Tuesday, August 05, 2003

What is the Mind-Set of the Minders? One reason I think Bush will be so tough to fight is that he is not a democrat at heart; he is closer in spirit to the old soviet apparatchiks.  I was reminded of this today at a business meeting with a colleague who works with the Foreign Agricultural Service, promoting exports of U.S. food products overseas.   She told me the following story.  This past February, as the war rhetoric was heating up, she was on the phone with her counterpart in the Foreign Agricultural Service, and said she had a great Bush joke to email him.   He said very sharply  “No, no.  Don’t email it to me.”  My friend said “what’s the matter? Are you a Bush supporter.”  He said “No, we can’t even be talking about this.  They have an office that listens in to our phone conversations and monitors our email.”   My friend asked has it always been like this.  “No, just since Bush came in.” was the reply.   The essence of democracy is that those who hold power do so temporarily, as representatives of the general population.  When those who hold power have contempt for the people—by monitoring their conversations, by removing opposing ideas from web sites (something Bush has done in many departments), and in general enforcing an ideological line—they edge closer to the apparatchik style of governance—where power is the only goal.   Because of Bush’s basic visceral contempt for democracy and the rule of law, which in my mind is related to his fundamentalist Christian belief that posits only good guys and bad guys in the world, he will be a very tough election opponent—willing to fight an all out war to retain his hold on power.  This is why he can only be defeated by a tough opponent—one who is as committed to democracy as Bush is committed to power. 6:51:14 PM   comment []    Kerry, Bush and The Electability Issue Can Howard Dean beat George Bush?  It is a legitimate question, and it is perhaps the last hope for John Kerry.  Kerry puffs up his chest and says he is the real war hero, not the phony fly-boy on the Aircraft carrier.   Kerry thinks about issues and policy in the Senate, has an IQ, knows how to speak.  He is cautious, has many staff, and does not speak off the cuff.  In short, he has everything which in a perfect world, would convince the American people that he is a much more rational choice than Bush.   That is why he would be Karl Rove’s toast.   The reason is that the Bush boys fight dirty.  They don’t whine about lying.  They simply lie.  They don’t worry about equivocating or nuancing positions, as Kerry is painfully doing about Iraq--  Bush and Co. simply invent something new.   No weapons of mass destruction?  That’s okay—we meant a weapons program, not actual weapons.  Weapons Inspectors:  it was Hussein who kicked them out, not the U.S. demanding they leave.  These are total lies and a rewriting of history, but they don’t cause a ripple in the media fawning over George Bush.   Kerry cannot win because he will never have the opportunity for a rational fair fight.   Due to his cautious, politician ways, he will never know what hit him.  Bush and Co. will whip up a whirland of myth making, propeganda, lies, and fear and Kerry will be road kill.   How is Dean different?  First, he understands that the only way to fight Bush is to go right at him (his words).  What does going right at him mean?  It means calling him a liar when he lies.  It means calling him a divider when he divides.    It means saying he is irresponsible, when he actually is.  Dean says these things not simply to be popular—he truly believes them. Kerry, on the other hand, doesn’t know what to believe about Bush.   Secondly, Dean and his supporters have nothing to lose.  This is not a McGovern argument—be pure at all costs.  It is a fact.  The republicans have pulled off a takeover of our government through a combination of sale to corporate interests, a massive propaganda campaign, and an unholy alliance between media, right wing propaganda, campaign finance money, legislative favors including targeted tax cuts, and they have a brown shirt operation to make sure things stick.    They have a mentality of raw power, not of political stewardship.  This is why they call the police on the democrats in the Senate library, why they call Homeland security about Texas democratic legislators, why they have a take no prisoners attitude.   For any candidate to win against Bush, they will have to fight this vast and powerful oligarchy, and it cannot be with half measures.    The Republican power structure can only be taken down from the outside.  It can only be taken down by building a strong movement of Americans who are sick of the money corrupting the legislative process—who are sick of politicians who will not stand up, who are sick of brown shirt extremist ideologues trampling on the democratic idea of respect for the minority, and consensus.  In short, the right wing has generated a mighty reaction among people who want to bring us back to the political center.  This is what Dean represents.   Kerry represents a boil on Bush’s left shoulder.  Dean represents a full-fledged tackle that will cut him off at the knees.     The other democrats are mostly media midgets compared to Bush, who is carefully staged so as to appear like the wizard of Oz, even though it is a little frightened man behind the curtain.  Most of the democrats are afraid to pull back the curtain, afraid that the big bad Bush will get them, that his brown shirts will attack them.  Dean, like Dorothy, is fearless today, not 30 years ago in Vietnam.  That is why he is the Democrat with  the best chance to win. 12:19:03 AM   comment []

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