Everything Must Go

As some may have noticed, I was a Dean supporter in the ’04 election. In my view he was the only candidate that could have decidedly beaten Bush, and the only one in years that I actually could believe in.

After his defeat in the Iowa Caucuses, and the immediate and relentless saturation of the airwaves of the infamous scream by the self-servative media I saw that it was over. I wrote the following piece and sent it out to all the folks that I had been e-mailing, sending articles, cartoons and opinions.

I also played “Everything Must Go” by Steely Dan.

***
Howard Dean upset the apple cart. He observed that the Democratic Party was being pulled to the right by the DLC. This is a poor strategy for the democrats because it doesn't lure Bush's base away, and alienates voters who think that is the wrong way to go. So Dean was an outsider who wanted to return to a true alternative party for the democrats. His success baffled and infuriated his opponents, and struck fear in the hearts of the republican conservatives (that nonsense about them wanting Dean as the nominee was a strategy - if they really thought Dean was going to be easy to beat, they would have kept quiet and not spent millions on Dean bashing advertisements.)

So, Dean was taking it on the chin from both the Bush camp and the old-boy network of the Democratic Party. Up until about a week before the IA election, Dean had been taking the high road and this was quite appealing to many people, but the constant bashing had started to take its toll on him. He (understandably, but mistakenly) lashed out and this is what sank him in IA.

[Note: Shortly after writing this piece, I gave some more thought to the fact that someone in the self-servative media had dug up a tape of Dean giving one of his (in)famous unbridled opinions from three years earlier regarding the Iowa Caucuses. As usual he was correct, but as usual, that didn’t matter. The good people of Iowa were deeply offended and turned their backs on our one chance. So it goes.]

Unfortunately, after his defeat, the cameras caught him in a moment that was never meant to be isolated. We've all had a picture of us taken where we had a bizarre _expression on our faces - one that we could never actually recreate but the camera captured. We don’t look like that photo at all - it is a misrepresentation of who we are. Yet, there it is.

Well, that snippet of Dean yelling in context was understandable, but the media, being who and what they are, bombarded us with that one byte, that one moment in time, and this has sent the Dean candidacy into a death spiral. Pity, because for the first time since 1976 we had a candidate who we could actually believe in – one who we could vote “for” rather then picking the lesser of two evils.

I think the Bush administration is the most corrupt, cynical and evil administration that I have experienced in my life. Their stated agenda is a complete ruse. They are about shifting the tax burden away from the rich, changing the laws to benefit the biggest corporations, and transforming the world into one big Wal-Mart. They use racism, fear, greed, and religion to divide and control people. They took a horrific event in America’s history and cynically used it to justify a war. They have purchased the media, and that media now reports that Winona Judd had an argument with a cop, but ignores the fact that Dick Cheney’s old company is having a profit fest at the expense of human life and our reputation in the world.

For me, my political activism is over. I will go to the polls in November, and I will cast my vote for the Democratic Tweedle Dee and against the Republican Tweedle Dum, like I have since 1980.

***
The men American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try and tell them the truth. – H.L. Mencken

Everything Must Go
By Walter Becker and Donald Fagen
From “Everything Must Go”

It's high time for a walk on the real side
Let's admit the bastards beat us
I move to dissolve the corporation
In a pool of margaritas
So let's switch off all the lights
And light up all the Luckies
Crankin' up the afterglow
'Cause we're goin' out of business
Everything must go

Talk about your major pain and suffering
Now our self-esteem is shattered
Show the world our mighty hidey-ho face
As we go sliding down the ladder
It was sweet up at the top
'Til that ill wind started blowing
Now it's cozy down below
'Cause we're goin' out of business
Everything must go

We gave it our best shot
But keep in mind we got a lot
The sky the moon good food and the weather
First-run movies -- does anybody get lucky twice?
Wouldn't it be nice...

Tell me can you dig it Miss Fugazy
Now it's gone from late to later
Frankly I could use a little face time
In the service elevator
And if Dave from Acquisitions
Wants to get in on the action
With his Handicam in tow
Well we're goin' out of business
Everything must go

Can it be the sorry sun is rising
Guess it's time for us to book it
Talk about the famous road not taken
In the end we never took it
And if somewhere on the way
We got a few good licks in
No one's ever gonna know
'Cause we're goin' out of business
Everything must go

Vocals, Rhodes, clavinet, percussion: Donald Fagen
Bass, percussion: Walter Becker
Drums: Keith Carlock
Guitar: Jon Herington, Hugh McCracken
Piano: Ted Baker
Tenor sax solo: Walt Weiskopf
Background vocal: Tawatha Agee, Brenda White-King

america is having a blowout sale