O'Brien up with a nice "consulting contract" in the run-up to the 1972 "Watergate" election. Like the late Sid Zion once told me over drinks at the Yale Club... "I was sitting in a plane with about fifty other New York reporters ready to take off for Dallas and suddenly we turned off the runway and headed back to the gate and were told to deplane. Old Lady Schiff, who chartered the plane, cancelled the flight. She probablly got a call from someone." Maybe Al Gore's heard that story? Plus ca change...

posted by Groom 5:15 AM

Friday, November 05, 2004

Did They Jack The E-Vote? The Evidence Of Things Not Seen

Did they steal it? Take a careful look at this.

Is this irrefutable proof of manipulation of the paperless voting machine results in several states? No, it's not.

Is it pretty strong evidence that we need an in-depth, nationwide audit of Tuesday's vote? You betcha.

posted by Michael 11:46 PM

We Think They're Stupid. They Think We're Evil

A commentary in today's LA Times by one Frank Pastore, an afternoon host on a Christian radio station. Let me copy this whole: read and then tell me why I shouldn't hold this asshole in contempt.

Christians, in politics as in evangelism, are not against people or the world. But we are against false ideas that hold good people captive. On Tuesday, this nation rejected liberalism, primarily because liberalism has been taken captive by the left. Since 1968, the left has taken millions captive, and we must help those Democrats who truly want to be free to actually break free of this evil ideology.

In the weeks and months to come, we will hear the voices of well-meaning people beseeching the victor to compromise with the vanquished. This would be a mistake. Conservatives must not compromise with the left. Good people holding false ideas are won over only if we defeat what is false with the truth.

The left must be defeated in the realm of ideas, just as it was on Tuesday at the ballot box. The left hates the ballot box and loves its courtrooms, which is why it hopes to continue to advance its agenda through the courts. This must end.

The left bewitches with its potions and elixirs, served daily in its strongholds of academe, Hollywood and old media. It vomits upon the morals, values and traditions we hold sacred: God, family and country. As we learned Tuesday, it is clear the left holds the majority of Americans, the majority of us, in contempt.

Simply, a majority of Americans have rejected John Kerry and John Edwards and the left because they are wrong. They are wrong because there are not two Americas. We are one nation under a God they reject. We remain indivisible despite their attempts to divide Americans through their relentless warfare against class, ethnic and religious unity.

We still believe that liberty and justice is for all. In 1946, there were those on the left who believed the Germans and the Japanese were incapable of democracy and liberty. Today, many doubt democracy can be birthed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Like their forebears, they too will be proved wrong.

The nation has now resoundingly rejected the left and its agenda. We do not want to become European. We do not want to become socialist. We do not want to become secular. We are exceptional. We are unique. And we are the greatest force for good in the world, despite what the left, the terrorists or the United Nations may claim. It is for these reasons that we remain the last great hope in the world for freedom.

We continue to be that shining city set on a hill. And we fully accept the responsibility; we are proud to be the envy of the world.

The strategy of the right - I mean the strategy set by the oligarchs - really is brilliant. They find the stupidest, morally weakest and morally silly in our society, and tell them that people like me think they are intellectually challenged and spiritually bankrupt. You know what? I do! I really do! I mean, read this "Christian" and marvel at his illogic, his superstition, his jingoism, his delusions. He's a dangerous nut who I find utterly contemptible. As he would find me. He's not going to vote for someone like me, and they've painted everyone not like him like me.

And it's framed as a vote against me, not a vote for tax cuts for the wealthy or deregulation for industry. It really is a brilliant strategy.

posted by Blackdogred 5:12 PM

The Unteachable Ignorance of the Red States

Jane Smiley tells us what we already know:

The reason the Democrats have lost five of the last seven presidential elections is simple: A generation ago, the big capitalists, who have no morals, as we know, decided to make use of the religious right in their class war against the middle class and against the regulations that were protecting those whom they considered to be their rightful prey—workers and consumers. The architects of this strategy knew perfectly well that they were exploiting, among other unsavory qualities, a long American habit of virulent racism, but they did it anyway, and we see the outcome now—Cheney is the capitalist arm and Bush is the religious arm. They know no boundaries or rules. They are predatory and resentful, amoral, avaricious, and arrogant. Lots of Americans like and admire them because lots of Americans, even those who don't share those same qualities, don't know which end is up. Can the Democrats appeal to such voters? Do they want to? The Republicans have sold their souls for power. Must everyone?

posted by Jerry Bowles 4:42 PM

What's The Matter with Ohio

I am taking the liberty of re-directing you to my posting of January 3 of this year which predicted the role that gay marriage would play in the Rove agenda. The connection was made from the then current topic of Strom Thurmond's dalliances to the power that miscegenation had for turning out the vote among white Southerners, and for the folks down there to vote against their own best -- economic -- interests.

