Tuesday, January 27, 2004
The curious world of Democratic endorsements: I don't know if Jason knows this, but I'm now doing volunteer work one day a week at the Jack Ryan for Senate office downtown. (I will add asides on that later.)
In the world of serious statewide campaigns, the endorsements that matter are township party organizations (i.e. Maine Township or New Trier Township or Fremont Township), political leaders (from Rep. Denny Hastert to the Sangamon Co. coroner) to other political organizations (Club for Growth) to newspapers.
Organizational endorsements are important, obviously, as those seem to motivate rank and file members to heed the endorsement more than endorsements from politicians influence constituents. And here's why newspaper endorsements sometimes mean nothing.
At any rate, how can celebrity endorsements mean anything? Does tax cheat Willie Nelson's support of Dennis Kucinich (partly because Kucinich believes in higher taxes for the wealthy) hold any value? Do we care Bonnie Raitt (who hasn't really come out with anything good since she dried out) likes Kucinich? That Al Franken supports Howard Dean? That Madonna suppports Wesley Clark (because he's the "most spiritual" candidate?)
To start with, most of these folks are more out of touch with American life than the most out-of-touch politician. Yes, I think even Teddy Kennedy is more in touch with people than Madonna or Barbra Streisand. And Kennedy is a guy who got away with DUI and vehicular manslaughter (among other things), grew up in the most privileged of families, and never paid a dime of estate taxes despite being an heir to said privilege.
At any rate, my wife told me someone she knew in college was supporting Clark because Michael Moore is backing him. Moore is a political activist of sorts, albeit one that jumped the shark far before Bowling for Columbine (a movie filled with gross inaccuracies). But why would he support Clark? Moore, as noted here, was no supporter of the war in Kosovo, Clark's crowning achievement.
Clark continues to say he backed Clinton 100 percent in Kosovo, and that he doesn't regret a decision he made there. Has Blowhard Moore changed his stance?
In the world of serious statewide campaigns, the endorsements that matter are township party organizations (i.e. Maine Township or New Trier Township or Fremont Township), political leaders (from Rep. Denny Hastert to the Sangamon Co. coroner) to other political organizations (Club for Growth) to newspapers.
Organizational endorsements are important, obviously, as those seem to motivate rank and file members to heed the endorsement more than endorsements from politicians influence constituents. And here's why newspaper endorsements sometimes mean nothing.
At any rate, how can celebrity endorsements mean anything? Does tax cheat Willie Nelson's support of Dennis Kucinich (partly because Kucinich believes in higher taxes for the wealthy) hold any value? Do we care Bonnie Raitt (who hasn't really come out with anything good since she dried out) likes Kucinich? That Al Franken supports Howard Dean? That Madonna suppports Wesley Clark (because he's the "most spiritual" candidate?)
To start with, most of these folks are more out of touch with American life than the most out-of-touch politician. Yes, I think even Teddy Kennedy is more in touch with people than Madonna or Barbra Streisand. And Kennedy is a guy who got away with DUI and vehicular manslaughter (among other things), grew up in the most privileged of families, and never paid a dime of estate taxes despite being an heir to said privilege.
At any rate, my wife told me someone she knew in college was supporting Clark because Michael Moore is backing him. Moore is a political activist of sorts, albeit one that jumped the shark far before Bowling for Columbine (a movie filled with gross inaccuracies). But why would he support Clark? Moore, as noted here, was no supporter of the war in Kosovo, Clark's crowning achievement.
Clark continues to say he backed Clinton 100 percent in Kosovo, and that he doesn't regret a decision he made there. Has Blowhard Moore changed his stance?
