Seven Hundred and Forty-Seven

Spams so far since last Tuesday.

Down from last week's Seven Hundred and Seventy-Six.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 01/12/04 10:59:53 PM
Categorized as Other.

The Circular Firing Squad

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CVIII

WaPo reports today on yesterday's "debate" in Des Moines (ellipsis in original).

Sharing the stage together for the last time before Iowa's caucuses, the Democratic presidential candidates Sunday night competed in appealing to African American and Hispanic voters -- at a forum that placed front-runner Howard Dean on the defensive about his record in hiring minorities while he was governor of Vermont.

The debate, sponsored by MSNBC and dubbed the "Black and Brown Forum," was designed to give emphasis to the concerns of minorities -- a small percentage of the electorate here though among the most loyal Democratic constituencies nationwide. Dean said the "biggest challenge" facing minorities "is to help white audiences understand the plight of minority populations when it comes to race."

Al Sharpton, who with former senator Carol Moseley Braun (Ill.)was one of two blacks on the stage, said Dean's comments made his own history fair game. Citing news articles and a study by an advocacy group, Sharpton charged that in Dean's administration "not one black or brown held a senior policy position, not one."

Dean dissented, saying he had a "senior member of my staff on my fifth floor." But he acknowledged under persistent questioning from Sharpton that he had no minorities in his Cabinet, in a small, northern state that is overwhelmingly white.

Later, Dean defended his record, saying, "I will take a back seat to no one in my commitment to civil rights in the United States of America."

Although the evening was generally free of invective or personal attacks, several candidates were plainly hoping to trip up Dean on some issues, including his commitment to Hispanic immigrants.

Dean hedged on whether he would support giving automatic citizenship to immigrants who serve in the U.S. armed forces, saying he supports the idea in principle but would need to ensure that such a policy did not encourage a flood of people enlisting only for citizenship.

"You have to be a little bit careful about how you do that, because otherwise you will have a disproportionate number of people who are Hispanic joining the Army simply to do that," he said.

Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.)pounced, saying he "disagreed completely with what Howard Dean said about the military." Noting that there are 37,000 legal immigrants in the armed services, Kerry said that "anybody who serves the United States of America, who is a legal immigrant, ought to get automatic citizenship immediately -- period, end of issue."

Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.), who is fighting hard to wrest a victory from Dean in the Jan. 19 caucuses to save a candidacy that has shown little energy in other states, issued his own challenge to the Vermonter on tax cuts and Social Security.

Dean said early in the debate that he was interested in a payroll tax cut, although not before the federal budget is balanced. But Gephardt, who has repeatedly pressed Dean on where he stands on Medicare and Social Security, saw another opportunity to challenge him on a core Democratic program, arguing that cutting payroll taxes could jeopardize the finances of the Social Security system.

This prompted Dean to promise that "under no circumstances will we take the money to cut payroll taxes out of the Social Security trust fund. That would be absurd." Instead, he added, the payroll cut would come from general revenue.

Beyond the gamesmanship of the debate, the evening underscored a genuine question facing Dean if he retains his early lead in polls and fundraising, and becomes the nominee: Can a Democrat who has little history working African American constituencies, and whose campaign to date has been powered far more by college-educated whites, generate the enthusiasm necessary to bring out the base Democratic vote?

Dean shrugged off the barbs from Sharpton and others, saying, "I believe I have more endorsements from both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus than any other candidate on this stage."

Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) called racism a defining issue in America, and said his own upbringing in the South gave him special appreciation of the issue.

Sharpton, meanwhile, drew criticism of his own from Braun, who said he was too prone to create racial conflict. "I think it's time for us to talk about, what are you going to do to bring people together?" she said. "People cannot afford a racial screaming match. We have to come together -- we have to come together as one nation to get past these problems."

After months of hard campaigning, the gambits of some candidates seemed to fall flat tonight. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), in a portion of the debate in which candidates were allowed to pose a question to the rival of their choosing, instead gave a monologue asking his colleagues to join him in signing a letter to President Bush urging new funds to implement the bipartisan election law passed last year. Co-moderator Lester Holt seemed puzzled about where Lieberman was going.

