It is a time of freedom and fear, of Gaia and of borders, of many paths and the widening of a universal toll road, emptying country and swelling cities, of the public bought into privacy and the privacy of the public sold into invisible data banks and knowing algorithms. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.

These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread.

Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times.


 

The New Evil: Latte-Sippin'!

According to the Washington Times, the pro-Bush Club for Growth is putting an advertisement against Howard Dean on the airwaves starting today.

In the ad, two actors dressed up as farmers lay out their case against Dean:

"Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where it belongs."

There are two substantive claims here, that Howard Dean hikes taxes and expands government. These claims are a matter for substantive debate, since they are related to what a President might actually do that affects the country. But they're swamped by the following damning criticisms:

• Howard Dean drinks lattes!
  
• Howard Dean eats sushi!
  
• Howard Dean drives a Volvo!
  
• Howard Dean reads a newspaper!
  
• Howard Dean likes the movies!
  
• Howard Dean runs a freak show!

Some of the charges are baseless: according to the Detroit Free Press, Dean owns two Ford Explorers. And until I see a picture of a bearded lady or a fire-eater at a Dean staff meeting, I'll be leery of the freak show claim (although that would make politics a lot more entertaining).

Some of the charges are bigoted: who eats sushi? Furriners, the kids of furriners and the sorts of people who associate with furriners. Who drinks lattes? Young people, more educated people. Clearly youth and education are dangerous things! (I don't drink lattes myself. But one of my best friends is a latte-sipper.)

Some of the charges are just plain stupid: when your own candidate (Bush) admits he doesn't read a newspaper, reminding voters that his opponent actually does read a newspaper might not be a good thing. And last time I checked the box office figures, it seemed to me that a heck of a lot of people like the movies in this country.

What this the text of this ad really shows is the insecurity of Bush supporters. They feel only fleetingly comfortable with criticizing Dean policies, because the majority of Americans agree with them. Being weak on that front, they retreat to attacks on Dean's perceived personal habits: what he drives, what he reads, what he watches, what he drinks, what he eats. They hope to repeat the 2000 Election, when some people decided that although they agreed with Gore they found him just too grating on a personal level. This time, they hope that people will decide that although they agree with Dean they find his lifestyle (or perceptions of his lifestyle) just too tacky.

The Club for Growth must also be reading the polls, which pretty consistently indicate that Dean does as well or better against Bush in a hypothetical matchup than his fellow competitors for the Democratic nomination.

What silliness!

Posted by James Cook at 10:20 AM. # (permalink)




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