Monday, March 10, 2003

Dean For America QUOTE OF THE DAY "What I want to know, is why in the world the Democratic Party leadership is supporting the President's unilateral attack on Iraq?  What I want to know,  is why are Democratic leaders supporting tax cuts? The question is not how big the tax cut should be -- the question should be: Can we afford a tax cut at all with the largest deficit in the history of the country?  What I want to know, is why we're fighting in Congress about the Patient's Bill of Rights when the Democratic Party ought to be standing up for health care for every man, woman and child in this country?  What I want to know, is why our folks are voting for the President's No Child Left Behind bill that leaves every child behind, every teacher behind, every school board behind and every property tax payer behind?  I am Howard Dean. And I'm here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party." - - Howard Dean  (Address to DNC Winter Meeting, 2/21/03, Wash., DC) FULL TRANSCRIPT OF SPEECH AT: http://deanforamerica.com/dean.cfm?section=about&page=speeches&drill=022103 RHINO HERE: For many decades, the only candidate I've ever been able to feel passionately positive about was, "NOBODY".  If you're not familiar with this veteran candidate, every 4 years the campaign co-ordinators for "The Nobody For President Campaign" would lead the rallying crowds in chants such as: "Nobody will stop war once and for all!" "Nobody will end world hunger!" "Nobody will provide national health insurance!" "Nobody will give our schools all the funding they need!" "Nobody bakes apple pie better than Mom!" The candidate would arrive in a car sporting a bumper sticker that read, "U.S. Out Of North America!". The doors would open and the candidates "handlers" would emerge holding a silk pillow upon which were a set of chattering teeth. They'd yell, "Here comes the candidate!" Rhino longs for the old daze when one could have a bit of fun with the elections in lieu of being depressed about the choice of the evil of 2 lessers. But no more folks. The next presidential election is going to be some serious business. We have got to get rid of these guys and as for shrub, we should take Country Joe's advice concerning L.B.J. and, "Send him back to Texas make him work on his ranch, oh yeah!" A Note From Peter Coyote Despite being a registered Green Voter, and firmly believing in the Green Party platform and the existence of a strong third party in American Politics, I honestly believe that there is only one viable short-term strategy for Congressional and Presidential elections in the near term, and that is to re-elect the Democrats to stem the flood of bad-law, bad appointments, and worse. They've been decrepit and corrupt to be sure, but Nader was wrong. On numerous issues: women's rights, gun-control, the environment and education, appointments to the judiciary and agencys, the Democrats are better. The lesser of two evils is still less evil. Here's a speech from HOWARD DEAN, the fellow I think is the most interesting serious candidate for President. I urge us all to support him, but should he not win the nomination, I urge us all to support whatsoever form of Democrat does get it. THEN, after the election, I urge you to support the Green party on all local and State issues. Gov. Howard Dean's Address to DNC Winter Meeting, 2/21/03, Wash., DC is posted at: http://deanforamerica.com/dean.cfm?section=about&page=speeches&drill=022103 Howard Dean For America Website is at: http://deanforamerica.com Poll: Unnamed Democrat Leads Bush March  6, 2003  |  WASHINGTON (AP) --  The "as-yet-unnamed" Democratic presidential nominee has a slight edge over President Bush, according to the latest national Quinnipiac poll. Almost half of those surveyed -- 48 percent -- said they would support the Democratic candidate, while 44 percent said they would vote for Bush. The poll of 1,232 registered voters, conducted Feb. 26-March 3, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.  Among those identified as independents, 46 percent favored the Democratic Party nominee while 39 percent chose the Republican president.  Bush fared better when matched head-to-head against Democratic candidates in a national poll last month, running almost 10 points ahead of some of the better known candidates such as Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt, as well as New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has said repeatedly that she is not running in 2004.  Among the Democrats questioned in the Quinnipiac poll, Clinton received the strongest support -- 37 percent. That was more than the next three candidates -- Gephardt, Lieberman and Kerry -- combined. Without Clinton in the race, Lieberman was at 21 percent, followed by Gephardt at 17 percent, Kerry at 12 percent and all others in single digits.  Overall, Bush's job approval was at 53 percent, with 39 percent disapproving. Only 9 percent said they were "very satisfied" with the country's direction, while 26 percent were "very dissatisfied." http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2003/03/06/poll/index.html THE POLLING ORGANIZATION'S WEB SITE http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x660.xml The Democratic Beauty Contest The Nation, by David Corn 02/25/2003 As was evident during the most recent episode of the Democratic Party's Star Search--a meeting in Washington of the Democratic National Committee, where most of the presidential contenders spoke--here's what each of the party's 2004 candidates need at this early point in the race: Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean: More time as a second-tier candidate so he can continue to make progress under the radar. Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut: A reason why Democrats should give a damn about his future. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts: The war to come and go quickly. Representative Richard Gephardt of St. Louis: Reconsideration. Senator John Edwards of North Carolina: An agent in Hollywood. Former Senator Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois: A rationale for running other than becoming another first. Representative Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland: A function button on his laptop to remove references to FDR. Provocateur-turned-activist Al Sharpton: His own television show... http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=435 THE BOTTOM LINE  is a piece from political writer, William Saletan.  Not too long & the end's got a punch. It should be noted that on Meet The press yesterday, Tim Russert confronted Howard Dean about Tom DeLay saying Dean showed himself to not be worthy of national office. Dean replied something like, well whether Mr. Delay or myself aree more suited to national leadership is really  for the American people to decide, and I wouldn't be too concerned about that outcome. Rhino likes it when Dem's talk sassy! 8:27:16 AM    comment

THE BOTTOM LINE - Sunshine Patriot Tom DeLay ... EDITOR'S NOTE:  Read this very, very carefully-especially the last paragraph. - wrp Sunshine Patriot Tom DeLay and the party of appeasement By William Saletan, 2/26/03 On Wednesday, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, called Democratic opponents of war in Iraq "reckless." DeLay assailed last weekend's "outrageous" speech by former Gov. Howard Dean, D-Vt., to the Democratic National Committee. The applause that greeted Dean's speech "proves who the Democrat Party is," DeLay told reporters. "They are fast becoming the appeasement party." It's easy to see why DeLay is angry. In his speech, Dean called the war a "quagmire" and compared it to Vietnam. He said it would "drag on," costing billions of dollars. He accused the president of failing to specify how long our troops would have to stay, and he urged the administration to withdraw them "before the body bags start coming home." Maybe if Dean had stopped there, his remarks could have been shrugged off. But he went further. He accused the president of double standards and twisted priorities, implying ulterior motives. "North Korea continues to flaunt international law by speeding ahead with their nuclear program with no consequences whatsoever," Dean charged. And despite the bombing of Afghanistan, he observed, "Osama Bin Laden still represents a threat to thousands of American lives."... TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, AND RHINO HOPES YOU WILL, GO TO: http://slate.msn.com/id/2079324/ "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. 8:05:29 AM    comment

© Copyright 2005 Gary Rhine.