At the risk of using the four least popular words in the English language: "I told you so." Apparently, one of the key changes in voting patterns in Ohio was among black voters. Forty-six percent more voted for Bush this election than they did in 2000. The issue: "moral values," helped, of course, by an initiative to ban gay marriage.

Josh Marshall also posts on the topic and the whisper campaign that was conducted by BushCo.

The bottom line? what everyone on Madison Ave. knows: sex sells. Rove used it in South Carolina against McCain and against an Alabama judge, as detailed last month in Vanity Fair. And who knows what role he played in the Clinton impeachment.

Here's a thought: let' oppo Rove's own sex life. Could anyone believe it is straight missionary? And whether we catch him in bed with a dead girl or a live boy, would that not be a just and "moral" act?

posted by Evelyn 2:41 PM

The Rage of the Red States is an Opportunity for the Democrats

I know it’s early and the wounds are still red-raw. But from what I’m reading it seems the Dems are working too hard trying to find something to hang onto. I think the future of the party is its past—an evolution of the party of FDR/Kennedy. Here’s why:

Social stereotypes aside, what really infuriates the folks in the Red States is that the Dems stand for “the Nanny State,”-- not just financial but social/class entitlements. Given Dem rhetoric, how could they think otherwise? Since the 70’s the party has bent over backward to entitle even the smallest special interest groups, often at the expense of common sense and the people who do the work, pay the taxes and contribute. That a seemingly secondary issue such as gay marriage (vs. corruption, an illegal war, deficits, etc.) would decide one of the most important elections in recent in history should be proof enough.

Worse, the Dems are tone deaf. Americans are hardwired to prize work and resent passivity. When Bob Shrum has Kerry and Gore say, “We’re fighting for the middle class,” he does not understand that the phrase has become code for “tax and spend, big government entitlement programs.” Middle-class Americans do not think they need a president to fight for them. The whole notion, while well meaning, is perceived as arrogant and condescending. Most people believe they can fight for themselves, thank you very much. All they need is a level playing field—which is what FDR’s New Deal and many of Kennedy’s programs ultimately were all about.

Clinton understood this, and while many on the Left screamed bloody murder when he did things like signing the welfare reform bill, look what happened: Unemployment dropped, real income increased, entrepreneurship thrived, a $500 billion surplus was created—and he got re-elected. Clinton was crucified by the Right not because he was a moral pig, but because he alone among Democrats understood how to energize the fly-over states.

By contrast, everything that Dr. Rovenstein and the Crawford Kid do puts Americans into increasingly passive roles. Fear is paralytic. Taxing work instead of investment erodes middle class purchasing power, social mobility and political leverage. Is there is a better definition of passivity than leaving our foreign policy in the hands of God? The last thing Republicans want is an empowered public.

The Dems can make the case, but they have to throw out the old language, fire everyone on the DLC and DNC, forever banish any senior strategist who worked on Kerry’s campaign, and lose the notion, once and for all, that government is obligated to right any and all wrongs. It isn’t. If the Dems want to win back the White House, they have to stand for empowerment, not entitlement. Empowerment is definitively “liberal,” cuts through social issues and could put a stopper on the Evangelical Right. Given a choice, I’d bet more people in this country would rather control their destiny than leave it to the “other Father,” regardless of their religious beliefs. The difference is stark, and given the Big Brother predilections of Bushco, the Dems can make it stick.

Leftcoast

posted by Leftcoast 2:23 PM

Ohio Sleight of Hand?

It seems that while everyone was watching Ohio, Jeb and company quietly jacked Florida.

