Back again . . . .

Jack Balkin has an excellent piece putting in perspective the flap about Howard Dean's remarks about "...guys with confederate flags in their pickup trucks."  The best part is his analysis is to show how Dean's comments relate to what Jack sees as the Republicans' long-term strategy which has appealed to blue collar folks based on values and wealthy folks based on economics.  Dean, he says, seeks to bring the working people back in the Democratic tent:

For some time now, the Republican Party has successfully taken a two-track approach to cultural and economic politics, pushing populist appeals on social issues while promoting economic policies that benefit largely the well-to-do, defending the latter on the grounds that a rising tide will lift all boats. Democrats, on the other hand, have long stood for economic policies that, I believe, are more in the interests of poor and working class Americans. Republican cultural appeals on issues like abortion, the flag, gun control, feminism, homosexuality and affirmative action have sought to prevent a multiracial coalition of working class Americans from forming; they have repeatedly pulled white working class voters, and particularly white working class men, away from the Democrats. Simultaneously, the Republican party has tried to cast the Democrats as the party of elitist snobs out of touch with mainstream values. I have always believed that such accusations are deeply unfair: it is clear from the last Presidential election that the vast majority of the people who vote Democrat are middle class and working class people. Nevertheless, the accusation of cultural elitism has been extremely valuable for the Republican Party's electoral chances. Perhaps in the long run the Democrats may win the fight over values, but in the short run they will lose a lot of elections.

Although this may have been said before, it's the first I've seen of it.  Looks like yet another reason why Howard Dean is not just another McGovern.

Nice to be back!

11:41:25 PM