January 28, 2004
The word is Howard Dean's New Hampshire primary campaign was run with somewhat more discipline than the disastrous Iowa effort. But, as Seattle blogger Howard Hansen mentioned to me recently, "you get your cues from the people you attract." Hansen, by the way, is an example of the many liberal voters who are turned off by Bush-bashing and anti-Iraq hysteria. See this fine entry on the subject of how the Democrats can win, from his blog "Howard's Musings" here.
A Seattle-based computer consultant - Hansen is a nice, reasonable, and very smart guy who backs Dean. Such people do exist. Hansen just believes Dean has been playing to the wrong constituency.
That was underscored in a hilarious manner by guest columnist Debby Morse recently in the San Francisco Chronicle. You'd think it would take a lot to weird out someone from Marin County, but local Dean-iacs proved more than equal to the task.
This is so good, I must quote at length.
Introductions, at first cheerful and informative ran something like, "Hi, my name is Solstice Rainpetal (not her real name but probably should have been), and I have a small printing business" -- and eventually devolved to "I'm Solstice."
Then the leader decided to officially call the meeting to order. Finally, I would find out what this committee really did. I was ready for action.
She lowered the lights and -- may Gandalf strike me with lightning if I'm lying -- led us through a guided meditation! "Let the tension leave your shoulders," she said. "Feel your body in the chair." Her exact words, I swear. To my left and right, volunteers closed their eyes and, I guess, felt their bodies in their chairs.
"Breathe deep into your abdomen," she gently urged, and I heard obedient inhalations all around me.
There was not a single protest, not even, sad to say, from me. I nervously fiddled with my pen beneath the table until the lights went back up. I needed a plan. The least I could do was stay the course, right? Go Dean! I was there to help get him elected. We all were.
Soon enough, tasks were assigned, lists exchanged, progress reports given. This seemed more like it. Then one volunteer discussed his hopes for getting somebody famous, maybe Peter Coyote, to write an essay for the op-ed page. "He's already endorsed Kucinich, but who's to say he can't endorse Dean, too?"
"Yes," agreed the committee leader, "Kucinich might ideologically be our first choice, but I think Peter Coyote wouldn't mind endorsing Dean."
Had I heard that correctly?
The volunteer responded, "So true. Kucinich would be our dream candidate, although Peter Coyote can probably explain it all in a way that makes sense."
I sat there aghast, too stunned to speak up. These were a bunch of closet Dennis Kucinich supporters. I wondered if Dean organizers higher up the chain of authority had any idea. Is there a chain of authority?
"What would Howard do?" I asked myself.
Well, Howard probably would have done something, uh, persuasive, but I decided to take the pacifist route, and left as soon as I could.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at January 28, 2004 08:32 AM
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