Run Doc Run!

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Wednesday August 10, 2011 · 11:02 PM PDT

2011/08/10 · 23:02

First of all, I believe Howard when he says he doesn't intend to run. I also believe people change their minds. Let's look at if he should, and if he does, how he should.

First, IF...

Why run for President? This is the question Roger Mudd asked that got Teddy Kennedy in so much trouble.

There's only one reason. Because you think you can do a better job for the American people than the alternatives, which in this case include an incumbent of your own party. Could Howard do a better job than any of the Republicans? IMHO yes. Could he do a better job than President Obama. IMHO yes.

rkolker

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Friday October 26, 2007 · 6:41 AM PDT

2007/10/26 · 06:41

Expecting something for nothing is the most popular form of hope.

Arnold Glasow

It seems trivial. Not even worth mentioning. Yet a lack of understanding of a simple truth is the source of much of our controversy and many of our long term problems in Washington and state capitals.

You can’t get something for nothing.

In the context of government, this translates as: we can’t ask government for services unless we are willing to pay for those services through taxes. Surveys, letters to the editor and to legislators by citizens claim we want better services: education second to none, transportation infrastructure and mass transit sufficient to avoid traffic backups, police and firefighters to protect us against both the normal problems of society and the new potential of terrorism in our back yards. Yet, when faced with the cost of those services, we vote in favor of candidates and positions best described by that old shibboleth, "Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax that guy behind the tree."

rkolker

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Friday April 27, 2007 · 12:22 PM PDT

2007/04/27 · 12:22

In the same way the Republicans all decided to call it the "Democrat" party, no Democrats should use the phrase "War on Terror." It is no more a war than the War on Drugs or the War on Poverty.

Using the term War leads us to using the tools of War -- planes, tanks, ships, soldiers with M-16's.

Instead we should be talking about "Protecting Americans from Terrorism." The tools of protection? Intelligence, police work, guarding (physically, electronically and legally) the entrances to the US: the ports, the roads, the airports. Working with other like minded nations where our goals coincide. Preparing for major catastrope, which includes terrorist attack but also weather, geological and other disasters.

rkolker

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Thursday April 12, 2007 · 8:55 AM PDT

2007/04/12 · 08:55

I am amazed how much support I've seen on so-called "progressive" blogs for censorship of the media based on content. Rights are enshrined in the Constitution because of the power of a majority to shout out a minority. Whatever I may think of Imus' comments (and I don't think much of them), allowing pressure groups to force him off the air is another step down the path that could silence an AAR host or a Keith Olbermann if some group decided not supporting the President in time of war, or calling the VP some of the things I've heard him called is offensive.

If we demand the right to speak, then we must protect the right to speak of those whose opinions we hate the most. Otherwise, when they come for us, there will be nobody left to speak.

Why do the states get to abuse the primary system?

rkolker

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Tuesday April 10, 2007 · 9:25 AM PDT

2007/04/10 · 09:25

The primary/caucus system is broken. Fortunately there's still time to fix it. The former is obvious on its face. Just look at all the states trying to move "up" in the calendar. The latter may be less obvious, but there's nothing stopping the Democratic Party from creating a new system to select its candidate for President.

We need to find a way of selecting Presidential candidates which both preserves the opportunity of unknown candidates to be heard and grow, but doesn't place overwhelming power in a small number of unrepresentative states.

"One big primary" would preclude the former, maintaining the current system promotes the latter.

rkolker

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Thursday April 05, 2007 · 11:08 AM PDT

2007/04/05 · 11:08

Some folks in the blogosphere are celebrating that Obama was able to raise as much as Clinton. What these people ignore is that once again the bar has been set for being a "serious" candidate, and it's not about your positions on the issues, or your plans for leading the country, it's about how much money you can raise, and how fast you can raise it.

It makes no difference if you get the money from 100 people or 100,000, so long as money is the determinant, then contributors, and not voters, will be the most important people to candidates running, and to our "public servants" once elected.

This isn't only true, although it is most obvious, at the Presidential level. The first question any reporter asks a potential candidate for any office is "how much money can you raise?" It's the same question party bigwigs ask, whether it's national pundits or town party "elders."

rkolker

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Monday January 08, 2007 · 6:19 AM PST

2007/01/08 · 06:19

How about this for a bill to pass in the first 100 hours:

The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public law 107-243, 116 Stat. 1497-1502) is hereby rescinded. All actions under the law shall be completed within 120 days and no funds shall be expended for activities under the law after that date.

