George W. Bush's qualifications to be President

Hi holmes,
Dean may have been different. But he was still a long term politician, wealthy, and to some extent preaching to the choir for a large number of people who loathe the toxic Texan. Whether he really had good policy he which to implement is another issue and is not clear to me. I think even the most radical members of either party are so beholden to special interests that we will not see actual candidates that are interesting for a long time. Also, what is said on the campaing trail is quickly forgotten once in office. It will continue to be vote for the guy who disgusts you the least I'm afraid with some fringe "no-chance" candidates like Nader on the sidelines.

I think Sharpton deserves at least some blame for Dean's demise. During one televised debate, Shameless Sharpton asked Dean how many blacks he had in his cabinet (why not women? Gays? Wheelchair users? etc.), and made Dean admit he had none. Granted, it would have been nice if Dean could have named a couple of black cabinet members and then asked Sharpton what his point was, but the guy was the governor of Vermont, folks. Blacks are only 0.5% of the Vermont population, so unless Dean has a cabinet of 200 people, statistically blacks aren't underrepresented therein.regards,
Esteban HambreThis message has been edited by MrHambre, 08-18-2004 06:12 AM

I'm not sure I agree with this part of that sentence. He began as a doctor and that takes a considerable investment beyond political aspirations. If anything it is the exact opposite of political aspirations.Granted he could (like Frist) become a card carrying politician, but I think there is something qualitatively different between LONG TERM politicians and guys like Frist or Dean, who have had real day jobs that were public service. Agreed, though as an outsider reacting to an unpopular administration, he may have had the mandate to push for those changes in policy. I also agree that this is the case, because people that even seem close to rocking the boat (like Dean potentially could have been) won't ever make it into the "most popular" category of either major party.

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

Heheheh... Like I said, he still had that race card which he just doesn't seem to get holds him back more than it advances him.But I was talking about his all around performance which was extremely lucid at times. I almost forgot I was watching Sharpton.I remember after one debate thinking that guy was FANTASTIC. When the analysis came on all of the commentators... even Buchanan... said Sharpton had won that debate. When you have Buchanan complimenting Sharpton, someone should be checking hell for reports of snow.On the black thing, I thought it was ridiculous that the news gave this any credence. I'd say some of the worst though was Dean's getting grilled for having gotten excited and yelling "yeeehaaaa!" I remember Fox kept playing only a portion in order to take it out of context and make it look like he was getting all angry, instead of just excited.

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

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Granted he could (like Frist) become a card carrying politician, but I think there is something qualitatively different between LONG TERM politicians and guys like Frist or Dean, who have had real day jobs that were public service.

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You could be right. I think of Tom DeLay who also had a "real job" before politics yet is one of the most partisan dimwits in the Republican party from his website "After starting his education at Baylor University, DeLay graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Biology in 1970. Shortly afterwards, DeLay opened and operated a successful small business in Houston. " taken from
http://tomdelay.house.gov/biography.htmI think that just because they had other jobs does not mean they were not vitriolic partisan hacks.

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I also agree that this is the case, because people that even seem close to rocking the boat (like Dean potentially could have been) won't ever make it into the "most popular" category of either major party.

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Another problem is the too close connection between the media and politicians. Anyone rocking the boat will get pelted by the major media...look at how Nader fairs. Even Ross Perot was portrayed as a complete fringe lunatic for some of his statements. Bush and Kerry get handled with absolute kidd gloves.

Ugh... Read DeLay's bio. I think he's a bit different than Frist or Dean. His apparent meandering into Biology was not the same thing as commiting onesself to a profession like medicine. That really takes some sacrifice.Anyway, you can see the partisan pot brewing with DeLay early on. I love how he's painted like some every guy. Born into oil wealth and moved around to live near oil sites, including Venezuela where clashes with "revolutionaries" gave him a passion for "freedom."I'm trying to figure out if that means he joined the revolutionaries to try and free Venezuela from American oil imperialists, or got a passion for the "freedom" of sacking other nation's resources for US profit, damn the local hotheads.The fact that he went to college and majored in something, and after graduating opened his own business, before settling into politics, looks like a rich kid drifting. Actually it looks like the cv of another rich kid from Texas currently in politics but whose name escapes me at the moment...Of course you are right that even professionals can be total partisan hacks. Total agreement. And anyone that rips into Israeli policies gets a nice big target on their back from that moment on. They are immediately fringe hotheads, even if they are part of the big parties.

