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| December 7, 2006 Editor’s Desk by Aaron Selbig, insurgent49 [Rep. Tom Anderson, who was Bill Allen's man-puppet on the floor of the Legislature this year, has been arrested by the feds. I'm taking the week off from 'Editor's Desk' so that I can visit him in jail, maybe bring him a pie. Please enjoy this 'Editor's Desk' from the past, an account of Howard Dean's (who is looking like a genius these days) visit to Alaska in June.] 
It’s been a Dean-a-riffic week here at Insurgent Headquarters.YEEEEAGHHH!!! Okay, I couldn’t resist ... sorry about that. It’s just that the man who’s still known for ‘the Scream’ (and has Fox News to thank for it, by the way) really gets my blood pumping ... in a good way. On Wednesday night, my wife and I were privileged to have been invited to see DNC Chairman Howard Dean speak before a raucous crowd of excitable Democrats at the Anchorage Hilton Hotel. Although neither of us are registered Democrats (like the majority of Alaskans, we claim no party allegiance), it was nonetheless pretty cool to be in a room full of hundreds of folks who are, to varying degrees, at least sort of progressive. It was Governor Dean, however, who was the main attraction of the evening, and I was overjoyed at the chance to see a personal hero of mine. Earlier that day, though, I must admit that I was beginning to have a shadow of a doubt about the man’s genuineness. We had known for months that he was planning to come to Alaska as part of a fifty-state tour, and were hoping to book him on our afternoon radio show. But just days before his visit, we learned that Governor Dean would only be in Anchorage a short time, and that the only appearance he would be making was at the $100-a-plate party fundraiser at the Hilton. Upon breaking the news on the air that there would be no free appearance for the general public, a slew of folks (many of them hardcore ‘Deaniacs’ who had gotten involved in the political process for the first time because of the man) called in to the show to vent their frustration. And I can’t say as I blame them. It just didn’t seem very Dean-like. After hearing him speak, however, I’m inclined to forgive him. He is an absolutely amazing public speaker and, by the end of it, he had everyone in the room on their feet and energized. He began his speech by borrowing on a theme of Barrack Obama’s. “Alaska is not a red state”, he implored, “it’s an American state”. There is no state, no county, no city, he went on, that is un-winnable for progressives. With the gaping hole left in the country’s confidence by President Bush’s ineptitude (especially during last year’s hurricanes on the Gulf Coast) and the Republican culture of corruption, the Democratic Party, said Dean, has the best opportunity it’s had in years to take charge of the country. The Democrats can win the House and Senate in Washington, Dean proclaimed to the faithful, and can do the same in Juneau. The Democrats can win in states that have been long forgotten, he said, including Alaska. As an example of the strides being made by Dems in traditionally conservative areas, Dean pointed to the man who sat with him at the main table ... the two-term Mayor of conservative Anchorage, Alaska, Mark Begich. And the crowd (which included a star-studded cast of Alaska Democrats including Tony Knowles) ate up every word of it. As a non-partisan insurgent, however, I remained skeptical. It’s the Democratic Party’s uncanny ability to screw up golden opportunities, as a matter of fact, that is the primary reason I can’t join them. But then a funny thing happened ... Howard Dean spoke directly to my populist heart. He told a story of two women who worked for the DNC who, after Hurricane Katrina, traveled to Louisiana to help out with relief efforts. Somehow, they got hooked up with the ultra-conservative Southern Baptist church down there, and found themselves elbow-to-elbow with a group of women who normally would have been ideological enemies. After some discussion, the two DNC women told the Baptist women who they worked for and ... you can probably see where this is going ... it just didn’t matter. All of these women were working together, distributing food and water to folks who had lost everything, and politics was the furthest thing from any of their minds. The point being, according to Dean: the biggest social change happens at the smallest levels. The Baptist women, he said, might question the next time their pastor tells them that all liberals are hell bound heathens, remembering their friends from the DNC who, like them, only wanted to help others in a time of desperate need. Right on. The day after the fundraiser, I checked out Channel 2 News and the ADN to see what they had to say about Howard Dean’s appearance in Anchorage. Both of them led their stories with a hastily organized (by Randy Ruedrich himself), and very small group of protestors who carried “ANWR NOW” signs outside the Hilton before Dean’s appearance. It made me want to scream. Aaron Selbig is an activist and media junkie who resides in an undisclosed location in downtown Anchorage. He is the winner of a 2006 Alaska Press Club award for Best Editorial Writing, host of KUDO 1080 AM's 'The Aaron Selbig Show' and a co-founder of Insurgent49. Aaron may be contacted at editor@insurgent49.com 'Editor's Desk' appears on insurgent49.com every Thursday. |
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