Howard Dean Threatens To Leave Democratic Party If Obama Doesn’t Cut Pentagon Budget

[ProSense]

Howard Dean Threatens To Leave Democratic Party If Obama Doesn’t Cut Pentagon Budget

by Noah Rothman

Former Vermont Governor, presidential candidate, and head of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean, threatened on Monday to abandon the party which he helped build in reaction to a story that suggested President Barack Obama’s White House may be trying to shield the Pentagon from devastating budget cuts.

Bloomberg Businessweek columnist Joshua Green published a post last week in which he linked comments by administration officials who were critical of sequestration budget cuts to the lack of targeted defense cuts in Obama’s proposed budget.

“Although the White House doesn’t advertise this fact in the six-page budget overview it put out this morning, the new budget eliminates nearly all of the cuts that sequestration imposes on the Pentagon,” Green wrote. “Instead of $500 billion in cuts, Obama proposes only $100 billion, and you have to look closely to spot it (“$200 billion in additional discretionary savings, with equal amounts from defense and nondefense programs”).”

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http://www.mediaite.com/online/howard-dean-i-will-become-an-independent-if-obama-doesnt-cut-pentagon-budget/

[hedda_foil]

1. Wow! I'm with Howard.

[retired rooster]

12. If Howie goes...

...I'll be going with him.

[tblue]

15. Oh gosh, me too.

The Democratic Wing of the Democratic party can't just keep taking slaps in the face.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. He would do it, too, being a man of his word. n/t

[freshwest]

3. Wasn't Hagel opposed by those in the Senate fearing defense cuts? Aren't the details his job?

Because the Pentagon budget is way too big to trimmed down without being transitioning to peaceful activities to prevent disruptions as the Sequester has been doing.

Obama has asked repeatedly for directing military personnel and resources to infrastructure jobs and handling a universe of needs the private sector has no interest in doing because there really is no profit to be made.

Things for the public good such as education, construction for schools, highways, high speed rail, high speed internet, health care and also for cleaning up the environment.

[Tender to the Bone]

4. The man is a centrist.

You know the Democratic Party and President Obama has gone too far to the right when Dean says that if Obama doesn't start cutting the FUCK out of the DoD budget to nearly zero, he's leaving, and I'm going to follow him if he does leave the party.

Third Way Democrats can go fucking blow me - they have sucked off the 1% trough for way too long to damage the 99%'ers.

[Rex]

5. They might like that.

nt.

[ProSense]

6. He may get his wish if Democrats can't reverse the sequestration.

Wouldn't that be great?

[Rex]

7. I know a lot of people that don't like Dean

so his threat is actually what they are hoping for.

Threatening to take your ball and go home doesn't/won't work imo.

[Dawgs]

9. Threat? n/t

[Rex]

10. That is the way it sounds to me.

He is threatening to leave the party he helped create. I mean it could be a promise too, but it sounds more like 'you do this and I walk'.

[sulphurdunn]

19. Or a promise.

[Laelth]

8. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[bvar22]

11. EVERY good Democrat should join Howard.

This White House has shown a callous disregard for what The People who put them there want.
"Tone Deaf" is an understatement.



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their promises or excuses.
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[MissDeeds]

14. I agree

and I stand with Howard Dean.

[whatchamacallit]

13. Some real democracy in action

I'm with HD!

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

16. Dean's 50 State Strategy--the strategy that he takes credit for--put Blue Dogs and corporatists in

the Democratic Party. Now he's witnessing the unintended consequences of that strategy and wants to leave the party? Really?

[sulphurdunn]

20. Why not?

He, not the Third Way, was responsible for the strategy that gave the Democrats control of Congress and the White House in 2006 and 2008. They've done nothing but piss on him and piss away every advantage they've had since. His mistake was in not seeing beforehand just how far right the Democratic Party could go with a New Democrat in the White House. After Carter and Clinton, he should have seen it coming. The country was sick enough of Republican politics in 2006 that the Democrats should have controlled government for the next 50 years. He might have thought that. His work was co-opted by good old DLC triangulation and bipartisanship. We are living with the consequences.

[karynnj]

17. I suspect that too much is being made of a tweet

First, the Bloomberg article may not have it right. Second, Dean has always been a deficit hawk - even in 2004, he wanted to eliminate ALL the Bush tax cuts, including the low income ones that were added by the Democrats.

Not to mention, I doubt Howard Dean intends to run for office again - in Vt or nationally. What would it mean if he became "independent"? He likely voted for independent Bernie Sanders for Senator and Obama for President. I suspect that even if he this report is true, he would STILL vote that way if he had to do it again.

[ieoeja]

18. And DUers rush to prove that DUers don't get hyperbole or tongue-in-cheek. n/t