First Door on the Left

WASHINGTON — President Bush yesterday bypassed the Senate on a high-profile judicial nomination for the second time in five weeks and seated William Pryor, the Alabama attorney general and an outspoken opponent of abortion and homosexuality, as an appeals-court judge through 2005.

Pryor is among six of Bush’s appeals-court nominees who have been blocked from receiving confirmation votes by delaying tactics of Senate Democrats who contended the nominees were extreme conservatives.

He took the oath of office in Alabama last night and joined the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

Pryor, 41, has described Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, as “the worst abomination in the history of constitutional law.” In 1997, his first year as Alabama attorney general, Pryor invoked God’s will while speaking at a Christian Coalition rally in defense of a state judge’s prerogative to post the Ten Commandments in his courtroom.

He also signed a Supreme Court brief saying the rejection of a Texas law forbidding sex between homosexuals could pave the way for “prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography and even incest or pedophilia.”

Another of the many reasons we need to fire George Bush come November.

It’s almost as if he knows his days are numbered (they are) and he is determined to pack our courts with as many radical right-wing judges as he can before his term ends. January 20, 2005 cannot come too quickly!

Many, many theories have been published since yesterday on the reasons the Dean campaign for the presidency appears to have failed. Some, I think, come close to being correct; others are just so far fetched that they are actually funny. My own thinking is that he was just ahead of his time, that our country was not quite ready for him or his message.

William Greider has written up his own analysis, which I think is one of the best I have read. His main conclusion appears to be that Dean was defined by the media before he really had a chance to define himself. I agree with that premise. Every time I would see Governor Dean defined as the “anti-war candidate” I would think to myself “He is so much more than that! Why can’t you people see it?”

I think many did see it, but laziness abounds in the journalistic world. It is much easier to identify a candidate with a single issue than it is to delve into what they really stand for.

I am going to post the beginning of Mr. Greider’s article. Click on the headline if you want to read the rest of it. Before I do, however, my standard plea…

Please remember to cast your vote for Howard Dean in your state’s Democratic presidential primary!

In forty years of observing presidential contests, I cannot remember another major candidate brutalized so intensely by the media, with the possible exception of George Wallace. Howard Dean contributed some fatal errors of his own, to be sure, but he also brought fresh air and new ideas, a crisp call to revitalize the Democratic Party and at least the outlines of deeper political and economic reforms. The reporters, as surrogate agents for Washington’s insider sensibilities, blew him off. Dean’s big mistake was in not recognizing, up front, that the media are very much part of the existing order and were bound to be hostile to his provocative kind of politics. To be heard, clearly and accurately, he would have had to find another channel.

For the record, reporters and editors deny that this occurred. Privately, they chortle over their accomplishment. At the Washington airport I ran into a bunch of them, including some old friends from long-ago campaigns, on their way to the next contest after Iowa. So, I remarked, you guys saved the Republic from the doctor. Yes, they assented with giggly pleasure, Dean was finished–though one newsmagazine correspondent confided the coverage would become more balanced once they went after Senator Kerry. Only Paul Begala of CNN demurred. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Begala said, blank-faced. Nobody here but us gunslingers.

The party establishment, limp as it is, was correct to target Dean with tribal vengeance. From their narrow perspective, he represented a political Antichrist. The unvarnished way he talked. The glint of unfamiliar, breakthrough ideas in his speeches. His lack of customary deference to party elders (and to the media’s own cockeyed definition of reality). What the insiders loathed are the same qualities many of us found exhilarating. I already feel nostalgia for his distinctive one-liners:

“Too many of our leaders have made a devil’s bargain with corporate and wealthy interests, saying ‘I’ll keep you in power if you keep me in power.’”

“As long as half the world’s population subsists on less than two dollars a day, the US will not be secure…. A world populated by ‘hostile have-nots’ is not one in which US leadership can be sustained without coercion.”

“Over the last thirty years, we have allowed multinational corporations and other special interests to use our nation’s government to undermine our nation’s promise.”

“There is something about human beings that corporations can’t deal with and that’s our soul, our spirituality, who we are. We need to find a way in this country to understand–and to help each other understand–that there is a tremendous price to be paid for the supposed efficiency of big corporations. The price is losing the sense of who we are as human beings.”

“In our nation, the people are sovereign, not the government. It is the people, not the media or the financial system or mega-corporations or the two political parties, who have the power to create change.”

