Regarding the post below, I thank those who wrote to fill me in on the meaning of Dean’s speech. I had read it, and the two articles I linked and was skeptical of the McCullough spin. However, I don’t think it was out of line for me to have had questions about Dean’s comments even though he made it clear that he was a believer in privacy rights. The substance of his remarks about this new technology was, at least, murky.
I realize it isn’t the biggest deal in the world and I don’t plan on making a crusade out of this. It’s just a hot button issue with me. I’m dead set against a national smart-card and I’m extremely resistant to using property rights (in the guise of copyrights) as an excuse to further encroach on individual liberty.
Having said that, it goes without saying that our civil liberties would be in much safer hands with Howard Dean in charge than Junior and the Calico Cat-Man. I never meant to suggest otherwise.
I just got a note from Charlie Stross asking if I knew anything about this. I confess I didn’t, but after reading the article, I am concerned. I’m one of those “left-libertarian” types on the political compass (I score in the same area as Noam Chomsky, if you can believe that) so privacy and civil liberties are a huge deal to me.
Do any of you internet Deaniacs out there have some information about this?
Dean’s current stand on privacy appears to leave little wiggle room: His campaign platform pledges unwavering support for “the constitutional principles of equality, liberty and privacy.”
Fifteen months before Dean said he would seek the presidency, however, the former Vermont governor spoke at a conference in Pittsburgh co-sponsored by smart-card firm Wave Systems where he called for state drivers’ licenses to be transformed into a kind of standardized national ID card for Americans. Embedding smart cards into uniform IDs was necessary to thwart “cyberterrorism” and identity theft, Dean claimed. “We must move to smarter license cards that carry secure digital information that can be universally read at vital checkpoints,” Dean said in March 2002, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. “Issuing such a card would have little effect on the privacy of Americans.”
Dean also suggested that computer makers such as Apple Computer, Dell, Gateway and Sony should be required to include an ID card reader in PCs–and Americans would have to insert their uniform IDs into the reader before they could log on. “One state’s smart-card driver’s license must be identifiable by another state’s card reader,” Dean said. “It must also be easily commercialized by the private sector and included in all PCs over time–making the Internet safer and more secure.”
This article indicates that there might be something more to the story. I reserve judgment. But, I’d like to hear from people who could shed some light on this.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict with total confidence that today the people of New Hampshire are going to go into voting booths all over the state and vote for the candidate of their choice. The television pundits will begin to hint broadly at the winners at about 3pm eastern time based upon exit poll information they have promised not to share with the public until the polls close. Unable to help themselves, they will wink and nod and “let slip” all kinds of information to those who are watching closely.
Then, about 30 seconds after the designated closing time they will reveal the winner.
That’s my prediction.
Oh, you want winners and losers?
Well, my crystal ball is as foggy as always, but it looks as if the New England homeboys Kerry and Dean are going to come in 1st and 2nd, which is only noteworthy because both of them have already performed a Lazarus-like resurrection. Third or fourth are probably Clark/Edwards — which means that New Hampshire could have been predicted last fall with almost total accuracy.
The real story of New Hampshire is that Howard Dean has the humility, nimbleness and flexibility to learn from defeat and live to fight another day. He’s shown me more in his handling of the post Iowa bitch lap than he did in all the months of Deaniac fever. If he comes back strong tonight the slate is clean and he’s back in business.
One thing seems sure. The pundits’ pronouncements of inevitability or death should probably be seen as signs that the opposite is true. So far, they have written off Kerry, Dean and Edwards at least once and if Clark doesn’t take 3rd today he’s next. And so far, they have been wrong each time. The February 3rd race will probably show who has legs and who doesn’t, but tonight the pundits are going to make a bunch of premature pronouncements about all of the candidates that I guarantee are wrong. Their track record in this race so far is worse than I’ve ever seen it.
