Count me as another person who had not heard about this. But if I had, I would be very much interested in what else Dean had to say, since I do not recall one person who was pro-unilateral action in Bosnia (other than myself) during that time period. We wasted many lives in not going in earlier (of course, we would have had to balance that against the loss of political capital and loss of u.s. soldiers.) Iraq was different in that there was not an active genocidal campaign going on at the time we invaded (or was there?) Which is not to say i was against the invasion of Iraq, either, although the case for invasion in 2003 was weaker than it had been at any point in the past 11 years, but Bosnia was a slam-dunk must-intervene situation.
I think Howard Dean performed a remarkable and noble service to his country and his Party, at great expense to himself. The Democrats had been tip-toeing around GeeDubya and only sidling up to the issues of moment. Dean put thier feet to the fire and forced them to live up to the principle of Loyal Opposition as compared to spineless supplicants. He drew all the fire onto himself, but in doing so he caused people to talk to each other and to discover that grave doubts as to the sincerity and competence of our Fearless Misleader were not uncommon, and, more importantly, respectable.
First big mistake was to insist on reversing all of the Bush tax cuts, including the pittance doled out to the “middle class”. They were perfectly willing to declare class war on the rich, but not on themselves.
But it became increasingly obvious that Dean was the candidate that the Bushiviks wanted to run against (and I think surreptitiously funded…yeah, yeah, grassy knoll, but still…). That’s what kept popping up in my mind. If a master of corrupt political skullduggery like Karl Rove wants to run against Dean, I had best listen.
Plus, he showed us something even more important, that the political apathy that is our most repugnant feature as a Republic is waning. Millions of people who don’t have much money were willing to give some to Dean. Thats a big deal. That’s a big hairy ass deal. That is hope.
The pity is that for this noble effort, he has made a laughing stock of himself, the Man Who Went “Poof”! But he broke through and carried the ball to field-goal range. That, and the other team keeps tripping over each others untied shoe laces.
I wish I could. Even if it’s actually a non-issue, if voters turned away from Dean because of something remotely substantial, like a seeming contradiction in his anti-war stances, I’d have more respect for the American voting community at large.
No, I don’t think anything this esoteric or intellectual could possibly be the reason why Dean failed to get the nomination. What I think is that Dean, like John McCain, is the kind of guy voters like to date but wouldn’t take home to Mom, if you know what I mean. He was a bit wild, a loose cannon, fiery-tempered and outspoken, a guy who shook the Dems’ cage and made a little noise. Hell, he probably got some folks interested in politics who weren’t before. I liked him for it, just as I liked McCain, but I knew they would never make the final cut and won’t get a Veep nod either. Worse yet, I’m not at all sure I would have voted for Dean for Prez anyway (I wouldn’t have been caught dead voting for McCain either, even though I admire him in many ways).
Bottom line is, the wild boys get the attention early on but do not attract serious voters because they are not “electable,” as other posters have said. Bosnia might play a role in decision making for people who cast their ballots based on in-depth policy analysis and a careful examination of candidates’ stances on the various issues, but for most people, it’s all about the glossy copy.
That’s kind of remarkable, and I think accurate. A lot of people are considering “electability” which is, in essence, basing a decision on what other voters are likely to think. Which is, of course, a way of saying that the main concern on our collective hive mind is not “which is the best candidate” as it is “which has the best chance to beat Bush”.
In a moment of superb political irony, GeeDubya’s promise to be a uniter has borne fruit! He’s got scads and scads of people united to a common cause: moving his sorry ass out of the Oval Office toot damn sweet.