I Can't Explain Howard Dean
He blames the Kelo decision on ÂThe president and his right-wing Supreme Court."
What
The
Fuck?
Let's do a head count of Supreme Court Justices appointed by George W Bush that ruled on that case. I got zero. Everyone agree?
Let's look at who was in the majority on the decision. Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kennedy. That's the liberal wing of the Court plus the moderate, who-knows-what-I'll-do Kennedy. The dissenters were the conservatives.
There are two possibilities here. Number one, Dean is an idiot. I know he's a doctor and was a governor (but c'mon, it's Vermont), but that doesn't necessarily mean he knows how this stuff works. He thought Job was in the New Testament. Number two, this is a political move designed to take advantage of people who don't know that this isn't the president's Court. Politics is all about misinformation.
What is the answer? Any other time, I would say number two without hesitation. But I'm really starting to wonder about Dean. I just don't think he is a good politician. At all. Not on the national level anyway. He says all these over the top things, like Republicans will eat your babies or crap down your chimney or whatever. The party base might eat that up, but it's not winning votes.
His outreach to the South is hilarious too. It's like watching a 15 year old boy try to take off a girl's bra for the first time. Dean thinks that he's going to win these people over by talking about "their issues." You can rattle off the talking points, but if you don't understand their reasons for believing what they believe, it won't mean shit. It reminds me of Russ Feingold's eye-roll-inducing op-ed about his trip through the South after the election. You will never appeal to people you don't understand. You are not Bill Clinton, you are not Lyndon Johnson, hell you're not even Jimmy Carter. Notice anything about those past Democratic presidents? Like maybe where they are from geographically? Get a clue and win an election.
What
The
Fuck?
Let's do a head count of Supreme Court Justices appointed by George W Bush that ruled on that case. I got zero. Everyone agree?
Let's look at who was in the majority on the decision. Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kennedy. That's the liberal wing of the Court plus the moderate, who-knows-what-I'll-do Kennedy. The dissenters were the conservatives.
There are two possibilities here. Number one, Dean is an idiot. I know he's a doctor and was a governor (but c'mon, it's Vermont), but that doesn't necessarily mean he knows how this stuff works. He thought Job was in the New Testament. Number two, this is a political move designed to take advantage of people who don't know that this isn't the president's Court. Politics is all about misinformation.
What is the answer? Any other time, I would say number two without hesitation. But I'm really starting to wonder about Dean. I just don't think he is a good politician. At all. Not on the national level anyway. He says all these over the top things, like Republicans will eat your babies or crap down your chimney or whatever. The party base might eat that up, but it's not winning votes.
His outreach to the South is hilarious too. It's like watching a 15 year old boy try to take off a girl's bra for the first time. Dean thinks that he's going to win these people over by talking about "their issues." You can rattle off the talking points, but if you don't understand their reasons for believing what they believe, it won't mean shit. It reminds me of Russ Feingold's eye-roll-inducing op-ed about his trip through the South after the election. You will never appeal to people you don't understand. You are not Bill Clinton, you are not Lyndon Johnson, hell you're not even Jimmy Carter. Notice anything about those past Democratic presidents? Like maybe where they are from geographically? Get a clue and win an election.
