Howard Dean's candidacy is now history, but it will take years for most Americans to understand how he went from being the frontrunner to an also-ran in a matter of weeks.
Dean's slide was driven by the media. For whatever reasons -- self-interest, skepticism, cynicism -- they bought into the belief that he was "unelectable," too much of an outsider, from too small a state, etc, and dutifully reported on his shortcomings, even despite his enthusiastic supporters, record fundraising and endorsements by Al Gore, Bill Bradley, Tom Harken and others.
A Washington Post piece from last December by Marjorie Williams, who some would consider a card-carrying member of the fictitious "liberal media," shows how the press had it in for Dean.
At long last, the revelation I've been waiting for: the reason why -- beyond the prospect of epic, McGovernesque defeat -- I feel so uneasy about Howard Dean.Now Williams, who calls herself "a charter member of the ABB Society," has aimed her cynicism and skepticism at John Kerry in a piece called "Win One for the Flipper."
The man is a doctor. This is the least-examined chapter of his career. But suddenly it all makes sense: Where else but in medicine do you find men and women who never admit a mistake? Who talk more than they listen, and feel entitled to withhold crucial information? Whose lack of tact in matters of life and death might disqualify them for any other field?
Bush is already having fun with Kerry's zigzags of the past three years alone: Kerry voted for so many of Bush's major initiatives that in order to disown them now he can only argue that they were wrongly or dishonestly "implemented." This amounts to a confession that his opponent made a chump of him for the past three years. In fact, one might argue that Kerry is a poster boy for all the ways in which congressional Democrats have allowed themselves to be rolled by the Bush administration. But this is something I am trying hard not to notice about him.We can expect more of the same commentary from the punditocracy in the months ahead.
Eight months is a long time for Bush to pile up a home-field advantage while Kerry's campaign decides how to fill in, complete and polish the invention that won the primaries. It's going to be hard to sustain, for so many months, the party's fond illusion that there is such a beast as "electability."
If John Kerry loses to George W. Bush in November, many Democrats will wonder what could have been with Howard Dean, had the press not worked so hard to take him out of the race.
... speaking of zigzags, Daily Kos notes that Bush has plenty of his own.
So Bush has a site somewhere that tracks Kerry's "flip-flops". Reader TK probably spent three seconds coming up with this list of Bush flip flops. It's not like they're hard to find:
- Bush is against campaign finance reform; then he's for it.
- Bush is against a Homeland Security Department; then he's for it.
- Bush is against a 9/11 commission; then he's for it.
- Bush is against an Iraq WMD investigation; then he's for it.
- Bush is against nation building; then he's for it.
- Bush is against deficits; then he's for them.
- Bush is for free trade; then he's for tariffs on steel; then he's against them again.
- Bush is against the U.S. taking a role in the Israeli Palestinian conflict; then he pushes for a "road map" and a Palestinian State.
- Bush is for states right to decide on gay marriage, then he is for changing the constitution.
- Bush first says he'll provide money for first responders (fire, police, emergency), then he doesn't.
- Bush first says that 'help is on the way' to the military ... then he cuts benefits
- Bush-"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. Bush-"I don't know where he is. I have no idea and I really don't care.
- Bush claims to be in favor of the environment and then secretly starts drilling on Padre Island.
- Bush talks about helping education and increases mandates while cutting funding.
- Bush first says the U.S. won't negotiate with North Korea. Now he will
- Bush goes to Bob Jones University. Then say's he shouldn't have.
- Bush said he would demand a U.N. Security Council vote on whether to sanction military action against Iraq. Later Bush announced he would not call for a vote
- Bush said the "mission accomplished" banner was put up by the sailors. Bush later admits it was his advance team.
- Bush was for fingerprinting and photographing Mexicans who enter the US. Bush after meeting with Pres. Fox, he's against it.