Posted on 09/26/2003 6:00:13 PM PDT by ComtedeMaistre
A friend in New Hampshire who attended one of Dean's campaign rallies out of curiosity, commented that he cannot remember a situation where he saw so many angry and resentful white people. In a recent speech, Dean compared the situation of Americans today, to that of Americans during the Revolutionary War, in that in both eras, America was under the rule of oppressive kings named George.
Dean's political campaigning style sounded familiar. I scratched my head and tried to figure out which past politician had the style of Dean. Then it occurred to me...of course...George Wallace in '68. Dean is appealing to the same emotions of angry and resentful whites, but there is a difference in class. Wallace appealed to angry lower-class whites who were members of union households, while Dean is appealing to angry upper middle-class Starbucks yuppies. But the politics of resentment is the same in both cases.
Dean has been compared to election losers, McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis, in terms of political ideology. That may be true. But in terms of style, McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis were extremely boring, and were not at ease with retail politics in the manner of Dean. And their style of speaking was measured, weighing the content of their speech carefully, in order to appeal to New York Times editorialists. But Dean is brash and careless, and has made numerous gaffes in his campaign.
Anger turns out voters in droves. McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis were never able to tap into the reserves of pure liberal hate, that Dean is tapping into. The 2004 election year may be the year of the angry white yuppies and the even angrier white hippies.
He ran for governor of Alabama as a liberal and was beaten by John Patterson who ran as a segregationist. Patterson btw was a fine man and was responsible for running the mob out of Phenix City, Alabama in the late 40's or maybe it was the early 50's.
When Wallace ran again he was a conservative segregationist. I guess it is possible that he actually changed but my guess is that he saw which way the wind was blowing.
Whatever else he was, Wallace was really smart.
I must apologize to the rest of the nation for this fellow.... He is a liberal... probably anti-gun.... probably chose not to lobby against guns as governor because he knew he'd lose in VT...He is primarily a *Democratic* Politician..... nothing much matters except getting elected...and then he'll advance a liberal leftist agenda....but he'll appeal to anyone he can to get elected....the pro-homosexual lobby loves him due to Civil Unions....Yes, I'd call him a tax and spend liberal....
*****from a conservative listserv here in VT*****
Recently the United States Census released a report which showed that Vermont has the highest state tax burden as a percentage of per capita income. The Small Business Survival Committee released its index for 2002. Like Farooq, it analyzed taxes, electricity cost, workers, $E2 compensation costs, crime rates, right-to-work laws, number of government bureaucrats, and the minimum wage. Vermont ranked 43rd out of 50 states.
Cognetics, a Waltham Massachusetts based firm whose main research focus is Americans growing a small business, our target audience says Dean and our Development Department, issued their listing recently as well. In their ranking Vermont slipped to 49th out of 50 states. (end objective facts)
(Resuming friend's commentary) "Yes, If Dean gets ahold of the Presidency, America can kiss any economic prosperity goodbye....I'm glad we have a Republican Governor now....."
Neither McCain, Perot nor Anderson were a force in primaries.
All of them appealed to voters in the center. Dean appeals to voters on the fringe.
And the idea that Clinton appealed to voters who never voted is unsupported by any exit polling data, or other polling data for that matter.
I also think Dean has already peaked. He is losing ground in New Hampshire. He is no longer the front runner nationwide, if he ever was.
I think the Democrat most likely, at this point, to win the nomination is Ketchup Boy.
Interesting. I guess anger really works -- and it's true that Wallace really tapped into the anger in 1968. I guess that's how he got to be President ...
Well, he had a chance. Or at least could have been a major spoiler. But he got shot first.
A perfect political car-toon.
You've got great insight, I think.
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