January 12, 2004

A New Kind of Pragmatism

The New Yorker on Howard Dean: "Last summer, Joe Trippi told U.S. News & World Report that he had given Dean a curious piece of advice: 'I tell him the only way he can win is to believe in his heart he cannot win. We’ve got to act like we have nothing to lose.' That, as they say, was then. When I asked Dean, in mid-October, whether he still subscribed to the Trippi wisdom, he replied, 'In part. I think the problem with the Democratic Party in general is that they’ve been so afraid to lose they’re willing to say whatever it takes it to win. And once you’re willing to say whatever it takes to win, you lose—because the American people are much smarter than folks in Washington think they are. Do I still believe it? I think you have to be ready to move forward and not just try to hold on to what you’ve got. I truly believe that if you’re not moving forward you’re moving backwards in life. There’s no such thing as neutral.'"

Posted by DrMabuse at January 12, 2004 12:01 AM
Comments

trippi's a goddamned genius. i've been amazed at how well he's guided the campaign since he joined.

i've got a post on my site (shameless plug) of trippi's latest smackdown of the media. brilliant, freakin' brilliant. this is the year we must PUSH BACK and push back hard because we can't afford to get gored. getting rid of bush is too important.

remember regime change begins at home. starting on thursday i'm going to be working towards that goal from des moines iowa. this is too important for me not to be there with my feet on the snowy ground.

Posted by: anna at January 12, 2004 02:02 PM

thanks for your site and keep it up.

Posted by: lebenslauf at January 16, 2004 04:22 AM

Well, thank you both for reading. :)

Trippi is doing a good job, particularly since the Democratic Party has its panties in a bunch. I'm not convinced that this will effect total regime change, but hopefully the Dean campaign will work in some small way to restore this nation's foundational dissent.

Posted by: Ed at January 16, 2004 10:38 AM