Compare and contrast…

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp

Geez. Obama looks like a freaking action hero sitting next to Petraeus. Don’t suppose it matters in any meaningful way, but its reassuring that they won’t get us with that particular cheap trick this time…

Here’s a little story:

Way back about 12 years ago I was a field organizer for the Sanders campaign (the year he went up against Susan Sweetser…. remember her?), and most of my “territory” was Washington County. Obviously, the election went well – and if I do say so myself, it was the first election up to that point (and thereafter, I believe) that Washington County was proportionately the strongest County for Bernie. We kicked Susie’s butt by nearly 2 to 1.

The Sunday after the election, there was a meeting of the handful of key progressive activists in the area – at the time, the “Washington County Progressive Coalition” – to go over how the election had gone and its impact for future movement building. I was there, as well as folks like Hal Leyshon, Ellen David Friedman – and Anthony Pollina.

We had somebody there from Burlington as well… I forget who, exactly – maybe Dean Corren? The conversation at one point went into a discussion of using the success of the Bernie groundgame and the Coalition successes in Burlington to jumpstart a statewide “Progressive Party” (there was also talk about a Labor party and a Green Party, at least briefly).

I chimed in at that point. I shared my opinion that, given the structure of the system and the inevitable marginalization that would occur, third parties just seemed like tilting at windmills. That if we wanted to send progressive messages and shake up the political institutions but still be viable electorally, running some targeted independents in key races made more sense, as doing so would not preclude support from partisans (or even parties themselves), and would better enable an opt-in dynamic for coalition building should some of these folks get elected (you know – like Bernie).

What can I say? I was a kid then: naive, ofttimes ridiculous, pretty new to the state, and had no idea of just how antithetical that view really was to the crowd in that room. There was a moment of silence while everybody looked at me, and gave a sort of collective “hmm” before moving on as though I’d said nothing.

Twelve years later, while its always nice to see one’s advice taken, there’s something to be said for the matter of timing…

(Cross-posted to Broadsides.org)

The mood of the day in the Vermont media and blogosphere was one of shock, shock, shock over the announcement that the Progressive Party’s leader and co-founder, Anthony Pollina, decided to ditch his own political party and, instead, run as an independent for the position of Vermont’s governor. But none of us should have been shocked, especially if we’ve been following the whiplash-like switchbacks and flip-flops of Pollina’s rather miserable political career. If there’s anything Pollina does better than losing elections (o-for-whatever since the 1980s), it’s waffling, meandering and otherwise just floundering in the shallow end of his ideological pool.

Instead of being shocked, we all should have felt a little sheepish about watching the latest political wreckage of the latest Pollina campaign. I know, I know, you don’t really want to look at the wreck but you just can’t help it – especially with the Vermont media covering it as if it somehow matters.

Pollina’s bizarre yet predictable dissing of the political party he had only moments before anointed as “the answer” to Vermont’s political troubles is what we can only hope will be one of his last political acts. It reeks of desperation. You know, kind of like one of those “hey, look at me” antics of the ornery child in the corner – anything for just one more moment of attention.

If Pollina were to pull these kinds of stunts in most any other political climate besides the sleepy and incestuous political climes of Vermont, he would have been relegated to the laughing stockpile many elections cycles ago. Instead, in the comfy cocoon of the Vermont media and political elite, Pollina has been able to keep his name in play despite mountains of desperation, piles of losses, and a mere small valley of supporters. Hey, it sure beats Jersey, huh Tony?

For me, the worst part of the these all-too-frequent Pollina flip-flops is his apparent disregard and even disdain for his followers (few as they may be at this point) – all while parading in a charade of “caring for the little guys and gals.” Pollina, for example, is known for getting up on his high-horse and spewing his mostly borrowed rhetoric for causes such as campaign finance reform, fighting for farmers and building alternative political parties (yes, he said “parties”). But when it gets hot in Pollina’s political kitchen, he more often than not runs for the back door, leaving his guests with little but his stale rhetoric to pick over as they realize their “leader” has left the building.

Remember, Pollina loved campaign finance reform when he was rolling in $300,000 of the state’s money but suddenly found it objectionable when it didn’t fit his latest political goals. Similarly, Pollina loved to rail against the big, bad corporate dairies that were ripping off small farmers until, that is, he started his own dairy corporation and began ripping off small farmers. And now Pollina wants us to somehow ignore nearly a decade of his rhetoric about the essential importance of building his Progressive Party.

Pollina’s political career could be summarized as one, big “nevermind.” Emily Litela’s got nothing on Tony.

The most laughable spin of Pollina’s latest “nevermind” moment is his campaign’s assertion that his sudden adoption of the “independent” label will somehow amount to his reincarnation as what must be the immaculate conception of Bernie Sanders’ political son. Give me a break. Sure, in the shallowest of shallow interpretations, Pollina running as an “independent” is similar to Bernie’s many, many runs as an “independent.” But, other than the use of word “independent,” the similarities stop there.

First of all, Bernie won elections. And, more importantly, Bernie won LOCAL elections and built a formidable movement based on his political consistency (“people are suffering…”) and local election victories to vault him to where he is now.

