Wednesday, February 18, 2004
I come to bury Howard, not to praise him
I come to bury Howard, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones:
So let it be with Howard. The noble pundits
Hath told you Howard was too angry:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault;
And grievously hath Howard answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Russert and the rest,—
For Russert is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honorable men,—
Come I to speak in Howard's funeral.
He was my candidate, truthful and just to me:
But Brit Hume says he was too angry;
And Brit Hume is an honourable man
He nailed Bush on his lies about the war,
and did the Democratic coffers fill:
Did this in Howard seem too angry?
When that the sick have suffered, Howard cured them:
Anger should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet WaPo says he was too angry;
And WaPo's run by honourable men.
Modo did see him with his darnéd socks
and he was legendary for his cheapness,
yet insured everyone. Was this anger?
Yet Dave Brooks says he was too angry;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what pundits wrote,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once,—not without cause:
What cause withholds you, then, to mourn for him?—
O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason!—Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Howard,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
[See the original Shakespeare here.]
UPDATE Thanks to alert reader hadenough, see here for Dean's future plans.
With the benefit of hindsight... I always felt—and dammit, didn't write, since I didn't want to be overly critical—that Dean made a mistake in refusing Federal money. If he'd set up a 527 and built a movement by spreading the contributions around, he might have been untouchable today. Dean has shown he can play for high stakes at a high level—and change the rules of the game while doing so. If he continues, more power to him. We need more like him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones:
So let it be with Howard. The noble pundits
Hath told you Howard was too angry:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault;
And grievously hath Howard answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Russert and the rest,—
For Russert is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honorable men,—
Come I to speak in Howard's funeral.
He was my candidate, truthful and just to me:
But Brit Hume says he was too angry;
And Brit Hume is an honourable man
He nailed Bush on his lies about the war,
and did the Democratic coffers fill:
Did this in Howard seem too angry?
When that the sick have suffered, Howard cured them:
Anger should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet WaPo says he was too angry;
And WaPo's run by honourable men.
Modo did see him with his darnéd socks
and he was legendary for his cheapness,
yet insured everyone. Was this anger?
Yet Dave Brooks says he was too angry;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what pundits wrote,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once,—not without cause:
What cause withholds you, then, to mourn for him?—
O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason!—Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Howard,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
[See the original Shakespeare here.]
UPDATE Thanks to alert reader hadenough, see here for Dean's future plans.
Howard Dean will end his campaign for the presidential nomination and oversee a new effort to keep his issues alive and his supporters organized on behalf of Democratic causes, two party officials said Wednesday.
With the benefit of hindsight... I always felt—and dammit, didn't write, since I didn't want to be overly critical—that Dean made a mistake in refusing Federal money. If he'd set up a 527 and built a movement by spreading the contributions around, he might have been untouchable today. Dean has shown he can play for high stakes at a high level—and change the rules of the game while doing so. If he continues, more power to him. We need more like him.
