Michael Kinsley has his head up his ass!

[Cassandra]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-dean12jun12,0,809723.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials
"Dean presents a conundrum for embattled Democrats, who have lost control of the White House and Congress. There are two ways for them to think about him. One is that he's a reckless, emotional politician whose fiery remarks will stir up debate and help the Democratic Party. The other is that he's a reckless, emotional politician whose name-calling cheapens the national debate on issues and hurts his own party.

Judging by Dean's preposterous comments about all Republicans being rich and idle, and mostly white Christians to boot, the latter is inescapably the case. You can't be a good salesman if you spend your time insulting prospective customers, in this case people who haven't been voting Democratic.
<snip>
So far, Dean has done a good job of pulling the party together — the Republican Party. His counterproductive message is a problem for the Democratic Party. And the fact that the opposition party is in too much disarray to seriously engage the issues is a problem for our democracy. We'd be equally concerned if it were the Republicans who'd turned to their own version of a Howard Dean for leadership"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/10/AR2005061001705.html
"No Smoking Gun

By Michael Kinsley

Sunday, June 12, 2005; Page B09

After about the 200th e-mail from a stranger demanding that I cease my personal coverup of something called the Downing Street Memo, I decided to read it. It's all over the blogosphere and Air America, the left-wing talk radio network: This is the smoking gun of the Iraq war. It is proof positive that President Bush was determined to invade Iraq the year before he did so. The whole "weapons of mass destruction" concern was phony from the start, and the drama about inspections was just kabuki: going through the motions.

Although it is flattering to be thought personally responsible for allowing a proven war criminal to remain in office, in the end I don't buy the fuss. Nevertheless, I am enjoying it, as an encouraging sign of the revival of the left. Developing a paranoid theory and promoting it to the very edge of national respectability takes a certain amount of ideological self-confidence. It takes a critical mass of citizens with extreme views and the time and energy to obsess about them. It takes a promotional infrastructure and the widely shared self-discipline to settle on a story line, disseminate it and stick to it."

[kentuck]

1. I disagree with Kinsley on this issue but I would not say...

he had his head up his ass. Most of the time he is absolutely correct in his assessments...just my opinion.

[Cassandra]

2. I didn't say the condition was permanent...

but he has seriously misjudged this.

[reality based]

3. Kinsley is prone to some pretty goofy positions

I hate to pick on him but he has been given a pretty big megaphone (the LATimes).

[Clark2008]

13. Yeah - he was part of the Milosovich-loving crowd

when Clark jumped into the fray.

I have forgiven him his transgressions in light of some of the other things he has had to say, since, but I haven't forgotten that he's a bit extreme on some issues, either.

[cornermouse]

4. Kinsley is no doubt "comfortable" in the financial sense.

I suspect he has an insurance company that is currently, at least, paying for his health problems...he has a very nice income and probably a very nice home to match it.

The fact is, he's not living hand to mouth like the vast majority of Americans, he's not living in fear of unemployment and bankruptcy which isn't really bankruptcy any more. He's got his. He's comfortable. Any big changes in the status quo has the potential to rock his own fiscal boat.

Given those facts, is it any surprise that he only sees minor problems with Bush's activities and major problems with what he apparently thinks of as wild-eyed liberal leftists?

[Kahuna]

5. I agree with Kinsley. Dean has a very difficult time..

putting his thoughts into words that are conducive to the Dems reaching out to independents and repubs-lite. Why is it necessary for him to insult all white, Christian, republicans to make his case? It isn't necessary. THAT is the problem. It would have been just as easy to narrow it down to calling out the, "extremist religious, fundamentalists" who are taking over the Republican party" which is closer to the truth than indicting all white, Christian, Republicans. There is a difference. And his comments missed it entirely and offended people who didn't deserve to be offended.

[Cassandra]

8. How is it an insult to white, Christian Republicans...

to say the truth; that they are the majority of the party? They are also the majority of the Democratic Party, but a smaller majority than the Repukes.

[cornermouse]

9. Maybe he's blocking Bush's attempt to take the black vote

away from the democrats by pointing out the obvious?

[Harry S Truman]

11. You can't say the things Dean said

because the corporate, right-wing media will filter them the WRONG way every time. Just as they filter Bush's bullshit the GOOD way every time.

Dean's playing his cards all wrong. I love the guy, but he's fucking up by not being clever.

[cornermouse]

12. Kerry didn't say the things that Dean said.

And did it make any difference in the way the media treated him? Nope.

[Puglover]

14. Sorry but

the right wing media will filter ANYTHING Howard says wrong. ANYTHING. So how do suggest he play his cards? I just don't see how he can be "clever" here.

[PATRICK]

6. loony left, paranoid, extreme views

You mean like reading a shattering story about US crimes in foreign newspapers and having it trumped by widely MSM shared disciplined dissemination of Michael Jackson blather?

Of course he does not have any personal responsibility for a "conspiracy hunt" knocking on his chamber door, tapping, loudly rapping on his chamber door. Responsibility has nothing to do with his present career. Why bother him?

And cease this endless "flattery". He's not worth it. His hands are dipped in Pilate's bowl and he does Caesar's bidding.

[OHdem10]

7. Kinsley, like many establishment types

contiues to give the inellectual perspective when we are in
"Anti"Intellectual" times. This is why he can seem out of touch.

The last Pope and the Present one are trying to take the Catholic
Church back to the 13th Century. The Republicans are trying to take
the Country back to prior FDR. The Fundamentalist Wing are trying to
take the Country back to the days of the Puritans.

Anti-Intellectualism on the Rampage.

The Establishment does not realize that a family doctor who actually
made house calls and lived a simple life--naturally will connect
better with the American people. The Beltway Crowd including Journalists come off as "effete snobs"

Ilke Kinsley and many of the effete snobs--they are just out of touch.

[Pryderi]

10. I think Kinsley just wants us to send him more email. Let's give it to him

[AX10]

15. Let's send them many times over so that we jam up...

his computer. I think that is what he wants.