Leo BrownDemocracy
Harper’s publisher Rick MacArthur [with] a new book You Can’t Be President… says that the popular notion that any American can become president only reinforces the “destructive national delusion that widespread, up-from-the-ground, truly popular democracy, both political and economic, really exists in America.” To assume that, he says, is equal to believing that Santa Claus exists.
See this link for an interview with Rick.
Agree or disagree?
August 26th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
I’m mad at the Clintons after seeing this. It didn’t help me appreciate Hillary’s speech. Not only were the Republicans trying to destroy the best grass roots movement in American memory, the Clintons and other elements in the Democratic party, which are still very much there, did too. Howard Dean should have been president!
Hopefully, Obama can be brave enough to cut his ties to big business with our help. It’s hard looking at those Obama/AT &T tote bags considering Obama voted to let that corporation get away with breaking the law.
August 26th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
That McCain is neck and neck in the polls to Obama is inexcusable, and as such Dean should be FIRED as head of the DNC. This advent of severe distress in what should be a lock, is entirely his fault.
Mr. Dean….Yer Fiiyed!!
August 27th, 2008 at 5:33 am
Dear watching,
I agree that the neck and neck race is troubling, but given the last two elections, not entirely surprising. The electorate hasn’t changed much. The country hasn’t elected someone who isn’t a Republican or a Southern Democrat since 1960. The country has never elected a Black or a woman, and I don’t think Dean could have prevented the party from coming down to a choice between Hillary and Barack.
This is not limited to Democrats. There are serious questions of whether the GOP can nominate a Mormon for President, despite the fact that Mormons are about as loyal to the party as any group and one of their own was on the ballot.
Why is this Dean’s fault? What in your opinion did he do wrong? Entirely his fault? Aren’t there some larger issues about the structure of American democracy in play (see, for example, Of the Rich, by the Rich…)? Larry suggests this is the Clinton’s fault. If so, how do you propose that Howard control the Clintons?
August 27th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Like I said, what moron at the DNC would allow these basically two unelectable candidates come to the head of the party?
Dean allowed the ridiculous competition to go on, and disallowed Michigan and Florida delegates to be involved because they didn’t follow caucus rules. Very large and important states. This gave Obama his advantage over Clinton not much argument, and now he is your candidate. He is far more unelectable than Clinton, who would have trouble as well, but not like Obama.
I guess we can also lay some responsibility on the philanderer, he drew votes from Clinton in the states he did well in.
This will all be borne out in November.
Deans job was to find a candidate that can get elected. Sure there are problems he may not be able to overcome, but to the extent that he play the hand as intelligently as possible, he didn’t do that. To the extent that as head of the DNC he control his party for the purpose of winning, he very likely didn’t do that either.
We’ll see, but really it shouldn’t even be much of a question which party should take the reigns…but it is.
Bottom line, the most electable candidate was not chosen. Should McCain win, Dean should resign.
August 27th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Who:
You better stick with ancient history lessons. You have no idea what’s going on in politics today.
August 27th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
We’ll see won’t we? If McCain wins what will you say? You see Larry, as a partisan, the cognitive consonance of your decision making only allows you to see that which you wish to see. Self enforcing delusion. I have no skin in the game, both candidates are losers to me, and have been selected for what they will do for the elites and how manageable they are. By any popular selection on issues it should be a Paul vs. Kucinich presidential race.
What we are witnessing are two elite factions trotting out their candidates in the battle to see the direction the fleecing of the public is going to take.
We have all the time in the world Larry to see this come to pass. You can say I have no idea, but then again, I have predicted most all that has occurred to date, ask Cliff sometime, we had these discussions 7 years ago. If your heart is in the game, then you can’t see clearly.
As I said to Albert and Co, whistling in the dark, or rather whistling past the graveyard.
You know Larry that there is a very good chance Obama loses. I’m in Washington and Hillary women, are going to vote for McCain. I know, I don’t get it either
BTW, I think Bernie Ward could get as many as 9 years in the Federal pen. Trading 100 photos of child bondage and sodomy with children as young as 3. We’ll see, he is being sentenced by a rather forgiving judge. His lawyer wants 5, prosecution wants the 9.
