Thursday, January 22, 2004
Keep On Smilin'
James Ridgeway of the Village Voice has two reports from New Hampshire--first, on John Kerry, who represents for Ridgeway the triumph of triangulating Democratic losers who don't want to rock the boat, and not, as he has continuously suggested since Monday, a fighter: "He voted for welfare reform. He voted agaist teacher tenure. He has suggested that the concept of affirmative action needs change. . . . Now he is painting himself as a ruthless critic of the special interests. Actually, the senator has always been pretty much in the background in Washington: He's not known for doing much of anything, and he's hardly a staunch foe of special interests." In addition, Ridgeway suggests that while Dean is catching media hell for losing it on Monday night, Wesley Clark has been flaky--and even angry--but nobody is noticing. Meanwhile, John Edwards keeps on smilin'. (On Tuesday, Ridgeway reported that Edwards' health care position is no different from the one Bush and the Republicans have been pushing--a national system similar to the private-insurance system offered to all federal workers. The same report examined how Dean has become the victim of the same sort of media-aided Democratic insider smear campaign that got Jesse Jackson in 1988 and Jerry Brown in 1992.)
James Ridgeway of the Village Voice has two reports from New Hampshire--first, on John Kerry, who represents for Ridgeway the triumph of triangulating Democratic losers who don't want to rock the boat, and not, as he has continuously suggested since Monday, a fighter: "He voted for welfare reform. He voted agaist teacher tenure. He has suggested that the concept of affirmative action needs change. . . . Now he is painting himself as a ruthless critic of the special interests. Actually, the senator has always been pretty much in the background in Washington: He's not known for doing much of anything, and he's hardly a staunch foe of special interests." In addition, Ridgeway suggests that while Dean is catching media hell for losing it on Monday night, Wesley Clark has been flaky--and even angry--but nobody is noticing. Meanwhile, John Edwards keeps on smilin'. (On Tuesday, Ridgeway reported that Edwards' health care position is no different from the one Bush and the Republicans have been pushing--a national system similar to the private-insurance system offered to all federal workers. The same report examined how Dean has become the victim of the same sort of media-aided Democratic insider smear campaign that got Jesse Jackson in 1988 and Jerry Brown in 1992.)