Then Kerry, apparently trying to connect in an empathetic way with the audience in a style reminiscent of former president Bill Clinton, walked off the lighted portion of the stage into the darkness. Finally, Dean tried to direct a question not to a rival candidate but to a supporter in the audience. Holt, puzzled anew, told him that was against the rules.

The evening's top applause line went to Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (Ohio), who was asked about Bush's plan to return to the moon and eventually send a human to Mars. "I've been wondering why the president would, while we're still in Iraq, talk about going to the moon and going to Mars," he said. "Maybe he's looking for the weapons of mass destruction still."

The last debate featured eight of the nine Democratic candidates, with retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark absent. Clark and Lieberman are not competing in the Iowa caucuses. The debate came at the beginning of the final week of campaigning in what remains a fluid and hard-fought contest. Recent polls show Dean and Gephardt in a close race for first place, with Kerry and Edwards battling for third.

Before the debate, the candidates spent the day wooing undecided Iowa voters and pleading with supporters to reach out to friends and neighbors before the caucuses.

In the most dramatic pre-debate moment of the day, Dean squared off in an appearance at Oelwein with retiree Dale Ungerer, a Bush supporter, who told the former Vermont governor that Democrats should tone down their criticism of the president. When Ungerer said Democrats had lost sight of their need to be "a good neighbor," Dean bristled and thundered back, "George Bush is not my neighbor."

When Ungerer began to offer his own response, Dean said, "You've had your say and now I'm going to have mine." He continued: "George Bush has done more to harm this community right here with unfunded mandates, standing up for corporations that have taken over farmers' land, making it impossible for middle-class people to make a living, sending our kids into Iraq without telling us the truth. . . ." The rest of the sentence was drowned out by applause.

Gephardt, campaigning around Des Moines, questioned Dean's fitness to lead the Democratic Party against Bush.

"I don't think you can take on and beat George Bush as well as I can if you've got to issue clarifying statements every day of some statements you made the day before," he said after a morning event in Winterset, birthplace of actor John Wayne.

Edwards was buoyed by the endorsement of the Des Moines Register, the state's largest newspaper, which he said gave him a much-needed stamp of credibility. He told an afternoon rally he was best equipped to defeat Bush in November because he could run in all regions of the country. "You give me a shot at George Bush, and I will give you the White House," he said.

Kerry picked up the backing of the Burlington Herald, his third newspaper endorsement in three days, and dismissed questions about poll numbers that show him falling in New Hampshire. He predicted on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he would surprise people with his finish in Iowa.

"I'm fighting for every vote," he said. "The one thing people know about me is I'm tenacious. I'm a fighter. I've got great energy out here in Iowa. I am very, very confident about what we're doing."

Before heading to Iowa for the debate, Lieberman gathered with supporters in his Manchester, N.H., headquarters and announced the endorsement of more than 275 independent Granite State voters.

"Independents are going to play a critically important, and maybe decisive, role in this primary," said Lieberman. He also announced the formation of a "Independents for Joe" committee to be led by former New Hampshire attorney general Greg Smith and Leonard Arkerson, who was a county chair on the successful 2000 New Hampshire primary campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Clark began the day in North Dakota, where on Saturday night he spoke at the annual Jefferson-Jackson Democratic dinner in Bismarck. The crowd stood and applauded when he chided Bush for invading Iraq, a "war we should never have gone into."

Later in New Hampshire, Clark repeated his criticisms of Bush, saying that the president used the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to justify the invasion of Iraq when he should have gone after Osama bin Laden. He said new statements by former Treasury secretary Paul H. O'Neill that the administration had been planning to remove Hussein before the attacks "just confirms my worst suspicions," adding that Congress should "investigate fully why this country had to fight a war it didn't have to fight."

Staff writers Lois Romano, Paul Schwartzman, Vanessa Williams and Jonathan Finer contributed to this report.

The Blog from the Core asserts Fair Use for non-commercial, non-profit educational purposes.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 01/12/04 08:26:43 PM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode & Political.

"Sharpton Shrugs Off Issues About His Tangled Finances"

Apparently, being a Democrat and black is the double-whammy protection spell.

A revelatory article on Rev. Al Sharpton's financial shenanigans, including tax evasion, in the New York Times, Jan. 10.