As I said before, I’m not afraid of a long primary fight. It’s the best show on TV. Bush is sinking in the polls (even the virtually guaranteed SOTU bounce didn’t happen) because he’s being shown up by all of our candidates as a gibberish babbling moron every time you see him speak. People had forgotten what president’s are supposed to sound like. We’re reminding them every day.
I say let’s keep it going for as long as possible. We can take the pressure and so can our candidates. You can’t buy this kind of exposure.
As we all sit on pins and needles today awaiting the outcome of a very exciting primary I think it would do us all good to take a step back and give a word of thanks to the ten Democrats who had the guts and the stamina to take on The Mighty Wurlitzer and all that that entails. You have to admire every single one of them for being willing to put themselves through the meatgrinder of modern politics, sacrificing their time, their families and personal reputations to face a shallow derisive media and a ruthless, highly motivated foe. They are patriots, one and all.
In putting themselves in the line of fire, these Democrats have finally changed the political narrative that seemed to be frozen in time after 9/11. They took on the Warrior King from every different angle – from Howard Dean’s brave dissent on the Iraq war to John Edwards’ brilliant assessment of Bush’s “war on work” to Kucinich’s erudite defense of liberalism to Clark’s scathing expert critique of Bush’s failed foreign policy to Kerry’s fighting words against the special interests to Sharpton’s witty prodding of Democrats’ consciences, to Carol Mosely-Braun’s smiling reminders of the concerns of women to Bob Graham’s important early assessment of the terrorism threat. The message is finally out there. The inexorable Bush juggernaut has been stopped.
All of these people have been out there making our case for us, getting the Democratic view before the people, reminding Americans that there is a different way, that there is a better way. They’ve challenged the prevailing storyline. People now see that they are not alone in mistrusting this administration. They realize that even though the press behaves as if Bush is invincible, there are many people in the country who beg to differ.
Most importantly, even though there are some frayed feelings between the various camps and we are all pulling for our candidates to prevail, it’s clear that these ten patriotic Americans have actually pulled the Democratic Party together. They gave us hope, they gave us inspiration and most of all they gave us our voice back. The Democratic position is once again getting equal time.
To all the Democratic candidates, each of whom has more intelligence, integrity, courage compassion and common sense in their little fingers than the entire Bush Administration combined — I salute you. I’d be proud to have any one of you as my president.
Cross posted on American Street where there are many interesting items to read. Go.
President Bush defends drug addict and possible felon as “great american”:
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX FRI OCT 03, 2003 11:08:15 ET XXXXX
BUSH EXPRESSES SUPPORT OF LIMBAUGH; HOST TO RETURN TO AIRWAVES AT NOON; ENQUIRER HELD STORY FOR TWO YEARS
**Exclusive**
President Bush expressed support of radio star Rush Limbaugh in conversations with top staff on Thursday, a senior administration source told the DRUDGE REPORT.
“Rush is a great American,” the president said of the beleaguered host, who has championed the conservative movement for decades. “I am confident he can overcome any obstacles he faces right now.”
Limbaugh is to host his daily broadcast from New York City on Friday.
This is troubling. I’m afraid that I’m going to have to demand that President Bush at least distance himself from these remarks. He will definitely have to disavow the Oxycontin-popping, doctor-shopping, parking-lot drug scoring, “great American” at some point unless he is willing to be held accountable for Limbaugh’s drug use.
From the Karl Rove “I wish I’d never told Fred Barnes to make a big deal out of this” department:
BLITZER: Terry McAuliffe, when Wesley Clark was on that stage with Michael Moore, one of his campaign supporters, and Moore called President Bush a deserter and General Clark refused to distance himself from that comment right away, was that a huge blunder? You don’t believe that President Bush was a deserter, do you?
MCAULIFFE: Well, Wolf, in order to to be a deserter, you have to actually show up.
Let’s just deal with the facts. As you know, when President Bush got out of college in 1968, it was at the height of the draft. It’s well known that the president, former president, used some of his influence to get George Bush into the Texas National Guard.
