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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: unclewest who wrote (23585)	1/9/2004 6:26:31 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793622

Mickey Kaus at Slate gets off a good column. How Now Mad How? Why did Howard Dean persist in "having a little fun" by sneering at Bill Clinton and the moderate Democratic Leadership Council at the very moment when he was supposed to be making his long-awaited pivot to the center? My tentative theory, which may be blindingly obvious, is this: 1) The essential triumph of Dean's campaign has been making a relatively moderate, conventional Democratic agenda seem radical, rebellious and exciting. He's done this, as everyone knows, by being really angry. But when he has attempted to lose the pose of leftish insurgent and move to the center, he's tended to replace angry populism with ... blandness and banality. Read, for example, Dean's recent big domestic policy speech, "Keeping the Promise of America." It's Dukakis with a head cold! Dean tries to hype his platform--saying it's nothing less "a fundamental renegotiation of the rights and responsibilities of the critical actors in the American economy: families, corporations and government." Why, it's a "new Social Contract for America's families" to supplant the New Deal! But it's not. It's the New Deal plus health care and day care and tuition grants--just like all the other New Social Contracts moderate Democrats have put out over the years. Nothing wrong with that. (Do you really want to 'fundamentally renegotiate the rights and responsibilities of families, corporations and the government'? I don't.) But it's not very exciting. The jibe that Clintonism was a damage control operation was the only interesting thing in the speech, which is why I suspect it was in there--just as the reckless line "the capture of Saddam has not made America safer" was the most interesting thing in Dean's big, responsible, 'is-this-tedious-enough-for-you?' foreign policy address. 2) What Dean isn't able to do--but Clinton was able to do--is to express fresh centrist thoughts, exciting centrist thoughts, thoughts with some bite. Clinton did this largely through a willingness to take on his own party. "End Welfare as We Know It." There was something new! Democrats hadn't said that before (and indeed it pissed a lot of them off). Or "Abortion should be safe, legal and rare." Dean, in contrast, wants Democrats to stop being so defensive but doesn't want to confront the reasons why they might have been put on the defensive in the first place. We've forgotten about that--it was so long ago! But was it just a Washingtonian lack of fighting spirit that rocked the party back into minority status--or was it excessive, dogmatic loyalty to the very Democratic interest groups Dean has spent the past year sucking up to? Teachers' unions whose elaborate job protections for the semi-competent have turned suburban schools into swamps of mediocrity and inner city schools into nightmares. Industrial unions such as the UAW--whose detailed local work rules help guarantee that Detroit now builds essentially no cars that Howard Dean's Honda/Volvo/VW-driving supporters might actually want to buy. Affirmative action pressure groups whose efforts guarantee that competent professionals of color must carry around for life the stigma of having received special preferences. Bilingual educators promoting what is by now a proven means of holding Latino students back. Housing lobbyists who push "house the poorest first" rules that turn HUD projects into community-destroying hellholes. A senior lobby that has prevented adjustment of Social Security benefits--including "means-testing" the benefits of the rich--until it may be too late. Dean campaigns to "Defeat the Special Interests," but as far as I can tell he has nothing to say to these special interests that they don't want to hear. He's even dropped Clinton's main positive-yet-biting theme: a constant rhetorical emphasis on work, which implicitly excludes people who don't work (and rejects antipoverty welfare programs that undermine the value of work). Dean doesn't talk much about work; he talks blandly about "America's families." His vision of the "new Social Contract" is long on benefits and short on responsibilities, The main responsibility Dean cites is a vague "responsibility to particpate in our country's civic life," which seems to include a "voluntary," unenforceable, thousand-points-of-lightish "ethic of service." Hey, I can go along with that! But if it's voluntary then it's not really part of a contract, is it? Clinton's work requirement, in contrast, had some consequences. If you didn't work you were only going to get two years of welfare, and you weren't going to get the Earned Income Tax Credit that became the government's main anti-poverty program (and you don't get most of the New Deal's other benefits, like Social Security). Is Howard Dean going to take away your day care if you don't start "helping neighbors when newborns come home from the hospital"? I don't think so. 3) I suppose it would be possible to be an exciting centrist Democrat without being a self-critical Democrat--for example, along 'we-have-seen-the-problem-and-it-is-us' lines touted by Will Saletan and, most famously, Pogo. But Dean hasn't found a way to do that either. Peggy Noonan writes that "Mr. Dean's problem in the future will not be so much credibly pivoting right on major issues as attempting to pivot into something like the normal range in terms of temperament, personality and the interpretation of things he's already said when he's popping off." But Noonan (by her own admission) doesn't want Dean to win, only to put up a noble fight. If Dean's going to actually win he'll have to do both--move to the center and start acting more normal. Dean's certainly comfortable as a moderate--check out his old pundit tapes. His dilemma--the real Dean Dilemma, it seems to me--is that unless he keeps popping off, unless he maintains the mischievous posture of slightly irresponsible anger, when he moves to the center he threatens to bore everyone to death. I have a couple of half-baked ideas for how Dean might solve this problem, but will leave them for later slate.msn.com