While the Rev. Al Sharpton has struggled to raise contributions for his longshot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, his campaign has paid thousands of dollars for him to stay in luxury hotels and to travel around the country with his own personal filmmaker.

Even as the campaign awaits word from the Federal Election Commission on whether it will be certified for matching money — which would mean an infusion of more than $100,000 from taxpayers — a review of the candidate's most recent campaign report, filed in September, shows it is marked by oversights, errors and potential violations.

The campaign, for example, did not report the free use of cars. A spokesman for the commission said it should have been reported, and the contribution could also be illegal.

In many ways, the campaign parallels Mr. Sharpton's personal and professional lives when it comes to finances, according to court, New York State and New York City records. Besides disclosing a history of staying in expensive hotels, flying first class and relying on limousine services, though, such records also reveal a series of judgments, lawsuits and tax debts.

Mr. Sharpton tried to deflect blame for his financial record by suggesting that he and many of the people around him were not financial experts, but activists who should be given some leeway in such matters.

"We are an advocacy group," Mr. Sharpton said in an interview on Christmas morning, referring to his group, the National Action Network. "Your staff sometimes lets things slip through the cracks, probably."

"This morning we are feeding the homeless," he said. "I have no idea if they paid the guy that brings the truck, or tipped the guy that brings in the bread."

But Mr. Sharpton's financial lapses extend to his life as a businessman and a civil rights leader. He is being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, a review Mr. Sharpton said was spurred by questions about the accuracy of his personal and business tax filings. In 1993, as part of a deal to settle two New York State felony charges, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor offense of not filing his personal state income taxes seven years earlier.

Mr. Sharpton said that the financial issues should not reflect badly on his fitness to be a candidate for president. Further, he said that in September he brought in Charles Halloran, a new campaign manager, and that he has hired a lawyer with an expertise in campaign finance.

But while the campaign has struggled to raise money, collecting $284,000 by September, Mr. Sharpton chose to stay in luxury hotels like the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, a European-style hotel with antiques and private balconies, and the Mandarin Oriental in Miami, on Biscayne Bay. Most candidates stay in more modest hotels to hold expenses down.

Mr. Sharpton said he chose the Mansion on Turtle Creek because he was attending a Black Expo and other attendees were staying there. According to his filing to the commission, the bill came to $3,264.11 for one night for Mr. Sharpton; Eddie Harris, his personal filmmaker; and Mr. Harris's sister, Marjorie Harris Smikle, the executive director of the National Action Network.

In July, Mr. Sharpton spent $7,343.20 at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles for a three-day stay that included campaign-related events at the hotel.

"If I was going to go and live the high life, I certainly wouldn't be doing it one night or two nights at a time," Mr. Sharpton said about his choice of accommodations.

He said he had agreed that the campaign would now pay only $200 a night for his or any other person's hotel room and, if the election commission permitted it, he would pay the difference to stay at a more expensive hotel.

The campaign has also spent thousands of dollars on airfare and lodging for Mr. Harris, who, according to Mr. Halloran, does not work for the campaign. Instead, he is under contract with the National Action Network and has a deal with Mr. Sharpton to film his activities. In June and July, the campaign paid about $4,000 in airfare for Mr. Harris.

Election-law experts said using campaign contributions to cover noncampaign-related expenses is improper, and a commission spokesman said Mr. Harris's travel and lodging was probably not a "qualified campaign expense."

The Sharpton campaign also did not report that it had received the free use of cars from a car dealer in South Carolina. That should have been reported as an in-kind campaign contribution, Mr. Halloran said. Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the election commission, said that in some circumstances the free car use could be considered an illegal corporate contribution.

Campaign records also show that when Frank Watkins, Mr. Sharpton's national campaign manager, left the campaign in September, he was owed thousands of dollars in unpaid salary and expenses. The new campaign manager said some of that had been paid, and Mr. Sharpton said they parted on good terms.

But when questions were raised about the campaign's filing in September, Mr. Sharpton primarily blamed Mr. Watkins for the problems. Mr. Watkins, while cautious about not entering into a feud with Mr. Sharpton, said, "I know what the F.E.C. rules are, and I made those rules known to the candidate."

In any case, Mr. Halloran said, "Since I have been here I have made it very clear to people what the rules are and that we would follow them, and the reverend has backed me 100 percent on that."

