As part of an effort to make it easy for visitors who are interested in the War For The Web competition that Kevin and I are currently running, I have established a sub-domain and a separate set of pages to make it easy for visitors to find.

The new site for War2004, as it has come to be known, is [url=http://war2004.viewpointjournal.com]war2004.viewpointjournal.com[/url]. If you have any questions or comments for me, please feel free to email me at [url=mailto:david@viewpointjournal.com]david@viewpointjournal.com[/url].

Sincerely,

David Flanagan

[b]Wesley Clark[/b]

Now there’s a pencil necked geek
Sittin in judgements throne
A personal gain first kinda dog
Lookin for a bone

A slippery non answer slider
Lookin to position himself
He loves the glory but wants that
Accountability on somebody else

What a perfect hair kinda guy
What a clean and handsome man
What a bright shining resume
Surely this shows that he can

****
****

Grease the fast track wheels
Punch his advance ticket card
Get in all his requirements
While avoiding anything too hard

What a dressed up pretty boy
What a hollow empty shell
The kind who gets good men killed
While workin his dip-low dunk spell

What a man boy poster toy
What a dinner party favor
Lookin resolute while sippin his soup
All steely eyed like he’d never waver

What a pencil necked geek
Sittin on judgements throne
Lookin to suck some more marrow
From men who actually have

A back bone

Neils
7:21 am
08/27/2003
[i]Published with the permission of Neils The Poet[/i]

[b]The Debate Begins… Again![/b]
As the 2004 election cycle heats up, an ever-increasing number of articles and commentaries have begun to emanate from mainstream and alternative media sources on the use of the Internet as a campaign tool. The catalyst for much of it seems to be an article which appeared in the LA Times shortly after the liberal website, Moveon.org, ran the first ever online primary, allowing individuals to donate and/or vote for one of the nine Democratic Presidential hopefuls.

Soon after Dean was declared the winner of the vote and the donations collected were awarded to his campaign, Ronald Brownstein of the LA Times asked this question in a July 7 column: [i]Could the Internet do for the left what talk radio has done for the right?[/i] The very next day, conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh, who was specifically mentioned in the article, gave a fairly lengthy response to the article during his on-air show. From that point forward, a constant stream of articles and commentary has continued the debate.

Despite the recent media attention, this is not a new debate. Rather, the debate actually began during the last Presidential election cycle.

Campaigning on the Internet, and articles related to this trend, began shortly after the popularization of the World Wide Web in 1998. Though budgets for this kind of campaign were understandably small at the time, it’s safe to say that they’ve grown considerably since and have, predictably, encouraged the appearance of a new generation of political consultants specializing in Internet campaign strategies.
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Chuck Colson just published his upcoming commentary for August 25 on the Breakpoint.org home page. Entitled, I’m Scared…And I Vote!, It’s an insightful article, which outlines the radical shift in the way an influential voting block, the soccer moms, has shifted since 9/11. The “soccer moms” have morphed into the “scared moms,” and their priority issue, above all others, is a strong national defense.

Karl Rove, one of the President’s key advisors, believes that it was a shift among this group of voters in particular that gave Republicans the historic gains experienced during the 2002 mid-term elections. Democrats were convinced that the weak economy would aid them in the 2002 election and campaigned on it, talking down the economy and using their influence in the Senate to stall progress as much as possible on a variety of bills and initiatives.

In my mind, this shows how incredibly disconnected DNC leaders have become. Can they not understand that 9/11 changed everything?

Republicans noted the shift early on and rightly maintained their focus on national security. But, even now, DNC leaders seem lost in a haze. The very fact that Howard Dean, certainly one of the weakest of all nine candidates on national security, is the current front-runner says it all, don’t you think?

Here is what Colson says of this shift:

During the next election, politicians will be courting a big new constituency whose bumper stickers might well read: “I’m scared . . . and I vote!”

After 9/11, the public shifted from their emphasis on domestic issues to an intense emphasis on national security. It was a shift which, essentially, brought many more Americans, including the “Soccer Mom” constiuency, in line with the GOP agenda.

And it did something else of importance as well. It altered the public’s tolerance for political pettiness.

Before 9/11, the average person was willing to tolerate, even chuckle at the rumors and antics of a President who just could not seem to keep his libido under control. Many voters today (including soccer moms) are looking for strength; the same strength shown by the police officers and fire fighters in New York when they rushed into danger with no thought to their own safety.

So, for those of you who continue to insist that Dean has a good chance at defeating Bush (you know who you are), think again. As Joe Lieberman said during one of the first Democratic Primary debates, “No Democrat who is weak on national security will be elected President.”

I concur.

But the true irony of Senator Lieberman’s comment is that it quite likely eliminated his chances of winning his party’s primary. The hard left still lives in the Viet Nam era, it seems, while the rest of the nation has moved on. Until DNC leaders shed these Viet Nam-era dinosours, their ability to compete with the Republican Party will likely remain at a disadvantage.

Or is that an understatement?

David Flanagan
http://www.viewpointjournal.com

[b]From the Editor’s Desk - August 22, 2003 10:56am[/b]
In a stunning development today, a new Democratic candidate has appeared, literally from nowhere, and is already polling ahead of President Bush. A Zogby Poll, released recently, shows the new Democratic front-runner offers his party its best chance yet to regain some semblence of power in Washington after nearly a decade of declining influence.
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[i]Whenever you find a man who says that he does not believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later. He may break his promise to you, but if you try breaking one to him, he will be complaining, ‘its not fair’ before you can say Jack Robinson.[/i]
[b]C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity[/b]

I need to say something controversial. First, let me explain why.

