Something Happy for Sspad

[mburbank]

Sam; This is from the Nation; a report from David Corn after attending a gathering of Deomcratic Presidential candidates.

Naldo, if you're reading: Yes, the Nation. Admittedly a heavily biased publication, and this is an OP ED piece, not news. As you're so fond of stating, though, the quotes are real.

"Dean(Howard Dean, former Gov. of Vermont)... hit the podium with a sharp declaration: "What I want to know is why in the world the Democratic Party leadership is supporting the president's unilateral attack on Iraq?" He then blasted the party's leaders for not challenging President Bush on whether there should be any new tax cuts; for obsessing over a patients' bill of rights rather than "standing up" for providing health care insurance for all; and for going along with Bush's "Leave No Child Behind" education legislation, which he claimed would leave behind "every student, every teacher and every school board." After this machine-gun opening, he paused and said, "I'm Howard Dean and I'm here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party." Cue the applause? Actually, applause lights were not needed. Many in the crowd jumped up and cheered.

Using that old Paul Wellstone line, Dean--who is the first to say that as a balanced-budget fanatic he is not a "Wellstone liberal"--provoked one of the strongest reactions of the two-day candidate-tasting. He went on to extoll his record (balancing budgets in Vermont, expanding a state health program so that essentially every child up to the age of 18 receives health coverage, conserving hundreds of thousands of acres of public land, signing legislation that established legal civil unions for gay and lesbian couples) and whacked Bush and the Republicans for cynically and falsely using the word "quotas" to attack affirmative action. ("White folks in the South driving with Confederate decals on the back of pickup trucks ought to be voting with us, not them, because their kids don't have health insurance either.") Dean finished up by proclaiming that the task for Democrats is not merely succeeding in 2004: "Is this party about the next election, or is it about changing America?..Only by changing America will we win back the White House." More applause. Much more.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

I hate The Nation. Somehow, even if Joe Lieberman is the Democratic candidate, they'll find some reason not to throw their support behind the Green Party candidate.

"Dean(Howard Dean, former Gov. of Vermont)... hit the podium with a sharp declaration: "What I want to know is why in the world the Democratic Party leadership is supporting the president's unilateral attack on Iraq?"

Politicians running for office, especially the White House, craft their words in a very strict fashion. This statement leads me to believe that if the UN supported the war completely and stood by their previous resolution, that Howard Dean MAYBE wouldn't be so vocal against it. Not good enough, in my book.

Don't get me wrong, I like Dean, and I like that guy from Ohio with the stupid name even better. But the fact that neither of these two will get the necessary support from the Party aparatus is EXACTLY what's wrong with the Democratic Party.

[Ronnie Raygun]

I totally agree with Kevin.

The democratic party shouldn't be afraid to say and do what they really want......

The need to run on a pro abortion, tax raising, national healthcare, redistrobution of the wealth, anti-military platform.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

blah, blah, blah, we've heard your rhetoric (word of the day) before.

Rush's material is old, you should move on to Mike Savage's. Or are you afraid to ackowledge that the Republican agenda just MAY reflect his lunacy...?

[ranxer]

I hate The Nation. Somehow, even if Joe Lieberman is the Democratic candidate, they'll find some reason not to throw their support behind the Green Party candidate.

i thought you claimed to be a green kevin.. what the hell are you talking about? Joe Lieberman?! maybe i'm dont get waht your saying for other reasons but he's gotta be one of the most corporately crooked people running for president, besides gw that is. how can you think that supporting green party candidates is something against the nation mag? do you understand why the nation supports issues that the dems do double speak on over and over again?

i'd like to put parties aside and talk issues, but you dont sound like a green party member.

[Ronnie Raygun]

Kevin, like me, doesn't blindly follow a political party.

...........

**This is going to be good**

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Ranxer, I think you misunderstood. What I was saying was that even if the Democratic candidate is the WORST possible choice (that being Lieberman), the Nation would STILL find a reason to support him and bash Nader. Meanwhile, they'd bitch and moan on and on about how bad another 4 years of Bush will be, how the Greens are spoilers, blah, blah, etc.

[mburbank]

Naldo, first of all neither you nor Ranxer didn't follow what Kev was saying, so your comment was without context as a reply. Not that it matters, since you were only spouting anyway. What evidence have you ever given to show you differ in any way with the official Republican Party Platform? What evidence have you ever given of original thought of any kind at all? Tell me some opinion that isn't absolutely verbatim something you heard or read, show me the faintest glimmer of analysis in process tking place inside the 'tiny box' on your head, and I'll back off until the next time you say something completely appauling.

[Anonymous]

Easy for you to say, baby killer/molester.

[ranxer]

k, ill take my foot outta my mouth now kevin.

I'm having trouble decifering what you said burbank.. what i just read is telling me what to answer so much my brain has defaulted to reciting something that doesnt even make sense to me anym.. oops. um..

what makes you think i'm not talking from what i believe? or even suspect? spouting sure, but reciting.. no way. i go too far sometimes, but this IS i-mockery right?

[Anonymous]

You probably kill/molest babies too.

You are so going to hell.

[mburbank]

Ranxer, while I did say that you didn't follow what Kev had said, all the comments past that were directed at 'Naldo.

Particularly I meant that when Naldo thinks he's going to 'score' a 'point', he really doesn't care if it follows logically. While I sometimes disagree with you, I haven't found your comments out of context at any time.

[ranxer]

oops, another foot in my mouth dang,

i stumbled on your nickname 'naldo' why do you call him naldo?
for a bit there i thought you were calling everyone that disagreed with you naldo, haha.

[Anonymous]

H. E. DOUBLE-HOCKEY-STICKS, MOTHERFUCKER

[ranxer]

8-)

[mburbank]

He is almost everyone I disagree with, at least that vehemently. I'm a very open minded guy and actually like trying on the other guys shoe, especially if it's LADY'S STILLETTO, YOU GET ME?!

I find it most ironic he thinks of me as trapped in a single world view as I almost reflexively try to understand what it's like to hold other people's viewpoints. You missed early on in our 'relationship' where he blew up and put down most of my reactions to him as being based on my Judaism, all the while not knowing
A.) I don't practice the religion
B.) Was raised in Rural Mass and didn't set eyes on a Jew outside my family until I was thirteen.
C.) Attended episcopal high school where I studied religion for four years and learned the liturgy backwards and forwards attending chapel and singing in the choir.

The Naldo nic name comes from a movie, although truthfully I'm having trouble accesing the memory right now. The Characters name was Renaldo, called 'Naldo by his friends and I remeber him being smug and irritating.

[sspadowsky]

Thanks, Maxie. You didn't have to go and dig something up for me. Watching your exchanges with Raygun makes me happy enough.
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Itunes gift cards

[mburbank]

No prob, Sam. I stumbled upon it in my daily reading. It does my heart good to see an openly anti-war candidate this early in the game.

I had a soft spot for Kerry in that he tried for years prior to Iran Contra to bring the CIA's South American Drugs for Arms deals into the light of day, and he did it alone.

I fear, though, having signed on to the Presidents use of Force resolution he would have a hard time taking a serious anti-war stance.

Kucinech wrote something several months ago which I think I even posted here that was heartening. It's interesting so MANY dems are heading for the field. Perhaps their polls show Bush as far more vulnerable than he is usually painted.