clark

I am aggressively supporting Dean, too. The Iraq War will be a moot point by the time the election comes around, though the cost of it won't be. His support of civil unions make him the most likely of the candidates to stand up to religious extremists and most likely to support rights for nonbelievers.

Unlike any other current Democratic politician, Dean is exciting people. He is also using the Internet extremely effectively - "netroots campaigning". I am optimistic of his chances.

THOUGHTfully Yours,
Clark

cjack

I just caught the rerun of Wednesday's Democratic forum on C-Span.

I've got to admit, Dean seems like the best of the lot. They (the Dems) need to get their shit together really quick, though.

They need to figure out which one has the best chance against Bush and get behind him (or her) RIGHT NOW. Dump the dead weight (Sharpton, anyone?) and focus on the strongest candidates. They also need to highlight the differences between the parties, and hammer the Bush administration hard on the deficit and the economy.

Given what I've seen and read, I'd be more than happy to vote for Dean.

Bumble Bee Tuna

There is no doubt in my mind that Dean is the best candidate on the market from any party. This guy is awesome. I sincerely hope he gets elected.

-B

Ut

In 1846, among the Congressmen who voted against the Mexican-American War, there was one who came from Illinois.

His name was Abraham Lincoln.

This didn't prevent him from getting elected. In fact, when he campaigned for President, the major issue of the time was whether or not slavery should be allowed in the territories that had been gained in this war.

The difficulties of rebuilding Iraq are not over. The healing of international relations is not over, and we can safely assume that Bush et al. will do little in this respect. The war and post-war in Iraq have yet to be paid.

In a nutshell, the handling of the post-war Iraq will be a much bigger electoral issue than whatever position Dean has taken on the war itself.

Shake

I most definitely agree with this.

Yeah, Ut, I'm reading a book on Lincoln now. The author calls it An Ethical Biography. Now, I'm not very far into it, the author is quite wordy and repeats himself to make points, but you quickly get the point early on, that Lincoln was very different from the people around whom he grew up and others of his area. Somehow, people still liked and respected him.

Ion

I wish that next year, Howard Dean wins the Democrate nomination, then the U.S. presidency.

He is decent and not corrupt by the inner political circles.

However, the newspapers show the favorites for the Democrate nomination as being in descending order:

1) Joe Lieberman;

2) John Kerry;

3) Dick Gepherdt.

Lieberman is both a religious and susceptible to the the P.N.A.C. influence that preys now on Bush.

Lieberman, Kerry and Gepherdt approved the non-sense Bush's war on Iraq, Dean opposes it.

People, do something!

pug846

Since a lot of you have seen Howard speak, I was wondering how he comes across in person (and on TV). One of Clinton�s greatest assets was his well-spokenness and his ability to articulate himself. Tony Blair has the same ability and I catch myself immediately respecting Blair more, even when I disagree with him, simply because he sounds like he has thought through the issue and has something reasonable to say. This is of course contrasted with Bush, who might just be the worst public speaker I�ve ever seen. (Although he would get some competition from Houston�s mayor.) It�s a shame Bush is such a poor public speaker since I think he has absolutely brilliant speech writers. (E.g., I�m paraphrasing, but the �we are going to fight the terrorist with our marines, navy, air force and army in Iraq so we don�t have to fight them with our firefighters, police, and emergency workers in our city� was fucking brilliant.)

I�m torn on how I want the economy to fair; on one hand I want the economy to improve by the time I graduate in may of 2005, while on the other hand, I�d like it to continue to sputter along so the American people can blame Bush for all of our economic woes. It will be unfair to give Bush all the blame (or all the credit) for the state of the economy, but that�s how the public is going to vote anyway.

I wish Sharpton and Lieberman would drop out. Although I thought Liberman recently took a ballsy stance on homosexuals, he still scares the shit out of me. Sharpton is just an idiot.

Dean may be the first candidate I�ve seen�local or national�that I�m actually excited enough about to want to work on his campaign. My state will certainly go to Bush, but it would be nice if Bush�s former home city of Austin would go to Dean, which is a distinct possibility.

I don�t think Dean�s stance on Iraq is going to be that big of a deal in a year or so � American�s have short memories and all they are going to want to know is what Bush has done for them lately. (I.e., are they financial well off?) At least, that�s what the middle, swing voters are going to care about.

Since Dean is fairly pro-state�s rights and somewhat fiscally conservative, I wonder if that would convince either Rehnquist (not likely) or O�Connor (possibility) to stick around through Bush II�s presidency and let Dean pick their replacement.

clark

Lieberman is losing ground, as is Gephardt. Many in the Democratic Party see Lieberman as the worst possible candidate because it will be a repeat of 2000. Gephardt's main support is from organized labor, but his first quarter fundraising was very lackluster for an established politician. Kerry is the one to beat at the moment. Many pundits are predicting the race will be between Kerry and Dean.

I agree and am! I think most on this board would agree that Dean is the friendliest candidate toward nonbelievers running, possibly the friendliest to run for President in recent memory. Any person that supports civil unions for gays and targets "fundamentalist preachers" will certainly be good for us.

WE NEED TO GET BEHIND HIM

- Sign up for a Dean 2004 Meetup and try to get local media to cover it

- Contribute to his campaign

- Volunteer to help the campaign, and sign up for local and regional e-mail lists

- Write letters to the editor supporting Dean

- Promote Dean to freethought, humanist and atheist groups

Getting Dean in the White House would be the best thing to happen to the nonreligious in America. It's an uphill battle, but not one that can't be won. Let's do it.

THOUGHTfully Yours,
Clark

Mr. Superbad

Listening to Howard Dean be interviewed solidified my support for him. He knows what he's doing. I haven't seen him on television being interviewed, but he comes off remarkably well on the radio.

Here are a couple good interviews:
Radio Nation Interview
On Point Interview

clark

Those are some good points. This is the first candidate that has excited me enough to work on his campaign.

I have yet to see Dean speak in person, but have watched him speak/debate on TV. There are some speeches available here - his speech at the California Democratic Convention is in the league with Clinton's best IMO. He carries himself well and is a very good speaker. His one weakness is part of his own strength- he tends to shoot from the hip and sometimes doesn't polish things off. His use of he word "suppose" regarding the removal of Saddam has been lampooned on Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing radio shows, and he referred to the Supreme Court as "nine old fossils" in an interview. When Tim Russert confronted him about it, he replied something to the effect "that was just some hyperbole I'll have to learn to tone down as this campaign progresses".

I hope Sharpton stays in the race because, although I have a better chance of being elected President (despite the fact that it would require a consitutional amendment), he makes the debates interesting. He had some of the most memorable lines at the Children's Defense Funds "debate". He's very funny, and I think will help the other candidates gain exposure at the future debates. I, too, hope Lieberman drops out. I think after Kucinich and Braun drop out, he might be next.

The make up of the Supreme Court is the main reason IMO why Bush Jr. has to be unseated. Do the words "Chief Justice Scalia", "Justice Roy Moore" and "Justice Miguel Estrada" scare you, too?

THOUGHTfully Yours,
Clark