Something nice . . about EVERYONE!!!

[theboss]

I'm relatively new here and I still haven't picked a candidate to support because the election is still not for another six years or something. (I've lost track). But it's obvious to me that some folks may be taking their passion for their individual candidates a bit far. So I am going to say something nice about every candidate. (And then I am going to bash them a bit, because I'm fair like that. But nice bashing more or less). So here goes . . .

Howard Dean . . .
What can you say about the guy? No one knew who the hell he was a year ago. Now, you could probably get 3-1 odds in Vegas on him winning the whole ball of wax. He's grasped something that a lot of politicians have forgotten: anger can be a good thing. Some really ugly things have happened in our country in the last three years. And it's right to yell about it a bit. There is obviously a lot of voters begging for a leader, and he has tapped into that in a big way. Whether he wins or not, it will be a nice feeling for a lot of people to vote for someone they are genuninely excited about. I've done that exactly once in twelve years of voting at every level.

On the negative side, when you yell all the time, sometimes you don't edit yourself. Frankly, I'm not sure about large parts of his agenda because he seems to keep changing his mind. Is he pro-Israel? Anti-Israel? For leaving Iraq? For staying? For raising the retirement age? Against it? And that thing about talking to white people about race is the dumbest thing a major candidate has said on the subject since Ross Perot dropped the "You people" line in '92.

John Kerry . . .
It's nice to have a genuine war hero in the mix. Especially with George Bush with Kung-Fu Grip on the other side. And the man has been on the national stage for thirty years so you know where you stand with him. Kerry is pretty much what every Democrat looked like for about three decades. He is articulate, experienced, and as ready to be president as any man since . . .well, probably Al Gore. There is going to be no on-the-job training and we will have the most left-ward administration since probably LBJ. Kerry is Old School, Teddy K-style.

On the negative side, he is precisely the kind of candidate who has been getting waxed by Republicans for thirty years - northern liberals. And frankly, aren't we all a little tired of him by now? I mean, Doonesbury was making fun of his act before a lot of you were born.

John Edwards . . .
Ah. Nothing like young, attractive, energetic, articulate politicians. And he has a message that is the most intriguing in the campaign if you listen - his comments on wealth versus work are brilliant stuff. Yes, he was a trial lawyer, which could be a negative, but he won a lot of noble fights. How are you going to criticize him for the high-profile cases he won? And he has an intriguing personal story, which is important these days.

On the negative side, he's a bit cheeky, isn't he? I mean, he looks like he's about 33 and has very little experience in politics yet feels ready to not only be president, but give up his Senate seat to do it. It could be guts; it could be arrogance. As an attorney myself, I know which attribute is more common in the field.

To be continued . . .

[SharonAnn]

1. Being a trial lawyeris a positive, when somebody needs one.

When my mother was killed in an accident caused by a truck driver (who it turned out was blind in his right eye and that caused the accident), my father went looking for the best lawyer he could find and sued the truck company for everything he could get.

And he hates lawyers.

[theboss]

2. More Something Nice . . . .

Bob Graham . . .
He is the only man in America apparently who recognizes the real lessons of 9/11. We are still at risk, and we are ignoring the real enemy. Maybe, with Graham in the White House, our disgusting relationship with Saudi Arabia will finally be replaced by something admirable. Maybe we will go back to looking for the people who attacked us (and not our dad ten years ago). And maybe we can get credit for winning Florida this time.

On the negative side, has anyone with more information said less? He should be screaming from the rooftops that he has all the scoop on the war on terror. Yet, he is remarkably passive. And people keep confusing him with the 17 other Grahams who have served in the Senate in the last decade.

Joe Lieberman . . .
I know. I know. He is on the short list with W, Cheney, and Ascroft. Well, guess what? I like him. I really do. I like politicians who talk morals and ethics. I like politicians who speak honestly and who don't cater to their base. I think it's ballsy. And frankly, I think he's right a lot more often than he is wrong. We as a party may very well be on the verge of doing to ourselves what the Republicans did in '64 and what we did in '72. We may be close to going completely off the rails and crippling ourselves not only in the Presidency, but the Senate and House too.

Unfortunately, when he is wrong, he is big-time wrong. And he is big-time wrong on Iraq. Unfathomably wrong. And worse, he is arrogantly, unfathomably wrong. Having said that, if he's the choice in November, he gets my vote.

Dennis Kucinich . . .
Wow. Into everyone's life, a little Jerry Brown must fall. Both parties used to have a lot of guys like this - those on the fringe who took our positions to their logical ends. And then defended those ends with passion and intelligence. (Well, maybe not intelligence. Bob Dornan, I'm looking at you). And bravery. Say what you will, Kucinich has balls as big as Texas. The Department of Peace? Are you kidding me? What other politician would even say this in a Press Club Dinner skit? And yet, the more you listen, the more appealing it is.

Let's face it, though, I have a better chance of being President.

Dick Gephardt . . .
Another Old School guy out of the Humphrey mold. Oh, sure, every Democrat says he is for the working man. Well, Gephardt has a record as long as I-95 that backs up what he says. When it comes to the middle-class and blue-collar workers, Gephardt fights everyone - Republicans and his own party. And, like Kerry, he has been around forever and is ready to be president. There is no credibility gap here.

On the bad side, if you share a bed with Big Labor all those years, your sheets are going to get coal dust in them. I'm not so sure that under a Gephardt presidency, I won't notice that everything in the store is suddenly a lot more expensive and my cousin Phil the steelworker is spending a lot more time at the beach.

Al Sharpton . . .
Into everyone's life, a little Dick Gregory must fall. You want to talk about balls? Sharpton fights everyone while wearing curlers. There used to be a concept in this country of talking truth to power. Sharpton still believes in it. And he finds causes no one else pays attention to and makes them important - the Sudan and Liberia come to mind. And he is surprisingly honest with his chief constituency about its own role in its problems and recoveries. His interview on the Chris Rock show a number of years ago was remarkable for its criticism of the role of language, violence, and self-degradation in the hip-hop culture.

Still, I personally think he is a demagogue who will destroy lives for his self-promotion. He refuses to take repsonsibility for the sins of his past - Tawana, Jewish interlopers. And he has betrayed the Democrats in NYC time and time again.

Carol Moseley-Braun
Um, she seems like a nice lady. I really know nothing about her.

[CWebster]

3. nice things weren't always that nice

and the criticism wasn't always really there.

Best to always come out and admit a bias, it is always painfully obvious despite the claims of....even-handedness.

[theboss]

4. Out of curiosity . . .

Who do you think I'm biased towards?

(I'm also kicking this becaus it took a long time to write and I'm disappointed I only got two responses. Cue up Glenn Close moment.)