He then wanted to go to Alabama and work on a Senate campaign. So he went to Alabama for a year while he was in the National Guard, and he never showed up.
I mean, I would call it AWOL. You call it whatever you want. But the issue is the president did not show up for the year he was in Alabama, when he was supposed to show up for the National Guard.
BLITZER: All right.
MCAULIFFE: And I think that’s what Mr. Moore was trying to say.
GILLESPIE: Wolf…
BLITZER: Hold on one second. I’m going to let you respond.
But I want to make sure I heard you right. Are you saying you don’t dispute what Michael Moore was saying, branding the president of the United States as having been a deserter?
MCAULIFFE: He never should have called him a deserter. There are other issues that you can say — AWOL, just didn’t show up for duty. But he shouldn’t have called him a deserter. Let’s get out of this discourse in American politics. Let’s just deal with the facts.
BLITZER: All right.
MCAULIFFE: The facts are that George Bush didn’t show up when he was supposed to in the National Guard, and that’s just the fact.
But I wouldn’t call him a deserter, nor should anybody call the president a deserter.
GILLESPIE: Well, Wolf, I’m glad to hear Terry acknowledge that what Michael Moore said was reprehensible. But Terry’s wrong that the president was AWOL in the National Guard. That is not accurate. The president served honorably in the National Guard.
This is one of the — the Democrats throw these charges out there. They’re just completely inaccurate, and it’s unfortunate that they stoop to this kind of politics.
But we’re going to hear more of these kind of attacks against the president, personal attacks, because they don’t want to talk about their policies because their policies are wrong for America. Raising taxes, reducing our national security expenditures and making us weaker when it comes to winning the war against terror are the wrong policies for America. That’s the bottom line, and that’s why President Bush is going to be successful in November.
BLITZER: Ted Gillespie and Terry McAuliffe, we’ll leave it right there. But we’ll have both of you back. I understand both of you will be here in New Hampshire on Tuesday. You’ll probably be on one of our shows here on CNN. Thanks very much for joining us.
Quick … the smelling salts!
Now, there was a time when it was considered a-ok to call the president a rapist, a murderer and pervert and a traitor all within the space of one segment of Hardball, and there was nary a complaint. They drew pictures of his penis, psychoanalysed both him and his wife, accused them of sexual deviancy, assault and corruption on an epic scale.
But, that was a different time. Let the word go forth that we must all line up behind our Dear Leader and NEVER, EVER even hint that he is anything less than perfect. It’s treasonous, actually. Terry McAuliffe is obviously an enemy combatant who belongs in a 3×5 cell in Gitmo.
Peter Jennings, Tim Russert, Wolf Blitzer and others have been relentless in their pursuit of a proper repudiation of Michael Moore and his deserter comment from Wesley Clark.
As many of you know, I am a big believer in the newdisavowel movement in this country. Guilt by association is an excellent political shortcut and I’m all for it. As Peter Jennings said at the debate the other night, “You can tell a lot about a man by his friends.” Politicians, bloggers, supporters and others must realize that they are not only responsible for their own words, but they are responsible for their friends’ words as well. And, if anyone takes issue with your friends you must be prepared to defend or reject them on that basis alone. It’s the American way.
But, I do wonder if the media’s new insistence on taking responsibility for your supporters words is in danger of not being seen as fair and balanced and I think that would be such a shame. For instance, while I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, I was struck that nobody seems to have asked the president about this:
Miller Emerges as New Voice for Bush Re-Election
Sat June 28, 2003 03:10 PM ET
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) – A new voice has emerged in the re-election campaign of President Bush, that of Dennis Miller, who is gaining a reputation as a conservative comic by attacking Democrats with biting humor.
Miller flew on Air Force One from San Francisco to Los Angeles with the president on Friday, and later gave a stand-up routine at a Bush fund-raiser in Los Angeles.
