Howard Dean for President - by Ted Rall

[pruner]

I'm a charter member of the 2004 ABB (Anybody But Bush) society. Whether the nominee turns out to be a right-winger (Clark, Lieberman) or a colorless bore (Edwards, Kerry, Gephardt), I'll vote for him over Bush, in the same spirit with which the late Afghan warlord Ahmed Shah Massoud reportedly toasted a meeting of anti-Soviet factions during the '80s occupation: "First we kill the Russians. Then we kill each other." But I have a preferance:

Howard Dean has the best chance to beat Bush.

Brilliant, aggressive and moneyed (that's Dean Witter to you, pal), Dr. Dean has a corner on the single most important issue to Americans: health care. His politics are surprisingly centrist, in both the refreshing sense (he's pro-Second Amendment and he came out for class-, rather than race-based affirmative action) and in the disappointing, Clintonian sense (he opposed invading Iraq, but not Afghanistan). He's got traditional Democratic constituents (he just stole the biggest AFL-CIO union's endorsement away from Gephardt) and fresh new ones (twentysomething bloggers have mailed him $25 million in crisp twenties).

Dean's got lots more going for him, not the least of which is running as an insurgent small-state governor disliked by his own party's top leaders (the ex-governor thing casts him as even more of an outsider). Polls show Dean leading his nearest rival, John Kerry, 33 percent to 19 percent in the crucial New Hampshire primary. Coming out early and hard against the war in Iraq wins him major props with the liberal base and makes him seem ahead-of-the-curve to everyone else. Most importantly, he's his own man. "He doesn't really owe his current standing to any of them, not to labor, not to minority groups, not environmental organizations, so he'll have more leeway as a nominee to follow his own course," says Darrel West, a political science professor at Cornell.

But the rubber would really tear up the road at the presidential debates, where Dean's dry, sardonic Long Island wit would devastate the hapless Bush--and charm television viewers. His natural pugnacity could help Dems deal more aggressively than usual with the nasty attack ads they can expect in the campaign ahead. Frankly, the other Democratic contenders don't have what it takes to stand up to Karl Rove's brutal war machine.

Maybe it's premature to endorse Gov. Dean. But right now, given the information we have available, he's the preferred candidate of us Anybody But Bushies.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=127&ncid=742&e=7&u=/uclicktext/20031123/cm_ucru/howarddeanforpresident

[slinkerwink]

1. who's Ted Rall?

Great article, btw...

[tom_paine]

2. Oh, have you got a treat in store for you, slinkerwink!

Ted Rall kicks ass! He is a charter member of the Resistance Forces and I hope he is in the cell next to me in the Heinrich Ashcroft Re-Education and Re-Christianization Center in the Sonoran Desert...

www.rall.com

Enjoy...

[CWebster]

18. Just discovered him myself this past year, writer & cartoonist

He is very young--cause enough to be hopeful for the future.

http://www.rall.com/

[vi5]

27. Very young? I don't think so...

He's older than myself I'm pretty sure and I'm 34. I know him first through his column in the punk zine Maximum Rock n Roll.

[Bozola]

3. Surely, you have a dry wit.

[w13rd0]

4. Ted Rall is a cartoonist...

...and a frequent columnist and pundit, who does an excellent job of slapping down right wingers. Interesting thing is, he was very much anti-Dean several months ago. He had a column that Dean bashers posted every 15 posts for a while. Wonder if they'll post this one too...

[slinkerwink]

really? Oh, right, he was the one who did that funny "Is Dean electable?"

cartoon....

[Cha]

8. I think but may be mistaken that ...that was

"Ward" somebody or somebody "Ward"!

[pruner]

11. Ward Sutton in the Village Voice

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0347/sutton.php

:)

[Cha]

15. There ya go!

:D

[Cha]

20. Here's one of Ted Rall's cartoons..

[Cha]

12. It would be interesting to know what

changed his mind. I always liked him cause he's a lefty and writes in "Progressive Populist".

[JanMichael]

17. OMG! You don't know about Ted?!

Basically he, and that dude that does "Boondocks", is the most Progressive/Liberal/Leftist nationally syndicated cartoonist alive!

Plus he's been doing an OpEd piece for awile that kicks ass too.

[JohnKleeb]

23. Aaron McGruder does the boondocks

Oh the one today was great. They dont have Rall in the Post though to my knowledge.

[JanMichael]

Thanks. His name escaped me.

Although I think Rall's toons are considered Op/Ed while McGruder's is on the regular comic pages.

Do you know?

[JohnKleeb]

30. I know Boondocks is in the comic section

Here is today.

[JanMichael]

31. That's a great toon! BTW I don't get a print paper anymore...

...so I was serious about my question, I don't know where they run Boondocks:-)

[ryharrin]

42. here's the site for the boondocks, you can get it everyday.

www.ucomics.com

[SahaleArm]

5. You mean this Ted Rall?

Love Me, I'm (Not Really) A Liberal: http://www.mauitime.com/v07/v07iss8/op_ed.html

[madfloridian]

9. Ha Ha.

Maybe he saw the error of his ways.
:silly:

[SahaleArm]

13. No - He decided to join those he derided

"But anybody-but-Bush Democrats desperately need a hero, and Dean's elected" :)

[blm]

25. You're right.

My spouse spent some time with Rall a couple months ago, and he really expressed dislike for Dean. Now, it's as if Rall's going with the flow of the media hype.

[Closer]

39. OH PUHlease!

:eyes:

[HuckleB]

6. Good piece.

Nobody's perfect, but I think Dean's generally a good man with good policies, and I think he's the most likely to upend Bush, which is the bottom line right now.

