Unstoppable

Rivals Seek to Block Dean Endorsement

It's starting to look desperate for any Democrat who isn't named Dean. You know you've got your opponents scared when three of the prominent candidates running against you team up to thwart you. Edwards, Kerry, and especially Gephardt have good reason, though: if Dean gets the endorsement of a labor union with 1.6 million members, he'll have all the troops on the ground he needs to take on all comers. And Gephardt's union man strategy will inevitably fail.

I predict this: it doesn't matter whether they stop the endorsement or not. The SEIU has already indicated that they'll endorse Dean or nobody, and that tells you everything. This is Howard's race to lose. If he avoids a major gaffe--like the Confederate flag episode could have been--he'll cruise.

Speaking of the flag incident--in which Dean said he wants to bring Democrats who still have Confederate flags on their trucks back to the party--I understand the sentiment, but have to agree with Gephardt's chiding of Dean. Nevertheless...this is an election that needs to be won, and that will mean winning at least one Southern state. Unfortunately, you can't do that without getting at least a few guys with a rebel flag on their pick-up to vote for you.

Couldn't we have just let the South go? If it weren't for the whole slavery thing, which clearly had to be stopped, I'd be tempted to see what the world would look like if the Confederacy was its own nation. The remaining United States would be a very different, much more liberal country. Oh, the capital might have to move--DC would be on the border--and we'd have to import more cotton and oil without the fields of Texas to supply us. You know what? It just might be worth it.