Leftcoast

posted by Leftcoast 1:59 PM

"Blaming the Victim"

Finally! Greg Sargent in The American Prospect says what should be said:

"The real story of this race is that on many levels, the Republicans ran a campaign that was sleazier, more ruthless, and more dishonest than anything in memory -- by far. The key Bush attacks on Kerry were, first, that he would allow the United States' own security decisions to be vetoed by other nations; and that he would hike taxes on the middle class and small businesses. Those contentions weren't mere rhetorical distortions; they were lies. The grotesque misrepresentation of Kerry’s war record, courtesy of the Swift Boat veterans, was likewise based on lies. And the more general effort to paint Kerry as weak and vacillating relied on very deliberate efforts by the president and vice president to lie about Kerry’s words on the stump. What all these assertions have in common is that they were not just false, but demonstrably false. Yet they either passed unchallenged by the media, or they were challenged too late -- after they'd succeeded in their objective of creating, as Rove innocently put it, 'doubts about the other guy.' And the GOP got away with it, because they knew that they could count on political reporters to write about the campaign with the moral urgency of a sportswriter covering a baseball game in June. And that's exactly what happened."

posted by Vicki 1:24 PM

For Your Consideration:

Katha Pollitt's post-election column. Here's the penultimate paragraph.

Maybe this time the voters chose what they actually want: Nationalism, pre-emptive war, order not justice, "safety" through torture, backlash against women and gays, a gulf between haves and have-nots, government largesse for their churches and a my-way-or-the-highway President.

I'm not saying I totally agree. I don't totally disagree either. Please read. What do you think?

posted by Blackdogred 1:01 PM

High Tech, Low Touch
The Internet and Politics

Among other things, the Dean legacy for this campaign will be how he brought the power of the Internet to bear on the political process. While not an expert in this area, Dean showed how to energize a self-selecting base of Internet users (mostly young and white), use MeetUp mechanisms to get supporters together, and raise tons and tons of money, more than anyone had imagined possible. Little good it did him when all was said and done. And did you know that the number of young voters who participated in the actual voting this week was the same number as 2000? The increase in voter participation was among middle age groups and older—not the highest internet user groups. Absent evidence to the contrary, that’s my short assessment of the use of the Internet in politics.

Why? It’s not high tech that wins elections, it's low tech with a high touch that has won in the past, won this year, and will win in the future—phone calls, precinct canvassing, rides to the voting stations, one-on-one communications, person to person, advance work with people, and as Bush showed this year, coached, rehearsed and controlled audiences that were taught to cheer on cue, jumping at the privilege that often included standing in stadiums for four or five hours before the show went on.

My experience in the primaries was this: I supported Clark by giving money, volunteering, and attempting to send suggestions, all via the Internet. All went for naught. The communications were never acknowledged, except for the money, with the thank you note asking me to give more. Same for Kerry. Phone calls were not returned. Snail mail was not answered. Snail mail with checks attached were not answered. Emails were not acknowledged. And there was no mechanism for submitting ideas to the campaign on the website. When Edwards was selected, access to the Kerry website required re-registering, and here is what I did: I checked out. I stopped sending money, I stopped looking at his pathetic pastel flat website and I relied on blogs, newspapers and the occasional TV program to stay on top of the news. I refuse to be reduced to nothing more than one more Internet money source.

It must sound like I’m a self-centered spoiled brat. But this I know: prior to the Internet, letters written to candidates for president were answered, phone calls were returned, and ideas where acknowledged. How do I know that? For three presidential campaigns, I used to write letters and take phone calls for the candidates—every letter was answered and every phone call was taken or returned. Two lost, one won. So the old way is no guarantee either, but I felt listened to and valued, rather than used.

If the Democrats want to win back some House and Senate seats in 2006 they better figure out a way to rely more on high touch than high tech, and supplement the use of the Internet with old-fashioned one-on-one communications that show they value each voter's ideas, not just the money.

posted by Josh 9:54 AM

Red State Values Report

In an effort to "bridge the cultural gap" with our friends in the Red States, BOB will run an occasional Red State Values Report to give our readers some sense of the concerns and issues of our fellow Americans out there in the Heartland. Today's report comes to us from The State.com - South Carolina's Home Page:

November 4, 2004
West Columbia

Augusta Road, 2400 block: A man with four children ranging in ages from 2-11 ate at Dragon City buffet and left without paying a $30 buffet bill on Sunday.