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

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Total agreement. And anyone that rips into Israeli policies gets a nice big target on their back from that moment on. They are immediately fringe hotheads, even if they are part of the big parties.

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It is kind of ironic that the people usually aiming at the big targets are the ones who claim to love freedom...of course they mean freedom to act, think, and believe the same way as the conservatives and anyone else should be hunted and burned in their book.and the striking similarity between Delay and the guy you "forgot" obscures one major difference...Delay is not just a rich kid with no ethics and a complete hatred of democracy..he is also smart...nasty but smart.

Agreed.

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

This is from The GuardianThe bold is mine just to highlight one particularly interesting comment. This scares me about our President. Not just the lying, or the cronyism, or all the number of faults un-befitting a President, it's this idea that I get from him, that makes me wonder if he really does think he is doing "God's Will" or that he is some kind of sovereign president.

GWB running for position of "Christian ayatollah"?How effective is a campaign appearance where all the audience members are already true believers? I guess it's to get press coverage showing how popular he is.Any thoughts on how Kerry/Bush debates are going to go? What the debates would need is a moderator that forces true debate, rather than exchanges of pre-canned statements.Moose

The caption of this photo, at Politics Today - Powerful News, Powerful Opinions, is "Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich working together to unite the Progressive Wing of the Party".Dennis Kucinich seemed to be the favored candidate of those of the most liberal/progressive/(green?) leanings. I'm told that Dennis had support from some "true conservatives" (meaning those holding the real, traditional consevative positions (as I understand them to be) such as not spending money you don't have, and not poking your nose into affairs that are none of your business).By the way, I still have a much faded "Anderson for President" bumper sticker on my pickup truck, from back in 1980.Moose

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Granted, it would have been nice if Dean could have named a couple of black cabinet members and then asked Sharpton what his point was, but the guy was the governor of Vermont, folks. Blacks are only 0.5% of the Vermont population, so unless Dean has a cabinet of 200 people, statistically blacks aren't underrepresented therein.

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So that demonstrates that Dean is failing to challenge the status quo. He was rightly caught out by his own shaemful inactivity.I'm surpriused so many alleged democratic supporters buy into racist Republican tarring of Sharpton, but have come to expect little better.

I liked Kucinich quite a bit. And I might have even preferred him to Dean in some respects. I guess that suggests whether I would have preferred him over Kerry as well.I was mainly defending Crash's statement regarding Dean, and not trying to say he was the only "better" candidate than Kerry.In a cynical way I don't think Kucinich had a chance because he doesn't "look" the part. Not that it mattered to me, but it has mattered to the American public so many times (since tv) that I figured it stood against him. He just wasn't charismatic enough to go against Bush.Heck I'm sure that's why Cheney was placed as VP, instead of P. That guy has all the charisma of a... well ironically enough I think he looks just as much like Yoda as I've heard many say Kucinich did.It is heart warming to see K and D trying to stay in and mobilize progressives (of both sides), especially in the manner that they are. Instead of going high office or bust (which appears to be Nader's silly idea, whether his other ideas are good or not), they are trying to get progressives in at many low level positions. I think that's very smart, if you have no chance at the Presidency yourself.

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

You sicken me. You are worse than the racists.This message has been edited by Rand Al'Thor, 08-19-2004 05:28 AM

What shameful activity is that? Hiring the most qualified people that applied?I mean do you have any evidence he did something OTHER than that? We don't even know if any blacks applied to those positions, or I guess "asked" would be better in this case since it is a cabinet.Why does anyone have to have a certain number of ANY race, especially if doing so wouldn't even reflect population. Shouldn't it just be qualification? Contra, you show an extreme lack of knowledge on this. Sharpton... especially in his early days... made a fool of himself while trying to make a name for himself. He played the race card however he could, and ended up getting caught in some of his own lies.During this year's campaiging while he was on a talk show he was even caught on this by a republican. Evidentally even he would dismiss your claim as inaccurate as he proceeded to ADMIT IT WAS TRUE. In order to move on HE APOLOGIZED for the needless pain his lies and provocations had caused.So much for your theory.And as I and Hambre have suggested, he is still holding on to some of those tactics when he gets in a tight squeeze against opponents. It is simply too easy and too fallacious to throw that at someone in a debate. THAT is more accurately called tarring.

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)