Key Blacks Back Dean for DNC Chairmanship (MoveOn.org gets involved)

[truthpusher]

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/nation/10730881.htm

Posted on Tue, Jan. 25, 2005

Key Blacks Back Dean for DNC Chairmanship

WILL LESTER

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor whose appeal with minorities was questioned during his presidential race, won support Tuesday from several key black Democratic National Committee members for his bid to be DNC chairman.

Dean, one of seven candidates for the chair position, won the support of Yvonne Atkinson Gates, chair of the DNC's black caucus, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois and Minyon Moore, a longtime DNC member and former aide to President Clinton.

Dean stirred controversy during the presidential primary campaign by saying he wants "to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks." Dean later said he had done a poor job of making a legitimate point about the need to expand the party.

(snip)

In another development, MoveOn.org, a liberal advocacy group, announced plans to get involved in the race for DNC chair. The involvement of the group, which mounted an active Internet and grassroots effort during the presidential campaign, initially would seem to help Dean - with the organization calling for election of a chair who will express "strong opposition to Republican extremism" - though it also could help build opposition from the moderate wing of the party.

more:

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/nation/10730881.htm

[leftchick]

1. woo effing HOO!

please please please let moveon help Dean. It is the last hope for the Democratic Party as we know it to get DR. Dean in the Drivers seat!

[On the Road]

2. I'm Glad African-American Groups Have Gotten Behind Dean

and the Confederate-flag comment hasn't gotten in the way. African-Americans know better than most Democratic politicians the need to be an opposition party. Of all the likely candidates, Dean is the only one who will really do this.

[Larkspur]

3. Whooot!!!

Go Dean!!!

[Anwen]

4. Wonderful news!!

GO DEAN, GO!!!!

[KittyWampus]

5. Wow! That's Great News For Dean!

[David Zephyr]

6. Kick!

Yeehaw!

[patricia92243]

7. Yipeeee! Wonder what their next excuse will be for keeping Dean out?

[KurtNYC]

8. According to Newsweek the Hillary camp will mount

an ABD campaign featuring some of Dean's wilder soundbites

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6857146/site/newsweek/

But I say - Go Dean Go!

edit: typo

[Cha]

15. Silly me...I see nothing wrong with any of

these "bombshells"..

"That left the anti-Dean forces with only one clear strategy: recycling the long list of his provocative statements. Among them: that we shouldn't judge Osama bin Laden until he has a jury trial; that America won't always have the strongest military; that "if Bill Clinton could be the first black president, I can be the first gay president." The ABD forces were also pointing reporters to an off-the-record Harvard seminar in November, at which Dean is rumored to have facetiously suggested that Democrats leave Wyoming rather than put up with anti-gay attitudes there. (A Dean spokeswoman says the governor remembers discussing the Matthew Shepherd case, but not the specific remarks about Wyoming. "In any case, his view is that the Democrats need to compete everywhere, including there."

[d.l.Green]

18. F*** the Clintons! What have they ever done for the good of the party?

Besides win a presidential election with a strong third candidate and bully into New York to keep their celebrity alive.

Dean will bring back the people who got inspired by his campaign and rhetoric and attracted a huge financial base of small contributors. He is the epitomy of a candidate created by the people not the corporations. This alone will give direction to the Democratic Party...

[David__77]

9. They recognize someone who cares about uniting a progressive force.

We need a mass social base and Dean knows this. Others are concerned with more insider-intrigues to line up this or that segment of the establishment. It's no wonder that many Americans now view the national Democratic Party as the "country club" party. Dean could go far to undo that.

[budkin]

10. Woot! Let's go Dean! Time to change this party up!

Get back to our roots!

[bobbyboucher]

11. Is Dean a lock or what?

I would love to have Dean at the helm and it seems he's got broad support. How can he not get the nod?

[liberalnurse]

12. Yee-Haw......

I've got my fingers crossed.......This may be the only way I hang in with the Democratic Party. Without the Dean motivation, the Party looks dismal.

Support Dean for DNC Chair......:bounce:

[Rainscents]

13. Yea!!!

Go Dean Go!!!!!!!!!!!!! :bounce:

[Demeter]

14. Earth to DLC: YOU"RE FIRED!

For incompetence above and beyond the call of duty, we hereby give you your walking papers, put you at leisure, RIF you, send your jobs to real Democrats.

[politicasista]

16. I hope Dean gets it.

:bounce:

[BornaDem]

17. Me too!

[Orangepeel]

19. Jessie Jackson, Jr. endorsed him in the primary

I'm glad he's still on his side.

[Piperay]

20. HURRAY

Dean is our BEST hope for winning future elections! :thumbsup:

[benny05]

21. Interesting

Considering the Black Caucus, including JJ jr encouraged Wellington Webb to throw his hat in the ring. Perhaps they decided it was time for a change...

[KissMeKate]

22. I disagree with some of the good doctor's positions.

but I love the way he speaks the TRUTH!

