Smitten by Clark

[wadestock]

Smitten by Clark

Did you see Clark last nite on TV at the VFW?

I have been coming from the basic vantage point….”anyone by Bush”…..and have only recently been agonizing over the Democratic message and thoughts of who can really go toe to toe with Bush and beat him.

Perhaps the State of the Union was the backdrop to this revelation. I saw Bush as being especially crafty at deemphasizing whatever the Dems had to offer. I’d think of myself as the last person that might be influenced by the news, but I have been generally thinking in terms of all the big 3 issues and how the Dems would stack up against Bush:

1. War – Yes, better overall philosophy, but still generally resigning that we must be there. No real advantage to the Dems. Repukes still gain in many states overall based on a general “we had to kick ass” mentality.

2. Economy – People just don’t appreciate that tax breaks to the rich fuel some growth but incur an overall net loss. And then the bottom line becomes just how many people are specifically dissatisfied to the point that this will translate into a vote against Bush. Could be a wash.

3. Health care – The repukes have carefully conditioned people over the years to believe that they can’t get something for nothing, that the government doesn’t work, and that the best you can do is work hard and hope for less taxes. Shades of Clinton also bring to mind that it just won’t ever happen. No one except Kucinich has hit on the issue of profits and the inherent inability for private industry to give affordable health care to all. What’s needed is a Perot style charts and graphs explanation that would possibly make the required points but which would probably go over the heads of most people. Could ironically and unfortunately be a net loss.

So then comes Clark and I’m literally blown away last nite by his discussion on family values. I’m not sure exactly how the whole conversation evolved or out of what specific question. I hadn’t heard this before from him. It’s a killer argument and in my opinion is kryptonite to Superman in terms of defusing the bullshit Republican argument.

FAMILY VALUES – I am continually impressed by the ease of Clark’s delivery. He is especially believable. I’d say he’s exceptional on his feet but he doesn’t even appear to be adlibbing. He seems incredibly thoughtful and to the point. He basically tore the Republican argument concerning what they have to offer to shreads in a way I’ve never quite heard before. He began it very eloquently and without making one feel even the slight bit uneasy about how this equates very fundamentally to a more decent interpretation about religion. I almost fell off my chair when he said, “by the way you hear them talking, you’d get the impression they were connected to God”…..and then turned the whole thing around by saying that “it is the Democrats that are really the party that LIVEs their religion. We really want to help people”.

Just like that, WAMMO, no ill feelings about liberalism. Just the truth. In the most eloquent way I have ever heard….they are basically full of chit, and we’re not.

This was seamlessly threaded into a nice series of examinations of the Dems vs. Repukes in terms of how they fair for the family. “Well they say they are for family values” BUT……was the general theme. “Well when you look at what they’re really doing, how can you say that they are for family values?”

He has this really effective way of setting up the issue, bringing it to a compelling story that can be embellished, and then saying, “Now I’m going to tell you what we’re going to do about it…..”

I hope you got a chance to see this or get a chance to see something similar in the future. God I hope this guy has a chance. I’m smitten. I’m hooked. BTW….the discussion also contained what I have just heard for the first time in terms of exactly how Clark would raise taxes 5% to income over 1M to pay for health care, etc. To my knowledge this is the ONLY guy so far that has specifically said he will RAISE taxes on the upper tier, and interestingly enough, to an upper-upper tier which he specifically identified as the upper 1/10th of 1%. Incredible. This was also carefully articulated as “we will go as ASK these people to pay another 5%”. For even those avid Limbaugh injecting, die hard Reaganomics loving, work hard till you die on your gun and sixpack lovers…..I had to ask myself…..hearing this….. would they really think it is oh so bad for these wonderful capitalistic giants (who day by day think of only ways to make our lives more livable)…..would they be so hard pressed to give up just a tensy weansy 5% piece of their little fortune? Is this Clinton inspired?

I can see this guy in a podium across from Bush talking to the American people and seriously kicking Bush’s ass. I can imagine people listening to Bush and then to Clark and then getting a deep sense that Clark is for real and Bush is not for real.

I’m only sorry that this brilliant argument about family values which transcends all the “this issue vs. that issue” arguments hadn’t come to the forefront sooner.
I’m dreaming about 8 years of Clark turning this country completely around.

[Kahuna]

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