Nation-Building

The "freepers" (posters at Free Republic.com, a rabidly pro-GOP discussion forum) discovered the MoveOn poll and in their usual fashion tried to find a way to derail it. In the process, though, their threads on FR.com are unintentionally hilarious! For example, they are trying to vote for Al Sharpton or Dennis Kucinich in the poll - which is a waste of their mischief potential (voting for Edwards might have made a difference in pushing him to a marginal victory, for example). (Related - there actually is a Republicans for Sharpton web site now - which I think is a wonderful thing, because by drawing attention to Sharpton's brilliant critiques of Bush and articulate vision of Progressive ideals from a humanist standpoint, they only serve the progressive cause). The sum total of votes the Freepers were able to amass - including their exacggerated claims of filing ten ballots each - is only about a few hundred. Compared to MoveOn.org's membership base of 1.5 milli...

David Letterman takes aim at the Dean Meme: Top Ten Signs You're In Love With Democratic Presidential Candidate Howard Dean 10. You've actually heard of him 9. Whenever he discusses plans to revitalize economy, you get goosebumps 8. Named your cats "Howard," "Dean" and "Six-Term Governor Howard Dean" 7. You'll only watch movies featuring Ron Howard or Harry Dean Stanton 6. When you hear a report on the radio about a highway accident, you murmur, "Please, god, don't let Howard Dean be involved" 5. Constantly complain rival candidate Dennis Kucinich isn't "Howardly" enough 4. Changed outfit four times before watching appearance on "Meet the Press" 3. You stand by him despite the fact his infidelities embarrassed you in front of the entire...oh wait, wrong Democrat 2. When he announced his candidacy, you didn't laugh your ass off 1. You're actually considering wasting...

Things to do: Vote in the MoveOn election. Write a check . Get your MeetUp on. The July 2 MeetUp is coming up and the hosting kits are online. You should be getting a bundle of goodies in the mail as well, so you can look forward to that. But the campaign still needs hosts in some more cities: Alaska Fairbanks Alabama Mobile, Montgomery Arkansas Fayetteville California Chico, Eureka, Salinas, Stockton Colorado Fort Collins Connecticut Norwich Florida Jacksonville, Lakeland, Melbourne, Naples, Pensacola Georgia Athens, Savannah Hawaii Kahului Iowa Ottumwa Illinois Peoria,Springfield Indiana Alexandria, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Lafayette Kansas Wichita Louisiana Baton Rouge Massachusetts Hyannis Missouri Jackson Montana Helena New Jersey Atlantic City New York Schenectady Oregon Eugene Pennsylvania Erie, Lancaster South Carolina Charleston, Myrtle Beach Tennessee Kingsport Washington Appleton, Bellingham, Kennewic...

It's MoveOn time kids - make sure you vote - make sure you watch for that ballot - make sure you that you request one from MoveOn if you haven't gotten one yet - make sure you vote and make your voices heard.

Maybe Tim Russert actually thought he was being a ournalist when he interviewed Dean. Fine, ok, let's give Russert a chance to redeem himself and demonstrate his ibjective journalistic ethos - here's your chance to submit a Russert interview question for President Bush! We will take the best ones and actually email them to Russert. BTW you may notice that Haloscan comments are gone from the main page. We are committed to SBX now, and I am still working on having someone import the HS comments into the SBX system. I'll be upgrading the SBX account shortly as well so that user info is preserved.

Excerpt from the Washington Post article : Standing on the main street of this small, lakeside city, Dean hit one populist note after another as he cast himself as a champion of the middle and working classes, a sensible man who could balance a budget and enact progressive health and social policies. Excerpt from the NY Times article : Beyond offering a new rationale for his candidacy, the speech today seemed intended to lift Dr. Dean into a new phase of his campaign: from the scrappy maverick into a serious, if not quite establishment, candidate who is viewed in the top tier of this crowded field.

Forget about the Meet the Press interview - if you want to introduce Dean to a potential supporter, show them this great interview on WMUR!