North Brown Street, 500 block: A truck ran off the road and ran into bushes causing about $1,000 damage to the landscaping on Saturday.

Charleston Highway, 1100 block: Someone spray painted obscene messages along the side of Al’s Car Wash on Saturday.

Violet Street, 500 block: A man with a cut on his head waved down police and told him that a female knocked on his door and offered him sex for money Friday. When the man opened the door, two men entered instead, struck him in the head with a gun and robbed him of $250.

posted by Jerry Bowles 9:31 AM

Political equity… try politically bankrupt

The national debt is at the congressionally mandated limit. The trade deficit is at an all time high. The twin towers are ready to tumble down not from Al Qaeda but from Bushco’s class warfare economics crafted to destroy America’s social contract. It’s government of the oil, by the oil, for the oil. Instead of standing up and calling out the lies, many of the same newspapers who turned on Bush are now trumpeting his newfound and self proclaimed (by a speechwriter no doubt) “political equity.” Leftcoast suggests they should "step up" but Wall Street and corporate media ownership want the "equity" and the "mandate" as the icing on ice the cake at the State of the Union come January to help avoid a new "Bush recession". The difference in the popular vote was equal to the number of people who turned out in Boston to celebrate the Red Sox World Series win (about 3 million). The so-called "mandate" is in fact the emergence of America the third world nation... it has less to do with a “culture gap” than with a full-blown kulturkampf. So where's the opposition? No "shadow cabinet." No "shadow president". John Forbes Kerry has gone back to Beacon Hill while his guitar gently weeps. For the Dem party bigs and their mouthpieces in the old media it's all about the "culture gap" (crawling up under Jerry Falwell's kilt). May as well go down to the cryogenics center and bring back Billy Sunday and Father Coughlin. If Democratic Leadership Council kapo Al From wants the potty to bridge the “culture gap” that badly he ought to give some thought to joining “Jews for Jesus” and starting a new “faith based” Democratic Cultural Council. Then he can pay his bills by lobbying the 45 Democratic senators who can still filibuster and block a "culturally correct" Supreme Court nomination.

posted by Groom 7:09 AM

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Blitz Blitzer

Okay, okay. I have a mean-spirited idea (suggested by Opus' comment that we need a way to hold big media accountable for trying to play the evenhanded coverage game while Fox and the Republicans are playing by different rules). The biggest TV markets, and the most advertising money, are New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles--blue cities all. So, let's:

a) agree to not buy products or services from folks who advertise on Fox in those markets until their coverage gets more fair and balanced (I'm sure someone can come up with a list of advertisers); and

b) pick some sap on CNN to boycott until they get the idea that less hot air and more aggressive (and, frankly, liberal) investigative journalism is a good idea. Not Paula; she's good and plays the cello. Aaron Brown is a pious little egomaniac and very tempting. Judy Woodruff is dumb and irrelevant. That leaves the Wolfman as the sap of choice.

The rules are very simple. If you live in New York, L.A. or Chicago, switch channels the second Wolf Blitzer's face appears on the screen. Stay gone until he leaves. Practice it at home. Make it a daily habit. Encourage others. Several million people switching channels whenever Blitzer appears will get CNN's attention. We'll figure out what our demands are later.

UPDATE: Infoshop has a Boycott Fox News page and a list of advertisers.

posted by Jerry Bowles 8:18 PM

It’s Time for the Media to Step Up

Many in the mainstream media, especially newspapers and columnists who supported Bush in 2000, rightly couldn’t stand the stink of the past four years and either slammed Bush or endorsed Kerry this time around. I’m sure they did so believing that voters would be smarter than to return the Faux Buckaroo back to the White House. So what do Andrew Sullivan, Chris Hitchens, the American Conservative Magazine and the LA Times do now? Do they say, “Just kidding?” If they have an ounce of journalistic integrity, they’re obligated to follow through and become ardent critics. It’s about time.

