Cudahy was responding to one of my GreaterDemocracy posts, on "Banana Republicans."
Sounds like we have a meme.
Let's use it.
Banana Republicans.
The question has come up before: If there is a 49-state sweep in 2004, which state will go for Dubya?
P.S.: For the benefit of fogeys like me, could you provide a definition and etymology for "meme?" I see it bandied about, but the meaning is not self-evident. TIA
Thanks Anna!
Wow! This is indeed an excerpt that makes me, well, giddy.
How long have we been working against a tide that has sought to muffle our dissent with accuasations of treason or immoral logic?
How long have we had to watch as years and years of good, productive government programs are rolled back before our very eyes without any real discussion or protest by our own traditional Democratic party leaders?
Well, hopefully, Cudahy is just the beginning of the "other" side coming to the real center and alarming his fellow leaders with a conscience to stand up and be counted for when American traditions of fairness and decency to our neighbors is being sold out to the highest bidder in the corporate donation game.
Maybe this is the beginning of the wake up of the Rockefeller Republicans who have been so silent during this rape of our nation's last vestige of humility for the benefit of so few on the extreme right.
Perhaps.
But what better a leader than Howard Dean to lead the charge from the little state of Vermont where the deep Republican traditions stand side by side with Democratic traditions in defense of independent thinking people all over the world?
What better a leader than Howard Dean who demands that HE IS THE CENTER in a country where the government authority is being usurped by a few greedy, self-serving, pious men who seem to actually think that they were placed in power by God to commit their own self-fulfilling prophesy of a white man's race to a nasty place called Armageddon.
Cudahy is the first of many, we hope. Anna is right...this is much more of a movement than people are willing to admit yet. The average voter is still hoping this is just about Democrats taxing and spending, and Republicans being tough on criminals and defense. The reasons for that are various, but one of the big reasons in America is that these few leaders are working hand in hand with corporations to keep Americans too busy to see what they're doing.
Sounds too conspiratorial? It didn't to the IBM employee I interviewed last week who got laid off after 21 years in Vermont, with 4 kids and the fear that he's too old to get a job with all the starving young talent out there.
He won't be voting Republican again next election...the question is: will he be too busy finding work to get around to voting. We have a lot of work to do to open the eyes of people in the Heartland to what is going on besides Laci, Kobe and Arne as the subjects of the 6 media companies that decide what's important for us to know.
Woof! Well, thanks for making my day Anna.
Heath
Publisher
DeanTV.org
Holy Cow!
Hmmmm...I wonder if I can work a red,whie and blue color scheme into myy recipe for Chickenhawk Marengo. Blue would be a problem.
alan: a "meme" is a statement that's repeated until it worms it's way into the public consciousness.
and dana, if you were the one who set cudahy off, i applaud you. i spent some time reading through your site - very impressive. you folks put me to shame.
chickenhawk merengo? hilarious! as for blue, hrm... do you marinate the chicken for this recipe? forgive me, i'm a vegetarian and haven't cooked chicken in 6 years. um, maybe if it's marinated you could add some blue food coloring.... it might look otherworldly but, well, heh...
Alan,
We never got around to serving the Chicken Marengo at the DeanFest but we had some tasty Chicken sausages that went off pretty well.
Heath
DeanTV.org
Yeah, blue food coloring is all I could think of. Yes, marinated, would be good; I envisioned browning it in (olive) oil. (I recall that the German language equivialent of "stewed in their own juice" is "fried in their own fat," but that is too grisly for me.) I envisioned crossed carrots to symbolize cannons, and a single floret of broccoli to resemble a Bush. Some rum to commemorate Rumsfeldt. Can't figure how to work Cheney into it. Figure it could be the Dean National Dish, suitable for all festive occasions, such as Inaugural dinners...
Blue sounds like a bad idea to me. Blue food is shunned in all cultures.
This is great news. What are the chances it'll get mainstream play? Some Democrats still need convincing .... And on that subject, Part 3 of 4 in JUSIPER's "How Dean Can Win: A Response to the Naysayers" is up. Read it!
This is awesome!
Note to DLC: Cudahy's not becoming a Democrat (yet), he only supports Dean.
I say yet because when this revolution is complete, and if the Republicans fail to respond in kind, I think Cudahy will join us.
Note to Greens (and I have said this before): *This* is how you start a third party - if you are the majority (and I beleive we are) you can take over an existing party.
Yes, you can't run the party on day one, or two or three. But eventually, inevitably you will.
Power to the PEOPLE.
I read somewhere that Dean has support from the radical middle - I'm shouting insurrectionist slogans to elect and moderate pragmatist.
I guess I am the "radical middle". 
