Lex Libertas

That's the stupidest thing I ever heard. Dean has built an enormous grassroots base, unheard of in recent elections, who contribute teeny bits of money out of their pockets (under $100), because he appeals to "interest groups"? Way to misuse a buzzword. First of all, both parties have their own "interest groups." They're called "core constituencies." Big whoop. Second, there's a reason people usually say "rich interest groups," "fat cat interest groups," "interest groups and lobbyists," and the like- because you're supposed to use that term to make everyone think of MONEY. Lots of money being thrown around in exchange for political favors. Well, Dean's supporters by and large don't have any big money. So if he's getting the "mom vote" and the "college kid vote" and and the "Latino vote" and Lord knows what else, good for him. You want to see someone raising enormous sums of money in one go from lobbyists, companies, and individuals (aka 'interest groups of one'), you might want to try...oh, I don't know...Bush?? Sheesh.
Sorry for the rant, but that was dumb, even for you. Miss you.

I only use "interest group" here in it's exact meaning, groups dedicated to one particular issue. In this case, it's the "auxilliary abled."

Sounds like sour grapes to me. "Well, sure, Dean was able to raise tons of money without kowtowing to corporate sponsorts... but... um... he caters to interest groups ! Yeah ! And he's The Devil ! Ha !" Of course, Dean still won't get elected until we implement Instant Runoff Voting, but still, it's nice to see Republicans up in arms just because some candidate who is not fully endorsed by Disney is being a threat.

What's the matter, Bush ? Can't take a little heat ?

Your prejudices (bug and andrea) could your view of reality. I never said coalition building was bad, it's necessary. I never said interest groups are bad, they, too, are necessary. I also never said I was scared of Dean. He's almost the easiest to beat of the bunch.

And just to dispel one more myth, the Republicans recieve more small donations than the Democrats.

Ok, I guess I misread your original blog posting, then. When you posted that picture of Dean with glowing red eyes and a snake on his face, titled "Dean appeals to Circus Freak Consistuency", and added "there's a reason Howard Dean is a lightning rod for grassroots groups"... What exactly did you mean ? Was that some sort of a subtle compliment to the efficacy of Dean's campaign ?

Gah, clicked "Post" instead of preview. I also meant to say:

Furthermore, I never argued that Dean wouldn't be easy to beat; I merely said that he was a threat. As I said earlier, without Instant Runoff, you have to vote either Kang or Kodos, and thus Dean is out of luck. Anyways, while Republicans may receive many small donations, the majority of their cash (still) comes from corporate donors in some form or another; Dean's cash comes mostly from regular people.

Here's some interesting stuff. Newsweek did some polls. I couldn't find them online (I hate that), but it was in print while Juli and I went to her OB for the pregnancy.

Anyhoo: In a survey, they found that Bush would hands down beat any of the democratic hopefuls. But, only 45% think he would be re-elected. Is this confusing to anybody else?

Oh yeah. They also said that Gephardt (sp?) would be the easiest to beat. I think Sharpton would be easier than that.

Yeah, I apologize for thinking you were making fun of Dean with the combination of that picture, caption, and comment. I am so prejudiced!
I don't really care about the Democrats' fundraising, I was talking about Dean's fundraising. THAT'S an insane amount of small donations from regular people. That's a smart and tech-savvy campaign that gives people some very good tools for grassroots organizing. It's really impressive. I'd think the same thing if a GOP candidate did it, seriously. Bush doesn't have to because he has 25 gazillion dollars.
Anyway, now that we know everything you didn't say about Dean, feel free to say what you DO think about him sometime.
Yeah, and you'd have to be smoking a lot of crack to think Dean would be easiest to beat. Like Jason said, Sharpton is still officially in the race. And, come on, Kucinich. He looks like an elf. I rest my case.

Hey hey now. Don't insult Kucinich. He looks like an evil troll, not like some weak little elf. Evil troll for president !

I dunno, just looking at any of them kind of creeped me out during that one debate (before Clark entered the race). They still kind of creep me out. So does Bush, really. I'm going to be a hermit in the mountains. I swear.

Salon has an interview with the troll, in case you're interested.