A financial record like Mr. Sharpton's would probably put an end to most bids for office. But Mr. Sharpton has benefited from not being taken quite so seriously as a candidate — and from the financial reputation he brought into the race. He is, after all, the man who said in a deposition about his finances that the only things he owned were his watch and wedding ring. "That's about it," he replied to a lawyer's question.

Until recently, the clearest picture of Mr. Sharpton's finances was given in that deposition, which was taken on Dec. 6, 2000, for a lawsuit stemming from the 1987 case of Tawana Brawley, the teenager from Wappingers Falls, N.Y., who claimed to have been abducted and raped by a group of white men.

The Brawley case was determined to have been a hoax by a grand jury and Mr. Sharpton was subsequently assessed a $65,000 judgment in a defamation suit for accusing a local prosecutor, Steven A. Pagones, of taking part in the attack.

When he failed to pay, Mr. Pagones's lawyer, Garry M. Bolnick, took the deposition looking for Mr. Sharpton's assets.

In the deposition, Mr. Sharpton said he made about $73,000 a year from the National Action Network, and was vague about any other income, including cash "love offerings" collected at churches where he preaches.

He said in the Christmas Day interview that he regrets parrying with the lawyer during the deposition. He also said his answers did not include references to property that he owned with his wife.

A recent filing with the election commission that is required of presidential candidates provided new details about Mr. Sharpton's income. He disclosed that in 2002 he earned $381,900 — $78,000 from the National Action Network; $75,000 from Kensington Publishing, the publisher of his book "Al on America"; $25,000 from Pepsico for sitting on an advisory board; $3,900 from Inner City Broadcasting for a radio show; and $80,000 from various companies for consulting work.

Another $120,000 came from speeches and sermons through a company he identifies in his filing and in court papers as Rev. Als Productions. When no company by that name could be found, Mr. Sharpton said it was actually RevAls Communications, a corporate identity he created in 1999, of which Rev. Als Productions is a subsidiary.

A tax return for 2002 shows Mr. Sharpton's group, the National Action Network, reported $1.93 million in revenue, mostly from unidentified contributors.

Mr. Sharpton said the group has relatively few financial problems given the number of vendors it deals with.

But, he said: "If they are wrong, then the buck stops. I am the president, I am responsible, I am not saying we are infallible. But clearly when you are dealing with corporations, dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, you can have mistakes. You can have problems. When they have come to my attention, or to the attention of the board, or those in authority, we try to rectify, but this clearly doesn't show the width and breadth of the organization."

In many cases of claims against the National Action Network, though, creditors said they tried to talk with Mr. Sharpton or his aides to work out payment schedules of the debts. They said their overtures were either ignored or the arrangements were ultimately not met.

For instance, the National Action Network ran up a debt of $76,704.34 with 1-800-Limo-Center, a business based in Rochelle Park, N.J., which provided Mr. Sharpton with car service at cities around the country, said Howard Levi, a lawyer representing the car service. When the network failed to meet a court schedule to pay off the debt, a judgment was imposed. The remaining unpaid debt is about $30,000, Mr. Levi said.

Asked about the case, Mr. Sharpton objected only to calling the company a limousine service because, he said, he never rides in limousines.

The National Action Network also owes about $16,000 on a $25,222.83 bill from a conference it held at the Millennium Hotel in New York on Jan. 19, 2000, court records show.

The network also has a tax warrant against it for failure to pay New York State $15,446.31 in unemployment insurance. Christine Burling, a state labor department spokeswoman, said in a statement: "The Department of Labor reached out to the organization via telephone and we provided them with written notices numerous times, but have been unsuccessful in getting the National Action Network Inc. to take corrective action. As a result, the department had no choice but to issue warrants."

Mr. Sharpton said this week that he was unaware of the unpaid taxes and had instructed his lawyer to straighten the matter out.

This year, a small travel agency in Manhattan filed a lawsuit against the National Action Network and Mr. Sharpton, saying that the network refused to pay nearly $200,000 for travel, including a trip Mr. Sharpton took to Sudan, plus interest. That dispute is also pending.

Mr. Sharpton's entertainment promotion company, Raw Talent Inc., was dissolved in 2002 for failing to file tax returns for 1991, 1995 and 2002, and not paying taxes in 1991, 1992, and 1995 through 2002, state officials said.