Leftcoast

posted by Leftcoast 5:41 PM

The trouble with Harry

I wish I was a fly on the wall today at "Johnny's Back Room" at Cascone's on N. Main in Kansas City or in one of the booths with the noisy, Vietnam-era Airtemp air conditioners at Camille's Roman Garden off Atwells Av. in Providence. What are the good fellas saying about our Mormon, anti-abortion minority leader-in-waiting Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)? Candidates spent $4 billion in this campaign, roughly about 3 weeks worth of Shrubby's "war of lies" in Iraq. By 2010 the internet gambling industry will be worth $18 billion/year. Reid is an ex-paratroop and a Southwestern "old boy." With contributors like Microsoft/Accenture's Steve Ballmer, the Alioto family of San Francisco, Dem money macher Roger "heads up" Altman, Akin Gump and big gambling boffo, you wonder if the Dems are waking up and smelling the coffee, or sniffing the Clorox off all those laundered bongo bucks. Hey, what happens here, stays here, right?

posted by Groom 4:00 PM

Hubristic "Bipartisanship"

Here's the opening paragraph in the current story up in NYT about w's press conference today:

A day after declaring victory in an especially divisive election,

President Bush said at a news conference that "I'll reach out to everyone who shares our goals,'' adding that "I earned capital in this election, and I'm going to spend it.''

Look at the first quote: this is typical Bushspeak; it sounds conciliatory, bipartisan; it is exquisitely crafted to say what it doesn't say to the unclued and to say what it means to the elect; it is complete bullshit. Here's what it means: agree with me and I'll work with you; don't, and I won't.

Then, because he's w, a puny punkass bitch of a man, he's got to thrust the bullying shiv.

If he cannot wait until the day after this election to unzip and show off his mandate, why is anyone doubting what's in store?

But he's choked on his hubris before; we almost made him pay for it. We're still outnumbered - the thems are counting on our being demoralized. We may be mirror-gazing on what we can say to promote ourselves better in the national debate, but that DOES NOT CHANGE OUR OPPOSITION TO THIS ASSCLOWN. The Democrats may make minority leader a non-descript from a red state with five measly electoral votes but that DOES NOT CHANGE OUR NEED TO DOCUMENT AND DECRY THE MENDACITY AND IMMORALITY OF BUSHCO.

Sorry to scream, but let's remember, when we argue about our own side's faults in leadership, at whom we should be constitutionally mad.

posted by Blackdogred 3:41 PM

Same Old, Same Old

The Dumbocrats are going with Harry Reid.

posted by Jerry Bowles 2:45 PM

Man of the Year

posted by Evelyn 2:27 PM

Don't Panic...Yet

Amidst all the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, it is worth remembering that George Bush’s victory on Tuesday was an aberration. The key to victory was clearly Karl Rove’s ability to energize evangelicals on emotional issues like abortion and gay marriage and “supporting our troops” and get them out to the polls en masse. It didn’t help that Kerry was patrician, a cafeteria Catholic, out-of-touch, a flip-flopper and a windbag, but had the Christian Right stayed home like it normally does, he probably would have won.

The number of Americans who have been convinced by charlatans like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell and Ralph Reed that they want to live under a theocracy (something like Iran or Afghanistan under the Taliban) is truly scary and disturbing, but evangelicals are traditionally fickle and infrequent voters. Just because they gobbled down Karl’s potent cocktail of patriotism, piety and Kool-Aid this time does not mean they will turn out in such numbers next time. (One way to guarantee that they will, of course, is to nominate Hillary.)

The main reason to expect more of them to stay home next time is disillusionment. Karl has promised much more than Shrub can deliver. These nice folks truly believe that within the next six months or so there is going to be a Constitutional Amendment to disenfranchise gay people, the Supreme Court is going to overturn Roe versus Wade, and their kids are going to be praying at school. The next GOP presidential candidate is going to have to explain why with a Republican president, Republican Congress and a Republican Supreme Court, none of these things actually happened.

We don’t have to be pretend to share their “values” in order to win. The demographics are on our side. There are more of us who are black, brown, gay, agnostic, libertarian, liberal, green, draftable, anti-war, and displaced old-fashioned Conservative every day. We don’t need someone like them; we need someone like us.

posted by Jerry Bowles 1:05 PM

Why is nobody talking about the lies?

There is so much discussion about the "values" issue. Yes, mistakes were made by Kerry and the Democrats. But there is a larger problem.

Why is nobody talking about the lies told by the Bush team and the factions who support him? The lies in the ads, the lies in the mailings, the lies told to reporters, the lies everywhere. And accepted as gospel by the uninformed or ideological part of the electorate the lies are designed to appeal to.

Lies would have been used successfully by the Bush team against any of the Democrats running in the primaries.

