First Door on the Left

Howard Dean’s book, “Winning Back America,” is scheduled for publication next month. Click on the title to pre-order your copy today. Let’s pull an Al Franken and move it to number one on the best seller lists before it is even published. Be the first in your neighborhood to own the book written by the next President of the United States!

The Republican party is celebrating a victory in California yesterday. However, the New York Times agrees with Governor Dean. The fact that Californians chose a sexually perverted comedic actor to serve as their governor is no cause for celebration among Republicans. Rather, it should be a warning of things to come.

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 7 — The voter revolt in California sent a jolt through national political circles on Tuesday night, raising the possibility that other embattled governors could face similar insurrections in an atmosphere of rising animosity toward incumbents and increasingly anger-driven campaigns.

Republicans asserted that the unseating of a Democratic governor in an overwhelmingly Democratic state was the latest phase in a realignment that began with last year’s Congressional elections and would continue in 2004.

Democrats described it an anomaly, reflecting the enormous unpopularity of Gov. Gray Davis and the fact that Arnold Schwarzenegger, an immensely popular movie star, was far more moderate than his party, making him an easy choice for Democrats and independent voters.

But more than a measure of the strength of each political party, the unseating of a sitting governor 11 months after he was re-elected was the latest sign of the power of the anti-establishment wave that has been roiling American politics since at least the emergence of Ross Perot in 1992.

What happened on Tuesday, if unique to the peculiar politics and culture of this state, was in many ways a manifestation of the force that has powered Howard Dean to the front of the Democratic presidential contest. From that perspective, the message may prove to be less a warning to Democrats or Republicans, and more one to incumbents, or candidates perceived as too closely tied to the political system, members of both parties said.

“If I were a governor from a different state with a huge deficit and bad poll ratings, I’d be scared senseless,” said Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster who frequently offers advice to the nation’s Republican governors. “If you’re a governor in a recall state, this will send chills down your spine.”

Dr. Dean’s campaign manager, Joe Trippi, asserted that the voter anger in California was prevalent across the nation — and to a large extent accounted for the success of Dr. Dean as he runs in Iowa and New Hampshire as an outsider against Washington.

“Right now, you could hold a recall in every state in the country — and I bet a lot of governors would be in a lot of trouble,” Mr. Trippi said.

Dr. Dean issued a statement on Tuesday invoking the result as a predictor of his own campaign for the White House. “Tonight the voters in California directed their frustration with the country’s direction on their incumbent governor,” he said. “Come next November, the anger might be directed at a different incumbent — in the White House.”

The immediate attention on Tuesday night was on California and the 2004 race for president. Mr. Luntz and other Republicans presented the party’s success here as evidence that California — a state that has become increasingly Democratic over the past decade — would be competitive next year.

“It means California is in play for the presidential,” he said. “It means that a majority of the population here either voted against a Democrat or voted for a Republican.”

But as several Democrats and some outside analysts noted, there were circumstances to this election that would suggest that California next year will be something less than fertile territory for President Bush.

For one thing, Mr. Davis, as his own advisers said, was about as easy an opponent to run against as any challenger could ask for. Three-quarters of Californians, responding to polls of voters on Tuesday, said they had an unfavorable view of his job performance.

For another, Mr. Schwarzenegger and Mr. Bush, although members of the same party, hold sharply different views on issues that prove critical with big groups of voters here. In last year’s Republican primary for governor, Republican voters rejected Richard J. Riordan, a moderate Republican who was mayor of Los Angeles, in favor of Bill Simon Jr., a conservative.

Mr. Schwarzenegger is in favor of abortion rights and gay rights, presents himself as an environmental advocate, and supports many forms of gun control. It is hard to imagine that he could even have won a Republican primary here.

According to this article in The Guardian, Americans think that TV news is too liberal. Is that really what you guys think? That’s amazing. As far as I am concerned, anytime anybody puts the word “president” in front of the word “bush”, they are leaning way too far to the right.

The article mentions Fox News, but I never watch it so I don’t know about them. I don’t understand why anybody would watch Fox News.

Nearly half of Americans think its news media is too liberal despite the rise of controversial hard-right cable channel Fox News.

TV news channels in the US came under fire during the war on Iraq - including criticism from some of their own reporters - for their unquestioning support of the White House during the conflict.

But this criticism is not shared by viewers at home, some 45% of whom believe their country’s news outlets are too liberal.

Only 14% of Americans believe the media to be too conservative, according to a poll by Gallup carried out around the second anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

“The ratings success of the Fox News channel has been based in part on its attempt to appeal to conservative viewers who feel that the more traditional news media are liberal and biased,” said the report’s authors, Frank Newport and Joseph Carroll.

“A majority of Americans who describe their political views as conservative perceive liberal leanings in the media, while only about a third of self-described liberals perceive conservative leanings.”

But public trust in the media has collapsed since the mid-1970s, when around seven in 10 Americans said they had confidence in TV and newspaper outlets.

“This perhaps reflected public approval of the news media’s role in uncovering the Watergate abuses of power,” suggested Gallup.

Today, a little over half of Americans have a “great deal or fair amount” of confidence in the news media, which is less trusted than any of the three branches of government.

Only 54% had a “great deal or a fair amount” of confidence in the media, compared with 60 per cent in the president, 63% in congress and the senate, and 67% in the courts.

“Today’s recall election in California was not about Gray Davis or Arnold Schwarzenegger. This recall was about the frustration so many people are feeling about the way things are going. All across America, George Bush’s massive tax cuts for the wealthy are undermining state budgets, causing cutbacks in services and increases in local property taxes. Were recalls held in every state, it’s quite possible that 50 governors would find themselves paying the price for one president’s ruinous national economic policies. Tonight the voters in California directed their frustration with the country’s direction on their incumbent governor. Come next November, that anger might be directed at a different incumbent…in the White House.”

I’m back!