NationStates Jolt Archive

On this, the eve of the Presidential election, I've been thinking a lot about the legacy of the first man I ever gave money to for a political campaign of any type.

I was a Howard Dean supporter from way back--in early 2003, all I knew about him was that signed the civil union legislation in Vermont, and that was about it. I was intrigued by the fact that he was willing to actually sign the bill instead of just letting it become law without actually putting his name to it, and was more impressed when I heard about how he had to wear a bulletproof vest as a result, even in allegedly liberal Vermont. I was further impressed when I heard that he won re-election despite taking such a divisive stand.

But not long after that, I saw video (online) of his speech before the Democratic party in California, and I was hooked. Here was a man who was taking on a popular President when every other member of the Democratic party seemed to be tucking tail and hiding. The Democratic party in Congress had caved on the Iraq War, and had gotten their asses handed to them in the 2002 elections because they didn't seem to stand for anything. The only Democrats who won were those who had manned up and kicked their Republican opponents in the teeth. Howard Dean did that in that speech, and the crowd reacted.

And so did I, there in front of my computer. I was politically alive and enthralled. For the first time I thought, here's a guy I want to vote for. I wouldn't just be voting against someone else--I'd be invested in this man. And lots of people agreed with me, because they created an upswell and a surge in not only interest, but in money as well. Dean proved that you can come out of nowhere and be competitive just by standing for something and speaking truth to power.

But the biggest thing that Dean did was convince us, the guys who are sitting in front of their computers, who have other jobs, who have never taken more than a passing interest in politics, that we could have a voice, that we could make a difference, that our paltry $15 checks meant something. And that if we got out there and knocked on doors or wrote letters or lobbied for change, we could make a difference. As much as groups like ACT and Moveon have done for the progressive movement in general, Howard Dean focused that energy into a missile that will hopefully launch John Kerry into the White House on January 20, 2005.

If you've read this far, thanks.

YEEEAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!

YEEEAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!
That's a good summary of Incertonia's article.

In all seriousness, though, Howard Dean has performed a service beyond what many Libs will admit. He has given a face and a title to the Angry Left, the side of the political spectrum that believes fully in what the Clintons termed, "the politics of personal destruction."

Deaniacs are a more interesting breed than the normal Lib...after all, they put their money where their mouths are. Not only do they think and proclaim that conservatives in general, Republicans and GW Bush in specific, are evil (untrue as it is,) they are also willing to throw good money after bad, trying desperately to convince someone, anyone, that they are right. Witness Michael Moore and George Soros...look at all the folks who have sunk money in moveon.org.

It is because of Howard Dean that the Dems are stuck with John Kerry as their nominee...and it is because of Howard Dean that Al Gore has made a sort-of comeback, this time as the Semi-Deranged Al Gore, just to continue the tradition of re-inventing Al Gore every few months. Come to think of it, that Al Gore tradition has been taken to extremes this year by none other than John Kerry...I mean, come on, who here truly believes he is an avid deer hunter? Does anyone buy the line that he doesn't fall down when he skis or snowboards? And exactly how many have believed it when he says he IS just one of the guys?

But, thanks to Howard Dean, the Angry Left can now proclaim its existence. Most will deny their anger and hatred, of course, but their actions proclaim what they deny. Just like Howard Dean did when he denied having uttered the primal scream that put an end to his presidential ambitions in Iowa.

the Angry Left, the side of the political spectrum that believes fully in what the Clintons termed, "the politics of personal destruction."Kind of odd, considering that the rest of Panhandlia's post spews anger and hatred toward those who support John Kerry.

That's a good summary of Incertonia's article.

In all seriousness, though, Howard Dean has performed a service beyond what many Libs will admit. He has given a face and a title to the Angry Left, the side of the political spectrum that believes fully in what the Clintons termed, "the politics of personal destruction."

Deaniacs are a more interesting breed than the normal Lib...after all, they put their money where their mouths are. Not only do they think and proclaim that conservatives in general, Republicans and GW Bush in specific, are evil (untrue as it is,) they are also willing to throw good money after bad, trying desperately to convince someone, anyone, that they are right. Witness Michael Moore and George Soros...look at all the folks who have sunk money in moveon.org.