Howard Dean? "Secret agenda for gay marriage." (Actually, that was used against Kerry, too, but with the twist that he wanted to allow marriage between more than two homosexuals.)

Wesley Clark? "The miltary hated him." (That was already starting to be used during the primaries. I can visualize members of a Retired Generals Against Clark group sitting around day after day on cable TV discussing how he could never win the war on terror because he was so disliked by the military.)

Jesus Christ would have a hard time running against a bold liar who lies continually without remorse or comeuppance. And when the lies are accepted and amplified by a complicit and complacent media, anything can be said and believed.

posted by Vicki 11:23 AM

A Moral Values Litmus Test for Democrats

It’s a big mistake to think of moral values only in terms of issues like abortion, gay marriage and limits on stem-cell research. Or even going to church and reading the Bible. True, these are red meat issues for Red States, but moral values are much broader and much more subtle. They include trustworthiness, rectitude, constancy of purpose, straightforwardness, and being “a man of your word.” These are attributes that Bush projects--from a script--but projects, nonetheless.

(Howard Dean had these attributes, although trust and trustworthiness were his undoing. Edwards appeal is also based on these attributes.) Kerry had none of the above. Hence the flip-flop, Swift Boat, Frenchie charges were a major part of his undoing. He even admitted to being a flip-flopper (read unreliable) when he infamously said, about the war supplement bill, “I voted for it before I voted against it.”

Bush packaged these moral values in cowboy talk, western-movie postures, and ranch images, making it hard to dent his projected persona. (A page from the Ronald Reagan playbook.) He was always on message and in posture while Kerry was floundering from message to message, theme to theme, sports venue to sports venue, dress code to dress code. Kerry, like failed candidates before him (Mondale, Dukakis, Gore), was feminized and appeared weak, floundering, soft, unreliable, and not trustworthy, especially in “war time.” Since there was such a strong anti-Bush vote out there, his totals were higher than this analysis would suggest.

What can future Democrat candidates do? Two things come to mind. As the Republicans did with the gay marriage propositions, find an emotional issue that lends itself to a constitutional amendment and promote it through state referendums. Make national politics local. For example, making health insurance for children a constitutional guarantee. (Alternatives can be easily focus-group studied.) Whatever the issue, it needs to be something no one can be against.
Secondly, find candidates who are interesting and have a non-controversial story to tell (a peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia), who talk simply in spite of their intelligence (a man from Hope, Arkansas with a southern accent), stay on message (Edwards in the primaries), and live on ranches (or farms). Ski resorts are not an alternative. Kerry had none of these attributes, neither did Gore, or Dukakis or Mondale, and they all lost.

The next candidate better have a projectable persona based in a broader band of perceived moral values and some red-meat issues to toss to the party base and independents at the state level or the Republicans will win again, and again, and again.

posted by Josh 11:17 AM

Oh, and Any Doubts....

Here's Grover Norquist, quoted in full in today's WashPost:

• Many wonder what it will take to restore social civility to Washington, to get Republicans and Democrats mingling again. Rock-ribbed Republican Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, proffered a solution, telling us that Democrats must accept the finality of their powerlessness. "Once the minority of House and Senate are comfortable in their minority status, they will have no problem socializing with the Republicans. Any farmer will tell you that certain animals run around and are unpleasant, but when they've been fixed, then they are happy and sedate. They are contented and cheerful. They don't go around peeing on the furniture and such." Norquist assured us that he meant neutered "psychologically" and his metaphor was "facetious." Of course: Let the healing begin.

You know, it's one level of audacity to believe this, it's another to say it out loud. That's how emasculated they think we are: they can taunt us and it doesn't matter whether that motivates us or not, that's how powerless they think we are.

Enough sadness. Back to anger. Time to pee on the furniture.

posted by Blackdogred 10:18 AM

Fundamentally Different

In view of yesterday's various posts, and today's thread, re: values and how talk inevitably turned to the fundamentalist Christian's impact on American politics, please read this op-ed piece by the great Garry Wills in today's New York Times. It won't change anybody's mind, probably, but it eloquently expresses a position I believe.

posted by Blackdogred 9:43 AM

Thursday's Open Thread

What is a Democrat? What does a Democrat believe?

posted by Jerry Bowles 8:27 AM