There are so many articles tonight about the Howard Dean speech, trying to define it, trying to define him, and the future. Meanwhile, he was having a conference call with us about what coming up in his campaigning for the Deam Dozen and Kerry. He was upbeat, people were begging him to come to their states. He mentioned trying to squeeze in a gig with Jesse Jackson in the Appalachians soon. Very busy, getting donations, supporting the lowest levels of grassroots.
I think I like this article, as the person seemed to understand us and our passions better than most. We are a different lot, though most of us were totally mainstream before he came along. Not any more. I don't think Howard Dean is as mainstream as he was before either. I think he caught the emotions along the trail.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2104454/SNIP..."BOSTON—He won't garner many delegates during Wednesday night's roll call, but Howard Dean still leads in the hearts of at least one demographic: people with home-made signs. Even offline, here on the floor of the FleetCenter, his most ardent supporters possess a blogger's sensibility. They reject the lame "Doing Right for America" placards provided by the message-masters of the Democratic National Convention as props to wave during Dean's Tuesday night speech. How "mass media," how "broadcast," to print thousands of posters of unremitting sameness and then expect that one size to fit all.
Instead, as Dean walks to the podium, his true believers hold aloft Dean for America T-shirts and signs, relics from the primary campaign. They carried them in themselves, so they could show their allegiance at this moment. One sign is so wrinkled and worn it looks like it was accidentally left in someone's shirt pocket and put in the wash. Like a longtime fan sporting a tattered T-shirt at a rock concert, the delegate refuses to part with it....."
SNIP...
"The crowd roars and roars and roars, a neverending ovation. The most enthusiastic Deaniacs seem to be in the back, in the worst seats, in the red states where Democrats can't win. Dean calls out to these marginalized Democrats during the speech, saying: "We're going to be proud to call ourselves Democrats, not just here in Boston. We're going to be proud to call ourselves Democrats in Mississippi, proud to call ourselves Democrats in Utah and Idaho. And we're going to be proud to call ourselves Democrats in Texas." The Utah and Texas delegations behind me stand and—what else—scream."END SNIP
I hope the party does not stop all the passion. It is needed so badly right now. I have been told I post my silly little articles, and other such stuff as that. I am old enough and wise enough to see that this is a crisis time in our country in more ways than one.
Yes, we need to elect Kerry. But we must not stifle the thing that has happened this year. Call it what you wish, but it is a feeling that things matter again, a sort of passion. If it did not exist, why were so many drawn to politics who usually never bother. It will take great care to this undefined thing which I call passion.