“I spent an amazing couple of hours with Dennis Miller,” Bush said during his Los Angeles speech after Miller’s routine. “He keeps you on your toes.”
He added: “I was also honored to meet his wife, Carolyn. Like me, he married above himself. It may not be all that hard, in his case. But I’m proud to have his help.”
Miller, who was an analyst on ABC’s “Monday Night Football, had an HBO comedy show and does commentary for Fox News, adds a celebrity touch to Bush’s re-election campaign, much like actor Bruce Willis did in 1992 when Bush’s father ran for re-election.
Bush remained offstage until after Miller’s often caustic comic performance during the fund-raiser that drew in $3.5 million, most of it in $2,000 checks from 1,600 people.
For instance, he took aim at West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, a Democratic elder statesmen who has questioned the Iraq war and its chaotic aftermath.
Even some in the crowd of Republican loyalists booed when Miller said of Byrd: “I think he must be burning the cross at both ends.”
Responding to the boos, Miller said: “Well, he was in the (Ku Klux) Klan. Boo me, but he was in the Klan.”
He likened the nine Democratic presidential candidates running to unseat Bush in 2004 to the 1962 New York Mets, perennial losers, and called them an “empty-headed scrum.”
He had a special barb for one candidate, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who has questioned the Iraq war, comparing him to Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister who followed a policy of appeasement of Nazi Germany in the years before World War II.
“He can roll up his sleeves all he wants at public events, but as long as we see that heart tattoo with Neville Chamberlain’s name on his right forearms, he’s never going anywhere,” Miller said.
I would be hesitant to call this political hate speech and gawd knows, that Hitler ad that was on the Move-On web-site for 3 and a half minutes was shocking in its allusion to Bush and incipient naziism. But, it seems to me that the whole forearm tattoo reference to Chamberlain might also be seen as a bit tasteless as was the crossburning thing. I could be wrong. (Calling the Democratic candidates “empty headed scrum” is just fine, of course. Who doesn’t believe that?)
I realize that nothing could be worse than implying that our Codpiece in Chief is anything but brave and true and heroic, but I still think it could be said that the media aren’t holding him to the same standards if they don’t at least ask him if he thinks he might want to disavow Miller. He did spend time with him on Air Force One and he did say he was “proud to have his help….” after he made those comments.
I’m sure Bush will clear this right up in a hurry and everyone can get back to harrassing Democrats as it should be. It’s just a little housekeeping, that’s all.
WASHINGTON – Wesley Clark (news – web sites) left a few things out Thursday when he defended his Democratic credentials; namely, the Republicans he’s supported for president.
“I voted for Bill Clinton (news – web sites) and Al Gore (news – web sites),” the retired general said in a Democratic presidential debate Thursday, then stopped there. He also has said previously that he voted for Republicans including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan (news – web sites) and the first George Bush.
Stories not fully told were part of the story of the night.
John Kerry (news – web sites), a Vietnam veteran who addressed his days as a protest leader against that war, talked about how “we camped on the Mall underneath the Congress,” although accounts of that April 1971 demonstration had him staying in a friend’s Georgetown town house while the masses stayed in tents.
Kerry spokesman David DiMartino said Kerry did sleep on the Mall and used the Georgetown house for protest organizing during the day.
Do read the rest. It’s fascinating. It would appear that the Nit Pickler has become a legitimate new form of journalism at the AP.
All the candidates are weasels who are trying to hide their nefarious and embarrassing pasts. When they speak of their lives they should always present a full unbiased account including any detail that might be construed by others as relevent. If they don’t they are lying sacks of garbage.
Bush said spending on homeland security-related activities will rise from about $28 billion to more than $30 billion in his next proposed budget. The White House said counterterrorism efforts at the Department of Justice would receive about a fifth more money than they currently get, rising to $2.6 billion.
