Great Liberal Oasis today, I thought...

[vi5]

www.liberaloasis.com

Has it dead on in my opinion.

"That means in our words and our actions, we must always be cognizant that we are always speaking to more than just our fellow liberals.

We must phrase our arguments -- whether on TV, in the blogosphere, in letters to the editor, or in personal conversations – in ways that find common ground and speak to the fundamental concerns and hopes of non-liberals.

When we publicly protest, as we will surely will at the Republican convention, we should take a cue from the March on Washington, as one participant remembered:

Many of the men wore coats and ties; the women wore print dresses.
Their attire seemed impractical for a march and day long rally in Washington's summer heat and humidity, but the people on this train were on their way to conduct serious business.

This is also serious business. We should act like it, and look like it. We are about to be collectively put in the hot seat. Get ready."

[eileen from OH]

1. I'm so glad you posted this

I LOVE Liberal Oasis and agree that it's dead on. One of my fave sites.

eileen from OH

[Larkspur]

2. Yep, it was an excellant piece on our responsibility to lead

Like Liberal Oasis, many of us moderates and liberals/progressives chose Howard Dean as our champion and his success is our success; his defeat, our defeat. We are responsible for Dean's campaign and need to be good ambassadors of our champion's campaign.

Howard Dean is Lord of the Roots because he shares his power!

[vi5]

3. As a non-Dean supporter who will support him if he's the nom...

One of the most interesting things I thought he said in there and which I think is true and which I hope many Dean supporters realize:

"While a Dean win in November may or may not be vindication for liberals, depending on how he runs a general election campaign, we will certainly shoulder the blame for a Dean loss."

The thing about running such a drastically unique campaign and one whose main distinction is pointing out the clear differences in approach between Dean and his primary opponents is that it is all on his and his supporters shoulders. The rest of us will get in line behind the inevitable Dean nomination and support him enthusiastically and with our dollars and our time. And if he wins you guys will deserve every bit of credit. But if he loses and loses in the way that many in these here parts predict he may, then the burden will be his alone to bear. Not the DLC's. Not the moderates. Not the media or the repubs. All those entities are and have been known way in advance and have been brought up ad nauseum to explain to Dean supporters many of our reservations. So if we all put our faith behind this man and he loses in the way that has been predicted, there will be nobody else to blame.

I will be more than happy and jubilant to be proven wrong however, and will have an ear to ear grin if we are inaugurating a President Dean in January '05.

[Larkspur]

6. The Al From DLC'rs and Dean's primary DLC-sponsored opponents

failed in 2002. The strategy used against Bush in 2002 cost us the meager lead we had in the Senate and the loss of more seats in the House.

Dean's strategy is the same one Al Gore said in November last year on 20/20 with Barbara Walters. He said that a Democratic Prez contender will have to energize the Dem base and then go after swing voters. Gore used that in 2000 and won the popular vote but he admits that he could have done better. Dean went full blast to court the Dem base while the others took us for granted, and that is why Dean is leading and got Gore's endorsement.

If Dean fails to win, Al From will skewer him, like he did Al Gore, but if Dean loses because the Al Froms sabatage the election then they will be in big trouble with us.

[KittyWampus]

4. Suggestion: Find A Truely Left Leaning Liberal

who can project a Moderate Image...

Not a truely Right leaning Moderate who projects a Leftist Liberal image

[vi5]

5. Hey...preaching to the choir here....

I'm not a Dean supporter. I agree with what you said. I have major reservations about him and his candidacy.

But my point and the point of the piece I posted is that if the perceived inevitability comes true, that the people who have flocked to his campaign due to the anger, will need to tone it down a bit.