Blog For Arizona

In the chutzpah war, Dean has Bush's draft number

Takes One To Know One - In the chutzpah war, Dean has Bush's draft number. By William Saletan

Saletan comes to no real conclusion in this article, but if read correctly, the message is clearly that Dean is on the right track. When under fire over your military credentials, the best tactic is a frontal assault as brassy as your danglies will allow. Dean swings serious weight. Into the Bush fusillade of "attacking the President for attacking terrorists" and crossfire from Kerry proxy Cleland, charging Dean with "weaseling out" of service for accepting a 1Y deferment, Dean doesn't back down or concede, or even really acknowlege the attack. He steps up his own attack, goes over the wall, and carries the fight to Bush's greatest weaknesses- Iraq, terror, bin Laden, and North Korea.

Dean charges Bush with having no understanding of defense, betrayal of the armed forces, squeezing the morale out of the troops, failing to defend the country, calling the Iraq play out of self-interest and convenience, failing to stand up the Saudis, allowing North Korea to become a nuclear power, and ignoring his only qualified advisor - Colin Powell.

Wow. Right on! That's the way you win hearts and minds and get people to listen. Attack. Attack with conviction. Never say Uncle. Ignore the opponents attacks as irrelevant and beneath contempt. Wade in with both fists pumping and don't stop until one of you is finished.

Ladies and gentlemen, you are watching the begining a of Democratic victory in November! No other Democrat has the sheer guts to rip Bush a new one like this. Nothing short of this bare-knuckles brawl to the bitter end will drag Bush out of White House and kick his ass back to Crawford where it belongs.

Dean understands, as no other current Presidential Candidate understands, that agreeing with Bush, conceding to Bush on any point, especially National Defense, is deadly to Democratic chances in '04. Simple as that. Bush must be discredited and destroyed in the eyes of the majority of voters to beat him.

This country is cut in 3rds. 1/3 loves Bush and won't budge. 1/3 hates Bush and will vote for anyone but him. 1/3rd like Bush and think he's a pretty effective leader who tries to do the right thing, but don't agree with him on policy. That third has to never, ever even consider voting for Bush in November. How to do that? Make them see that not only is Bush misguided, he's incompetent, he's mendacious, and his policies are harmful to America.

Dean can do that, the others can't; they're too compromised right out of the gate by their votes on Iraq. Only three candidates remain untainted besides Dean- Kucinich, Braun, and Sharpton- and they can't win; not enough money, too liberal, too black, too female. Clark also did not vote for war, but he supported it completely. His attempts to distance himself from that endorsement of the war have been inept and unconvincing. Few buy his bullshit for minute; those who support him simply don't care. How can a General lose to a AWOL influence pedlar, they calculate? He can't lose, therefore I will support him. Maybe he wouldn't lose. But he'll never get the chance to prove it, he can't win the primary. The progressive left knows Clark is full of shit and they'll never vote for the man. Party loyalists know he's damn near a Republican, they'll never vote for him. Primary candidates do not get votes to suit a party strategy, they get votes because people like him, regardless of his supposed electoral chances in the primary. Between those two Democratic constituencies who don't like him, Clark is dead in the primary. He can't win. He should have accepted an early offer from Dean and saved himself alot of trouble. It's the last peace offering the DLC and Clinton's adherants will recieve, everything else from here on they'll have to earn.

Only Dean can carry the standard for the Dems on Iraq. He's not compromised to the left, he's never endorsed this war. He's not compromised to the party establishment; as much as they hate him for disturbing thier plans, Dean doesn't need them in the primary and they will reconcile themselves in the general or face another 4 years, minimum, of exile from power.

Iraq was piss-poor policy, founded on lies and manipulation of intellegence. There may never have been a more cunning and brash malfeasance by a modern Presidential Administration. Leiberman, Edwards, Kerry, and Gephardt would try not make it an issue in the General election. And be destroyed. They would allow Bush to shape the message and take the initiative on National Security, and lose the votes of enough of that middle 3rd to lose the election.

It's pure idiocy to avoid the issue. Iraq is the center peice, the crown jewel, of Bush's foreign policy; it is the "central theater" in the war on terror. The fight must occur here, on the "enemy's" own ground, or Dems WILL lose the election. Anyone tells you otherwise, they're fools, or agents for the other side. Once again, alone among the Dems - Dean demonstrates that he gets it. "It" being the White House.

posted by Michael Bryan @ 12/03/2003 04:49:00 AM