It wasn’t clear where else the new money would go, or whether other government programs would have to be cut to make way for this spending at a time when Bush has promised to cut the record $500 billion budget deficit in half.
The streets along Bush’s motorcade route were lined with hundreds of supporters, and the convention hall was packed on his sixth visit to the state as president. The White House lined up cadets from the New Mexico Military Institute behind him for his speech.
Afterward, Bush made a rare motorcade-route stop to linger with locals on the way out of town. Bounding into the Nuthin’ Fancy Cafe, the president hugged a few delighted restaurant patrons, saying he wanted to help “this lady put some money in her pockets.”
“I need some ribs,” Bush said from behind the counter, his arm around a diner employee. “I’m hungry.”
He made passing reference to the years of talk about a 1947 UFO crash in Roswell, a small city surrounded by rugged land.
“I understand you had reports this morning of an unfamiliar aircraft,” Bush said. “Don’t worry, it was just me.”
The story not told was that the president of the United States was acting like a 15 year old trash talking punk in the above mentioned restaurant and refused repeatedly to answer any of the questions posed by reporters by throwing his weight around and making stupid, juvenile jokes for about 15 minutes.
At least he should have been acountable for not explaining that when he’s hungry he doesn’t always “need some ribs.” In fact, he’s reportedly eaten many different kinds of foods over the years besides ribs when he’s hungry.
Oh yes. And “it wasn’t clear where else the new money would go, or whether other government programs would have to be cut to make way for this spending…”
It’s a wide open race and I think it’s a good thing because it’s turning into a helluva show. And, a helluva show keeps the media talking to Democrats, showing footage of Democrats, analyzing Democrats and basically giving us lots of free air time and exposure. Our guys are entertaining, unpredictable and they are giving some very good television. Every minute that we are being discussed and examined is a minute they aren’t showing another tedious, mind-numbing Dubya fund raising speech in front of “subliminable” backdrops and handpicked cheering crowds. The longer we keep Bush from getting that free and easy oxygen and the longer our story remains suspenseful and exciting, the less he gets to dominate the narrative.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s not a big deal even if we take it all the way to a brokered convention. We’d keep Rove on his toes and it would be an exciting show to watch. As we’ve (re) discovered, many people make up their minds late in the game. If we spend the next 6 months with 4 guys slamming the hell out of Bush day in and day out, it may take its toll.
Regardless of how it all turns out, I hope that we can all agree that ever believing media hype is a fools game. They are very rarely right with their crystal ball gazing and they have absolutely no shame about being wrong. Indeed, as you look around the TV dial today it’s hard to find any talking head who is the least bit chagrined at having called the election over about 6 weeks ago. (By the way, has anyone heard from Ted Rall lately?)
I wrote below in my rambling posts about “the base vs swing voters” that I was skeptical about Dean’s movement. (Actually, I’m skeptical of all movements that are tied too closely to one person or event, but that’s another post.) The results in Iowa did not ease my mind. The argument has been that Dean’s organization and ability to attract new voters, particularly young voters, mitigated his perceived weaknesses as a Northeastern “liberal,” his association with the controversy of civil unions and his lack of foreign policy experience. Iowa is only one state and it has an arcane caucus system, but the results mirrored the polls which do tell a story.
According to the entrance polls, 40% of voters get some news from the internet. Of those, Dean got 24%, Edwards got 22% and Kerry got 33%. The “internet vote,” such as it is, is not solely a Dean phenomenon. The first time voters made up an astonishing 45% of the caucus goers. But again, of that 45%, Dean got only 19%, Edwards got 28% and Kerry got 35%. It appears that the turn out was high and many were first time voters, but the benefit did not go to Dean. In the 17 to 29 year old age group, which made up only 17% of the electorate, Dean received 25%, Edwards 20% and Kerry 35%. So, young voters did not turn out in force and of those that did, only a quarter supported Dean.
