Demosophia

What Many "Liberals" Don't Realize about Michael Moore

is that entertainment income is generated by appealing to a highly motivated "niche" market. So he and his publishers and producers really have little incentive to worry much about the impact of his fraudulent campaigns on the outcome of elections, or on the credibility of arguments for most "progressive reforms" that become linked to the frauds by a combined advocacy. Meanwhile a number of prominent Democrats have endorsed Bush for re-election, the first in what could become an avalanche. As Zell Miller pointed out on Meet The Press Sunday, George McGovern carried but one state. One. And that was in opposition candidacy to a war that was regarded by much of mainstream America as a genuinely unwinnable quagmire, with casualty rates a few hundred times those of Iraq, and long before we even dreamt of 9-11; before we had even begun to think of terrorism as much of a nuisance in fact.

It would behoove the Democrats to not only repudiate Michael Moore and his ilk unambiguously, but to seriously consider nominating someone like Gephardt instead of Dean for President. Not only does Gephardt have credibility on foreign affairs, but he occupies almost the exact center of the American ideological spectrum. An ideological ranking based on a combination of the National Journal Rollcall Index and Project Vote Smart's National Political Awareness Test placed Gephardt exactly at the 50th percentile of all mainstream candidates back in 1998, when I wrote my dissertation. He can't have drifted very far off the midpoint. And it wouldn't be a bad thing to have some constructive criticism of Bush policies that accepts the primary premise. The issue is whether or not "Powder" can generate enough enthusiasm to win the nomination.

The bottom line is that "progressives" who support Dean have displayed such terrible judgment on foreign policy, and a seedy willingness to be seduced by the likes of Moore, that they don't really deserve a candidate. Their Little Democracy niche, that's the product of multiplying two fractions representing Dean's "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party" might be so close to Michael Moore's niche market that it could easily result in no electoral votes in 2004. And that reality must become obvious as we near primary season, shouldn't it?

Posted by Demosophist at November 4, 2003 12:14 PM | TrackBack