"Inside the auditorium, Congressman Jim McDermott,
fire-breathing icon of Seattle liberalism, plays the audience like
a finely tuned guitar. 'The first thing [Dean] did was stand up to
this president on this awful war," McDermott roars...
(Note:
McDermott didn't "roar". He doesn't have that kind of a
voice.
The writer [pictured left] exaggerates to make the speakers' rhetoric
and the enthused response sound like hysteria! ~Dina)Soon enough, the headliner appears...he knows he is among friends
here...This may be the band's last waltz, and Dean clearly feels free
to let loose some political heavy metal. He slams the war. He slams
the special interests. He slams his detested rival for the nomination,
John Kerry, the junior senator from Massachusetts, for having taken
more money from lobbyists over the last 15 years than any other senator.
And most of all, he slams George Bush...
"There was no middle-class tax cut," he thunders. "It
was the largest middle-class tax increase in the history of the United
States." By now the crowd is clapping rhythmically and stomping
its feet. "Human beings are not meant to be cogs in an enormous
corporate governing machine," he rasps. "We need to stand
up and change the Democratic Party," he shouts, and the cheering
peaks, a sonic shockwave of a roar that continues unabated for perhaps
half a minute. ["sonic shockwave"?]
Then he turns to health care, reeling off the list of industrialized
nations with universal coverage in rapid-fire sequence. It's an old
bit from his stump speech, and this crowd knows it well; before he
can reach the shouted punch line--"even the Costa Ricans have
health insurance for everybody"--they are already on their feet,
applauding wildly...
Watching the performance, while Dean is on stage basking in the adulation
of the crowd, it is easy to believe it's still 2003, that his campaign
is still enjoying its meteoric rise, that this visit is the exclamation
point to Dean's now legendary August 24 Sleepless Summer Tour rally,
when about 10,000 Seattle supporters packed Westlake Center Plaza
to cheer on the newly crowned Democratic frontrunner....
...Dean is no longer even assured of winning the Washington State
caucuses next Saturday, despite his fervent antiwar, anti-Bush message,
and the fact that he has repeatedly proven his ability to draw large
and enthusiastic crowds in unrepentantly liberal Seattle...
Here, at least, the love remains strong and true. Before the event,
as I talk to the supporters streaming into the building, some spontaneously
begin chanting, "How-ard Dean, How-ard Dean."
Hilke Faber, a registered nurse, is one of those lining up in the
cold. She is an ardent Dean supporter. She has attended the house
parties, donned the Dean buttons, been caught up in the message of
liberal empowerment. Just this morning, she says, she has been canvassing
her Beacon Hill neighborhood for Dean. Four of her neighbors gave
her permission to post lawn signs supporting the candidate. "People
are still strong," she assures me. But there is a hint of uncertainty
as well as she sums up her morning's labors. "People who are
pro-Dean are still pro-Dean," she says. "People who are
undecided are still undecided."...
...For others, there are no doubts at all.
Inside the atrium I meet Dina Lydia Johnson. She is a 51-year-old
belly dancer. Her blue business card describes her as "Dina the
Costume Goddess." She has organized two "Belly Dancers for
Dean" house parties, raising more than $4,000 for the campaign.
Why? Dean, she says, is the sort of statesman who comes along once
in a generation. "I would walk over hot coals naked for this
man if it would make him president," she says. We will discover
on Saturday whether there are enough Dinas and Hilkes to give Dean
the victory he so desperately needs if he is to have any hope of resuscitating
his faltering campaign. "
[Note: I said a lot more, but I knew that line
would be quoted...~Dina]
Complete
article and interview with Dean in The Stranger.
