Josh Marshall on the Dean anti-Clark flyers

[snyttri]

1/11/04

<snip>

I hesitate to call it a lie because I don't know if Dean knows it's false, though he should.

The falsity of the claim is well-known to anyone who closely followed the debate over Iraq in the lead-up to the war and particularly Clark's role in that debate.

There's a lot of foolishness being peddled to the effect that Clark is claiming he's an "anti-war" candidate when he's not. (This is the upshot of the flyers Dean campaign workers are distributing at Clark rallies.) This is a very loaded term. One can believe this whole enterprise was badly misconceived and handled even worse and not have that sentiment diminished by not singing folk songs.

And why doesn't Dean know his campaign workers are distributing these flyers? Everyone else has known for like a week.

http://tinyurl.com/2qyqh

[pasadenaboy]

1. Josh is showing his anti-Dean feelings again

One of Dean's strengths is he does not have a top down campaign, he has a bottom up campaign. Accordingly, he doesn't "control the message" as much as other candidates and allows his supporters to be creative.

For example, the letters to Iowa and NH that were handwritten and sent to potential voters were not form letters. Individuals wrote them. Some were probably weird, and sloppy, and some were probably badly spelled. But that's part of what happens when you run a campaign this way.

Josh would be better served to say exactly what in the flyer is false, disprove it, and ask for a correction. Instead, it sounds like he thinks it should be more nuanced.

If that's the case, he should toughen up and realize politics isn't done on nuance, its done with a broad brush.

That being said, I really like Josh and his blog.

[snyttri]

3. Dean's answer on the flyers sounds rather prepared. Marshall points

out that the media had pointed out the flyers were being distributed several days before Dean was asked about them. It doesn't sound like he was being honest he said he he didn't know about them.

[HFishbine]

2. How insulting

The choices are believing the war was misconceived or singing folk songs. Sorry, John, many people are aware of just what Clark said and when he said it. Your excuses are lame.