blargblog

Just Another Day Containing The Left

Howard Kurtz at The Washington Post is having a little fun needling those crazy liberals for being aghast that the BushAdmin would tell little white lies to scare the country into an unprovoked, unnecessary war. Where's the outrage? they ask. Why isn't the American public asking for Bush's head? Why the double standard between lies for war and lies for blowjobs? Ho, ho. Silly liberals. Perhaps some chamomile tea will calm you down.

Erg. I know: big surprise that Kurtz is a smug media elite with pretences of moderation. But this article just further enhances Eric Alterman's assessment of Kurtz's role, to trivialize and to marginalize liberal policies and complaints. Sure, Kurtz offers us a little jab at The National Review for its proposed insurrection against the Bush-led GOP (apparently, Bush's performance has not been conservative enough. Of course.) Yet Kurtz—after quoting Andrew Sullivan's slam on Howard Raines with no comment—quickly swings back to tut-tut liberal puritanism, this time in the person of everyone's favorite whipping boy Ralph Nader. The New York Times reports that Nader might run again. After a few paragraphs implying that Nader spoiled Gore's election (a meme I treat with the same seriousness as the one accusing Yoko of busting up The Beatles), Michael Janofsky relates Nader's possible candidacy depends on the fortunes of Dennis Kucinich and Howard Dean:

Mr. Nader said any growth in support for Mr. Kucinich, among the most liberal members of Congress, would give him "less reason to go into the election — not no, just less."

As for Dr. Dean, Mr. Nader said he liked what the former governor said in speeches but feared that he would ultimately move toward the center to broaden his appeal.

Kurtz takes his cue from Janofsky that Nader (Howard asks incredulously) "prefers a purist candidate to one who might actually get elected?" Given past performances, possibly. But I think Nader is also sending a signal Dean's way to keep from going so far center he ends up on the right. As things look now, Dean outpaces Kucinich as a frontrunner for the nomination. A left-leaning centrist (Tom Tomorrow calls him a "sensible moderate"), Dean must maintain a delicate balance of attracting liberal and conservative Democrats—not to mention those notorious "independent swing-voters" out there—without alienating both. I think Nader is using his spoiler rep to warn Dean to watch his ass. As for Kurtz, he's just an ass.

UPDATE (an hour later): Checking my e-mail, I found a message from Dean's campaign urging supporters and like-minded folks to sign a petition demanding the resignation of BushAdmin folks responsible for misleading the country into war. Opportunism? Sure, but it's a simple way of demanding accountability from the administration—without relying on Congress to find its spine.

Posted by kevinmoore at July 11, 2003 09:52 AM | TrackBack