I'm voting for Howard Dean on Tuesday. My vote isn't etched in stone and I may change my mind before the Pennsylvania primary. Yet Dean to me has a few qualities that I think stand out. One: he's one of the two candidates that opposes the Iraq war. I believe that the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan are nightmarish and that American casualties will probably mount. I believe Dean, who is by far the most photogenic and dynamic of the Democratic speakers, can best exploit and explain this position. Two: He's run a brilliant campaign so far and he's the only candidate that I believe understands the net and understands it's potential. Why is this important? Because traditional politics poisoned by hard money combined with the decided FCC lean of the corporate media will give the Republicans a decided Orwellian advantage. Yet on the net, where Dean's Meetup sign-ups are nothing short of astonishing, it can be a fair vote. Let a thousand Three River Techs bloom, all of which endorse Howard Dean. I think we can make a fight of it out here. Three: Looks count and see one again. It matters how you look on television. Whenever I see Howard speak I feel like saying "Give 'em Hell Howard". Four: A vote for Kucinich is a vote for Graham or God help us Leiberman. I have nothing against Dennis (well his history as a pro lifer frightens me just a bit...) in fact I think he would be a great secretary of labor. But after watching him in debates, I just think that Dean can reach more voters. That's just a gut feeling. My gut told me the same thing about Bill Clinton. Charisma matters. He will also clean Bush's clock in a debate, decisively. It will be the guy who can talk against the guy who can't. I can't wait.
"America was never innocent. We popped our cherry on the boat over and looked back with no regrets. You can't ascribe our fall from grace to any single event or set of circumstances. You can't lose what you lacked at conception.
"Mass-market nostalgia gets you hopped up for a past that never existed. Hagiography sanctifies shuck-and-jive politicians and reinvents their expedient gestures as moments of great moral weight. Our continuing narrative line is blurred past truth and hindsight. Only a reckless verisimilitude can set that line straight."
--James Ellroy, American Tabloid
Ensure a Free and Fair Election (Ban Paperless Voting Machines
"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."
Post a Comment