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DEMOCRACY:
Government & Politics | January 29, 2005
VETTING
OUR
CANDIDATES
BETTER
An
E-Mail to a DNC Member
My
political involvement really began by supporting McGovern in
'72; but as a young high-schooler, I wasn't aware of a lot of
particular individuals in politics. As I recall, my biggest
interest was in the particulars of the ABM Treaty and Nixon's
criminal activities. By that time, most Americans, including
Republicans, were calling for a pull-out from Vietnam (not
unlike what we're hearing more and more about Iraq).
I
really never heard of John Kerry until recent years, and then
only as "the other Kerry", not to be confused with the
Nebraska senator who ran for President (and everyone asked,
which one had the extra "e"?). And judging by the
polls last year (and from people I talked with), there was very
little awareness of the details of John Kerry until the
Convention: as the Republicans said, he authored very little
legislation; about the only thing I remember his standing out
about was threatening to filibuster the Alaska Wilderness
drilling, and then only after making noises about running for
President.
Kerry's
been under the radar most of his political life, after, of
course, his very public anti-war actions and statements during
the early '70s, which I do applaud him for but which, ironically
and disastrously, turned off a lot of veterans and others
whom his military service and medals were supposed to
impress...everyone in the Party seemed to jump on the Kerry
bandwagon after the veterans in Iowa hugged him. There was
nothing about his throwing away his medals during the primaries
or caucuses that I remember...
This
is one instance of what I mean about our needing to vet our
candidates more fully. Like with Clinton: his infidelities and
pot nonsmoking and draft "evasions" all came out
during the primaries, and he dealt with each thing swiftly and
if not fully at least decisively -- the Comeback Kid earned his
reputation. So by the time the Republicans raised the issues,
they were old news and didn't pack the punch they might have,
like when the Swift Boat SOBs piled on Kerry...which sunk his
presidential boat (forgive the metaphor).
The
record number of us Democrats who turned out during the
primaries -- including me -- were just too desperate
for a winner and "bought" the first guy we thought
could win outside our base, to which we're now
withdrawing...which isn't necessarily a bad thing: I still think
the best bet for us is to run someone who is as unapologetically
liberal as Reagan was unapologetically conservative -- as
long as we stand up for the "average working guy and
gal", the majority of the voters, then we can pretty much
do what we want for the other causes close to our heart...like
what the GOP is now doing, from their perspective, God help us.
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