It is because of Howard Dean that the Dems are stuck with John Kerry as their nominee...and it is because of Howard Dean that Al Gore has made a sort-of comeback, this time as the Semi-Deranged Al Gore, just to continue the tradition of re-inventing Al Gore every few months. Come to think of it, that Al Gore tradition has been taken to extremes this year by none other than John Kerry...I mean, come on, who here truly believes he is an avid deer hunter? Does anyone buy the line that he doesn't fall down when he skis or snowboards? And exactly how many have believed it when he says he IS just one of the guys?

But, thanks to Howard Dean, the Angry Left can now proclaim its existence. Most will deny their anger and hatred, of course, but their actions proclaim what they deny. Just like Howard Dean did when he denied having uttered the primal scream that put an end to his presidential ambitions in Iowa.
Well, if the religious right can get all angry and swell Bush to victory, then it follows that the angry left can kick Bush out.

Both sides have their deeply partisan bases.

Turnout is key, there aren't many undecideds left, compared to the huge numbers of non-voters.

On this, the eve of the Presidential election, I've been thinking a lot about the legacy of the first man I ever gave money to for a political campaign of any type.

I was a Howard Dean supporter from way back--in early 2003, all I knew about him was that signed the civil union legislation in Vermont, and that was about it. I was intrigued by the fact that he was willing to actually sign the bill instead of just letting it become law without actually putting his name to it, and was more impressed when I heard about how he had to wear a bulletproof vest as a result, even in allegedly liberal Vermont. I was further impressed when I heard that he won re-election despite taking such a divisive stand.

But not long after that, I saw video (online) of his speech before the Democratic party in California, and I was hooked. Here was a man who was taking on a popular President when every other member of the Democratic party seemed to be tucking tail and hiding. The Democratic party in Congress had caved on the Iraq War, and had gotten their asses handed to them in the 2002 elections because they didn't seem to stand for anything. The only Democrats who won were those who had manned up and kicked their Republican opponents in the teeth. Howard Dean did that in that speech, and the crowd reacted.

And so did I, there in front of my computer. I was politically alive and enthralled. For the first time I thought, here's a guy I want to vote for. I wouldn't just be voting against someone else--I'd be invested in this man. And lots of people agreed with me, because they created an upswell and a surge in not only interest, but in money as well. Dean proved that you can come out of nowhere and be competitive just by standing for something and speaking truth to power.

But the biggest thing that Dean did was convince us, the guys who are sitting in front of their computers, who have other jobs, who have never taken more than a passing interest in politics, that we could have a voice, that we could make a difference, that our paltry $15 checks meant something. And that if we got out there and knocked on doors or wrote letters or lobbied for change, we could make a difference. As much as groups like ACT and Moveon have done for the progressive movement in general, Howard Dean focused that energy into a missile that will hopefully launch John Kerry into the White House on January 20, 2005.

If you've read this far, thanks.
I fully agree Incertonia. Dean put the energy back into the mostly pussified Democrat Party, after two years of kissing Bush's ass because of 9/11. The whole time I'm saying "there's no way Bush can lose, he's unbeatable, everyone will just go along with him" and feeling utterly hopeless. I saw again and again as abortion rights were chipped away, as abstinence-only *education* was forced through public schools, the rise of the constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage, and civil unions in some cases. I watched the country going to shit, and as the Democrats geared up, I figured they'd go with Lieberman, conservative and safe. It was pretty damn sad. But then came Dean, the one candidate who admitted he was liberal, the only one with the balls to oppose Bush on Iraq. Even as his campaign self-imploded and they chose the most "electable" candidate, Dean got the students and internet groups in a frenzy. Voter turnout is gonna be phenomenal this year, especially among youth and new voters. The polls are gonna be way off.

That's a good summary of Incertonia's article.

In all seriousness, though, Howard Dean has performed a service beyond what many Libs will admit. He has given a face and a title to the Angry Left, the side of the political spectrum that believes fully in what the Clintons termed, "the politics of personal destruction."