Mr. Sharpton said that the issue of overdue taxes for Raw Talent is one item being reviewed in the federal audit, which he said was looking into what the I.R.S. feels may be undeclared income in four separate years. He said that the focus of the I.R.S. audit was reimbursed expenses and thus not subject to taxes.

At least one of Mr. Sharpton's recent debts has been fully paid. After he failed to pay the $65,000 he owed to Mr. Pagones for defamation damages, his friend Percy Sutton, the former Manhattan borough president, came to his aid.

With interest, supporters organized by Mr. Sutton paid Mr. Pagones nearly $80,000.

The Blog from the Core asserts Fair Use for non-commercial, non-profit educational purposes.

Have you heard about this elsewhere, Faithful Reader? I take it your answer is "No". Why do you suppose that is, Faithful Reader? I just googled the headline: it shows up nowhere else but at the New York Times website. I also googled another headline on the main page of the New York Times' website right now: it also showed up on ABC News, Reuters, WaPo, and Wired News.

Why do you suppose that an article, now two days old, on the financial shenanigans of a candidate for the presidency of the United States of America didn't get picked up by anybody else yet?

Because he's a Democrat? You bet! Because he's black? You bet!

If he had been a (black or white) Republican, it would be news everywhere — and NYT would have waited to run it on Sunday. On the front page. Don't you think, Faithful Reader?

(Thanks, Bryan.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 01/12/04 08:22:32 PM
Categorized as Media & Political.

The American Myrmidon

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CVII

And they wonder why we think the Lefties hate the USA.

I have been remiss, neglecting until now to blog this.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 01/12/04 07:59:35 PM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode & Political.

A Monumental Milestone

This is the two thousand five hundredth entry at The Blog from the Core.

That's all I wanted to say right now. :-)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 01/12/04 07:44:51 PM
Categorized as Most Notable & Other.

Howard "Cliff" Dean vs. Dale Ungerer

Little green footballs blogs today about an altercation between Iowa Republican voter Dale Ungerer and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean at a "forum" yesterday in Oelwein.

I watched some video of the scene. I seem to be alone amongst all the commentators of the world in thinking that, if he did indeed allow Ungerer to berate him for nearly three minutes, Dean handled himself rather well — at the least, better than I probably would have done in a similar situation.

Yes, you really read that right there.

I'm amazed at it myself.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 01/12/04 07:20:13 PM
Categorized as Political.

The Dyspeptic One

He's on a roll.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 01/12/04 12:24:56 PM
Categorized as Religious.

"Rolling in Minions"

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CVI

Shawn Macomber takes a look at Howard "Cliff" Dean's campaign, and at the candidate, at The Spectator, Jan. 6:

.... Unlike the other candidates who seem to be in a constant makeover mode, Dean has not changed drastically since he began this campaign. The way he turns, the hand mannerisms, the voice inflection, the pause to signal tardy applause -- all of this remains the same as it was the first time I saw Dean speak in New Hampshire to a crowd of three people a year and a half ago. And for all the talk of "moving to the center" and taking Jesus on the campaign down South and Confederate flags, the message hasn't changed at all.

Everything is George W. Bush's fault. The recent mutual fund scandal is because Bush has failed to provide "moral leadership" to the country. Mad cow disease? That was G.W.B. Kids with asthma? G.W.B. If it's a problem on the front page of the paper, Dean will find a way to connect it to George W. Bush.

Dean supporters will talk your ear off about how he's a centrist, but Dean's Friday [Jan. 2] speech suggested otherwise. Government is the answer, always. Dean promised to institute a program to "keep dads interested in their kids," for example. Today's Republican Party makes "Ronald Reagan look like a left-winger." Confidently, Dean explained yet again, Saddam's capture "did not make us safer" and that "there is no war between the West and Islam." When a woman asked Dean what needed to be done to save Medicare, he said: "You have to stop voting for Republican presidents. Of course, you wouldn't do that. You wouldn't vote for a Republican."

But that's okay kids, because Daddy Dean is going to make all those nasty Republicans just disappear. "We're going to roll back the clock on the right-wing revolution of Newt Gingrich and George W. Bush," Dean said. Newt Gingrich? How did the forgotten bogeyman of Election '96 find his way into the 2004 campaign? With Howie Dean, evidently, there's always plenty of hate to go around.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 01/12/04 08:08:35 AM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode & Political.

