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The Democratic Candidate for '04

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20:09 / 27.01.04

I'd like it if Kerry dressed like Elvis from now on. Or better yet, an aging glamrock transvestite. We really need more of them in public office, and it would help improve his poll numbers among the ambiguously gendered.

20:16 / 27.01.04

The fact that John Kerry and Wesley Clark supported the war but now don't is common knowledge. What would they have done if they were president, start the war but now be against it?
-raelianautopsy

I think Clark make a good attempt at addressing that issue when he argued that the "support" everyone talks about was a resolution that was based on informtion only disproven afterwards, premised on further inspections, going through the UN, and the consensus of US allies. From which I infer that his decision would have been to go through the UN rather than acting unilaterally. Of course, without Rummy's, Ashcroft's, and Haliburton's, I mean Cheney's opinions who knows how things would have worked out.

18:57 / 28.01.04

Well, at this point, Kerry's the frontrunner after Iowa and New Hampshire.

Dean may still have a chance, but right now I think it's going to be decided in whether or not Tarantula can follow through on its potential and carry the Southwest states, depriving Kerry of the support he needs there. I mean, in the best of all possible worlds, we'd see a Tarantula (or maybe Dean/Tarantula) administration getting sworn in next January, but it's looking more and more like the electorate is going to stick with known quantities.

16:31 / 30.01.04

Does it really matter who wins the US elections, Democrats or Republicans?

It is well documented academically and politically, outside the US at least, that there are only 2 parties which have the multi-million dollar support required to run candidates - both have extremely similar domestic and foreign policies, both are servile to multinational US-based companies, an extremely powerful, many would say censored, corporate media and various lobbies, particularly the Jewish lobby.

It's no surprise, therefore, that half of all Americans can't even bother to vote. Under the circumstances, who can blame them?

17:21 / 30.01.04

The amount of money that gets thrown at backing one candidate over another would seem to indicate that someone thinks that there is a fairly significant difference. But, maybe that's just a trick.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

21:01 / 30.01.04

One small point: I would agree that the US government is heavily influenced by certain powerful lobby groups, but... "particularly the Jewish lobby"? I don't see that. I'm not saying there isn't such a lobby, but surely it would pale into insignificance next to the Christian Right?

21:36 / 30.01.04

The amount of money that gets thrown at backing one candidate over another would seem to indicate that someone thinks that there is a fairly significant difference.

Pepsi and Coca-Cola have two of the highest advertising budgets in corporate history worldwide - it's still just fizzy water.

And I would agree, Mordant, that it's a Zionist rather than 'Jewish' lobby given the frankly terrifying attitude of the extreme so-called 'Christian' right towards the region. It is also only one aspect of foreign policy and I'm sure no-one here is suggesting that there is a 'Jewish' position on free trade, relations with China, the future of NATO e.t.c.

20:53 / 02.02.04

The amount of money that gets thrown at backing one candidate over another would seem to indicate that someone thinks that there is a fairly significant difference. But, maybe that's just a trick.

Actually, what's scary is the amount of money some corps give *both* candidates, just to hedge their bets no matter who winds up sitting on the puppeteer's fist.

13:36 / 09.02.04

Propaganda...

00:54 / 10.02.04

So vote for your "electable" Democrat and maybe we'll get 10% less imperialism. God bless America.

I have to say that basically I agree--a kinder, gentler imperialism. The only slightly real difference is that we'll get a few less reactionary judges.

I didn't vote for Nader in 2000 (not that it would have made fuck all difference because I live in Ohio where Bush slid by easily), but do you know that only 50,000 Floridians voted for Nader whereas 300,000 registered Democrats in Florida voted for Bush. Who failed?

I actually like the idea of a Department of Peace and I live in the fucking "heartland," fyi.
But, of course, what great leaders have ever talked about peace? Ghandi? What did he know about defeating an empire . . .

You know, in the last 50 years we've used more of the earth's resources than in the past 50,000. The information on peak oil production suggests we have about 70 years of energy left, and the last years of that are going to be ugly because there will be more burning of coal and other dirty fuels as oil supplies run lower and more expensive. I don't think any of these candidates have any real ability to do what it takes to change any of this, and certainly all those damned wholesome people who live with me in the Midwest and drive their wholesome SUVs have no interest in believing that the world can no longer afford their wholesome American "heartland" lifestyle.

