Tuesday, January 13, 2004

William Saletan: Hard-Headed Howard
Dean can win, with a little tough love

Okay. We'll give Saletan a break..for the time being. From all I've read from him at Slate these past six months, he's a fickle and rather catty sort. But then again, so is the American public. Perhaps the Dean campaign could glean something positive from this bit of advice.
*note: Slate could use a new photographer...unless they intended to make Dean's head look misshapen.
Paul Krugman: The Awful Truth
".....People are saying terrible things about George Bush. They say that his officials weren't sincere about pledges to balance the budget. They say that the planning for an invasion of Iraq began seven months before 9/11, that there was never any good evidence that Iraq was a threat and that the war actually undermined the fight against terrorism.
-But these irrational Bush haters are body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freaks who should go back where they came from: the executive offices of Alcoa, and the halls of the Army War College...having a few months of good news doesn't excuse a consistent pattern of dishonest, irresponsible leadership. And that pattern keeps getting harder to deny."



Washington Post: Release From Jail Sought for Cleared
Terrorism Suspect Benamar Benatta
By Michael Powell


credit: Washington Post
"...Benatta is one of the last lost men of 9/11. Jailed on the day of the 2001 attacks, the Algerian air force lieutenant has spent more than two years in federal prisons -- much of that time in solitary confinement -- even though the FBI formally concluded in November 2001 that he had no connection to terrorism...."

Crisis Papers: A Quick Pat on the Back-
Now Into the '04 Trenches

By Bernard Weiner, Co-Editor
".... half the population already is considering voting for someone other than George Bush and his extremist policies, thanks in no small measure to the work liberals, progressives, moderates and others have done over the past year.
-We should feel good about all that. Take a deep breath, smile, take in the props....OK, that's enough. Now we need to stop patting ourselves on the back, and get back to work...fasten your seat belts; it's going to be one hell of a scary, bumpy ride.."


Dean Calls War "Strategic Error"; Cites Army War College Report, Secretary O'Neill Statements, Carnegie Endowment
"....Time To Stand Up for America, Stand Against Administration that Misled Nation Into War.."

An Astute Observation by Josh Marshall

Number of days between Novak column outing Valerie Plame and announcement of investigation: 74 days.

Number of days between O'Neill 60 Minutes interview and announcement of investigation: 1 day.

Having the administration reveal itself as a gaggle of hypocritical goons ... priceless.

-- Josh Marshall
Either the Washington Press Corps has amnesia, they're timid lily-livers, or they've got an anti-Dean agenda

I'm just not sure which of the above is true, but the many of the total bores in the Washington Press Corps seem to think they will be able to control the People with their tripe being passed off as "professional journalism". They helped to ruin Gore with their ego-bloated idiocy in 2000.
This time the People have their number. They are becoming nearly as despicable as Bush himself. They have no right calling Howard Dean a conspiracy theorist, crazy, or any other negative insinuations or accusations. Read this Village Voice article. Are our memories that short-term...really?? What Howard Dean said on Diane Rehm does not even require a stretch of the imagination.

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Eric Boehlert has an article at Salon.com directly related to this topic. It's a definitive narrative of the history of the media's dysfunctonal relationship with Howard Dean:

Salon.com: The media vs. Howard Dean
Democrats haven't voted yet, but reporters have got the story: The former Vermont governor is angry, gaffe-prone and unelectable. How do they know? Republicans, and anonymous Democrats, told them so.
By Eric Boehlert

"........." For Dean's top backer there must be a sense of déjà vu in all of this. In 2000, Vice President Al Gore suffered from chronically caustic coverage that clung to all sorts of fictional, Republican-inspired spin about the vice president being an unlikable, untrustworthy exaggerator. Suddenly, as with Gore in 2000, it seems Dean is battling not only his Democratic opponents and Republican Party officials, he's also wrestling members of the media's chattering class who view him with growing unease and even contempt..."

"..It's the press, egged on by Republican spin and eager to play the role of hardheaded analyst, that has latched onto this notion that Dean is too passionate to be president....."

"...with all the focus on electability, most stories [re: questioning Dean's electability] seem short on data that proves their thesis....."

"....Sometimes the narrative starts with the mainstream media and gets picked up by the RNC, sometimes it's the other way around. What's beyond debate is that there's a media echo chamber -- and its focus has been on Dean's flaws. And if the trend continues, more voters may agree with Gore about the rightward bias of the media....."