"Texas Rangers" Hit NH Ready to Knock for Dean

[tsipple]

September 28, 2003
Manchester Union-Leader
Link to Full Story

MANCHESTER — Friday, 5 p.m., Corpus Christi, Texas: Sarah Buck packs a bag and drives four hours up the coast of Texas to a friend’s house near Houston, where she spends the night to make her morning scramble a little less hectic.

Saturday, 4 a.m., Houston suburbs: Buck hits the road for the 40-mile drive to the airport, where she joins 140 fellow Howard Dean enthusiasts she’s never met for a weekend of campaigning in New Hampshire. (....)

Strategy from Dean headquarters in Burlington, Vt., where the Texas Ranger plan was hatched, is simple: who better to persuade undecided Democrats or iffy Independents than a pumped-up mob of Texans who say they want to make reparations to the entire country for the exportation of George W. Bush from their backyard to the White House.

“We’re offering this as penance for George Bush. It’s our apology,” says Jeremy Spring of Austin, explaining why he and several of his 20-something friends chose to devote their weekend to Dean. (....)

What appeals to her about Dean, says Buck, is that he offers hope to Americans.

“George Bush’s politics of fear is paralyzing America. That’s why I was excited to have a chance to do this,” she says, looking around to get her bearings. “This is beautiful. This is going to be a great.”

(More also on Blog for America.)

[patdem]

1. That is certainly 'brilliant' strategy for Dean to call them Texas Rangers

I though the 'Texas Rangers' were voting for Dean!! :bounce:

[tsipple]

2. Bush Calls His Top Fundraisers "Rangers"

All kinds of irony in the Dean Campaign's choice of "Texas Rangers" for this project.

1. The Texas Rangers are the baseball team that George W. Bush used to run as a corporate partner. Naturally, like everything else, Bush ran the Texas Rangers into the ground, despite receiving massive taxpayer subsidies (reverse Robin Hood) to build a new stadium with more skyboxes for corporate entertaining. Middle class taxpayers in Texas now foot the bill for that boondoggle. The Texas Rangers finished last this year in the American League Western Division, "only" 25 games behind Oakland. (On edit: Bush's major accomplishment was to trade Sammy Sosa to the Chicago Cubs. Sosa is Chicago's star player and one of the biggest homerun sluggers of all time, and the Cubs are in the playoffs.)

2. "Rangers" are those who raise at least $200,000 for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. "Pioneers" raise $100,000 or more. You may be asking, how can particular people raise $200,000? The contribution limit is $2,000 per person for the primary, then another $2,000 for the general election. That's true, but the Bush Campaign has a system to "bundle" contributions, meaning that they track, by code number, which person manages to extort -- I mean, persuade -- his vice presidents and other corporate officers to give money to Bush.

[10digits]

7. Texas rangers

One of my favorite TV shows. Chuck Norris really kicked ass! Dean is truely a genius!

[wryter2000]

3. Flying Texans to NH

Now, *that's* panache.

[Fenris]

4. Jesus, I'll join his campaign if he'll fly me the fuck out of Texas

Honest to GOD!

[tsipple]

5. Abso-Freakin-Lootly!

Howard Dean is indeed my first choice, and this is one huge reason why. He has and is running a brilliant campaign.

I'm tired of candidates who can't (or won't) fight, and who don't have the skills to do it. We're going to be up against the biggest Republican money machine and the most hostile press climate in history. If we can't nominate someone who actually excites ordinary people, and who uses such innovative campaign techniques to utterly change the rules of the game, we're going to have a much harder time winning.

That's a huge reason why I support Howard Dean. He's got the full package. He's a mainstream Democrat who articulates Democratic values and policies on his terms, not on the terms of the GOP. He has a kick-ass campaign. He's also only one of two Democrats -- the other is Bob Graham -- with executive experience as a governor. Other things being equal, governors are best equipped to step into the responsibilities of president.

He was unambiguously and contemporaneously opposed to the Iraq Resolution that Congress passed, which enabled President Bush to pre-emptively invade another country based on fradulent intelligence. (Graham, Kucinich, Braun, and Sharpton share that attribute, with Graham and Kucinich able to vote against the Iraq Resolution.)

He's my top choice, absolutely.

[tsipple]

6. Photo: Texas Rangers in Iowa

Making the Democratic Party victorious, one voter at a time! I love old fashioned grassroots politics with 21st century mobilization!