CLARK, NOT DEAN

I have to disagree with Ted Rall [City Pages, Dec. 17] about the inevitability of a Howard Dean victory in the Democratic presidential primary. He's probably right that if all the other candidates dropped out and put their support behind Dean, he could win, but of course, that isn't going to happen. At this point, we appear to have a two-man race. Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark may finish third in Iowa (even though he's not campaigning there) behind Dean and Gephardt, second in New Hampshire (beating Kerry and Lieberman in their own backyard.), and first in South Carolina. He'll go on to win every Southern state, including Edwards' North Carolina, and more besides. The reason is that Clark's positions are virtually identical with Dean's. There's only one key difference between them: electability.

Dean, whose grassroots campaign has been a huge success, has two problems in this race. One, the corporate media has already decided that it doesn't like him. It describes him often as abrasive, hostile, angry. Now, nobody has more contempt for the corporate media than I do, but it does have a significant influence, especially on people who aren't really paying much attention, and it's already demonstrated its unwillingness to challenge the Bush Administration. Second, the Democratic Party doesn't want Dean to be the nominee, Al Gore's endorsement notwithstanding. The Clintons, Bill especially, who's still the leader of the party, like Clark, even if they haven't endorsed him yet. We can complain that the Democrats have become too conservative, and they have, and that we need to take back our government from the extreme Right, and we do, but this is not a time for political idealism; this is a time for pragmatism. The important thing is to beat Bush.

What makes Clark a more electable candidate? As a former NATO general, he has impressive foreign policy experience (Dean has none), and you can be sure that Bush will make Iraq the main issue in his campaign. We need somebody like Clark who is virtually unassailable on foreign policy and defense. Another reason to vote for Clark is that Karl Rove is gleeful at the thought of a Dean nomination. Rove will do and say anything to get Bush re-elected, and he's got plenty of money to do it. He will paint Dean as a tree-hugging, queer-loving, America-hating, big government-spending, Northern, liberal elitist. He can't do that to Clark, a Southerner with a distinguished military career who fought for his country in Vietnam and waged a successful military campaign in Kosovo. Clark, a successful businessman and economics scholar, is also strong on economic issues.

Yet another reason to consider Clark is that he has none of the political baggage that Kerry, Gephardt, Edwards and Lieberman bring to the race. He won't have to spend his entire campaign on the defensive, explaining why he voted in favor of Bush's reckless tax cuts or his unchecked authority to wage war. Clark opposed both. He has a detailed plan for greater international cooperation in the reconstruction of Iraq, and he wants to roll back the tax cuts for people making over 200,000 a year.

If Dean does get the nomination, I'll not only vote for him; I'll work for him. I agree with Rall that we all need to get behind the Democratic nominee, whoever it is. Both these candidates have websites that tell you how to participate or contribute. I also agree with Rall that Ralph Nader needs to stay out of the race. If Nader really cares about curtailing the excesses of corporate greed and U.S, imperialism, he needs to back the Democrat. Sure, the party has its problems, but it's the only way to beat Bush.

Jason Mosser
Athens

CHIEF PROBLEM

I read with great interest the write-up in the Banner-Herald about the gangs in this town. The one thing that struck me was the quote from Chief Lumpkin that he sees no gang problems in Athens. HELLO!!! You must be chief of police in fantasy land.

It does not take a trained observer to see the signs. I have talked to a lot of citizens and taxpayers in this town over the last few days with the consensus that you should step down as chief of police. I mean, you must have blinders on or looking at things with rose colored glasses on. Knock knock, the lights are on but nobody is home. I do know the police have a hard job with all the underage drinking and people who park where they shouldn't and vendors who do not have proper permits, etc.

Athens is a great small town with some big city issues. I for one see you as one of the problems that allow things to get out of hand. The police department needs a leader, a force to be reckoned with, not a person who just is pulling a paycheck.

The citizens in this town need to rethink our safety being in your hands. Please, this just proves along with other things that have happened the last few years that you need to take early retirement so someone who is very serious about crime and its prevention can be hired. Thank you.

Name Withheld
Athens

DIRTY SECRET

I do love Reality Check, and I think Jyl's brilliant, but her response last week to The Idea Man about R&B people is a little misleading. Jyl scoffs at the notion that the revered Flagpole would hire Red and Black writers, but there are several people on the Flagpole staff who have written for that shitty student rag in their checkered pasts - notably Kyle Wehrend, Gardner Linn (insert retching noises here), and especially the Music Editor, Chris Hassiotis. There are others whom I won't embarrass, but you know who you are.

Not to say that the Flagpole mooches off the R&B for writers, but the fact that the two do share talent is a dirty little secret that apparently few on Foundry want to admit. But considering that Ralph Reed, the erstwhile poster boy for the Christian Coalition, wrote for the R&B when he was a student here, and that the R&B has an ugly history of attracting far-right idiots into its stable of writers, I can't blame people for wanting to distance themselves from it. I dare say, though, that Athens will still love the Flagpole's writers even if they fess up to having been R&B people when they were, you know, young and needed the exposure.

Mister Two
Bloomington, IN

DRIVE ON

I just wanted to write in and thank the Drive-By Truckers for putting on the most ass-kicking show EVER at the 40 Watt last Thursday [Nov. 20]. What makes their shows so unbelievable is purely stage presence and love of what they're doing. There has not been a Trucker show that I have not seen Patterson with an enormous "I really dig what I'm doing" smile on his face. Keep on rockin' fellas!

Mark Cunningham
Athens

NEW READER

I'm just writing because I have just very recently moved to Athens from Macon, GA, and really do enjoy your magazine. Your website is very helpful in finding out info on upcoming events, ex. Heidi Hensley. I saw her in Macon at my old work, The Shamrock, and she said look in the Flagpole for her upcoming thing @ the Tasty World, and I read the neat little article. But, yeah... keep up the good work! I'll be reading.

Nicki Kendrick
Statham