Dean's hypocrisy?

[digno dave]

In the beginning of this process Dean was admirable in his request that things stay positive and all attention be paid to defeating Bush. I liked this about the man. This was before i had made up my mind on who to support.
I remember Lieberman, Kerry and Gephardt in particular being the ones to question Dean's qualifications once it became obvious who the front-runner was. Dean stayed above the fray and kept his eye on GW. There was one candidate who refused to criticize Dean publicly, and that was Wes Clark. So why does Dean, when he decides to start criticizing people, jump all over Clark? The reason to me seems to be that Dean sees Clark as his main rival for the nomination. So Dean has gone back on his prior commitment to not attack fellow Dem candidates. And he chooses to do so against the one man who has refused to attack him, or anyone else for that matter. Dean cannot defend himself by saying he is only responding to others attacks because Clark has not attacked him, so the logical conclusion is that he is attacking Clark because he views him as a threat. This is precisely the reason Dean was attacked by Lieberman, Kerry and Gephardt, because he was the front-runner and he was viewed as a threat to their candidacy.
Clark is surging more than any other candidate(ok, Kerry and geph are surging a bit in Iowa) while being the ONE candidate who refuses to attack any of his opponents. Does this sound familiar? Dean was in the very same position a month ago. So what does Dean do when he is the one on the outside looking in? He attacks.
Now SOME Dean supporters didn't wait for Dean to get the go-ahead on an all-out assault on Clark. They have jumped all over Clark, more so than any other candidate i believe. There have also been reports from more than one campaign that Dean supporters are playing dirty in Iowa and NH. I don't know if those reports are true or not, but i have seen the viciousness of attacks coming from SOME Dean supporters on other campaign blogs and discussion boards. So are SOME of these Dean supporters a ruthless, angst-ridden bunch or are reports of their behavior inaccurate? Has Dean's anger spilled over into being a force of destruction for SOME of his followers? I hope not. Through hard work and a passion for your beliefs you have thrust a man to the fore-front of the nomination process, a man whose qualifications, in all honesty, don't match up to half of those running. Qualifications, mind you, don't necessarily translate into ability, so please don't take too much exception to that comment.

[LuminousX]

1. Welcome to campaigning

If you thought Clark was going to skate by without some mud being splattered in his direction, you were fooling yourself.

And with the amount of mud Clark's supporters toss about, I have little doubt Clark is playing High Road/Low Road with his campaign (fundamentally sound strategy for image purposes but falls apart if he does have to get down and dirty.)

[digno dave]

6. missed the point

I have has no illusions about the process. I am just going by the rules laid out by Dean at the beginning of the campaign, hence the title DEAN'S HYPOCRISY.

[LuminousX]

13. First lessons, there are no rules.

[Leilani]

17. I Disagree

For some of us there ARE rules...

Rules to live by

That is why I support Wes Clark

His entire life is about doing the right thing

It's not only about winning, but how you conduct yourself on the road to the win.

[RetroLounge]

2. Yawn

Poor General Clark...

:boring:

[digno dave]

7. wake up

The General can take care of himself against Slalom Boy or anyone else.

[candy331]

3. If he can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen

because it is as they say "down and dirty from here" so put on your seat belt the show has begun. If you think this is about being timid and nice then you must have not watched the other side.

[MariaS]

4. Don't worry too much

about the Dean mudslinging. The General will just kick the shit of em.

[funky_bug]

5. Correction

He'll kick the LIVING shit out of them.

[Clark4VotingRights]

8. :) I'm so glad we have a candidate who runs on good example,

leadership, and good policies.

Clark gets better every day.
He's a shining star (four actually).

[kayleybeth]

10. Good answer, Clark4VotingRights!

Our candidate is strong enough that we don't need to resort to flame baiting. General Clark has already proven that we can make huge gains without stooping to our opponents'level.

GO WES GO!!!!!!

[cprise]

11. I won't even bother Alerting that one

...and let it speak for itself.

[kayleybeth]

9. Please stop it

I know some of the DU forums have been frustrating for Clark supporters recently, but please, let's not stoop to our opponent's level. Let's focus on the positive. We can build General Clark up without tearing other candidates down.

If you see a thread that states factual errors about General Clark, by all means respond to it and correct the errors. But we don't need to resort to this kind of flame baiting. I don't see how this thread could possibly lead to any kind of civil discussion. The time for "every man for himself" politics will come soon enough. In the meantime, please, let's follow General Clark's example and try to stay above the fray.

Thanks! :hi:

[cprise]

12. I suppose this will be some interesting interpretation of "above the fray"

...which will include echoing every semi-embarassing tidbit the mass media comes up with about Dean. Shoot first, ignore when its debunked.

[digno dave]

15. if legitimate inquiries are uncivil then i'm sorry

ss

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[David Dunham]

16. Gep to Blast Dean on Meet the Press on Sunday

Dick Gephardt will go all out to attack Dean on Meet the Press on Sunday, right before then Iowa caucus.