Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (527325)	1/21/2004 1:37:04 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

January 21, 2004, 9:06 a.m. Gore Picks Dean — — It's Kerry by a landslide. By Joel C. Rosenberg Watching the results of the Hawkeye Caucuses, I couldn't help but think of my eighth-grade French teacher, Mr. Murphy. He was a great guy, and a wonderful teacher. But he knew buptkus about politics. In late October of 1980, I interviewed Mr. Murphy for an underground school newspaper. He confidently predicted President Carter would win reelection for this reason and that. The day after the presidential election, I couldn't resist. My little article in The Rocciola Spitoon hit the hallways with this front-page headline: "MURPHY PICKS CARTER; IT'S REAGAN BY A LANDSLIDE." Now, it's one thing, of course, for a middle-school French teacher to get a political prediction completely wrong. Heck, I've made some stunningly bad political predictions myself over the years. But neither Mr. Murphy nor I have ever been vice president of the United States before. Nor were we the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee. So what's Al Gore's excuse? Not only did Gore win the Hawkeye Caucuses in 2000 against Bill Bradley, he won the entire state against George W. Bush while still losing the presidency. Yet no sooner did Al Gore endorse Howard Dean for president than the bottom began falling out of the Dean campaign...in Iowa. Remember what the inventor of the Internet told his fellow Democrats on December 9, 2003, at that joint appearance with Dean in Harlem? "Howard Dean really is the only candidate who has been able to inspire at the grassroots level all over this country the kind of passion and enthusiasm for democracy and change and transformation of America that we need in this country." Wrong. Here's what Al Gore's 2000 campaign manager, Donna Brazille, told CNN that day: "I believe that Al Gore has a lot of sway.... I believe this will give the Dean campaign a tremendous boost in the closing days before the Iowa caucuses." Wrong. Here's the Associated Press headline from December 9: "Gore urges Dems to unite behind Dean." Didn't happen. But media pundits certainly thought Gore's endorsement was huge. "The coveted endorsement by Gore is a breathtaking victory for Dean," declared CBSNews.com on December 9. Wrong. Susan Page of USA Today wrote on December 10: "Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean on Tuesday ended any question about whether the former Vermont governor has become the contender most likely to win the Democratic presidential nomination." Wrong. On December 11, the Washington Post's David Broder — arguably the dean of the political pundit class — wrote: "With Gore running interference, Dean has the best blocker he could find to fend off attacks on his positions and his electability. The endorsement should boost Dean in Iowa, where Gephardt has been a real threat, and it may help with African American voters in South Carolina and other states." Wrong. A headline in the Greensboro News & Record on December 10, 2003 declared: "Gore's decision hurts Edwards, others." Wrong. Could Howard Dean still go on to win the Democratic nomination? Sure. But perhaps the obvious lesson is: The less help he gets from Al Gore, the better. — Joel C. Rosenberg is a New York Times best-selling author of The Last Jihad and The Last Days. He was a senior aide to Steve Forbes in the 1996 and 2000 elections.