You have to understand their situation

Posted Jan 15, 2004 1:51 UTC (Thu) by iwilcox (guest, #18701) [Link]

> They don't want to alienate *anyone* (even the DRM contingent) at
> the moment. Once the election is over, then they will be more free
> to declare their ideas and policies.

s/declare/decide on/, probably in repayment of campaign contributions.

Posted Jan 15, 2004 18:10 UTC (Thu) by emk (subscriber, #1128) [Link]

Kucinich aside, this is par for the course. I have faith that Dean will do right by us once the election is over.

If somebody really explains the issues to him, Dean will probably to the right thing.

A Vermont farmer I know complained about Dean's farm policy--she felt he'd screwed up on a couple of issues near and dear to her heart. But she's working to get him elected, and she said, "I don't think that more than 10% of Dean can be bought."

AFAICT, Dean typically reads a lot of reports, listens to smart people, figures out what's politically feasible, and chooses a course of action. Then, he fights like hell. When he's right, he accomplishes a lot. When he's wrong, it can be pretty painful. Fortunately, he's right more often than he's wrong.

So, on technology issues, does Dean have good advisors? Will he end up reading the right reports? Will the right thing be politically feasible? If so, you can probably count on him. And so far, the signs are good--he's listening to Lessig, and there are some open source geeks in his campaign.