At that point, if Bush wants to continue to try to keep troops in Iraq under his Commander in Chief powers by reallocating funds, it's up to him, but he can't lean on Congress and the IWR for justification. The 120 day number is the lower end of the "four to six months" many Democrats talk about for a date to start redeployment.

This will do more to focus the debate in the country than any hearings of talk of oversight that I'm hearing from the Democratic leadership.

The Vietnam Strategy - Dead on Arrival

rkolker

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Friday January 05, 2007 · 5:23 AM PST

2007/01/05 · 05:23

In the next few days, President Bush will propose his latest strategy for Iraq, one that counter to public opinion as expressed in repeated polls and the November elections will escalate the war, adding more troops and putting them in the most dangerous places. Since the military officers who are actually there don't support this strategy, he is replacing them. Since the universally respected ambassador to Iraq doesn't support the strategy, he's getting slid over to the United Nations, which anyone who knows the Bush administrations attitude toward the UN knows isn't a promotion except on paper.

How should the Democrats in Congress and we as the progressive/reform wing of the party react to this? With three words: Dead on Arrival.

The words that surround a policy suggestion in the first few days often control the debate. This is the essence of framing. We want to make that debate "is it Dead on Arrival or is it not?" Then we want to move the debate so that it quickly becomes obvious the answer is yes and we can move on to other alternatives in Iraq.

rkolker

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Tuesday August 22, 2006 · 5:41 AM PDT

2006/08/22 · 05:41

Ben Franklin once said "We've spawned a new race here... Rougher, simpler; more violent, more enterprising; less refined. We're a new nationality. We require a new nation." But Franklin wasn't really telling the truth, not then, and not for most of the history of this country. We were too big for that. There was a Southern culture and a New England culture and a Western Culture and dozens more, restricted by the difficulty of travel and the minimum of communication among regions of the country, even of individual states. This lasted until the invention of Radio. Read More

Bold enough?

rkolker

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Thursday June 15, 2006 · 6:09 AM PDT

2006/06/15 · 06:09

It is very entertaining and instructive to read the attempts by Democrats running for office in 2006 and for President in 2008 to circle in on issue positions and how they enunciate them. It is also very troubling and discouraging, because with few exceptions none seem to be willing to make bold, clear pronouncements that would show leadership. If they don't, the chances for a win in 2006 and 2008 would depend solely on a GOP meltdown, and although that is not impossible, neither is it the basis for a sound political strategy. Read More

Speaking to Secularists

rkolker

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Tuesday April 25, 2006 · 6:08 AM PDT

2006/04/25 · 06:08

"We must learn to speak to faith based voters!"

How many times have we heard those words in the wake of Democratic losses at the polling places. We have observed John McCain's destruction in 2000 by the Religious Right in South Carolina and Howard Dean's uncomfortable, forced discussion of his religious beliefs in 2004, all because politicians have been made to feel required to justify themselves to self appointed religious guardians.

And those who don't believe? Well, they're beyond the pale. Politicians have learned to fake it. Ronald Reagan, it is said, seldom darkened the door of a church before his Presidency. One of JFK's sisters, when queried by somebody writing a book on his religious beliefs, responded "that would be a short book." Read More

Write the History of the Dean Campaign

rkolker

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Wednesday December 14, 2005 · 11:03 AM PST

2005/12/14 · 11:03

Good Morning from the Old Dominion...

It's not really morning any more, but I wanted to open with my old traditional greeting because I've decided to move forward with an old BFA blog idea and I'm asking each of you to contribute.

As the Dean campaign was winding down, there was talk of writing a book about the volunteer experience - all we had done and experienced in our home towns at Meetup and tabling; the experience of going to Iowa or New Hampshire (or Wisconsin) and sleeping on somebody's floor before going door to door "sharing Dean;" Sleepless Summer and the bats and the blog and volunteering in Burlington.

The book never happened (somebody may want to write about how that occured), so I thought what we all might do is contribute to a common Wiki which would hold our history of the Dean campaign as we remember it.
Read More

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Run Doc Run!

Tweaking around the edges of Tax Reform isn't enough

Democrats - Don't Say "War on Terror"

When they come after us...

Why do the states get to abuse the primary system?

As long as it's about money, it's broken

Rescind the IWR

The Vietnam Strategy - Dead on Arrival

The End of American Culture 1925-1995

Bold enough?

Speaking to Secularists

Write the History of the Dean Campaign