Decius wrote:
] ] Today my candidacy may come to an end--but our campaign
] ] for change is not over.

why. won't. this. rock. bleed!

Dean has been like a zombie from a bad horror movie these last 2 weeks. He's been dead, but keeps walking, and his dialog was pathetic. Sadly his death wails weren't quieter

Acidus wrote:
] Decius wrote:
] ] ] Today my candidacy may come to an end--but our campaign
] ] ] for change is not over.
]
] why. won't. this. rock. bleed!
]
] Dean has been like a zombie from a bad horror movie these last
] 2 weeks. He's been dead, but keeps walking, and his dialog was
] pathetic. Sadly his death wails weren't quieter

[ That's retarded. He may not have won any primaries, but you can't argue with the fact that his campaign ignited and motivated hundreds of thousands of people, most of them political neophytes, to take part in the political process.

You only saw a zombie for the past two weeks because you had already written him off as out of the political picture, zip, next issue. There's more going on in the nation than a race for president, even if that's arguably the most critical element. There are house and senate races to win, there is policy to promote, research to be done, arguments to win against the conservatives and their religosity.

The Dean campaign built a huge grass roots movement out of a fucking Blog and a platform that makes sense -- rejecting that movement and dismantling the platform serves nothing, except perhaps your fragile ears, sparing them the odious burden of having to listen to his "death wails".

Dean neither wailed nor died today, and it the belief of many of us that he can move past his failings as a presidential candidate and continue succeeding as an organizer, motivator and promoter of a vision that many idealists still think is viable.

If he can parlay even 50% of the energy his campaign had into active promotion of Democratic goals, he will have done more for the party than the so-called "elite" have done in decades. Not withdrawing from the race permits him to get on the stage at the convention and promote some issues that the front runner can't, or won't, out of political necessity... it'll allow him to put some fire back into the Democratic party, which is something John Kerry simply isn't capable of.

I'm not sure if what Dean proposes is possible... i'm not sure the majority of Dean supporters will come away from this race with anything but a sense of bitter, cynical defeat, but i have hope for a positive outcome, and anyone who knows me well knows it's not because i'm an upbeat, positive guy, brimming with sunshine and lollipops. Dismissing all the successes Dean has had on a silly quip is asinine. He may yet fail utterly, but I, for one, am glad he will continue to fight, even if it's in a "lesser" battle. -k]

inignoct wrote:
] You only saw a zombie for the past two weeks because you had
] already written him off as out of the political picture, zip,
] next issue.

The press was clearly making this a reality. I saw several news advertisements in which an announcer said something like "We'll be talking about upcoming the XYZ primary... Who is going to win, and who is going to loose." With Dean's face poping up on the screen during the "loose" comment. Once Dean had lost one primary it was all bandwagoning from there. The press deselected him.

] Not withdrawing from the race permits him to get on the stage
] at the convention and promote some issues that the front
] runner can't, or won't, out of political necessity... it'll
] allow him to put some fire back into the Democratic party,
] which is something John Kerry simply isn't capable of.

It will also mean that it not longer matters what he says. He gets to concede defeat, and roll up his expenses, and still have the pulpit. Quite a feat if he can pull it off. They might not allow him to do that though. Its possible to un-invite anyone from a presidential debate. They press runs those, and they clearly don't like him. A Dean in front of cameras who has no reason to avoid saying anything that he wants to say is probably not something they are down for.

There is a reason that Clinton and the like don't have a major presence as political commentators, and that is because they BELIEVE it will have a destabilizing effect on the nation. If the former President was issuing critical press releases on a regular basis people might just decide to follow him instead of the leader of the country. But for this same reason the press likes to focus on movers rather then commentators in general, unless those commentators are considered "objective" (read not a part of the process). The internet is going to melt all of these chineese firewalls away, for better or for worse.

(As an aside, the first comment that really slayed dean was the "rebel flag" comment. They tore him to shreds on it. Had he said "NASCAR Dad" instead he might still be in this thing. As it is, it was Bush in Daytona, and not the Democrats.")

] I'm not sure if what Dean proposes is possible...

It is inevitable but Dean won't make it happen. It is a matter of time. In the late 90's some people used the internet for organizing campaigns, but not for communicating with voters. In 2000 the Presidential Candidates used the internet for communicating with voters, but not for organizing campaigns. This time you're seeing both, in a combined fashion, but the internet as a social force is not yet powerful enough to supercede the media. When that changes the kind of presidents you're going to see are the kind that speak to what people on the internet really want.

I frankly get most of my information about the world from MemeStreams, as crazy as it sounds, along with a handful of other web pages that I read and meme from. I don't watch TV news. I hardly ever read magazines anymore, and certainly not political ones. Bullshit on TV doesn't influence my understanding of the world, and that understanding is very much under my control. I choose what I read and who I trust. You guys are my editors. You tell me what is important. And I trust you a hell of a lot more then I trust the editorial staff at Fox, or even NYT. How long will it be before I'm normal? Not too long yet.

Now what do people like me want? Details. Thats what it boils down to. You've got to have a real plan, rather then spin and sound bites, and I've got to believe in that plan. Probably by the next election the winner will be someone who masters the things that Dean has mastered.