The Root Beer Blog

Howard Dean makes me want to touch myself. I really hope he gets into office. If for no other reason, I want to see him win because he is an interesting doer. Alot of politicians get stuff done, but are really boring or stupid. I hope he wins so that I can listen to our president speak without beating my head against a wall. Clinton was excellent, a master of the art of public speech. I have heard How-De speak and he has that same quality.

Anyways... before I get boring...

I'm very much behind Dean as well (though, to be honest, I'll probably back any Democrat who gets the nomination). [Side note: Clark's a Republican plant, not a Democrat.] At very least, it'd be nice to hear a President speak without saying "national security" and "terrorism" every fifteen seconds.

The thing that frustrates me about the current debate format is you can't tell what anyone's plans are for anything, or what their ideas or stances are: all that information comes from press events outside of the debate. The debate itself is empty rhetoric and in-party barbs, which really don't help anybody, especially when you make serious and harmful allegations against a likely candidate, when you have no shot. You hear that, Kerry? Shut the fuck up!

And yeah, of course, the debates are always just rhetoric and showboating, but typically each candidate has 40-45 minutes to make their cases, and in this situation, they have about 7.

Thanks for the thought. Nice to know others are behind him.

I'm not gonna get up here and tell you that Dean is the candidate I really want, because he's not.

Dean isn't close enough to perfect (read:exactly aligned with my political beliefs) for me to be all about him.

However, he is the best of the available choices (that have a chance of winning) by a wide margin. Yes, in fact to the point that I feel more strongly about his candidacy than for any political race to date.

Seems like we're a fairly Deany group here. Any dissenters? I'd like to hear from you so I know who to point and laugh at.

I don't mind being laughed at.
Sadly there are no good choices- just like last election. Come to think of it just like every election I can remember before that too.
For years I was voting against- primarily because there was no chance in hell of anyone I approved of winning an election.
I hate being forced to choose between outright collectivists doing wrong in the name of civil rights and/or by mandating virutes like charity and only slightly less collectivist-y doing slightly more wrong in the name of more 'traditional values'.
All in all either choice is equally reprehensible to me as each attempt (sucessfully)to reach beyond tenable governance via violence or threat of violence.

I should add, however, that Almost Anyone or Anything (my three legged cat or a rock) would be better than what we've got now.
If I were forced to choose among Dem. candidates I would choose Dean- for various reasons- one of which is that he at least doesn't resemble a creature one might encouner in an AD&D monster manual or in the bar scene in Star Wars.
Plus some more legitimate reasons.