[Dialogue] Michael Moore on target re: Iowa.
James Wiegel
jfwiegel at yahoo.com
Fri Jan 4 18:38:23 EST 2008
As we were watching on television, it occurred to us
that about 2/3 of the people at both the Democratic
and Republican caucuses don't (as yet) think that the
ones who "won" are the best choice . . .
--- Margaret Helen Aiseayew <aiseayew at netins.net>
wrote:
> A point that everyone seems to have miss-read so far
> is not that 239,000 Democrats turned out, but that
> 239,000 Iowans chose to participate in the
> Democratic caucus. Every registered voter can make
> a choice of caucus. In Iowa you can walk into the
> caucus and re-register your party affiliation to
> participate in that caucus. I hosted a pre-caucus
> party in support of Obama two weeks ago and over
> half of the people who came were registered
> Republicans at that point. They were all there last
> night and re-registered as Democrats to participate
> in the caucus. At the end of the caucus you can
> fill out another registration form and go back to
> being independent or Republican on the records
> (providing you were not at one of the caucus sites
> that ran out of registration cards--apparently
> common at the larger caucuses).
>
> At my smaller caucus, in spite of Richardson and
> Kucinich having gone on record in the early
> afternoon that they would prefer their supporters to
> shift to OBAMA if they were not viable (it is a
> numbers thing, not a state of being), over half of
> Richardson's people went to Edwards to stop Hillary
> getting one more delegate. All those Republicans
> that participated in the Democratic caucus last
> night will make Iowa look really red again if she is
> the candidate. It is not just the war in my
> geography. She began having a hard time convincing
> people of her leadership skills when she ended up
> having to fire (say goodbye to) worker after worker
> whether they made unadvised remarks about another
> candidate on record or spread the e-mails saying
> Barack was really a Muslim out to win the election
> and destroy the United States. If she couldn't pick
> trustworthy people, maybe she isn't such a good
> leader? If she let them think that anything goes as
> long as you don't get caught, then maybe she isn't
> such a good leader. If she can't get and keep them
> on her own page relative to the kind of campaign she
> wants to run, then maybe she isn't such a great
> leader. She brought her own shadow to town. I
> really felt sorry for the group of over-80 women at
> her table that just kept saying they didn't want to
> die without seeing a woman president. The war
> was/is an issue, but Iowa has never been a single
> issue venue.
>
> One Iowan's perspective, Margaret
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: KroegerD at aol.com
> To: Ackroeger at aol.com
> Cc: nspmn at googlegroups.com ;
> Dialogue at wedgeblade.net
> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 10:00 AM
> Subject: [Dialogue] Michael Moore on target re:
> Iowa.
>
>
> "It's the War," Says Iowa to Hillary -- And a
> "Happy Blue Year" To All! ...from Michael Moore
>
> January 3, 2007
>
> Friends,
>
> There was no doubt about it. The message from Iowa
> tonight was simple, but deafening:
>
> If you're a candidate for President, and you voted
> for the war, you lose. And if you voted and voted
> and voted for the war -- and never once showed any
> remorse -- you really lose.
>
> In short, if you had something to do with keeping
> us in this war for four-plus years, you are not
> allowed to be the next president of the United
> States.
>
> Over 70% of Iowan Democrats voted for candidates
> who either never voted for the invasion of Iraq
> (Obama, Richardson, Kucinich) or who have since
> admitted their mistake (Edwards, Biden, Dodd). I
> can't tell you how bad I feel for Senator Clinton
> tonight. I don't believe she was ever really for
> this war. But she did -- and continued to do -- what
> she thought was the politically expedient thing to
> eventually get elected. And she was wrong. And
> tonight she must go to sleep wondering what would
> have happened if she had voted her conscience
> instead of her calculator.
>
> John Edwards was supposed to have come in third.
> He had been written off. He was outspent by the
> other front-runners six to one. But somewhere along
> the road he threw off the old politico hack jacket
> and turned into a real person, a fighter for the
> poor, for the uninsured, for peace. And for that, he
> came in a surprise second, ending up with just one
> less delegate than the man who was against the war
> from the beginning. But, as Joshua Holland of
> AlterNet pointed out earlier today, Edwards is still
> the only front-runner who will pull out all the
> troops and do it as quickly as possible. His speech
> tonight was brilliant and moving.
>
> What an amazing night, not just for Barack Obama,
> but for America. I know that Senator Obama is so
> much more than simply the color of his skin, but all
> of us must acknowledge -- and celebrate -- the fact
> that one of the whitest states in the U.S. just
> voted for a black man to be our next president.
> Thank you, Iowa, for this historic moment. Thank you
> for at least letting us believe that we are better
> than what we often seem to be. And to have so many
> young people come out and vote -- and vote for Obama
> -- this is a proud moment. It all began with the
> record youth turnout in 2004 -- the ONLY age group
> that Kerry won -- and they came back out tonight en
> force. Good on every single one of you!
>
> As the only top candidate who was anti-war before
> the war began, Barack Obama became the vessel
> through which the people of this Midwestern state
> were able to say loud and clear: "Bring 'Em Home!"
> Most pundits won't read the election this way
> because, well, most pundits merrily led us down the
> path to war. For them to call this vote tonight a
> repudiation of the war -- and of Senator Clinton's
> four years' worth of votes for it -- might require
> the pundit class to remind their viewers and readers
> that they share some culpability in starting this
> war. And, like Hillary, damn few of them have
> offered us an apology.
>
> With all due respect to Senator Obama's victory,
> the most important news out of the caucus this
> evening was the whopping, room-busting turnout of
> Democrats. 239,000 people showed up to vote
> Democratic tonight (93% more than in '04, which was
> a record year), while only 115,000 showed up to vote
> Republican. And this is a red state! The Republican
> caucuses looked anemic. The looks on their faces
> were glum, tired. As the camera followed some of
> them into their caucus sites, they held their heads
> down or turned away, sorta like criminals on a perp
> walk. They know their days of power are over. They
> know their guy blew it. Their only hope was to vote
> for a man who has a direct line to heaven. Huckabee
> is their Hail Mary pass. But don't rule him out.
> He's got a sense of humor, he's downhome, and he
> said that if elected, he'd put me on a boat to Cuba.
> Hey, a free Caribbean vacation!
>
> Bottom line: People have had it. Iowa will go blue
> (Happy Blue Year, Hawkeyes!). Whomever your
> candidate is on the Dem side, this was a good night.
> Get some sleep. The Republicans won't go down
> without a fight. Look what happened when Kerry tried
> to play nice. So Barack, you can talk all you want
> about "let's put the partisanship aside, let's all
> get along," but the other side has no intention of
> being anything but the bullies they are. Get your
> game face on now. And, if you can, tell me why you
> are now the second largest recipient of health
> industry payola after Hillary. You now take more
> money from the people committed to stopping
> universal health care than any of the Republican
> candidates.
>
> Despite what your answer may be, I was proud to
> sit in my living room tonight and see you and your
> family up on that stage. We became a bit better
> tonight, and on that I will close by saying, sweet
> dreams -- and on to that other totally white state
> of New Hampshire!
>
> Yours,
>
> Michael Moore
> MMFlint at aol.com
> MichaelMoore.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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jfwiegel at yahoo.com
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Will tomorrow be here soon? ... of course it will. Not once has tomorrow not been here, but what about yesterday? Where is it now? It will be gone to us . . . like today will be long gone ... When tomorrow comes around. -- Dodge Chatto 1975
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