[Cha]

7. Wow! I remember "Ted Rall" writing an

anti Dean article and I was bummed. It sounds like he's had a change of heart and mind! :D

I rated it a FIVE!

[madfloridian]

10. He waffled!

:silly:

[Cha]

14. lol! Or another option ...

Ted Rall Evolved! :P

[Skwmom]

16. Clark is a right-winger?

Maybe the guy should stick to cartoons.

[SahaleArm]

19. "he's the preferred candidate of us Anybody But Bushies."

Good to see that Rall is in touch with the ABB crowd. Does that mean I'm not ABB? Or even better I guess I'm a right-winger?

[JanMichael]

21. Well I'll be damned (Not only because I'm one of those Godless Atheists)!

Dress me up in a mini-skirt and call me Teresa, I am shocked.

"America is under attack, and Bush is enemy number one."

F'n "A" Ted!

"I'm a charter member of the 2004 ABB (Anybody But Bush) society. Whether the nominee turns out to be a right-winger (Clark, Lieberman) or a colorless bore (Edwards, Kerry, Gephardt), I'll vote for him over Bush, in the same spirit with which the late Afghan warlord Ahmed Shah Massoud reportedly toasted a meeting of anti-Soviet factions during the '80s occupation: "First we kill the Russians. Then we kill each other.""

F'n "A" Ted!

[NashVegas]

32. I Don't Know About Quoting Massoud

Look what happened to him. "Smile, you're on Candid Camera." BOOM.

[JanMichael]

33. It's the essence of the quote not the reality of it.

;-)

[madfloridian]

22. Someone should tell him Dean is not of Dean Witter.

I noticed that in the article.

Or did I miss humor there. Not sure how he meant it.

[JanMichael]

24. He means that there's a silver spoon.

We had a caller today that was singing Dean's praises and he told the story of how Howard had to choose after college whether to go to work as an Investment Banker, Teacher, or change direction and go to Med School.

No harm in that I suppose since he's on our team..

[pruner]

26. his dad worked for Dean Witter…

but he's not the Dean in the firm's name.

[w4rma]

Ted Rall italized Dean Witter's last name. He's saying Dean is NOT Witter

Not that he is.

[SahaleArm]

41. No - Look at the quote in context

Brilliant, aggressive and moneyed (that's Dean Witter to you, pal)

Moneyed in relationship with Deab Witter; as in Dean's fundraising is damn good!

[Octafish]

28. Who gave Rall Kool-Aid? Ted said Ho-Ho isn't a Liberal ...

... a few months ago.

LOVE ME, I'M (NOT REALLY) A LIBERAL:
Liberal Democrats Project Their Desires onto Howard Dean

By Ted Rall

MONTPELIER, VERMONT — Howard Dean, media-anointed Lord of the Left and Prince Protector of Progressivism, is surfing a tsunami of Democratic discontent that could carry him to the White House. But as Vermonters tell anyone who's willing to listen, the former governor they call "Ho-Ho" is at best a leftie-come-lately. "The Howard Dean you are seeing on the national scene is not the Dean that we saw around here for the last decade. He's moved sharply left," says John McClaughry of the Ethan Allen Institute, a rightie think tank, of Dean's campaign rhetoric.

Vermont created proto-gay marriage "civil unions" during Dean's term--but that was the state Supreme Court's doing, not his. Even though Vermont's constitution didn't require him to balance the budget, he was a fierce deficit hawk who vetoed proposed Democratic spending. He sided with ski resort owners over environmentalists. And when big business called, he always picked up the phone. "We would meet privately with him three to four times a year to discuss our issues, and his secretary of commerce would call me once a week just to see how things were going," gushes IBM's John O'Kane.

According to Vermonters, Dean is a shrewd operator who saw millions of anti-Iraq (news - web sites) war demonstrators last spring for what they were: untapped Democratic primary voters. A few well-placed verbal broadsides spread his reputation as the only presidential contender willing to go after Bush while other Democrats remained silent or supported his war. His opportunistic Bush-bashing attracted liberal voters tired of being taken for granted and disgusted by do-nothing "Republican Lite" Dems.

Liberals are driving Dean's come-from-nowhere campaign, but they don't share his take on most issues. "If he gets the nomination, he'll run back to the center and be more mainstream," predicts Republican resort owner Bill Stenger. "He was not a left-wing wacko."

CONTINUED...

http://www.livejournal.com/community/kucinich/1219.html

[JanMichael]

29. He's ABB dammit. That and he probably sees Dean as more to the Left...

...than the others that have a shot are. That may be a mistake, nobody is perfect, yet everybody has a right to change direction and their mind.

[Octafish]

40. ABB good. Rall good.

So, we're agreed? Dean is a centrist, right?

[Khephra]

34. If you haven't read it yet

Read Rall's book, "To Afghanistan and Back". It's BRILLIANT!

[BigMcLargehuge]

35. Please remember to keep quoted articles to 4 paragraphs or less

with a link to the source material.

Thanks

Big McLargehuge
DU Moderator

[pruner]

36. two of the paragrpahs I quoted are only 1 sentence long

I thought there were exceptions for single sentence paragraphs.

and I did provide a link.

[w4rma]

37. Ted Rall is *awesome*! This is great! He is a fantastic journalist.

Political Cartoonist Ted Rall on the ground in Afghanistan
http://www.purrmag.com/Purr31/ncomicb.htm

And a wonderful political cartoonist and columnist. :)
http://www.rall.com/

[Closer]

38. This

is an EXCELLENT piece!

Thanks for posting!

[janekat]

43. Nice article about Dean...

although he's way off base calling Clark a right winger... If anything, Dean is a bit more conservative than Clark.