Reply #29: I absolutely agree with almost everything in this post... [View All]

...about Dean.

And I'd like to add an observation I had about Dean’s Bryant Park speech. As kp says, most of Dean’s stumping is about how bad Bush is. In his Bryant Park speech, Dean opened with about 15 or 20 minutes of statement after statement, each one including either the word “Bush”, “Ashcroft” or “Republican.” Finally, he said, “They say you can’t run for president unless you tell the people what you’re for – you can’t be against everything.” However, he said this with a tone that suggested that he was scornful of that sentiment. The audience picked up on this and laughed, as if it were an amusing notion and that they agreed with him that it’s more fun to angrily complain. (And, yes, yes…I’m angry too. I’m so angry that I want my candidate to be perfect…I want a candidate who doesn’t simply appeal to people’s anger.)

So what does Dean talk about when he talks about what he’s for? He talked about two health care programs he had in Vermont (the home visits for new mothers, and something else I can’t remember). After maybe a paragraph of speaking about this stuff, it was right back to “Bush”/”Ashcroft”/“Republicans” and anger. So, basically, the only things he’s for, which would define him, in the event, say, that Bush doesn’t make it to November 2004, are a couple of state health care programs which might not even be appropriate for the Federal government? And to put health care programs at the core of your stand-alone identity at a time when those issues so clearly fall under a MUCH bigger, more important umbrella – the rape of the middle and working class … well, you know, I’m going to be giving serious consideration to a few other candidates before I give it to Dean.