September 10, 2003
Welcome to Baltimore, Hon
What a difference six months make. And what a difference six hours make. I was ready to publish a post this morning about last night’s Baltimore debate, sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus (co-sponsored by Fox News, who of course gives it the Fox perspective), but was distracted by work of all things - a major blogging hazard.
For those of you who missed it (and while I try to avoid sports cliches like the plague), Slate has a good overview of the 90-minute show. The Behind the Scenes coverage is even better.
There were no knockout punches however - and the “What’s your favorite song?” question is truly classic - but Dean is setting the pace and the agenda, despite the focus on one sentence that’s dominating the headlines this afternoon.
When I returned to finish the post I'd started this morning, I was surprised to find how much of the news focus had shifted from the Dem's bashing Bush and talking about Iraq to Dem's bashing Dean and talking about race.
While Dean's comment was obvious bravado, it would be helpful to keep it in context. And more importantly, it confirms for once and for all that Dean is the frontrunner. Not because of how much money he's raised or his current level of exposure - but simply by the action and reaction of his fellow contenders.
I had hoped that the candidates would, for the most part, refuse to enter into pissing contests with each other -- and keep the focus on Bush, which I believe they did for the most part last night. And kudos to Lieberman and Sharpton for deftly handling the LaRouche hecklers. But that type of single-minded focus continues to look less and less likely.
And I guess I'm not the only one who thinks Al Sharpton saved the debate and more than carried his own last night.
What's even more telling than the "debate" though is that the anticipated SEIU presidential candidate endorsement today will likely wait, much as AFSCME has already decided. This "wait and see" approach by the nation's largest labor unions bodes well for Dean. Whether you support him or not, his impact on this race - and probably all races to come - is undeniable.
Posted by 9thwave at September 10, 2003 03:43 PMLieberman talked up Israeli values are similar to American values and then attacked Dean in a quote about the Middle East. This is a low blow and it is pointless because Dean’s wife is Jewish and Lieberman is trying to make Dean out as an anti-Semite because he called for equality in the middle East. I bet you twenty bucks that Lieberman’s attack on Dean is going to be quoted in the right wing media over and over again.
Dean got a chance to respond and he said has the same position as Clinton. He called for party unity on the issue and Lieberman ended up looked like a fool. There were boos for Lieberman who clearly lost his cool. You could just see the contempt he had for Dean and this is going to be one of the nail in the coffin of Lieberman’s campaign.
If the next Dean event I go to has LaRouche’s bastards there I would love to show them that just because I am a democrat I am not a pacifist.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at September 10, 2003 07:47 PMWait a sec… Dean flip-flopped on Israel and that’s what Lieberman was calling him on, rightfully so. And shouldn’t the candidates go after each other? Isn’t the point for one of them to win the nomination? The focus isn’t going to stay on Bush. There are 9 people who want to be the next Democratic candidate. They won’t get there without going after their opponents. Dems are living in some kind of primary utopia right now. Realism is about to hit hard and the 9 men and women running will make sure we all know about the other people’s warts. That’s politics.
Posted by: CJ at September 10, 2003 09:54 PM“Going after their opponents” shouldn’t mean playing gotcha games with policy shifts. People do—I hope!—modify their positions in response to new situations. The Democratic candidates could use negative campaigning to ensure that whoever survives has had his/her reputation so damaged that winning the presidency isn’t possible. OR, the democratic candidates can use this period to help each other fine-tune policy/vision positions so that winning the presidency is assured.
Posted by: sappho at September 11, 2003 09:55 AMSappho I doubt that Lieberman tantrums are going to affect Dean’s popular lead. Dean did not flip flop he just needs to be damn carefull how he phrases his positions.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at September 11, 2003 12:57 PMNo thoughts from the left on the anniversary of September 11th?
Posted by: CJ at September 11, 2003 07:18 PMNot on this post CJ excuse us for staying on topic.
VOTE DEAN!
I didn’t mean on this post… I meant in general. I just figured someone from the left might have some thoughts or reflections, that’s all.
Posted by: CJ at September 11, 2003 09:25 PMLieberman’s attack was poorly chosen and poorly carried out imo, but policy positions are fair subjects for criticism.
Posted by: Dan Wylie-Sears at September 12, 2003 03:59 PM