Sorry, Tony, but you would have never seen Bernie Sanders touting a silly “credit card” as even the most remotest of “solutions” to Vermont’s economic woes. Earth to Tony: When the state wants a “certain percentage” of our purchases, we call that a “tax.” And, currently, the state is getting 6% off of every purchase. Besides, there is absolutely nothing “progressive” about promoting “credit” (read: debt) as a solution to our state’s economic woes. But I’ll bet those Republicans that the Pollina campaign claims to be targeting will love the idea of debt. Bush does.

While Pollina is aiming for the Sanders’ mantle, it would be more accurate to equate him with the Democratic fink known as Joe Lieberman. Yeah, you know, the guy who loved the Democratic Party’s warm glow when he was its vice-presidential candidate or getting its institutional support when fending off the liberal Ned Lamont, but just as quickly turning his back on it when he thought it would be best for him, and him alone.

The ugly truth in this latest Pollina “nevermind” is that he lied to his supporters and to the people of Vermont. He baited us with a decade of rhetoric about the importance of his “third party” and then switched when he thought it was best for him, and him alone. Worse, Pollina invoked the rhetoric of being against “party in-fighting” while, at the same time, managing to diss all parties – including his own. Go figure. Or, rather, nevermind.

Last Sunday, Pollina sat and watched as Peter Diamondstone of the state’s other major party, Liberty Union, got handcuffed and arrested for trying to participate in the first debate of gubernatorial candidates. Pollina said nothing. He refused to defend him. Instead, Pollina sat silently on his hands as he watched Diamondstone be forcefully removed and arrested for trying to bring his views forward, all the while knowing that the next morning he would be abandoning his own “major” party.

That, my friends, should tell us a lot about Anthony Pollina’s character. Please, oh please, let this be Pollina’s last campaign.

Don’t worry, Tony, we’ll remember you with your own favorite word: Nevermind.

“Homecoming Days” are here again!

The bands are tuning up, the fireworks are bought and paid for and organizers say the latest edition of an annual mid-summer celebration that has become an institution in Barre is set to start on Thursday.

(It’s time for Barre’s summer celebration: Homecoming Days are coming, Times Argus, 07/22/08)

Now … where can we rent a bunch of Santa Claus suits?

I have a My Turn Piece in the Freeps today:

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

I wrote the article because relatively few Vermonters realize the outsize role our state plays in foreign assistance.  Not only are there all the organizations mentioned in the article, but Senator Leahy plays a very significant role in the Senate.  Thus, it is one of the few areas of foreign policy where Vermonters can exert real influence, both at the policy and implementation levels.  

1) I wish the state would get out of the partisan political party business. While it makes sense to set up a legal framework for what constitutes a political party, I think this whole process of tax payer funded partisan primaries is sick.

2) The Vermont Progressive Party will not be any better off for retaining major party status, and they won’t be any worse off for losing it. The only differences between ‘minor’ or ‘major’ party status are the 5% statewide vote threshhold, how many town/city committees must be formed and how nominees for the ballot are chosen. At an organizational level it’s actually easier to be a minor party.

3) I understand what Pollina is doing, and I don’t disagree with it. From my perspective this reflects a current reality of an apparent Progressive Party majority: the Progressives in general still see themselves as better Democrats than the Democrats as opposed to offering a unique and third way. Pollina’s early efforts at outreach to the Democratic Party (I’m not referring to likely Democratic voters – just the party) was a mistake, and he needs to back track from that. Running as an “also-Democrat” will lose him votes. Will running as an independent gain him votes? Possibly … I just went from losing interest to renewed interest myself. Packaging does count as all you die hard, party line voting Dems know.

4) There seems to be a lot of time spent on this board attacking Republicans and Progressives. Precious little has been spent touting the many successes of the current Democratic crop. I think this reflects a reality that the Democratic Party is stuck with: it’s salient selling point still is that it isn’t the other guys.

So what I’ve been hearing suggests that Pollina may indeed be polling in the doghouse, and his surprise shift to indyland likely is an attempt to reinvent the campaign. It’s a move that could easily backfire, though, given the fact that it will be seen as essentially sacrificing the greater good of the Party to one guy’s campaign.

To add insult to injury, Gaye Symington turned in a whopping 2500 signatures to lock in the Democratic spot – which has got to dampen the prospects of those “Democrats for Pollina” who were hoping that low enthusiasm for Symington might fuel a campaign to get Pollina written in for the Democratic primary.

But it aint over yet. The ballots will still get printed, which means that somebody could get written into the Prog Party line for Governor or any of these offices (they do apparently have a candidate against Peter Welch) come the primary, and if a write in reaches the threshold of 500 votes, they get to be the candidate. Of course, turnout is likely to be low, low, low, and this means that Gaye Symington’s supporters might actually be better situated to pull something like that off themselves (that would be weird).

Of course it also means that anybody else could get written in as the Prog Party candidate for Governor, which could also complicate things for Pollina. Anybody interested?