(no subject)

[holzman_tweed]

Remember that horrible poem Bush wrote his wife where he called her "my lump in the bed?" Laura Bush lied about it. One has to wonder how bad his poetry reall is if that's what she came up with as an improvement. (supergee found that one.)

NPR had a Democrat Primary Debate yesterday. The congressional Democrats who don't understand why people haven't been falling all over themselves to give them the nomination they feel is their just due have taken up the wail, "Dean isn't electable." Maybe he is and maybe he isn't. Gephardt, Kerry, and Lieberman certainly aren't electable. How can you tell? Not only did Dean steal their thunder, look at how their inability to cope with Dean stealing their thunder.

It's simultaneously amusing and nice to see how the papers are reporting how "calm" Dean is responding to the criticisms, as if we're all peeking from under the bed because it looked like Mommy and Daddy were going to scream at each other, but horror has been averted.

Kucinich gets the "unclear on the concept" award though. He brought pie charts along to illustrate his points about the economy. Visual aids. For a radio show.
Now I understand why my sister and her husband haven't heard of him despite being from the same state as him. Hopefully, my friends who like him because of his idealism understand better why he ranks rather low on my list of people I'd like to see with his finger on the button.

The good news of the day is taht it looks like Andrew
Fastow, former CFO is cutting a plea bargain with the fed that will involve him going to prison for 10 years, and his wife for 5 months. If he's bargaining down to a decade in prison, it's because he knows they have the goods on him to send him away until the next ice age. Hopefully, part of the bargain is he'll go state's witness against Ken Lay, who ought get no deals cut, and who ought miss out on the heat death of the universe because he still won't be eligible for parole yet.

Comments

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Oh dear.

Kucinich has struck me as a goofball for a while now. Sadly he's one of the few even in the same quadrant as I in the little political compass thing. Weirdly most of my friends are in that quadrant too but apparently not much of the rest of the American public is...

You seem to be more on the pulse of what's going on than I am. I got the MoveOn.org press release re the RNC using a couple of the 1500 contender ads to try to smear them. I'm hoping someone's looking into who submitted those two ads, and whether or not those people have some ties to the RNC. Doesn't that seem like something RNC would do?

Anyway I can't help but feel that the fighting we're hearing within the democrats is going to hurt us all in the end. And don't get me started about Nader and his musing bout running again!

[holzman.livejournal.com]

I got the same note from MoveOn, and wondered the same thing. I hope they are looking into it, because if they were submitted by a ringer, they need to have a field day with the fact.

I don't know if the infighting will hurt or not -- it didn't hurt Reagan, and Bush the elder criticizing Reagan's positions is how the phrase "voodoo economics" entered the lexicon.

I've ranted on Nader before. The Greens need to find themselves a better class of politican.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

I emailed the "info" account at moveon.org. You might feel like doing so too.

[firinel.livejournal.com]

Kucinich gets the "unclear on the concept" award though. He brought pie charts along to illustrate his points about the economy. Visual aids. For a radio show.
Now I understand why my sister and her husband haven't heard of him despite being from the same state as him. Hopefully, my friends who like him because of his idealism understand better why he ranks rather low on my list of people I'd like to see with his finger on the button.

People are harping on this and to me it seemd as if the people who are going to let this make a differences are slightly dim-witted themselves, and unimaginative. You may not be able see pie charts on the radio but the other people debating with him can. Rather than considering it a visual aid, consider it a conversation starter, or derailer, even. Dean could see them just fine, which is what Kucinich wanted. It gave Dean the oppurtunity to see, and respond-- all of which the radio listners benefit from. Had he come in there without them and simply tried to explain how his research has shown issues, he would have been told to show proof, to back things up, at best, and at least they'd have had no idea what he was talking about because it's complicated and they've smoked far too much pot to get complex ideas.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

True. And presumably there was a studio audience.

He still comes across as a goofball.

[holzman.livejournal.com]

Nope -- one of the specific features of the debate was that there was no studio audience. They had interviews on NPR this morning with all the people who hand to stand outside in order to hold support demonstrations for the various candidates.

[holzman.livejournal.com]

I'd already ruled Kucinich out for a variety of reasons, so I suppose I'm not letting this make a difference so much as I'm letting it validate the choice I'd already made.

I'm skeptical about the posters as visual aids meant only for the other candidates. If all he was after was documentation of his points, a list of references meets the request to back things up. I suppose it's within the realm of plausability.

and at least they'd have had no idea what he was talking about because it's complicated and they've smoked far too much pot to get complex ideas.

To whom are you referring in this statement?

[firinel.livejournal.com]

Dean.

In a debate hosted by CNN I was concerned with Dean's response regarding drug use. It was similar to what I'd imagine a simultaniously drunk and stoned frat boy would answer, and not that of someone who uses it both recreationally and responsibly.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

I'm not all that happy with Dean either, but I'm in the Anybody But Bush camp, and Graham left the race.

I think the "who's on fire" thing is worth worrying about. It can't just be who we like best, or who we most match, but who we can deal with and who we can get in.

[holzman.livejournal.com]

Having looked over the debate transcripts I've been able to find, I don't see anything he's said that would indicate his drug use would be something describable in the present tense. Can you give me a pointer to the statement you're concerned about?

[firinel.livejournal.com]

Hmm, it was one on tv quite awhile ago now that had all of the Democrat canidates on, including Al Sharpton and Carol Moseley-Braun. It was, I believe, early November. The question was something like, 'have you done drugs in the past, and can you reitterate your stance on the legalisation of marajuana?' and he said something very like "psssh!YEAH!"

I have to admitt, from the multiple times I've seen him live I just generally dislike his demeanour, and since there are people/platforms that better match my own, never really considering him him much. I'd welcome reasons to believe otherwise though.

[holzman.livejournal.com]

Since inflection and tone isn't captured in the transcripts, I could have read what you saw and missed that piece of it.

Jade tells me that she remembers me mentioning how he responded about having used marijuana -- that I had liked the fact that he acknowledged it and refused to wibble about it, giving the topic of past marijuana use the triviality I think it deserves.

In general, I've liked Dean's demeanor, but that can simply be a matter of personal taste. Republicans have been able to dominate politics for a while now by acting like bullies and Democrats have largely wilted under it. I appreciate Dean's ability to stand up to it with a rock solid response. (The exchange between him and Lieberman and him about Saddam Hussein is a perfect example of this. The fact is he's right and Lieberman's wrong: there is no risk that the American people faced on 13 December that was mitigated on 14 December. In their ongoing conversation on the topic, Dean has supported his statement with hard facts about those risks.)

I also like about him that his web page has some specific plans for things like health care.

The things he and I don't see eye-to-eye on, I can live with on a 4-to-8 year basis.

What about Kucinich's platform do you like better than Dean's?