Deaniacs are a more interesting breed than the normal Lib...after all, they put their money where their mouths are. Not only do they think and proclaim that conservatives in general, Republicans and GW Bush in specific, are evil (untrue as it is,) they are also willing to throw good money after bad, trying desperately to convince someone, anyone, that they are right. Witness Michael Moore and George Soros...look at all the folks who have sunk money in moveon.org.

It is because of Howard Dean that the Dems are stuck with John Kerry as their nominee...and it is because of Howard Dean that Al Gore has made a sort-of comeback, this time as the Semi-Deranged Al Gore, just to continue the tradition of re-inventing Al Gore every few months. Come to think of it, that Al Gore tradition has been taken to extremes this year by none other than John Kerry...I mean, come on, who here truly believes he is an avid deer hunter? Does anyone buy the line that he doesn't fall down when he skis or snowboards? And exactly how many have believed it when he says he IS just one of the guys?

But, thanks to Howard Dean, the Angry Left can now proclaim its existence. Most will deny their anger and hatred, of course, but their actions proclaim what they deny. Just like Howard Dean did when he denied having uttered the primal scream that put an end to his presidential ambitions in Iowa.

I wasn't expecting much in the way of unbiased commentary, Panhandlia. Fortunately, you didn't disappoint.

No, what this really goes back to is George McGovern's campaign against Richard Nixon in '72. Here was a man who was the single person in American history to honestly say to a question: Yes, I plan to raise taxes. Now, say what you will about whether raising taxes is a good thing, but to have the moxie to say it out loud and actually advocate it, that's ballsiness. Moreover, if you looked issue-by-issue on exactly what McGovern actually wanted to spend this money on, you would see overwhelming majorities of people, Democrat and Republican, supporting it. So what happened?

McGovern was crucified in one of the dirtiest election campaigns ever. This more than any other was the campaign that set the tone for the future, where the word liberal became a dirty word, where spending became immediately suspect and possibly corrupt, where taxes meant the death of the American economy. In short, it was in '72 that the seeds of most of the major changes in the last 30 years were laid: Reaganism, voodoo economics, politics of personal destruction, etc.

A major reason why this election was so influential was because it started the careers of so many major players in modern politics. On the right, you had budding Republicans like Tom DeLay and Karl Rove, and look at this as a textbook example of what you need to do to win. On the other hand, you have people like Bill and Hillary Clinton, who saw this as the failure of the American Left, which necessitated a move to the center. Left out in the cold, however, is the person who never gave up his beliefs: the unadulterated, unvarnished, unabashed liberal.

Since that time, he's had to hold his nose in one campaign after another, watching "our" guy sometimes win, but mostly lose, sometimes score a point, but mostly do little more than stem the tide, sometimes secure a victory, but mostly cut our losses. We've watched, again and again and again, as the Democratic Party put its tail between its legs and let Nixon, and then Reagan, and then Bush, and then the Republican Congress under Clinton, and then Bush II steadily roll us over and chip away at what we'd managed to accomplish in only a generation.

And what, you might ask, was accomplished in a generation? Well, I'll tell you. In a generation, thanks to the Democrats, electricity went from being available only in the city, and then only to the rich, now available to almost every citizen in the country, because the government did what business couldn't, and built not only the generation, but also the distribution systems for an entire country.

In a generation, thanks to the Democrats, education rates skyrocketed: in 1930, I'd venture to speculate (darn Dept. of Ed. website couldn't furnish me with a handy graph) that as many people finished high school as nowadays finish college, in huge part to improvements in American public education, American public university systems, and programs like the Pell Grant and G.I. Bill. That increase in education, more than any other factor, was what has propelled our economy in the past 50 years.

In a generation, America built the interstate highway system, girding the country with ribs of concrete. In a generation, America built the single largest economy the world has ever known. In a generation, we won two World Wars, and built the most effective military in history. In a generation, America expanded franchise from white male voters aged 21 and older to all adults 18 and over. In a generation, we managed to coldcock fascism, and did more than any other generation before or since to stop the spread of communism by presenting a viable alternative.