August 27th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I heartily agree with the Kucinich vs Paul point, but you just can’t discount Dean’s effort to replace present partisan Secretaries of State and high election officials with honest brokers and his fifty state strategy. These are not emotion raising campaigns like abortion and gays rights the Republican trolls always want everybody to focus on so they can steal elections and point to something: they are real, practical solutions to problems BOTH R’s and D’s should support in a republic or a democracy or whatever we still have here. Wouldn’t you say?
I really see Dean as somebody who cares deeply about this country’s survival, and is more then willing to personally sacrifice anything to make that happen. He could be making plenty of money as a physician and a former Governor pursuing other ways of using his time. Why do you ridicule his plans and put him down.
It’s baffling to me that the corporate media doesn’t make any hay about Bernie Wards fall from grace. Maybe they’re worried that a thousand more similar stories will come to light about Republican ventures into these same types of realms that are already known. Once the Washington Times published stories about the Reagan White House and child kidnappings. Maybe that’s why Bush’s dad helped the moonie times get where they are. A little secret knowledge goes a long way.
August 28th, 2008 at 5:53 am
Unless we go back to party bosses, I don’t see how Dean could have changed the outcome by much. Look at the fund raising totals for the candidates three to six months before Iowa. I don’t think anyone besides Obama could have stopped Hillary. Clinton vs. Obama was a close contest, but I, for one am happy that Obama prevailed. Obama, at least, got a lot of money from small donors, including yours truly.
Who do you think Dean should have pushed?
August 28th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Being the head to the DNC has stifled Dean’s ability to say who he preferred even though Chris Matthews tried to get him to. It is Chris Matthews who got Dean to admit he was going to stop the consolidation of big media if elected president and shortly after, the “Dean scream” was being seen EVERYWHERE, ENDLESSLY.
After watching Rick MacArthur’s interview with Amy Goodman, I am happy Obama got the nomination. It was DFA, (Deans organization), that helped him raise money from the real grass roots. Unfortunately, as evidenced by the MacArthur interview, Obama’s money isn’t quite as clean as Dean’s was. I personally wish Dean was running this year, but Obama is a great hope if he listens to the people instead of the corporations.
The FISA vote was the reason McCain is even close in my opinion. It was a direct slam against his supporters who absolutely wanted to see the lawbreaking surveillance end.
Clinton did a great service to the country by proving the Democrats could be more conservative then the conservatives, but it is time for him and Hillary to give the power to the people which was the aim of Dean’s campaign. We lost four more years of precious time because the Clinton crowd fought him.
August 28th, 2008 at 11:26 am
I ridicule him because his extremism is making a it more likely that the Democrat party is going to lose the presidential election. Plus the boob went with the less electable candidate, Hillary.
Continue to be baffled. The reason Bernie isn’t being covered is due to the liberal bias in television media. You can hear about Bernie on talk radio though, but not as much as expected because no one wants to draw attention to a liberal talk radio freak.
This is what I mean Larry about cognitive consonance, you can’t see anything but the republican media bias. It’s funny. The media protects the elites and the rigging of the news and perception is ongoing left and right.
I mean please, Dean is right on board with the Bush Iraq strategy, his wife and he are direct supporters of the policy via Aipac, and Steve Grossman former president of Aipac was his campaign chief back in the yee haw days.
There is very little difference between Dean and McCain in mid east policy when push come to shove. The position against the war are pure political posturing at the moment to suck in the useful idiot anti war elements of the democrat party.
Wake up. Before the Democrat party goes on another 8 year vacation for the presidency.
August 31st, 2008 at 8:51 am
So Hillary was your candidate?
September 1st, 2008 at 9:15 am
No I am disinterested in any of the candidates. I reference this strictly from the aspect of electability, and the dynamic as it relates to mainstream America, which to this constituency neither candidate measures up, though Obama less so.