Dean Speaks Twice at Cornell University

Two articles from the The Cornell Daily Sun, "Dean Speaks to Cornell Community" and "Students rally on Ho Plaza" cover his visit there. From the "Cornell Community" story: "As the event neared its end, Dean revealed a glimpse of some of the appeal college students saw in him during the early months of the Democratic primaries. "People your age get most of their news from the internet or from the Jon Stewart Daily Show. I actually think that the truth is probably [that] Jon Stewart's the greatest newsperson in America right now," Dean said. "Anyone see the CNN report, Crossfire? ... Shouting at people does not pass for civil discourse and it's bad for the country. What Stewart does and the reason I think he has such incredible credibility with people your age who have a very low B.S. tolerance, which I think is also a welcome improvement...is he just lays it out and he doesn't care and he's not particularly partisan. He just likes to puncture people's hot air balloons in politics and there's a lot of it." The Ithaca Journal covered the formal speech indoors with "Democrats' boss promises new party." Tidbit: "He said it is unlikely that the campaign finance system will ever truly be reformed in the country, but urged voters to put public referendums on ballots to do it themselves. "It is not in the interest of either party to reform campaign finance," Dean said. "If you want campaign finance reform, you have to do it yourself." He also asked that people donate as little as $5 or $10 to political causes when they have money to do so because the volume of thousands of smaller donations would add up." A column in "The Lumberjack," the student newspaper of Northern Arizona University, has one of the better political commentaries I have read. Some quotes: "In a USA TODAY /CNN/Gallup Poll of DNC members, 52 percent of responders said they want the party to become more moderate, while only 23 percent wanted to see it become more liberal. And yet they voted for the man who once described himself as belonging to the “Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party.” DNC members say they want to reach out to swing voters and yet, do not want to compromise with President Bush. Frankly, I don’t think most DNC members know what they want. They want to support gay marriage, but instead of putting up a presidential candidate that will make a logical case for it, they let John Kerry say that he is against it but believes the states should decide for themselves. The DNC should have already heard the old saying if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. Somehow, the Democrats let a man who led 1,456 American troops to their deaths get labeled as the “moral candidate.” The Democrats let a man who has loosened protective environmental measures at every turn be the “moral candidate.” They let this man, a former alcoholic and drug-user, become the “moral candidate.” The Democrats, who support helping the helpless on almost every issue, let themselves be labeled immoral. George W. Bush deserves half of the credit for his victory. The other half belongs to the DNC. The only thing the DNC has going for them is the fact that they somehow managed to elect Howard Dean as their leader. Howard Dean, an outspoken man who actually is willing to defend his positions, is perfect for his new job." My only question: Why the hell is a newspaper in Arizona called "The Lumberjack?"