16:34 / 10.02.04

whereas 300,000 registered Democrats in Florida voted for Bush.

Does this include the retired Jewish folks out in Century Village who voted Buchanan? Heheh.

We're a very special county in a very special state.

11:35 / 11.02.04

Clark has dropped out of the race.

Can't say it surprises me: here's a man bred in the rules of modern battlefield warfare--that's no preparation for brutal realities of politics. *rimshot*

Seriously, though--Clark never impressed me as anything but a self-deluding also-ran. He came in with the air of a man expecting to be given a free pass because of his military record--so much so that he seemingly never bothered to develop a coherent platform.

If he had any peer in this race, it was Al Sharpton--another celebrity dilettante, betting on name recognition to score him votes. So yeah, I can't say as I'll miss him.

I'll miss Howard Dean when he goes, though. He's just as crazy as Clark, in his way, but it's a more focused kind of craziness. (And no, I don't think being crazy disqualifies you from holding the Presidency: in fact I'd venture it's a prerequisite.)

11:48 / 11.02.04

When and how do they pick the running mates? It looks like Kerry going to win now, so who will be the VP-to-be?

13:38 / 11.02.04

Running mate(s) won't be announced until shortly before the convention, I think--assuming there's still anyone in the race besides the front-runner at that point.

Dean's making noises now that he might stay in the race even if he doesn't win Wisconsin next Tuesday--he'd said last week that he'd rop out in that eventuality. This could lead to an ugly spirit at the convention. But realistically, if he doesn't pick up some delegates soon, there's not going to be a nomination fight to speak of: the math is against him.

My guess (and it's only a hunch) is that we'll be seeing a Kerry/Edwards ticket come the fall.

14:43 / 11.02.04

You don't think Clark'll pop back up as a Veep? Cuz he's perfect for it.... Great posture, lotsa gravitas.

15:40 / 11.02.04

Mmmmmmaybe. Clark, like Edwards, is a Southerner, which Kerry will need to "balance the ticket" (i.e., appeal to all the white regionalist fuckwads who refer to the Civil War as "the War of Northern Aggression").

It'll be one of the two, but I think it's more likely to be Edwards, who is more likable, has a thicker drawl, and has run a more coherent campaign. Fiscal conservatives like him, so he's more likely to attract swing voters.

Plus his relative youth and inexperience, which have hampered him in his Presidential campaign, will serve him well as Veep: he'll be the understudy, and grow into the office, then come into his own eight years down the line.

A Kerry/Clark ticket would be... odd. Kerry is so sonorous and stiff, I don't think he'd benefit from Clark's "gravitas"--just the opposite, in fact. And both with military backgrounds... nah, I just don't see the dynamic working.

I can't see Clark interested in VP position at all, frankly: after being a four-star general, it'd be a step down.

Interesting item at The New Republic comparing the Kerry surge to a stock-market bubble...

Kerry is clearly benefiting from the fact that people think other people are going to vote for him down the road, which is why they're voting for him now; they're not voting for him because he's the candidate they personally want to be president. ...[T]his is classic bubble behavior--you buy a stock not because it's intrinsically valuable, but because other people are buying it and the price is going up (and you think both of these things is likely to continue). The problem with bubbles, both in politics and in financial markets, is that they tend to deflate just as rapidly as they inflate...

Read the rest. TNR is, always, providing the best race coverage anywhere online.

16:25 / 12.02.04

Or, for that matter, the Kerry campaign could implode over allegations that he, too, boinked an intern.

16:46 / 12.02.04

(That's Drudge, by the way, so take with a grain of salt.)

More horserace coverage: Mother Jones on why the Clark campaign fizzled (and what's likely to be next, for the candidate).

20:04 / 12.02.04

Salt, nothin'. Wasn't Drudge trying to push the Kerry + botox wankery?

I smell desperation on the part of the Right. Yum.

20:52 / 12.02.04

It's being intimated by many, many journalists that Kerry's been Botoxed, though only a few have publicly, overtly speculated on it--the rest have been satisfied with innuendo-laden comments about his facial immobility. "Watch him as he speaks," the line goes. "Nothing north of his mouth moves at all."

