Do the math
The right wing loves Joe Lieberman. The right wing hates (hates hates hates) Howard Dean.
Hmmmm.
I wonder which candidate I should support?
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I don’t know that the right hates hates hates Howard Dean, my guess is that they would prefer to run against him than against any of the other Democratic candidates…judging from the ad I saw on television tonight by a democratic group attempting to bring Dean and Osama together for a joint tv appearance, there are some on the left who hate Dean as much any rank-and-file right-winger might.
It seems there’s probably a stronger dislike between the Clinton faction of the democratic party and the Dean/Gore faction of the party than there is from the right.
Unfortunately it looks like this is going to be a presidential election filled with a lot of hate, on all sides. And it’s going to be ugly ugly ugly.
Wayne: On the surface the right says they’d love to run against Dean. But there’s a rising tide of “Dean is a wacko” going around, which to me says they fear him. Because he’s clearly not a wacko, and not nearly so liberal as they try to paint him. When I said “hates hates hates,” I really meant fears fears fears.
They actually would love to have Lieberman, because he’s a fake Republican. So either way they win. But mainly, they know that if given the choice between a fake Republican and a real one, people will choose the real one.
I agree that he’s certainly not wacko, and was far more moderate a governor than people realize. But it seems that groups of democrats are working hard at making him look like he’s standing at the edge of the cliff on the left, when he’s probably more moderate than the rest of the bunch-not including his stance on the war.
The thing is, I would think for him to win the presidency he would have to really come to the center, which would be natural for him taking into consideration how he governed, but then you run into the same thing as with Lieberman-where it’s hard to draw a hard line between you and your opponent when you’re both racing towards the center to gather those bell curve, undecided voters. On top of that, to get away from the cliff’s edge, where he’s been shoved by either the media, others in his own party, or republicans, he has to fight through this wacko issue, sort of the same issue that McCain got painted with in the last election(his Luke Skywalker lightsaber impersonation comes to mind).
And the difference that’s left is the war issue, where he has built his groundswell of support at the grass roots level. Leaving him in the position of having to beat Bush on an issue, where, barring a serious downturn in events in Iraq, another terrorist attack, he has to convince those those undecided bell curve-heartland people that he could do a better job defending the country. I’m not saying that that is impossible…but a lot of his support has been built on the issue from a standpoint of, “we shouldn’t have gone in the first place.” To really sell himself to America, I think he’ll have to get past that point, and deal with the reality that we ARE there now, and present a plan to move forward from this point that resonates better than the administration’s.
The Bush camp I think feels pretty good about the “war on terrorism” issue, and would prefer someone who is voicing a viewpoint directly opposed to their own. Especially if things improve in Iraq, and we don’t have another attack here at home. There is the WMD issue, which is consistantly swept under the rug and really not on the minds of the bell-curve voters, I think Dean can make progress there, but it’s still an uphill battle to convince those who haven’t already been ardent in their stance against the war.
Not only do I admit my take could be completely wrong in someone else’s opinion, I know that at any minute, we could have an event that completely changes the political landscape and voids all of this. And jobs and the economy will be an issue, but with the economy growing, he’ll have to really stress the job creation issue which is an administration weak spot that hasn’t really gotten much air time as it’s sort of “embedded” in the economy issue.
It will be an interesting race to watch, that is for sure. And like I mentioned before, I hope it doesn’t get horribly ugly, which it seems is highly likely right now as emotions are running higher than I can recall in the past going into an election year.
Clark has to be involved in the Dean campaign. Clark and Dean are the only ones who consistently take on dubya on the issues. Dean brings massive grassroots support and hope for non-voters. Clark has what neither Dean or dubya has – military experience. Apparently Clark also defied dubya’s bogus gag order today and let loose on C-SPAN. I haven’t seen it yet but I can’t wait.
Although I thought Lieberman was dead weight on the Gore 2000 ticket, I did not have strong feelings about him–mild dislike at best. In this 2004 race, I am beginning to despise Lieberman. He’s a Republican suck-up who is just damaging the Democratic party. He’s more interested in shooting down Dean (or anyone else he perceives as a threat) than ensuring that we don’t have 4 more years of a horrendous administration. And his whining about not getting Gore’s endorsement is just pathetic. Does he really think Average Joe Voter cares if his feelings are bruised? I sure don’t. I respect Gore for endorsing the candidate he feels most strongly about.
I forgot to mention that Lieberman looks like a basset hound. OK, now I’m just being mean and irrelevant, but I can’t help myself.
Jen: I always thought Lieberman looked like Droopy Dog. But that’s just me. 🙂
Speaking of politicians that look like fictional characters…former speaker Tom Foley(along with Richard Mulligan from Empty Nest/Soap) always reminded me of Sam the Eagle from The Muppets. 🙂
Still early days yet. Around this time during the first Clinton campaign, he had less than 4% of the vote, if I remember that number correctly.
Lieberman won’t get the nom, but I wouldn’t discount Clark.
With all due respect, do you honestly think Howard Dean stands a snowball’s chance of winning the presidency? We Republicans are sitting back and loving it- watching the Democrats move radically far to the left, while they unknowingly give up more and more power.
BTW- I certainly hope Dean gets the Democratic nod in the primaries.
-A Republican Dean Supporter