Nation-Building

Here's the open thread for Day One of the RNC. I'm curious what people think of protests. Are they valuable in promoting the causes? Also, at the link is a post by David Asednik of Oxblog on how the media coverage contrasted with his view of the protests . UPDATE: Matthew Yglesias has more thoughts .

Here's the transcript of Dean and Blitzer people wanted. Thanks to Barb in comments.

Sepoy of Chapati Mystery has short account of some time he spend registering voters in Columbus, Ohio . It's both amusing and depressing. Here's my favorite part: "We were at a mall in downtown Columbus and it was pouring outside. I wanted to go inside but others told me that doing voter registeration inside the mall was not allowed. Huh? I didn't believe it but the manager of the mall, upon enquiry, exclaimed, 'I am a Republican,' and walked off. The question was, can we set up a small table by the entrance to offer voter registeration. So, I trolled the mall with the clipboard inconspicuously, casually asking people under the breath, 'Hey, you registered to vote, man?' yeah."

This landmark piece in the New York Times documents the rise of the "venture-capital" political movement on the left. There's something thrilling about the way that the complete One Party domination of the Republicans - leading to worship of party before principle - has been the impetus for a new breed of politics to rise on the Left, a new emergent infrastructure that has very little to do with the Democratic Party. It's nearly impossible to excerpt an 11-page story, but there are some important points I want to make. The first point is recognizing what democracy in America is truly up against - a vast, right wing conspiracy of money and "vertical integration" of conservative think tanks and mainstream media outlets, that is funded to the tune of 300 million dollars a year . The story is best told by - of all things - a Powerpoint presentation: Last summer, he got a call from Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network, a fund-raising and ...

Anyone still here? :) I've moved to Chicago for two months to do some research with my advisor, and will be back in Houston mid-October. But my dissertation is rolling towards completion, so it's unlikely I can maintain a high output of blogposts even after that. But there's still our whole community that we built here together, and I think many of you have voices that need to be heard. So I'd like to ask for nominations for regular ocntributors in comments to be posters. Anyone interested? email me at azizp at gmail dot com. I think it would be great especially to give our most prolific commentators like Anthony, Robert or Jo or any of the others a chance to try out their hand at frontpage posting. Let me know if you think you want to try it and I'll set you up! And a special call-out hat-tip to Barb, whose posts in comments are always front-page material. Please use your access! :)

"Dean brought that passion back into national politics. He is regularly criticized for saying 'the wrong thing,' which usually turns out to be (a) true and (b) what a lot of us were thinking. Those of us who lack a national voice are grateful to him. Truly, we all owe him -- Democrats who want to be themselves, Republicans who are worried about huge budget deficits, and everyone who cares about the democratic process and wants to see people get involved, argue, campaign and vote." And the redemption of liberal politics in the U.S. has only just begun. (Via Blog for America )

Discuss whatever. And by the way, over the weekend someone asked me if Muslims worshipped cats.

"Republican William Bennett and Democrat Howard Dean will debate opposing political ideologies and key election issues on Thursday, September 30, in Portland, Maine, as part of the upcoming Fall Conference of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC)."

A group of anarchists has entered the political process: "Anarchists generally pride themselves on their rejection of government and its authority. But a faction of them fed up with the war in Iraq say they plan to cast anti-Bush votes this fall. "The voting debate was just one of the topics explored at the three-day North American Anarchist Convergence, which brought about 175 participants to Ohio University. "Some attendees rejected the voting proposal."

Late summer news got you down? Maybe reading this will cheer you up: "Out of the smoldering embers of the Dean Presidential campaign, 1000 points of light are emerging nationwide. It was just over a year ago that the Democratic Party leadership stated that we wouldn't be able to retake the US house until 2012. Now suddenly the Party is imbued with a new spirit of optimism. Why? Because, that cold day in Iowa when the DLC and the Republican right-wing breathed a sigh of relief as the Dean campaign went down in defeat--few people noticed that the Dean movement continued to fight on undaunted..."

Sorry I missed this, but Howard Dean has been on CNBC.

I've noticed from the comments a lot of people are closely following the situation in Sudan. This is a good issue for bipartisan cooperation, as Sudan has long been a pet issue with evangelical voters. These churches are usually tied to missionary work in places like Africa, and when the missionaries come back they're quite convinced it's a continent whose most serious problems require more international attention. Here is the text of a recent open letter to President Bush on the subject: "It is imperative for your administration to take additional clear action. We represent organizations which led efforts to enact these ground-breaking human rights initiatives: the International Religious Freedom Act, Sudan Peace Act, Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and just last week House passage of the North Korea Freedom Act. Your Administration's goal -- to redefine our national interest not as power but as values, and to identify one supreme value, what John Kenne...

Tim Young reflects on whether he hates President Bush, and why he feels the way he does . His post is hard to excerpt, but worth reflecting on.

Tina Brown had a column about Obama last Thursday: "In the media-saturated Hamptons, the summer's poolside reading is emblematic of life in the 21st century: the 9/11 commission report and Us magazine. There doesn't seem much alternative to the daily diet of terror and trivia -- except for the lingering impact of Barack Obama, which continues to reverberate as the only bounce worth talking about. "Obama-mania has reminded everyone that seriousness can be electric. The breakout keynote speech at the Democratic convention by the 42-year-old African American senatorial candidate from Illinois was one of those moments when the cultural momentum suddenly pauses. Could the world of ideas be exciting again? Star quality has become so debased it was almost spooky to see celebrity suddenly attached to the evoker of a political vision instead of the winner of a reality show or the star of an overhyped movie. Two days later when Obama emerged from the convention hall in B...

Hiatus override! I've criticized Dean for being wrong on an issue before - but on the issue of politicizing intelligence, he's got it right. And just like his famous observation that capturing Saddam didn't make Americans safer, he's being vilified for pointing out the obvious once again. This is what Tom Ridge, defender of the Homeland, actually said last Sunday: But we must understand that the kind of information available to us today is the result of the president's leadership in the war against terror , the reports that have led to this alert are the result of offensive intelligence and military operations overseas, as well as strong partnerships with our allies around the world, such as Pakistan. emphasis mine. Of course, what Ridge neglected to mention was: Much of the information that led the authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was three or four years old, i...

Hey fellow Dean Nation denizens - just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be taking a bit of a break from political blogging for a few months. I will not post much here unless there is some new and major Dean- or Obama - related news, at least until after the conventions and debates. I hope my co-bloggers will continue to post in my absence - things will likely slow down quite a bit, but this community is important to me and I don't want it to wither away. So I'm putting it on hold, and that way I can recharge, and come back stronger than before. I'll post in a week or so with a review of Joe Trippi's new book, but other than that, I'll see you guys in October :)