Do you not remember those remarks? Dean’s best lines–evocative suggestions rather than explicit policy pronouncements–were not widely reported. In his brisk, scattered manner, he was talking about power, inviting people to contemplate the deteriorated condition of our democracy, expressing his solidarity with their skepticism and alienation. Audiences responded, but this sort of talk was too soft and allusive to constitute “news.” Dean’s style was indeed “hot”–”angry,” the reporters said–but they simply couldn’t deal with his reflective side; it didn’t fit the caricature.

by Ted Rall

NEW YORK–At least they didn’t shoot Howard Dean. Usually, when an American political figure speaks truth to power, he ends up conveniently dead. RFK, Malcolm X, some say Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone: all martyrs to the quaint ideal of telling it as it is as loudly as possible. Like them, Dean scared the establishment. His aggressive style roused youngsters whom aging Boomers prefer to see somnolent. His populist Internet-based fundraising freed him from the corporate donors whose influence keeps the citizens of the world’s richest nation living under a Third World system of social protections. Al Gore’s endorsement transformed a candidate who came out of nowhere (Vermont) into a genuine threat to the southern conservatives who have hijacked the Democratic Party since 1992. Dean was a pro-business moderate, yet he stood poised to radically transform both his party and the American political system.

Of course he had to go.

The same journalists who issued get-out-of-scrutiny passes to George W. Bush for everything from electoral fraud to assassinating U.S. citizens he declares “enemy combatants” to lying about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction nailed Dean for, of all things, “screaming” into a microphone the night he lost the Iowa caucuses. (For the record, those in the audience say, they could barely hear him over the din of the crowd.) The Hotline political newsletter reported that national TV news programs aired Dean’s “I Have a Scream” speech 633 times within four days–and that’s not counting local news or talk shows. Even Roger Ailes, the right-wing svengali pulling the strings at Fox News, conceded that it was “overplayed a bit.” According to the Center for Media and Public Affairs, only 39 percent of Dean’s coverage was positive during the following week, compared to 86 percent for John Edwards and 71 percent for current frontrunner John Kerry.

One indignity followed another–all because, God forbid, the guy got a tad rambunctious. “Is Dean Too Angry?” headlines spread across the nation. DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe, who refused to run interference for Dean when he was leading the pack, stepped into the fray to protect Kerry. “Democrats are still so angry about Al Gore’s loss in 2000 and the Iraq war that they simply will not stand for intramural squabbling,” the New York Times quoted McAuliffe on February 17. “I’d much rather have a unified party with money in the bank.” (He was singing a different tune in December.) Dean has the second largest number of delegates, yet the media refers to Edwards as Kerry’s principal challenger.

Click on the headline to continue reading.

Remember to cast your vote for Howard Dean in your state’s Democratic primary election!

Here is an excerpt from Governor Dean’s address to supporters today:

I am no longer actively pursuing the presidency. We will, however, continue to build a new organization, using our enormous grassroots network, to continue the effort to transform the Democratic Party and to change our country. And I…

And speaking to all of you and all of the hundreds of thousands of people around America who are going to get this word, either by the establishment media…

… or the Internet, I have some things that I specifically want to ask of our supporters.

First, keep active in the primary. Sending delegates to the convention only continues to energize our party. Fight on in the caucuses. We are on the ballots. Use your network to send progressive delegates to the convention in Boston. We are not going away. We are staying together, unified — all of us.

Secondly, Dean for America will be converted into a new grassroots organization. We need everybody to stay involved. We are — as we always have — going to look at what you had to say about which directions we ought to be going in, and what we ought to continue to do together.

We are determined to keep this entire organization as vibrant as it has been through this campaign. There are a lot of ways to make change. We are leaving one track, but we are going on another track that will take back America for ordinary people again.

Third, there have been a lot of people who have decided to run for office locally as a result of this campaign.

We want to encourage you out there in the grassroots effort, run for office, support candidates like you who run for office, and we will use this enormous organization to support you as you run so we will change the face of democracy so that it represents ordinary Americans once again; government that will not be bought and sold.

Let me be clear, I will not run as an independent or third party candidate and I urge my supporters not to be tempted to support any effort by another candidate.

The bottom line is that we must beat George W. Bush in November whatever it takes.

