Reply #34: Clark will govern in a more progressive way than Dean

[Cogito]

TLM,
Ad hominem attacks just don't cut it. Tell me, suppose Dean gets elected and has to make a decision about how to balance the budget. First, he will go for a modest tax increase but that will be d**m hard to get through a Republican congress. But grant him the tax increase, we still have a budget shortfall caused by Bush's massive giveaway. What is he going to cut, guns or butter? Dean has already promised to preserve defense spending but Clark has already pointed to defense programs he wants to cut. Dean will most likely take the money out of medicare, medicaid and social security because he has credibility with those constituencies but will not cut defense lest he be labeled as "weak". Clark has the reverse problem. Everyone knows that he is strong on defense so he is going to be able to cut pointless defense programs but he is not going to be as trusted on social spending. He is going to have to protect those programs more to shore up his base than Dean will have to.

Bottomline. Elect Clark and get more progressive policy results than you get with Dean (in the fairly unlikely event he managed to get elected at all).