A simple point

[womzilla]

The Confederate Battle Flag is a symbol not only of virulent racism, but of anti-Americanism, of aggressive ignorance, and of pathetic loserdom.

Using it as metonymic for a class of people is insulting to those people. If Dean can't think of a better term for "people in the South who get shafted by screw-the-poor policy" than "guys with Confederate flags in their trucks", he doesn't deserve to be my elected representative.

Comments

Yeah, but... :)

[neonnurse.livejournal.com]

Haven't we all tried to say something in a pithy, evocative way and ended up uttering the dumbest thing we could POSSIBLY have said under the circumstances. I know I have. (Maybe I am doing it now!)

But what I like is that instead of trying to bend reality and make EVERYONE ELSE be the ones who are wrong, for "not understanding him", Dean's said, "Hey, I didn't want to admit it, but yeah, I was wrong. I screwed up." (Obviously I am paraphrasing here.) He has apologized to people who were hurt or offended. Picture us having a President who listens to people, admits it when he is wrong, and apologizes!

It would be like nothing we've seen before! :)

Re: Yeah, but... :)

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

The first headline of the Clinton years was "Clinton Takes Responsibility for ..." (I forget what, but it could be researched.) Took my breath away.

In later years, he took responsibility less and did more unacceptable things (and I am _not_ referring to his sex life). Nonetheless, he started out taking responsibility.

I'm not sure how I feel about the whole Confederate flag flap.

Re: Yeah, but... :)

[neonnurse.livejournal.com]

You are right, Clinton started out beautifully. I don't know if he just let it all get to him or what. And certainly at his worst he was hundreds of times better than Dubya at his paltry best....

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

I hold Dean accountable for two things:

1. Making the incredibly stupid comment in the first place. I can see trying to make a strong, startling, and somewhat funny point, but, possibly because I lived in the South for sixteen years, I just don't consider the Confederate battle flag to be something that a serious politician should joke about when making the point he was trying to make. "Guys with shotgun racks in their pickups" would have made the point just as clearly, and would have had additional pluses. It was just really badly considered, and I can't believe it was off-the-cuff.

2. From what I saw, the apology had to be dragged out of him over the course of several days. That's a problem. If you're going to say something deliberately provocative, you have to be ready to deal with the backlash if it's too provocative. He wasn't.

Now, I'm not saying that I won't vote for him. But it makes me a little less ready to give him my primary vote (which I was far from certain to do, anyway).

[neonnurse.livejournal.com]

I think there's a point you aren't considering, though, and it's kind of an apples and oranges thing. If by "serious politician" you mean a long-term political insider sort of a guy, like the rest of the front runners, yeah sure, they would know not to say anything that hadn't been run by about 60 focus groups first, and which they didn't mean anyway, and they would be expecting the people listening to know they didn't mean it.

I think Dean is in the unenviable position of (at least) learning as he goes; a real do or die on the job training situation. I know for sure I could not do what he's doing without making some mistakes. And being human, I'm not real big on having my mistakes brought to my attention. Maybe there are some people who don't mind this...I know I haven't met too many, but no doubt there are some. I think Dean didn't like it, but he got over it, and did the right thing in the end.

Anyway, the thing I LIKE about Dean is that he isn't just another cardboard piece pulled out of the Dem game box. I have been sick to death of pretty near all politicians of every flavor for a long time now, and the ONLY thing that has pulled me back in is the chance that a total new bee and outsider like Dean, who is running almost totally on the support of a grassroots coalition of regular folks, CAN win with that help. And THEN still be effective in office because the same grassroots, well and truly stirred up, will put the pressure on their congresspeeps to get in and play ball instead of sucking up to the big boys and fat cats behind the scenes.

OK, so I'm a crazy dreamer. :)

[(Anonymous)]

Kevin, that was my impression as well about the apology. Call me a cynic but It didn't come across to me as genuine remorse or responsibility; more like his advisors convinced him that standing his ground was making him look bad. Just like Edwards going after him sounded not like personal outrage, but like "oh goody, he said something stupid about the region I'm from! Manna from heaven!"

"Shotgun rack in the pickup truck" is more accurate but still a bit controversial. How about "NASCAR stickers on the pickup truck"?