Alan, How about blue grapes or blueberrys as a garnish? Both flavors go well with chicken.
Re the topic. This is the other side of the great Southern realignment. The anti-abortionists and racists became Republicans. Look for moderate Republicans to realign as Democrats. We are seeing this in Suburban Chicago, people are coming to meetups saying they have always voted Republican but they can't stomach Bush.
Bad vibes topic. More and more I fear a right-wing plot to assasinate Dean.
Perhaps under cover of a terrorist act.
Oh, come on - the "terrorists" will not assassinate Dean. My big fear is that there will be some sort of "terrorist" attack and the elections will be "cancelled".
Carlton - Consider that the government didn't assassinate Martin Luther King or Malcolm X, but complacency can go along way in letting an "unfortunate" incident occur, especially when a leader stokes the flames of change. Now, is Dean under any threat? I don't know.
I don't like to use overused expressions but this is when it is too appropriate.
"This guy 'GETS IT'." Can any one tell me which campaigns he's worked on. This gives some a preview of the general election that they might not have predicted otherwise. There will be the Pragmatists Party formed from the disenfranchised of all the others and they will unapologetically vote for DEAN.
Go Dean Go!
Confidence level that this post is actually from him?
Don't mean to throw water on all this, but I wonder:
If he gets it, will other republicans? Or will they believe the "too liberal/unelectable" meme and not give Dean a look? The RNC/VRWC have the talking points quite rolled up on the Mighty Wurlitzer...
I guess recent standing is where the doubts come from for me: (lots of candidates, 2/3 don't know any)...
But by the time Dean is nominated the news about both will rule the day, and our side will hopefully get the look it is due. The contrast will at long last be striking.
...ben in Redmond
devil's advocate
You all should read www.deadmessenger.com. Who ever it is is an articulate and admitted former republican. Very similar to Cudahy but with very kinds words for Clark. Yet he's asking Clark not to run. Check it out. I think it highlights how Clark as an advisor/cabinet member/vp will further increase Dean's cross over appeal,
Alan: Infoplease has a definition of meme.
Meme, noun
"a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes."
(http://www.infoplease.com/ipd/A0533769.html)
Alan, could we include some chutney for Cheney?
Carleton, my Terrorists should have been in quotes also.
But there is a possibility of the lone fanatic. There's a guy being executed today for the pre-meditated murder of an abortion doctor. He's unrepentant and expects his award in Heaven. (Christians and Muslims ARE a lot alike aren't they? Kill the infidel and go to Heaven/Paradise.) Another good Christian/Patriot may decide to chill Dean if he feels Bush is threatened. On the other hand, my original remark was meant to imply that I think Cheney/Rumsfeld/Poindexter capable of deliberate assasination. Can't happen? Ever hear of Robert Kennedy?
I tracked down Michael Cudahy and wrote this letter:
Dear Mr. Cudahy,
I was recently forwarded a statement attributed to you by a Howard Dean listserv that I'm a member of. I found it heartening and inspiring. I consider myself a small and large 'D' Democrat but reading your essay I was struck with a feeling that had been missing since my youth.
When I was growing up I engaged in lengthy debates with various members of my family who didn't necessarily share my outlook and yet, because we were grounded in a common respect and affection for the founding principles of this country, almost always came away having enlarged each others' viewpoints. In short, I learned the valuable lesson that "honest men can disagree" and that respect is the key.
As a person deeply committed to the insights about the internal workings of human relationships embodied in the struggle to create and maintain the Constitution of the United States I welcome you as a fellow participant in our common experiment in, as Lincoln said, "the last, best hope of mankind".
I look forward to celebrating the election of Howard Dean in 2004 with you. I'm sure we'll have plenty of other things to talk about after that.
All the best,
Geoff DeWan
Los Angeles, Ca.
And he kindly replied:
Geoff,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and generous note.
The lengthy family debates you described are a central part of a
process that supported and expanded the intellectual freedom and
courageous innovation that has made our democratic experiment a global
inspiration.
What saddens and concerns me is the lack of respect for which the Bush
administration holds the traditions of our founding fathers. I am
convinced, however, that millions of caring and committed Americans
like yourself can restore the democratic balance this country so
desperately needs.
After Governor Dean wins election I look to celebrating his victory
with you.
All the best,
Michael
strtfocus@earthlink.net
www.stratfocuscommincations.com
Nice Geoff. Thanks for the investigative reporting!
Heath
DeanTV.org
The term "meme" first appeared in Richard Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene", c. 1989.
From the 2000 Edition of the American Heritage Dictionary:
NOUN:
A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.
ETYMOLOGY:
Shortening (modeled on gene) of mimeme, from Greek mimma, something imitated, from mimeisthai, to imitate. See mimesis.