"Support Flows To the Guy With a Backbone"

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CV

Bill Maxwell writes in The St. Petersburg Times, Jan. 7 (ellipses in original).

For the nine Democrats trying to kick George W. Bush out of the White House, the first real test of their presidential timber - Iowa - is fast approaching. But as the caucuses draw near, the Democrats are doing what they do best: cannibalizing one another, especially the front-runner.

And why do they cannibalize one another? Because individually, with rare exceptions, most of those with serious campaigns have been spooked by Bush and are not strongly supporting Democratic issues and programs.

Currently, Howard Dean is the one Democrat - with a realistic chance of unseating Bush - who clearly stands for something and is unafraid of Bush. For his courage and efforts, Dean is garnering the endorsements of some other leading Democratic leaders, including former Vice President Al Gore and former Sen. Bill Bradley. Of course, Gore and Bradley are not officially running for office.

Democrats were beaten during the last mid-term elections in part because they did not stand for anything and because they did not stand up to Bush. They ran like scalded dogs from the party label, and they went into hiding when confronted with the dreaded "L" word, liberalism.

I am reminded of the advice that South Carolinian Preston Callison offered to Democrats nearly 40 years ago. While running for Congress, Callison warned that if a Democrat wanted to win in South Carolina and the rest of Dixie: "Don't act like one." Democrats took those words to heart and ran from their legacy.

Today's Democrats are doing the same thing. Look at Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. Why does he remain in the party? Although he is the most Bush-lite of the candidates, most of the others are attacking Dean so fiercely that they sound like Republicans in training. Dean is the only candidate who publicly opposed the Iraq war in the beginning and who still has the courage of his conviction. American citizens are not safer because Saddam Hussein has been captured, and Dean never hesitates to say so. Lieberman has come close to calling Dean a traitor because he dares to be a Democrat.

Few of the other candidates mention the great programs and issues the party traditionally stands for. I am talking about programs that saved families from starvation; that gave old people comfort in their golden years; that gave us the GI Bill of Rights; that helped clear some our major waterways and clean our air; that gave youngsters a head start in school. Most of the Democratic candidates do not mention these programs or voice the humanitarian spirit of these programs because Bush has intimidated them. Dean, on the hand, even when he stands slightly on the wrong side of an issue, has the courage to speak his mind.

Instead of waiting for the courts to act, all Democratic candidates should be telling Bush, along with the American people, that they do not want to ease emissions standards by letting industry establish guidelines. They should be letting Bush know that they oppose the recreational use of snowmobiles in our precious forests. Democrats should be resisting with all their might the president's assault on free speech and its attendant rights and privileges.

In announcing his endorsement on Tuesday, Bradley called Dean's campaign "one of the best things to happen to American democracy in decades. . . . His campaign offers America new hope. His supporters are breathing fresh air into the lungs of our democracy. They're revitalizing politics, showing a way to escape the grip of big money and to confront the shame of forgetting those in need. . . . The Dean candidacy engages active participation, not from those who want special favors later, but from those who dream of building a better world now."

Because he is standing up on principle, Dean has gone from being the little-known underdog from a tiny New England state to the front-runner in a crowded field of incumbents, some with personal fortunes.

Indeed, ordinary citizens who can donate only a few dollars are doing so on the Internet and at house parties. While Dean appeals to blue-collar Democrats, he also appeals to upper middle-class professionals and the highly educated. And gradually but surely, Dean is attracting African-Americans, a core Democratic constituency, in large numbers. Even tough-minded members of the Congressional Black Caucus are being won over.

Meanwhile, because they do not stand for anything or stand up for anything, the other Democrats are trying to bring down the one person who does. If they had the courage of their convictions - a little backbone and loyalty - they would have no need to trash their best chance to win back the White House.

The Blog from the Core asserts Fair Use for non-commercial, non-profit educational purposes.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 01/12/04 07:49:03 AM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode & Political.

"Fire Those Liars In Media With One Phone Call"

In case you thought The Blog from the Core is over the top.

Vide.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 01/12/04 07:42:08 AM
Categorized as Other.