Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Reform Democrats: Which Votes Can We Get? The Details Matter

One of the things that the main-stream media, bless their left-wing-on-the-inside-right-wing-on-the-outside souls, does not get is that the devil is in the details. Last winter's coverage of Candidate Dean had all the detail of a view from the space shuttle. That's why, after he lost in Iowa, I and other fools like me moved quickly on to Kerry. We bought the media bullshit line that Dean was too liberal to be elected. We didn't even realize that his liberalness was itself bullshit. Right-wing goon Stephen Moore, writing in The Weekly Standard:


He had been awarded one of the highest grades among all Democrats (and a better grade than at least half of the Republicans) in the annual Cato Fiscal Report Card on the Governors. We were curious about his views because we had heard that he harbored political ambitions beyond the governorship.
...
He left--and I will never forget the nearly hypnotic reaction. The charismatic doctor had made believers of several hardened cynics. Nearly everyone agreed that we had finally found a Democrat we could work with. Since then, I've watched Dean's career with more than a little interest and we chat from time to time on the phone.

There are several signs that he was, and is, more than a little bit electable:

Southerners value authenticity.  To illustrate this, let me get a bit anecdotal and tell you about my father, whom if you remember from the first chapter is a card carrying, rock-ribbed conservative who listens to Rush Limbaugh nearly every single day.  Anybody care to take a wild guess about who he wanted to win this election?  To those who guessed George W. Bush, nice try, but no cigar.  My father wanted Howard Dean to win. He liked the fact that governor said what he meant and meant what he said.  He liked Dean's record with the Vermont budget.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home