The observation is correct: the insinuation may not be. But if it were, I would neither be surprised nor repulsed.

00:40 / 13.02.04

Of course Kerry's been botoxed. Has anyone seen any pictures of his forehead lately? Just compare before and after pics.

But that really is a none-issue and I'd rather focus on his hypocritical voting record and the one-party state system of having "moderate/centrist" candidates that just turn the two parties into the same one.

But we all know he had the botox.

00:48 / 13.02.04

But did he boink an intern?

02:26 / 13.02.04

But we all know he had the botox.

No, raelian, we all don't know that for sure.

19:06 / 13.02.04

Can't you see the National Enquirer cover right there? It clearly says Plastic Surgery. It also says drug abuse.

(half-joking)

11:34 / 14.02.04

OPB Jack Fear: Dean's making noises now

Gawd, not again... isn't that dreadful awoooga type grunt he let slip one of the reasons he lost some headway?

I'm starting to enjoy the to-and-fro in the campaign now - Bush gets criticised for his Vietnam war role (hiding, basically), then Kerry gets the traditional intern boinking allegation (compare this with 1992, when one candidate was hit with both claims of draft dodging and intern boinking.)

It's getting nasty - as the American political world always seems to in the run-up to elections. Small wonder that it is are followed with such interest by Hunter S Thompson, whose first love seems to sports writing (well, after alcohol and narcotics, anyways.)

And whadda you know, Hunter sez: "The hottest sporting event for 2004 is clearly the Presidential election. That will be Big, very Big, and I will be on it like a shark on fresh meat. But that is another story, and we don't have time for it now."

Fear and loathing are coming to the fore again - it's a classic American election campaign.

Personally, my heart says that the ABB strategy - anyone but Bush - is deeply flawed and that you should, ultimately, place your vote with the person whose policies you most believe in.

But my head says other things, whispering evil thoughts to me at night; things like 'who cares, corporate power runs America anyway' and 'you know what you'd do in that situation, son; hold your nerve until the last moment, then swerve towards ABB just before your car of good intentions plunges off your cliff of political realities.'

If I listened to heart, or my head - or had a vote in these elections - I'd have trouble sleeping at night because of thoughts like those. As it is, I'm British, so I just have trouble sleeping at night because I drink about nine or ten cups of tea a day.

(ps: With regard to earlier links, I'd just like to say, just because I link to stories does not mean I believe in them as fact or endorse them as opinion. Just that I think you ought to see them. Oh, and cheers to the person who called me Hot Me Again...)

21:50 / 14.02.04

The Kerry/intern story appears to be a big dud, driven more by a dwindling hope that there's something there than by any actual hard data. Check out this story. Even the Sun can't seem to find any actual details to sensationalize:

Alex Polier, 24, was named as the woman at the centre of a scandal that threatens to damage Democrat Kerry’s bid for the White House.

Her mother Donna claims Kerry, 60 — dubbed the new JFK — once chased Alex to be on his campaign team and was “after her”.

There is no evidence the pair had an affair, but her father Terry, 56, said: “I think he’s a sleazeball. I did kind of wonder if my daughter didn’t get that kind of feeling herself.

“He’s not the sort of guy I would choose to be with my daughter.”

Terry, of Malvern, Pennsylvania, added: “John Kerry called my daughter and invited her down to Washington two or three years ago.

“He invited her to be on his re-election committee. She talked to him and decided against it.”

So... He asked her to work on his campaign, her parents thought the invitation was suspicious, she didn't accept, and her Dad thinks Kerry is a creep. Unless I'm missing something, this is kind of a sad excuse for a scandal...

22:06 / 14.02.04

This, however, could be huge if it ends up being confirmed. Here's the money quote:

The reason Bush got retirement credit and pay for service in 1972 despite the fact that his superiors on the military bases to which he was assigned never saw him is because he was not training at an Air Force Base but spending time in a community center with underprivileged children, working off his coke arrest. And the story of Bill Beckett, who saw the trashed remains of Lieutenant Bush's service record in a military trash can, confirms the purge was the work of Bush staffers, working with the complicity of high-ranking Guard officers.

