In which the Kellinator blows her budget and diet in the name of the grass-roots movement

[kellinator]

Last night sirinek lured me out to Manuel's Tavern for drinks with some of the people from Howard Dean's campaign.

So there I am, tired and hungry, only intending to have one drink because I'm broke and have leftovers for dinner anyway, and the only person at the table who hasn't absolutely decided that Dean's my man. I mean, no offense, sirinek, but of course the links you've sent me say he's great. A candidate who can't sound good in his own promotional material needs to go back to Candidate School.

But regardless I'm hoping to learn some useful information, so I turn to one of the campaign chairs sitting next to me and say "So what do you think is the key to Dean's early success?"

The guy gives me a glare that clearly says How dare you question the Master!!!!! and says something completely useless like "because he's the best candidate!!" Dude, I know you think that already! Otherwise you wouldn't be here! Tell me something I don't know!

I have concluded:

Second-least useful place to get objective information about a candidate: Said candidate's campaign rally.

Least useful place to get objective information about a candidate: Drinks with candidates' supporters after the rally.

But anyway, then we got to bitching about politics and pretty soon I needed a second drink, and I couldn't drink on an empty stomach so I ordered some food too, and pretty soon I was even broker (is that a word?). But it was fun to hear the Clinton impersonations.

Oh, here's an interesting article about the MoveOn.org primary:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=11948&mode=nested

Comments

Re:

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Oh, hell. Me either. I walk around scowling and bitching when it comes to politics. Luckily most of my coworkers agree with me or I probably would have mouthed off at the wrong time and gotten fired by now.

How do people feel about the Shrub in California? People in Georgia seem to have really bought into the entire "patriotic=Republican" equation... *barf*

[daraflower.livejournal.com]

heh, yeah... i'm not sure how california as a whole sees him... it's probably rather divided. on the one hand, you've got the san francisco area (a district in which they picked the green over the republican in the last gubernatorial race).... but on the other hand, i live in orange county: a land of corporate uberconservatives who own lots of property and investments and aim to keep it that way... so, many of them are still tooling around in their bush-cheney bumper-stickered SUVs. it's actually fairly creepy; much of orange county gives off a very sterile "family values" kinda vibe. but, it's not all grim-- i did see a "regime change begins at home" sticker the other day.

so, are you a registered democrat, or just anti-republicans-controlling-everything?

Re:

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Heh. Both, actually. I admit I'm totally pigheaded and biased about politics (my mother and most of my grandparents are yellow-dog Democrat, i.e. we'd vote for a yellow dog before we'd vote for a Republican), but at least I admit my biases! Yourself?

That "family values" shit puts me through the roof -- especially when you consider that Newt Gingrich was screwing his intern during the entire "Contract OnWith America" phase. I have no sympathy for his wife though. She should have realized what she was in for when he served his first wife with divorce papers while she was bedridden with cancer and then failed to pay child support.

[daraflower.livejournal.com]

ugh... i read a little about gingrich's sordid personal "family values" in an al franken book; i had had no idea the hypocrisy was so flagrant.

me... i'm not registered with a party, and i feel pretty good about that. but, if i lived someplace with closed primaries i'd probably register as a green or a democrat. i have only fairly recently come to the realization that i am a textbook liberal on most issues, but have always avoided the term because i think both major parties are way too dependent on soft money. that was what compelled me to vote green in the last couple of elections... they seem more populist, more progressive, and totally fed up with corporate politics. the idealist in me would love to see more greens in office, but realistically i felt like i was voting more to make a point than with any hope of a victory. basically, i want a candidate i can be enthusiastic about, one who's gonna go ahead and BE unabashedly liberal... i'm hoping that whoever wins the democratic nomination fits that description, as i will almost certainly be voting for him anyway. =P