2004 Elections: Democratic Party Contenders

Feh! I can't sing??? I guess you won't be wanting those free back-stage passes and the autographed CD then?

U R a hater Bernie!

Tartarin

No, I'm familiar with this wonderful essay and I've linked it here and there, but the particular definition I need isn't in it. It was actually an English prof who turned me on to it, and I did find it via google a few years back, and saved it on an old hard drive that passed away.

fishin

Yes, on the backstage passes. They always provide a certain status-elevating function re the ladies. Possession of your CD will be a clear negative in this regard, so suggest you go with the shiny coaster option.

Driveth me berserk, Blatham, because we've been there, done that, with respect to the Hofstadter quote and I only hope, when I'm on my deathbed, ancient and addled, you'll phone me up and say "Eureka" and read me the relevant passage!! I promise if I find it I'll send it.

Hey! Go to Amazon's homepage, Blatham, and take a look! Bezos announced their new book search engine in which you and enter any word from any book and they'll find it. Hmmm. Hofstadter. Myth....

Try it, B. Try typing in as I did: American myth Hofstadter...

Nope...merely a passage from some essay or text.

Boycott possible in Florida straw poll for Democratic presidential candidates
BY PETER WALLSTEN
Miami Herald

Excerpt

TALLAHASSEE -- All nine Democrats running for president signed a joint letter Wednesday threatening to boycott the Florida state party's biggest pep rally of the year.

At issue: Florida Democrats want to hold a ''straw poll'' at their annual convention in December to gauge the candidates' popularity among the faithful, an event that would draw added prestige and money to the event.

Campaign strategists, though, complain it would drain precious time and money from the campaigns just weeks before real votes are cast in the 2004 primaries.

But it was immediately clear late Wednesday that state party leaders still favored conducting the poll during their December convention -- and that the candidates' threats could well ring hollow once they confront the risk of alienating activists and donors in the state that decided the 2000 election.

Full story

Blatham -- I just went googling, kind of down memory lane (sheesh, I need to get out there, cut the brush), and came across a nice essay by one of RH's students:

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/98nov/hofstadt.htm

Makes me want to go back and read RH once again. They should be in my library so I guess I might do some shopping around. Thanks, Tart.

Glad you enjoyed that, LW. I thought it was a gem and it made me yearn for the good ol' days...

tah indeed, tart

This link relates to the discussion that, a few days back, flared up like a self-immolated buddhist. On the subject of nasty rhetorical moves at large in the present political culture... http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/26/magazine/26WWLN.html

Very good, Blatham. I claim the Al Franken role.

(I have to admit I'm still not convinced by the "hate Bush" notion. Not hate. Something else. Also, as those in the know will tell you, Bush's personality -- no, personal behavior -- is more cynical and unleashed than Traub grasps.)

Debate tonight, FOX, 8 pm Eastern. (edit: thanks to Brand X for the correction.)

I hope the candidates address the following:

1- Remember how Judy Woodruff of CNN treated you at the last debate. So learn your lesson. Take control from the moderator. Al Sharpton knows how to handle this verbal abuse; how about the rest of you?

2- The three retired CIA who appeared before the Senate Dems on Friday all but accused Bush of treason in this unprecedented leak. These guys gave you an opening. Now who will follow up?

3- The $87BN for Iraq is mostly going to Halliburton, Carlyle and Bechtel in order to rebuild what Bush destroyed in his preemptive War for Oil. Mention it. And tell us why some of you voted for it. We could use that $87 billion right here at home. On several different things...

4- Bush is stonewalling on the 9/11 investigation. He is afraid to release documents on the Saudi connection and on his Aug. 6 CIA briefing. I'd like to see some pounding on it. What about the 9/11 victims suit and James Baker representing the Saudis?

5- A recent Nobel-prize winner in Economics has referred to the Bush tax policy as a "form of looting". What about this? If he said it, and Gore said it, will you say it?

Patriot Act, Diebold, partial birth abortion, Scalia's comments on the "gay agenda", the economy, jobs, blahblahblah...

There'll probably be some ganging-up on Dean, since he's stretching his lead in NH and elsewhere, but I expect all the candidates to remember what the real objective is: re-defeating Bush in 2004.

Diddie -- Diddie you see the article in the NYTimes the other day about Dean's outspokenness, and how it seems to be working (so far, they suggest, ominously)?

Re-defeat Bush - good plan.

Yes. He's gathering momentum, no question.

Expect to see Kerry, Lieberman, Kucinich, and Gephardt all fire shots at him tonight.

But I'm interested in the matter of the outspokenness -- how productive it is, and why, and what you would have your favorite candidate say and how. I don't mind that they take pot shots at each other -- that's useful too. But I'd like to see a more devastating volley directed at the admin.

Correction:

Sunday night's debate will air live on Fox News Channel at 8:00 p.m. EST.

You just want to know who my favorite is.

It's still 'whoever wins', or more directly, 'whoever shows the intestinal fortitude to carpe the diem.

C'mon, do I have to put words in each of their mouths? I thought giving them five talking points was more than enough...



Dat's how I feel.