I wrote:
"For people to write that the Dean campaign is "business as usual" is to be completely blind to the threat that the Dean organization poses to the Democratic Party Weaselocracy."
Com. Frank wrote:
"true, his campaign has upset the ultimate weasels by threatening their power with a new group of weasels..."
Unless by "weasels" you mean "Democrats", I don't accept this. Go to a Dean office and meet the folks before you call them "weasels".
"but why is it necessary to praise him by demeaning kucinich? he stands for peace, truly, and far, far more that is progressive than does dean, and the fact that he is not nearly as good and true a political whore is no reason to treat him disrespectfully..."
It's necessary to demean Kucinich because Kucinich is running a vanity campaign. If Kucinich were serious (and he is not) then Kucinich would have been the one to plug into the energy of the Internet left. He didn't because he doesn't care to. He is simply running it the left-wing anti-beauty contest thrown every presidential cycle. Kucinich is this year's Nader - except that Nader helped form a real organization that has endured beyond his candidacy. Kucinich is doing NONE of that.
Com. Frank wrote:
"for many, dean is a lesser evil to bush, and for many, kucinich is a lesser evil to dean...let's not get too holier than thou about this...by all means respect the soundness of dean's campaign-as-usual smarts, but have a little respect for a candidate who is, at least, honest about what he stands for and believes, and doesn't
need a poll and focus group to find out what that is..."
As I have said over and over, I don't pretend that Dean is a progressive's dream, but Kucinich is the same nightmare of self-involved, political correctness from which the left has been suffering for years. I have no use for him. Kucinich does not "stand up" for what he believes in, he simply says it. Standing up in politics is getting other people to stand with you and Kucinich doesn't care who stands with him or whether anybody does at all.
Com Frank wrote:
"at this point, I'd vote for anything the democrats select (but not lieberman!), and hopefully, be able to avoid listening to whatever that candidate says during the campaign so that I could do so without vomiting..."
I certainly will not vote for any of the DLC candidates, anyone who voted for the Patriot Act, anybody who voted to give George Bush a blank check for war or any product of the Clintonistas. That rules out every viable candidate who is actually in this race to build something except Howard Dean. I'd vote for Bush before I'd vote for Kerry, Gephardt, Edwards, Lieberman or Clark. At least Bush is forthright about his beliefs.
Com. Frank writes:
"unless, by some miracle, it's kucinich, who has, at least, my vote in the primary...that's when, according to democratic legend, we vote for what we want, assuming it's available, and later suck sap, hold our noses, and pick whatever stench infested hero has been selected for us by those who know far more about actually running a democracy...barf."
If you are going to vote for whichever Democrat, why support Kucinich in the primary? Why not make your efforts count for something? Why not join the progressives, Greens, gays and anti-war activists online who are creating a core constituency for Dean? The core constituency of the Net Left that has propelled Dean's candidacy represents the best hope for a counterweight to the religious right. The Net Left could become the group that Democratic candidates have to go to first to get the new digital grass roots working for them.
If you want to move the agenda left for '08, then why not work to solifidy the Net Left? Every candidate will want to emulate Dean's success in coming elections. That means they will have to come to us first. If you ever want to elect a Kucinich, I suggest you support Dean this year.
peace,
boddi