And who, might you ask, were the people that provided the impetus behind this change? The same liberal that Nixon was excoriating. It was liberals who provided the authorization behind the Tennessee Valley Authority and Hoover Dam construction projects, liberals who started the highway construction projects during the Great Depression, liberals who tried to weed out isolationism and fight fascism, liberals who instituted the Marshall Plan which turned the tide of communist spread in Europe, liberals who built the American education system, liberals who spread suffrage to all men and women.

And yet, for all that, we're made a mockery of for our efforts. Even more galling, let's look at the track record since the tide shift in American politics since Nixon's victory in '72: wages have fallen steadily, after and before tax income has falllen steadily, the number of uninsured has increased, the number of hours worked by the average American worker has risen, average job security has fallen. By almost every meaningful measure, Republicanism has brought nothing but declines in every good statistic, and rises in everything that is bad. And yet, through it all, we had on one hand a party that mocked us for our better track record, and another that tucked it's tail between it's legs and ran whenever our name was brought up.

But not Howard Dean. Say what you will about his battlecry gone amiss, say what you will about his overemoting, hell, say what you will about whatever, but at the low ebb of the Democratic Party, when we got steamrolled by S.O.B.'s arrogant enough to question our patriotism when we had the temerity to question whether Big Brother really needs to be checking our library card list, it was Howard Dean who finally stood up and gave the finger right back, instead of simply rolling over and taking it.

I didn't vote for Howard Dean. In the primary, I was a Clark supporter, but I went with Kerry when Clark dropped out. But no matter what, Dean has my respect because he's the man who gave liberals their dignity, and their voice back. Yeargh if you want, but we're mad as hell, and we're not taking your conservative crap any more.

That's a good summary of Incertonia's article.

In all seriousness, though, Howard Dean has performed a service beyond what many Libs will admit. He has given a face and a title to the Angry Left, the side of the political spectrum that believes fully in what the Clintons termed, "the politics of personal destruction."

Deaniacs are a more interesting breed than the normal Lib...after all, they put their money where their mouths are. Not only do they think and proclaim that conservatives in general, Republicans and GW Bush in specific, are evil (untrue as it is,) they are also willing to throw good money after bad, trying desperately to convince someone, anyone, that they are right. Witness Michael Moore and George Soros...look at all the folks who have sunk money in moveon.org.

It is because of Howard Dean that the Dems are stuck with John Kerry as their nominee...and it is because of Howard Dean that Al Gore has made a sort-of comeback, this time as the Semi-Deranged Al Gore, just to continue the tradition of re-inventing Al Gore every few months. Come to think of it, that Al Gore tradition has been taken to extremes this year by none other than John Kerry...I mean, come on, who here truly believes he is an avid deer hunter? Does anyone buy the line that he doesn't fall down when he skis or snowboards? And exactly how many have believed it when he says he IS just one of the guys?

But, thanks to Howard Dean, the Angry Left can now proclaim its existence. Most will deny their anger and hatred, of course, but their actions proclaim what they deny. Just like Howard Dean did when he denied having uttered the primal scream that put an end to his presidential ambitions in Iowa.
Not surprisingly, Panhandlia, you missed the true spirit of the Dean campaign. It was never about hatred--it was about hope. Sure, there was some righteous indignation. Our party had rolled over and abandoned what we had traditionally stood for in search of some elusive "third way" that only Clinton could successfully espouse. We'd wussed out and tried to have reasonable discussions and partnerships with a party (the Republicans) that would just as soon spit on us as work with us, and even whenthey did spit on us, we came back for more.

Until Dean. Until Dean showed the party that, like Howard Biel from Network it was okay to be mad as hell and refuse to take it anymore. Until Dean reminded us that we did stand for issues, and what's more, we stood for good and important issues, and for real solutions that help the largest number of people in this country, and not just those who live in the rarefied air of the top two percent of wage earners. He reminded us of our roots--in minority communities, in the unions, in working class and blue-collar America. He revitalized a group of despondent people who were looking for a leader. And when we win tomorrow, he will have become your worst nightmare--he'll be the man who helped mold an effective progressive movement in this country.

I always thought Dean would have made a better candidate than Kerry. Shame that the media did him in.