Quote:
Originally posted by dave
Heh. You're finding out what I've known for many years now: most Democrat politicians are pathetic sacks of shit.
That's why Dean is interesting; he looks less sack o' shit-like.
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Remove the word "Democrat" from your statement and I've known that all along.
The deal with Dean is that he has a few things coming together at once. As a non-Congresscritter, he has that "outsider" vibe that's often treasured. He was openly anti-war when many of his primary opponents were voting to give Bush the go-ahead (a vote he didn't have to take part in, obviously). He's far and away the leader in using the Internet as a communication tool; that won't win him the election by itself, but it sure doesn't hurt, and it's given him a massive boost in both money and volunteers in these early stages. He's mobilizing a lot of Dems, Nader defectors and usually-stay-at-homes through his attitude as much as anything else, while his actual issue stances aren't nearly as liberal as some make them out to be.
One thing that moved him up in my esteem is that he was the first prominent politician to step up and say "Senator Santorum, you're full of shit" in so many words when the man-on-dog interview came out. Another one of those things that most of us knew all along, but few in power would say aloud...
Dean, Kerry, and perhaps Edwards have a shot at dethroning Bush, though much will depend on what Bush does between now and then (i.e. how bad Iraq looks, how the economy's doing). Lieberman has no chance. He has zero personality, he'd make progressives stay home in droves, and his platform's not far off of pointing to Bush and saying "I'm just like him, but vote for me." Gephardt will do fine in Iowa, then will drop like a rock.