You know, when Howard Dean opens his mouth, he hasnt focus grouped his answer, he wont beat around the bush because some people might not like what he has to say, he wont equivocate- He says what he believes, and he believes what he says.

Go Howard!

[Eric J in MN]

28. Like what? (nt)

nt

[KissMeKate]

30. devils advocate

I really, really like Howard Dean. I wanted him as president, I want him as DNC chairman, (I would prefer he run in 2008, but Ill take what I can get)

That said, I was not impressed by his environmental record in Vermont. He was a little too buisiness friendly, from what Ive heard.

We differ in our opinions on gun control, he and I.

He supported Nafta, though i dont think even he could have predicted the assault that trade agreement has made on our manufacturing base. And I think he has come to the conclusion his support of Nafta needs some rethinking regarding labor, environment, human rights, etc.

On the other hand, as a nurse, I was very impressed by his health care proposals, (he really knows his shit, his proposal for ending the nursing shortage, his pragmatism in vermont, his straight talking, his willingness to talk with reporters so often and up front as governor, etc.

I dont think there will ever be a politician who shares every position I have. Kucinich is close, David Cobb is closer.

I never heard of him (Dean) until november 2003, and I think hes more moderate in some areas than I would like, but I still love Howard Dean :)

[Eric J in MN]

33. I disagree with Dean on NAFTA, too (nt)

nt

[Eloriel]

34. NAFTA and the environment

what do you disagree with re NFTA? He wants it changed, and the way he wants it changed would completely alter the landscape for "globalization," making it about as expensive to send jobs overseas as to keep them here. Sounds good to me.

As for the environment, some folks more liberal even than I (and I'm pretty liberal) wrote some scathing anti-Dean screeds, completely ignoring a couple of pieces of reality, such as: he was GOVERNOR, not dictator. He needed to take care of the environment WHILE STILL arranging for Vermonters to have some jobs and the economy to work. He accommodated both, in that wonderfully pragmatic, eminently DOABLE approach he takes to politics and governing that is IMO distinctly Dean.

And somehow, despite how "awful" he supposedly was environmentally, he still put millions of Vermont acres aside so that they'll never be developed. What other state governors have done that? Not many, if any.

Hell, the way he got into politics in the first place, all those years ago, trying to do something environmental -- create a bike path along the Lake Champlain shore, instead of letting it be developed in non-environmental ways.

Please be careful what you THINK you know about Dean. He's not perfect, but a lot of the things that are said about him are either mischaracterizations, outright lies (esp. here at DU), wild exaggerations, or just simply unfair spin.

[Eric J in MN]

35. I meant I disagree with Dean for supporting NAFTA before it passed.

Also, I'd prefer if NAFTA were scrapped rather than amended.

We had trade with Mexico and Canada before NAFTA, and we could continue to trade with Mexico and Canada without it.

[Straight Shooter]

23. I'm lean and mean and hot for Dean!!

*ahem* in a manner of speaking.

GO HOWARD GO!!

[juajen]

24. This is great news!!

I have tears in my eyes; I am so happy for Dean. Let's hope this helps put him over the top. Boy, does the DNC need Howard. Hell, we all need Howard.

[proudbluestater]

25. Go DEAN!!! Screw the DLC! They brought us NAFTA, after all.

Enemies of the common workers.

[PassingFair]

26. Oooohhhhh!

MoveOn, the Red Queen, on the move. Take that, you "chess" players.

[Pirate Smile]

27. WP: Making Dean's List

Making Dean's List

By Dan Balz
Wednesday, January 26, 2005; Page A07

Former Vermont governor Howard Dean, seeking to build a sense of momentum behind his candidacy for Democratic National Committee chairman, yesterday unveiled more than a dozen endorsements, including those of several prominent African American members of the DNC and Alma Brown, widow of former party chairman and commerce secretary Ron Brown.

Dean is using endorsements strategically to send signals intended to convey breadth of support. Last week he announced that he had support from state party leaders in almost every region, including the South and Southwest.

His latest list of endorsements highlighted that African Americans, one of the largest blocs on the national committee, are not uniformly behind the candidacy of former Denver mayor Wellington Webb, who is black.

Still, several prominent DNC members said they believe the race for party chairman remains an open battle. Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer said in an interview Monday that he believes talk of Dean's momentum is overstated and that Donna Brazile, campaign manager for Al Gore in 2000, left a message saying, "This . . . thing ain't over."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36413-2005Jan25.html

[TahitiNut]

29. It ain't over 'til Donna sings? (I didn't know she sang.)

:shrug:

[Eloriel]

31. Donna Brazille -- another firmly entrenched Dem who

needs to get her head screwed on right or get the hell outta Washington if not out of the Party.

I'm so SICK of these people who are just products of some warped echo chamber listening only to their own damn selves, getting more and more warped as the weeks roll on, with not a clue about REALITY and no clue about how to GET one.

:grr:

[saracat]

32. I wish Donna Brazile would shut the fuck up!

She is such a Bush as kissing DINO she should have her party card pulled! Grrr. She and her good friends Rove and Bayh Buchanan make me ill.

[struggle4progress]

36. kick