Surprisingly, the mainstream press does appear to be pursuing the story, as evidenced this highly entertaining partial transcript of yesterday's White House press briefing.

23:08 / 16.02.04

The Kerry "scandal" peters out as the woman in question goes on the record to deny the allegations.

Drudge does his best to keep the story alive anyway...

23:40 / 16.02.04

"Cash and Kerry", yeah. The main financer in Kerry's campaign is Vietnam's communist government. This is retribution for some rather nice stuff Kerry did for them in the past. When USA just wasn't talking to Vietnam, senator Kerry, arranged discreet meetings between colonel Liu Chaoying from from vietnamese intelligence, and bureaucrats from the USA government. Vietnam wanted to get into the capitalist game but in order to do that, they had to do something about the rather nasty bit of fact that Vietnam still held POWs.

Kerry created a commission to deal with that, put a lady name Francis Zwenig in charge and, well, the solution was simpler than anyone'd thought: She told the vietdudes to just make up stories to explain what had happened to those prisoners. Kerry was caught on camera assuring his dear vietnamese comrades that there would be no problem. There wasn't, really. Vietnam happy! Now they can introduce facade companies in USA to buy weaponry for China! Hoo-lay!

ABSOLUTELY LAUGHING MY ASS OFF remembering another bit of fact, that another of Kerry's moneypals falsified his ID twice in order to be able to contribute to the Democrat party. Hassan Nemazee. He is the founder of the Iranian American Political Action Committee. They have connections with Iran and other countries wich support terrorist actions.

Associated Press confirms that at least 3 times Kerry was caught recommending people for positions, people from whom he had just received donations. A very loyal man, this guy who's called even by his "friends" "Cash and Kerry".

A long etc. follows, but I'm getting sick like only The Switchboard makes me sick. Democrat voters never chose "the lesser evil". The Democrat party is just another kind of evil, and just as lethal and unethical. Politicians, see? Simple as that.

--

01:32 / 17.02.04

I'm voting for Mr. Nobody.

--

01:36 / 17.02.04

Seriously, though, I'm starting to wonder if there's a sort of prerequisite to be President... Seems like a lot of presidents we've had these last few years have all been these older guys with white or gray hair. Reeks of patriarchy to me... How come you never see 35 year olds running or anything?

06:10 / 17.02.04

AS far as I'm aware the only president who entered the White House a single man was Grover Cleaveland. Apparently the parties he hosted there at the time were pretty wild...

06:50 / 17.02.04

De Jade

While I agree that Kerry is bad-- really bad-- it's no excuse not to participate.

I think what happened to Dean was unfortunate. Not my favorite guy-- but not bad.

The primaries aren't over. Though it's hopeless I'll be dropping my vote for Edwards.
--------------------
And if Gore would have won, there would have probably been no 9/11 because the CIA would have assasinated Bin Laden earlier that year (if it even was Bin Laden) instead of Bush dumping the very well functioning anti-terrorist measures made years before -- without shitting o the constitution.

07:18 / 17.02.04

Personally, my heart says that the ABB strategy - anyone but Bush - is deeply flawed and that you should, ultimately, place your vote with the person whose policies you most believe in.

My heart and head agree with you—except for this election. I voted for Nader, and I'm not sorry. (Well, I am, but based only on 9/11 hindsight.) But raelian's "10% less imperialism" quip is something I take seriously, even if it isn't much. I am perfectly willing to shoot the dice with a new set of wackos if it will get PNAC authors as far from the reins as possible. Which, again, may not be very far, but success is a matter of degree.

14:50 / 17.02.04

woodenpidgeon, I think the essence of the democratic process is embodied in letting the government know what the people are thinking, and wishing, at a certain point in a nation's history, *not* in following their (the government's) version of democracy, which is, like most things in politics, a weakened, corrupted simulacrum, liturgic protocols with no other meaning or goals than validating without questioning a system set from the beginning to ensure that the house always wins. It's not your games, it's theirs, and you won't win, unless you re-evaluate the tools you will need to use to effect change. I'm not saying I have all the answers, I'm as lost and unhappy and frustrated as anybody else, but refuse to keep banging my head against a wall that sure as hell won't break - I better learn to try and circumvent it.

Democracy does not equals "voting for one of an x number of candida "

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