Whenever I write an email message, or post a message to a bulletin board, or even post an article to my personal weblog, I almost always take a considerable amount of time beforehand in order to consider the words I’ll use. Even after I’m finished writing, I’ll often go and do an extensive rewrite. I do this because words matter, and words, properly assembled, can express thoughts that have the ability to build up or tear down other human beings.

On the other hand, there are times when things must be said plainly, in the simplest possible terms, so that there is no confusion as to the meaning of what is being said. On that note, then, I’ve decided that in honor of those with whom I’ve debated on the subject of absolute truth, a dissapointingly large number of whom call themselves “Republicans,” or worse, “conservatives,” I will craft this special message: If you call yourself a Republican, or a conservative, yet you don’t believe in the concept of [b]right[/b] and [b]wrong[/b], then please do us all a favor and go be a Democrat. If this is you, then please get out of the Republican Party!
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For those of you who visit here, you probably noticed that my last post was more of a fun dig than most of my articles. The whole idea was sparked when I saw Janeane Garofalo on Bill Mahr’s show a few nights ago.

There she was, in a cut off t-shirt, hair bleached, sporting a big tattoo on her arm, talking politics. Actually, to say that she was “talking politics” is a generous statement. What she was actually doing, which is her usual bit, is trashing everything conservative and worshiping everything liberal. She is just SO predictable when it comes to her stance on anything. If President Bush supports an initiative, its a bad idea. If Bush orders the military to take action (Afghanistan and Iraq), he’s committed a crime, but if he orders the military to stand bye(Liberia), its also a crime. Janeane is like a female version of Tom Daschle, but without the fashion sense or leadership ability. She’s not a leader, she just plays one on TV.

Having mentioned him, let me throw in a word about Bill Mahr. I don’t claim to be an expert on the opinions of every conservative, but I increasingly see a level of respect for Bill from conservative circles. Lets face it, when Ann Coulter calls Bill a friend, [b]thats saying something![/b]

I watch his show and most times I disagree with him, but, having said that, I do find that I have points of agreement as well. I think what you see in Bill is that he is a principled liberal who understand the entertainment value of politics in a manner similar to Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and others. For that matter, he is one of the ONLY liberals in the media who I’ve seen with that understanding. If Al Gore wants to build a liberal network, he should start with Bill; just don’t expect Bill to tow the liberal line at all points. Bill thinks for himself and isn’t afraid to say what he thinks, no matter what the consequences.

I respect that a great deal and so do many others in the conservative world. Liberals should take note and emulate his style rather than just spouting the same mindless, bitter, bumper-sticker slogans that I hear all the time from wannabe politicos like Ms. Garofalo. People should grow up and learn to think for themselves; and I say that to liberal and conservative alike. The government shouldn’t run your life, neither should they order your thoughts.

Finally, let me mention something funny that happened after putting up my last post suggesting the Gore-ofalo and/or the Dean/Clinton ticket for Democrats. I received a couple of comments about the horror of a Dean/Clinton ticket from some conservative posters to one of the bulletin boards I frequent, and replied that it was all in fun. But that got me thinking that perhaps a Dean/Clinton ticket might well be a powerful one for Dems. Still a losing ticket, but powerful none the less.

Hillary is incredibly popular among moderate and hardcore Democrats, while Dean has all the momentum going so far in the Democratic Primary. The only problem is, I’m betting they would likely have trouble deciding on who would be the President and who would run as the veep candidate.

Dean might seek to argue that Hillary already had her eight years in office and underscore the fact that it is his turn. Hillary might argue that she has all the experience and has the right to move from running things covertly to a more overt status. Personally, I’d pay money to hear THAT discussion.

On that note, I now return you to our regularly scheduled programming. Have a nice day.

David

Are you an angry Democrat, dissapointed at the lackluster lineup of presidential contenders for the upcoming 2004 race? Yeah, sure, Howard Dean has the rhetoric down pat, but, looking at his record as Vermont Governor, you can’t even be sure he’s fanatical enough to drive the agenda of the hard left. Kerry has the whole Southern Democrat-thing going for him, but no message and no momentum. The rest are just variations of Dean and Kerry.

So, what can a desperate Dem do? Why, break all the rules, of course; something that liberals are good at anyway! Its time to reinvent this whole race, and we have the perfect ticket for the party that wants it all… The fire, the anger, the rhetoric, the hard liberal stance, with a smattering of foreign policy experience thrown in; just so that, when they win the election, they can win back the French.

What is this perfect ticket? Why, none other than Al Gore and Janeane Garofalo! Move over Tipper, the Gore-ofalo ticket is coming to take Al away!
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[b]Howard Dean is Winning The Battle & Losing The War For His Party[/b]
Its Howard Dean vs. everyone! First, Mr. Dean lashes out against Republicans in general and Bush in particular, then, he shreds his Democratic opponents in his all-consuming desire to win the Democratic nomination for the 2004 presidential election. He’s relentless, he is merciless, and, if he wins the nomination, he’ll make McGovern’s disasterous loss in 1972 look like a historic victory.

But even if he doesn’t win in the primary, he’s begun a negative trend that will be hard to overcome before election day. One way or another, Dean is pulling his party down and even if he knows it, he seems not to care.
>> Read more