I will support the nominee of our party. I will do everything I can to beat George W. Bush. I urge you to do the same.

But we will not be above in this organization of letting our nominee know that we expect them to adhere to the standards that this organization has set for decency, honesty, integrity and standing up for ordinary American working people.

Well, we’re going to take back Congress, but we’re going to take the White House, too.

Believe in yourself and we’re all together, we can believe in ourselves.

Let me just say something to the younger folks here — those of us who do not have my hair color — one of the advantages of age — and they’re less than I thought there were when I was 25…

… is that you get to see things come around a second or third time.

And one of the things that I realized a long time ago is that change is very difficult. There is enormous institutional resistance to change in this country. We have seen that in this campaign as we literally terrified people sitting in their salons in Georgetown that they might have to look for work someplace else if we ever won.

It is natural for people to resist, but it is also inevitable that we will win.

Change is difficult. You cannot expect people with great privileges taken at the expense of ordinary working people to surrender them lightly. But the history of humanity is that determined people will overcome obstacles.

And we will overcome the problems that this country is facing as a result of George W. Bush and as a result of a Washington establishment that has forgotten who sent them there.

C-Span has a video of the speech here.

I will not pretend that I am not disappointed. Dr. Dean is a great man and would have made a great president. I will still be casting my vote for him in my state’s primary on March 9th. If your state has not yet voted I would encourage you to do the same. As he stated in his address, it is important that we still have a voice at the convention in Boston.

Results of the Wisconsin Democratic Primary (source: AP):

with 3,525 of 3,528 precincts reporting

Not exactly the results I was hoping for, but I am glad to see that perhaps John Kerry’s bubble may have a leak in it.

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) — Struggling Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean revealed Monday that national campaign chairman Steve Grossman has departed, but the former Vermont governor would not disclose the circumstances surrounding the change.

At an appearance here on the eve of the Wisconsin primary, Dean said Grossman was no longer with his campaign. “I absolutely don’t feel betrayed by Grossman. I consider him to be a friend,” Dean said, without elaborating.

It’s the second time in recent weeks that Dean has had a major shakeup in his campaign. On the day following the New Hampshire primary, in which he finished second to Sen. John Kerry, he announced that campaign manager Joe Trippi was leaving. This came after Dean decided to give the top campaign post to Roy Neel, a longtime confidant of former Vice President Al Gore. Trippi told people at the time that he chose to resign rather than remain in the campaign in a lesser role.

Monday’s revelation came as Dean had a brief exchange with reporters before appearing at a campaign event. Asked when he had last talked to Grossman, Dean said, “I have not talked to him since things came out in the newspaper.”

Asked to elaborate, he replied, “My response is, I’ll speak for the campaign.”

Grossman had said earlier that if Dean stumbled in Wisconsin, he would seek to convert his grass-roots network into a movement that helps expand the party and elect the Democratic nominee.

“I have no doubt he’ll support the nominee in any way he can, no matter who the nominee is and obviously that nominee looks to be John Kerry,” Grossman said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Vermont. “He may say that Tuesday night. He may wait until Wednesday or Thursday to say that.”

But Dean, in an interview with The Associated Press, said Sunday he was staying in the race — “We are not bowing out” — although he added, “The forum we will use to stay in the race remains to be seen. Period. Anybody who says anything to the contrary has misspoken.”

This is not surprising given Mr. Grossman’s comments to the media yesterday:

“If Howard Dean does not win the Wisconsin primary, I will reach out to John Kerry unless he reaches out to me first,” said the chairman, Steven Grossman, who was chairman of Mr. Kerry’s 1996 Senate race. “I will make it clear that I will do anything and everything I can to help him become the next president, and I will do anything and everything I can to build bridges with the Dean organization.”

That’s kind of a stupid thing to say two days before your boss is facing perhaps the most critical primary vote in his campaign.

In the words of your new boss, Mr. Grossman, “don’t let the door hit you on your way out.”

I kind of imagine that Jerry Falwell and Rick Santorum are having fits…

Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples lined up for hours to tie the knot at San Francisco City Hall on Friday, as anti-gay marriage forces seeking to put an immediate halt to the weddings were told by a judge that they would have to wait until next week.

Lawyers for two groups filed separate lawsuits accusing Mayor Gavin Newsom and other city officials of violating state law defining marriage as between a man and a woman. They said they would return to court Tuesday to seek a temporary restraining order to stop the weddings.

