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[bryant]

The most terrifying sentence in this Washington Post article about Kerry's cabinet choices is this: "John Sasso, who was recently put on the Kerry plane to restore order and discipline, is making a move for chief of staff, too, campaign sources say."

In case anyone was under any false impressions, John Sasso is not a nicer person than Karl Rove. He just happens to be on Kerry's side.

It's a pretty pro-Kerry article, by the by. The first few paragraphs are particularly beneficial -- the article starts out with a joke about Kerry having a tough time making decisions, but then defuses the negative implications by pointing out that Kerry may well make the tough bi-partisan decision to put a Republican in as Secretary of State. That speculation also helps shore up Kerry's image as a uniter who can fix the problems Bush has created.

Meanwhile, the equivalent Bush article talks about major changes in his cabinet, which leaves one with the implication that Bush's first term cabinet wasn't doing such a great job. Warms the cockles of my heart, it does.

Comments

[that-cad.livejournal.com]

In case anyone was under any false impressions, John Sasso is not a nicer person than Karl Rove. He just happens to be on Kerry's side.

See, I find nothing wrong with that. There's, like, this idea on the Left in this country that we have to, I dunno, fight "cleaner" than the Right or something — but that's bull. Ideology and political power are far too important to try and fight civilly over. So I say let's find the Left's version of Karl Rove and unleash him against our enemies. It's the only way we're going to win, and winning, right now, is the only thing that matters.

[bryant]

Oh, I didn't say it was wrong. I'm glad there's a Sasso on Kerry's side; I think a month or so ago I posted pointing out that Sasso's arrival in the campaign was the significant part of the campaign reshuffle. (Everyone else was obsessing about the Clintonistas. I'm like "YOU DOLTS KERRY IS BRINGING IN THE PROS FROM BOSTON.")

And what do you know? Kerry started taking off soon after Sasso came on board. The guy knows how to run a campaign. He has fucking fangs. If I ever met him I would feel compelled to roll over and show him my belly to demonstrate submission to the alpha politico.

I'm just sneering at people who think that a Democratic administration will be all peace and harmony and holding hands.

[kodi]

I'm just sneering at people who think that a Democratic administration will be all peace and harmony and holding hands.

Do people really believe that without the aid of irony or self-delusion? (There's some guy out there with a "Kucinich-Carter '08" sticker on his car, and that's not the guy I'm talking about.)

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Hey, don't knock self-delusion. I'm writing a dissertation and going on the job market; it's a really valuable coping mechanism. Fortunately, I'll be doing it in an environment of peace and prosperity in which Secretary of State Jimmy Carter has diffused the problems in Iraq. Maybe by the time I'm finishing I'll have my jet-pack...

[that-cad.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear we're on the same page here; I went back and found your original Sasso post, and you're totally right. How is it you manage to be proven right so frequently?

[bryant]

I don't allow my desires to become delusions.

(Well, there's more to it than that, but the epigram came to me and I wanted to get it down.)

[tayefeth.livejournal.com]

Call me an idealist, but I'm part of the group who feel that ideology and political power are too important to not fight civilly over. I think that unleashing another version of Karl Rove (complete with the tendency to start nasty, partisan whispering campaigns based on pure lies) would only make the situation worse, not better.

Of course, I don't define "civilly" as "never mentioning anything controversial" or "never mentioning anything the other party doesn't want to talk about". But Karl Rove's tactics are outside the bounds of what should be tolerated by either party.

I want the war to end too...

[eyelessgame.livejournal.com]

But occasionally, one party (organization, nation, whatever) does step outside the bounds of what should be tolerated, and there is no controlling legal authority to stop him.

And I'm very much afraid that the only way to deal with that is to fight back, hard. Because more than I want the war to end, I want our side to stop getting its ass kicked.

I don't know of another way to deal with the in-power Right just now than with a show of political force. We've tried sheer competence, we've tried honesty, we've tried ignoring them. None of these appear to work. I hear their rhetoric about their enemies -- "all they understand is power and fear" -- and I know their propensity for projection, and I find myself concluding there's only one thing they understand.

I'd love to hear better solutions -- because to listen to myself I know that I sound like a Republican warmonger talking about 'the terrorists'. I don't want to think of it as a war. I want to find a way to win hearts and minds, and to have those who disagree willing to work within a civil system to pull public opinion honestly in their direction. I want very very much for people like Rove simply to be thrown out of every political organization across the political spectrum.

But that's not where reality is right now. So how do we reach the point where they do get treated like the wolves they are? Maybe try to fix the media first, so they know how to report the difference between a bit of spin and an outright lie?

[bryant]

That's cool, and I have nothing against idealists. I am one, albeit in a different direction than most.

I'm just noting that John Sasso is a slimebag on a par with Karl Rove. I'd bet that he's behind the attacks on Bush's Social Security policies, which strongly imply that Bush has said he'd cut current SS benefits -- a lie.

Doesn't bother me. I'm with Al on this one. I'll start yelling about Sasso after Kerry wins and Sasso's made chief of staff.

[tayefeth.livejournal.com]

I'm not convinced that Sasso's on a par with Karl Rove yet. Has he started a whispering campaign (not an ad campaign, but an unsourced 'did you hear' rumor) saying that an opponent who has spent his career working on child abuse issues does so because he's a pedophile yet? Has he put out any fliers slandering Democrats in vile racist language to make it look like the Republican candidate is doing so?

I'm not in favor of outright lies in campaign ads, but at least they're traceable. Too much of what Karl Rove does isn't traceable to him in anything resembling a timely fashion. I don't think Sasso's a saint, nor do I think he should be, but just as we shouldn't compare Bush to Hitler until he publishes his version of Mein Kampf, let's not get too hasty comparing John Sasso to Karl Rove. Unless you've got evidence...

[bryant]

No. He spread false rumors about Joe Biden cheating in law school, and then tried to pin the origin of the rumors on Gephardt. You wanna talk about people trying to make stuff untraceable? Sasso's right up there.

[tayefeth.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Excuse me while I go beat my head against a wall. With the amount of crap politicians do, you wouldn't think anyone would feel the need to resort to tactics like that.

[space-parasite.livejournal.com]

Well, see, I want an administration that's actually better than the Bush administration. If all that changes is the president's totem animal, it doesn't help the country at all.

[bryant]

I think that if Kerry was President and Rove was working for Kerry, I would be happier than I have been under Bush. To a degree.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Yes, let's lower ourselves to their level. We'll be able to feel clean and good about ourselves afterwards.

[bryant]

Who you calling "we," white man? I'm an anarchist. I don't like the Democratic Party particularly much at all; I just dislike 'em less than I like Bush.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I'm disgusted that the antipathy towards Bush is driving people who should know better to depraved depths. Or maybe it's just my elitist nature that makes me think that people should "know better" and who am i to say what "better" is, anyway?

People like Karl Rove have made politics even dirtier than usual. Finding a left-wing homologue is not an asset in my eyes. I believe Bush can lose on his own lack of merit; lies just get called out as such and make it all worse on everyone. They drive voters away, when we've been working so hard to bring voters back.

[bryant]

Don't blame it on Bush. Sasso's been a slimeball for the Democrats since, oh, 1988 at least. He ran the Dukakis campaign very effectively until he got caught and Dukakis fired him.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

We're doomed, aren't we.