Iowa is not dispositive. However, it is the first time we’ve had any way of measuring the claims that seemed to have been taken as gospel by the media. I’ve no doubt that Deans supporters are very sincere and passionate. But, until now we literally had no way of measuring whether that passion was widespread and well-organized or whether it was campaign hype and wishful thinking. I think we will have to wait and see the results of a couple more of the races, but we now have some data upon which to begin making decisions about whether Dean’s unorthodox electoral strategy for the general election has a chance of working.
I’ve argued that in this election we don’t have to reinvent the wheel — that conditions remain pretty much frozen where they were in 2000. 9/11 brought foreign policy to the fore as an issue, but it didn’t change the electoral map, it merely reinforced existing conditions. Indeed, in a strange way, 9/11 may have given us an opening by allowing Democratic candidates with military experience (whom you may have noticed far outnumber leading Republicans with military experience) to use that experience as one of the cultural signifiers that can challenge Junior in swing states and force him to work a bit to hold the south.
By doing this, we might be able to challenge the absurd “he kept our babies safe” narrative enough to make him defend his ridiculous foreign and economic policies alike. There is no guarantee, of course, but there is ample evidence that you can get swing voters in those desperately needed swing states with the right blend of cultural comfort and economic populism. Foreign policy credentials, particularly combat and military leadership, are part of that cultural comfort.
I don’t have anything against the concept of forgetting that strategy and instead concentrating on bringing in disaffected voters, appealing to young voters and trying to get swing voters based on the theory that because they embody the duality of Lakoff’s “strict father/nurturant mother” definition of the two parties, they will vote for whichever party’s candidate excites them the most. Any or all of these things could mean that our presidential candidate would not have to have the cultural signifiers that appeal to swing voters. But, for at least two of those suppositions, there is evidence from the past that it will not work. The young voter/disaffected voter paradigm was touted as the way out again and again during our years in the wilderness and it always failed. We have never tried the Lakoff approach so I can’t say that it doesn’t work, but we do know that swing voters in the past have leaned toward whoever seemed to be more moderate, not more exciting. It might work the other way, but it has never been tested.
I remain unconvinced that the internet has become the defining organizational tool of the modern campaign. It has shown itself to be useful in fundraising, but the rest remains an amorphous potential as yet undemonstrated. It is too new and too insular just yet to be touted as having surpassed the personal skill of the candidate, the mainstream media and advertising as the most effective way to reach voters, as some have argued. It’s definitely in the mix and it’s likely to become much more important over time, but I don’t see that it has yet changed the process fundamentally. (I say this as an inveterate political internet junkie who is so hooked that life is unthinkable without it now.)
John Emerson has made some very valuable points in his posts over on Seeing the Forest about long term strategy, along with his tag team blogger Dave Johnson who has long touted the need for the Democrats to create an info-structure to battle the Republicans on explicitly political grounds (as he does here on American Street.) They are both absolutely correct that we have to think long term and build the institutions and create the rhetoric that can break the deadlock we find ourselves in. They are not winning on policy, they are winning on politics and we’ve got to counter them more effectively overall.
However, I continue to believe that this presidential election is the most important in my lifetime and we will only win it by running the smartest campaign we possibly can. It’s imperative that we break the GOP lock on institutional power ASAP. Therefore, I don’t think we can afford to experiment. As I said, I’ll wait to see what develops in the next couple of primaries. But, if these numbers out of Iowa are indicative of other states then I do not think we can afford to nominate Howard Dean. Unlike the other leading candidates, I can’t see a scenario in which he can win if he isn’t able to draw great numbers of young and disaffected voters in swing states that haven’t been friendly to a Northeastern Democrat since JFK — who won, by the way, only by the slimmest and most dubious of margins.
Nowadays, Democrats don’t take the office when that happens.
Kevin Hayden has written an awesome analysis of Iowa and the possible ramifications of what is looking like a possible serious upset, over at The American Street. If what he thinks is true, this race is going to be very, very exciting.