In the meantime, officials said they would keep City Hall open Valentine’s Day and the rest of the three-day weekend for anyone who wants to get married.

Four hundred same-sex couples had been wed at City Hall by 4 p.m. Friday, and another 250 couples waited in a line that snaked through two floors.

“We’ve been waiting longer than Britney Spears’ marriage lasted,” said Andy Tabbat, who was standing in line beside his partner, Barry Wolpa.

Newsom said he was expecting another 200 couples to be married by 6 p.m., bringing the one-day total to 850 same-sex marriages and the two-day total to 940. A typical day would see 30 marriages performed.

WBUR has set up an excellent Vote by Issue quiz. It presents you with statements by each of the Democratic presidential candidates on 14 different issues and asks you to blindly select the one that you most agree with. (link via Folkbum)

My results:

John Kerry

• Family and Marriage

Howard Dean

• Health Care
• Economy
• Trade Policy
• Role of U.S. Military
• Social Security
• Gun Control
• Terrorism

John Edwards

• Poverty and Homelessness
• Security & Civil Liberties
• Iraq — rebuilding

Dennis Kucinich

• Employment
• Education
• Energy and Environment

Go take the quiz. You may be surprised, as I was, on who you agree with on the issues.

DURAND, Wis. (Reuters) – Howard Dean, struggling to keep his Democratic presidential campaign alive, said on Friday it is premature to write “a post-mortem,” and he remains focused on winning the White House for “ordinary Americans.”

Dean, the former front-runner for the Democratic nomination, rejected a suggestion he might be seen as “a sore loser” if he remained in the race even if he suffers another in a long streak of defeats in the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday.

“There are an enormous amount of people who do want to continue” this campaign, the former Vermont governor told reporters. “Whether it’s enough to win the nomination, we will see.”

Dean said, however, that following the Wisconsin contest, which a recent poll showed him trailing, “I’m going to go back to Burlington and regroup.”

He has vowed to fight on, regardless if he wins or losses in Wisconsin. But he has said he has not decided how, other than vowing not to wage “a quixotic campaign” he cannot win.

Dean has been credited with helping shape the 2004 Democratic race with his anti-Washington, anti-war message, and a largely Internet-based organization that smashed fund-raising records and connected with legions of online backers.

Asked what he believes his contribution has been to the 2004 campaign — given he may soon be out of the contest he had long dominated until suffering the first of 14 straight state defeats last month in Iowa, Dean said, “It’s too early to be writing the post-mortem.”

“What I see as the contribution of this campaign is winning the presidency and changing this country,” Dean said as he began another day of campaigning in Wisconsin by visiting a farm in Durand where he discussed his agriculture proposals and held a brief news conference in a barn.

A poll released this week of Democratic Wisconsin voters showed Dean far behind Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the party’s new front-runner to challenge President Bush this November.

“I think we are making progress,” Dean said, insisting he is picking up ground on the veteran lawmaker who he has denounced as a “Washington insider” beholden to special interests. “I think people really want change in Washington.”

At a rally of a few hundred people in Eau Claire, Dean urged Wisconsin to reflect its independent heritage, reject the polls and vote for him in the state primary.

“You have the power on Tuesday to take back the White House for ordinary Americans, and that is exactly what we are going to do,” Dean said to sustained applause and cheers.

Dean said a Wisconsin victory would reinvigorate his once high-flying campaign, and help him in a number of the big states ahead, like New York, Ohio and California.

For some reason the people up in Wisconsin don’t seem to be all that fond of Howard Dean. According to the latest poll from American Research Group, Inc., 19% of the people in that state have a favorable opinion of him, 43% have an unfavorable opinion of him and 37% are not sure what they think of him. Kind of makes me wonder what he did to tick off that 43%.

When asked who they thought they were going to vote for in their state’s primary next Tuesday, 53% of the likely Democratic primary voters in Wisconsin said they would probably vote for John Kerry (the “stock bubble” thing – see previous post), 16% said John Edwards and only 11% said Howard Dean.

With the primary only four days away, this is not looking good folks! I hope a lot more people get to see and hear Dr. Dean in person over the next few days. Once you get the chance to meet him, you definitely want to vote for him. Most people, however, only get to form their opinions from what the media tells them and the media has not been kind.