The 2004 election. Battle lines are being drawn.
John Perry Barlow, “a retired Wyoming cattle rancher, a former lyricist for the Grateful Dead, and co-founder of the EFF”, is a seriously respected denizen of cyberspace. His new blog has a piece on William Safire’s attack on Howard Dean in the NY Times.
Besides, the television vs. Internet, Industrial vs. Virtual, corporate vs. individual nature of this election, is a subject that demands more thorough discussion than I have time for this morning.
The most grimly entertaining part of his screed comes at its end. Safire proposes a scenario in which Dean will falter, and, after the Democratic party has been recaptured by the Republicrats, he will leave the party in a sulk, creating conditions for a Bush landslide. Safire worries that a huge Bush mandate, as opposed to his mere reelection, might be bad for the country.
Right.
We can’t afford to lose this one, folks. If we do, we’ll have to set our watches back 60 years. If they even let us have watches in the camps, that is.
Eric Alterman, leftie journalist and blogger, details how the DC establishment detests Dean, a candidate they understand little and fear more.
Washington goes to war (with Howard Dean)
Saddam Hussein may be out of his spider hole, but Washington’s real enemy is still at large. His name: “Howard Dean”–and nobody in America poses a bigger threat to the city’s sense of its own importance
Today, the nation remains no less divided than four years ago, with about 20 percent of the vote up for grabs. The punditocracy has chosen its side. Perhaps it’s time the rest of us choose ours.
2004 will not be a time to watch from the sidelines. The stakes are too high for that. Get involved.
As a great man once said:
Most people think,
Great God will come from the skies,
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high.
But if you know what life is worth,
You will look for yours on earth:
And now you see the light,
You stand up for your rights.
Get up, stand up
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up
don’t give up the fight!