Chairman Mickey Speaks

My favorite Democrat, Mickey Kaus, has been declared not "viable" by the California bosses, and therefore will not be allowed to speak at the state convention.

He answer in his latest press release:

This is the natural reaction of a dying party machine. They don't want any debate at all [...]

It's a perfect illustration of why I'm running [....]

The logical solution from their point of view was just to give me a few minutes at 2 AM when nobody's paying attention and be done with it. But that is not how machines think, especially Big Labor machines, especially machines that know their positions can't stand up in a debate. How do you defend a teachers' union that protect incompetents so vigorously that in an entire decade only four (4) are fired in the giant L.A. school district?

They need to block the debate before it starts. They need to stop dissenting Democrats from even presenting their views. Here--as in union elections and the charter school debate--their first instinct is to deny people a choice.

This is embarrassing for a supposedly democratic party that has a proud tradition of passionate debate, including the fights over civil rights in the 1960 and the dissent over the initial party line on the Vietnam War [....]

Our party is going the way of the New Jersey's ex-governor John Corzine and Massachusetts' non-senator Martha Coakley if it continues to stiff the legitimate viewpoints of Democrats who dare dissent from the party dogma on immigration, union influence and other issues.

I think Barbara Boxer has learned a very different lesson from the losses of Corzine and Coakley. She figured she was safe, now she's not so sure. The last thing she wants is any dissent from her own party.