To: unclewest who wrote (23585)	1/9/2004 7:25:00 AM
From: Hoa Hao	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 793622

We got a letter from a friend in Iraq with the Thai contingent, a Thai female Col.: Hi Guys, You have heard now that things got exciting around here. We got word that terrorists were moving into area around us. So we start to swing patrols through villages. On one of these we took first casualty. One of my platoon leaders Captain Chakphol Somboon stepped on an old landmine while patrolling a village about three kilometres from the Lima base camp. He is not badly hurt yet but then we have not discussed why he step on mine. Big attack came next day. We have warning that attack may come so we have quiet alert. My people are brought in and we set up covering positions. Everything go well until 1300 local then there is intense fire on checkpoint five part of our perimeter. Mortars, much machinegun fire shots from RPG7s. Two of our people were killed instantly and one injured. Dead were Sergeant-Major First Class Amporn Chukerd and Sergeant-Major First Class Mit Klaharn, both of the Army Engineering Corps, and were stationed at the camp's entrance. Please to note great bravery of these men. Even though they know attack is coming they stay on guard at weakest point of camp defenses. Sergeant-Major Amporn had wife and two sons, and Sergeant-Major Mitr had wife and son. Fire is intended to pin down defenses so that four suicide car bombs can get inside camp to create many casualties there. More fire is directed at number four guard tower. This is crewed by our people and Bulgarians. Major firefight going on between troops on perimeter and attackers. Then car bombs start to try and run through gates. Bad problem. We have only light weapons. My people have M4s. Army engineers have HK33s. Both are 5.56 millimeter Our cook is firing with 9 millimeter Beretta. This is not enough firepower to stop cars when driver is determined to die. Most cars are hit many times. One heading for Bulgarian checkpoint is stopped far out they are lucky have 14.5 millimeter machinegun. We stop one coming at checkpoint five with M19 mounted on my Humvee. That is 2002 Nissan explode on ramp leading to checkpoint five. We think was carrying 500 kilos of explosive and old aircraft rockets. We find one of driver hand on roof of city hall other near to cookhouse. Move that one fast in case cook get bad ideas. Other two vehicles are truck and taxi. They also make run at checkpoint five. Taxi is hit by 40 millimeter grenades and fire from MG3 machine gun. Grenades do not do much but MG3 rips up taxi very well. It spin stop across road. Truck plow into it both vehicles explode. These hurt none of ours but five Iraqi civilian are killed almost one hundred wounded. So then we do counter-attack. Troops in Lima hold perimeter while mine sweep forward. There is rat-hunt and firefight in houses opposite. In fight like this bad guys have no chance. We kill eleven take five prisoner. For ourselves have two minor wounded. For self have few cuts bruises nothing more. One Iraqi woman point to me ask one of mine who is she. He tell her the bad thing that happens to bad people That is almost end of excitement. Medical unit is overload with work for there are many casualties. Ours Polish Bulgarian Iraqi. Mostly Iraqi. We must return bodies of dead to Thailand for burial by family. But before we do this Colonel Boonchu gets telephone call from President Bush to tell us sorrow for our loss. Then our Prime Minister call. See in ours family of dead soldiers get 2 million baht for loss this is about $55,000 dollars. But Prime Minister add another $12,000 from own money. And tell us Army CoS announce both men will be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. This very very important thing for it mean that Army will pick up all cost of sending kids to school and university. One of kids son of Sergeant-Major Mitr want to join Army like his father so by end of day he have appointment at Chulachomklao military academy. Those we take are interrogated. You know why one join attack? Because he bring his uncle to be treated by our doctors. Only are others there before him so he must wait for his turn to come. He think to wait turn like others this is insult to his honor so he join attack to try get back at doctors nurses who make him wait. How you deal with people like this na? We make some changes now. We get a heavy weapon section here with 106 millimeter rifles mounted on Humvees. And .50 machine guns. Polish commander is very nice man he loan us 14.5s until our .50s come. Like Polish men are very manly men. Now my people have much more freedom now in doing sweeps and how we treat those who get in our way. You know strange thing. We are more popular now we kick butts harder than were when went out of way to be polite. But bad news is some of my people are diverted to providing combat guards on camp. My unit here is small already this cut back on raid interdiction we can do. Other than this is not so bad now. Is too cold for us we get heavy sweaters to wear. Tell Khun Phil we have English Army Wooly Pully. Food is better now also we begin to have own food again. Went to site of Babylon is strange to see something so old.