Liberals taking over Democratic party via Dean's candidacy

[lifelong_Dem]

From Liberal Oasis:

http://www.liberaloasis.com/archives/122103.htm#122403


(begin quote)

The left has taken over. The tail is no longer wagging the dog. The tail has mastered the beast.

That’s a little hyperbolic.

But the essence of it is right. And we liberals should take the responsibility seriously.

Dean is not the reason for this development, but the result.

(...)

There are liberals who don’t back him because of certain issue positions, and those who don’t because they think he’s a loose cannon who can’t win in the end.

Nevertheless, a Dean primary win would be because of liberal support, and liberal money and grassroots energy would remain the fuel in his engine.

As such, the role of liberals in the party would be greatly strengthened.

(...)

And liberal readers, his probable win, whether you personally back him or not, is your probable win.

And our probable win, is also our responsibility.

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.

(...)

So, since we are very likely to be in charge, at least figuratively speaking, it’s time to start acting like it.

The CW assumes (as Dick Morris does) that we are a loony fringe.

We are not, but others will pounce on anything that hints otherwise, as they already do.

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.

(end quote)

I encourage everyone to read the whole article at the link above. It makes a very good point - as we liberals gain power, responsibility comes with it. How well we live up to that responsibility may very well mean the difference between victory and defeat next November.

[Selwynn]

1. God.. is Dean is what we call "Liberal" these days I'm gonna throw up..

Like dean, vote for dean, believe he is the best candidate. That's fine. But he is not a liberal. He is an extremely moderate centrist at best, and this whole think about a "liberal" insurgence is just an absolute joke.

It just goes to show you how sad the times are. When the scope of our public debate is so narrowly conceived so that moderate becomes "far left" and center-right becomes "centrist"

[RetroLounge]

2. Where do they call Dean a Liberal?

eom

[NewYorkerfromMass]

3. No. Dean is being used by liberals.

They've hitched up to his train (really become it) and they are using it to confront Bush.

There are better trains.

[ochazuke]

12. Not the other way around?

I was thinking that Dean is using Liberal outrage at the War to advance his candidacy.

His record as governor is not liberal. Virtually every other candidate in the race is more liberal, come to think of it! Even Lieberman, on domestic policy, looks more liberal to me. Gephardt, Kucinich, Kerry, Edwards, Sharpton, Braun: all way more liberal.

Clark? He has no record, but he talks very Liberal.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

20. It's mainly "anti-Bush" motivation

the anti-war rhetoric clearly distinguished him from the rest.
Dems hate Bush, and Dean became the weapon of choice.

[HFishbine]

16. But no better engines. (n/t)

[Scott Lee]

33. Which is a great thing. I'm tired of militarists and conservatives.

Arent you?

[lifelong_Dem]

4. The author of the article makes that very same point

He says "It's important to note that Dean is not a pure liberal, and not every liberal backs Dean."

But as the author also states, a Dean win means the role of liberals in the party will be greatly strengthened.

[bryant69]

6. That doesn't necessarily follow

I like Dean, although he's not my number one candidate. But there are two ways it could go. One is that the liberal wing of the Democratic Party could realize the power it wields (like the conservative wing realized after Goldwater), and start more agressively pushing its views (which would be great).

But another potentiality is that President Bush could win reelection, and powerful interests within the party, including the Clintons and the DLC could push the party back to the Center on the theory that we tried it the liberal way and it failed. (which would be a disaster).

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[cryofan]

21. "Dean's not a pure liberal"...yeah, and the pope's not a pure atheist

Dean is not even close to being a pure liberal. In fact, he is not a liberal at all.

Social Spending is the CORE of the what being liberal IS. If you want to cut social spending, then you are not a liberal.

As you can see from these excerpts from a long, footnoted article printed by a scholarly, left-wing journal, based on what he said and did as governor of Vermont, Dean wants less social spending.

I think the quotes below show what Dean is really all about--and that he is not a liberal.


>>>>>>>>>>>
"Throughout the 1990s, Dean’s cuts in state aid to education ($6 million), retirement funds for teachers and state employees ($7 million), health care ($4 million), welfare programs earmarked for the aged, blind and disabled ($2 million), Medicaid benefits ($1.2 million) and more, amounted to roughly $30 million. Dean claimed that the cuts were necessary because the state had no money and was burdened by a $60 million deficit.9
....
Most of the Democrats in the legislature rebelled against Dean over the budget cuts, and he ended up depending on Republican votes to pass most of his proposals. At the time, a local Vermont newspaper wrote, "The biggest items on Dean’s agenda for next year are likely to provoke more opposition from the Democrats than the Republicans. Nevertheless, Dean said he feels no particular pressure to deliver the goods to his party or to promote the Democratic agenda."15

In the mid-1990s, Dean even aligned himself with the likes of Republican Newt Gingrich on his stance on cutting Medicare. He opined at the time, "The way to balance the budget is for Congress to cut Social Security, move the retirement age to 70, cut defense, Medicare and veterans pensions, while the states cut everything else."16
....
The Rutland Herald described how one protestor, Henrietta Jordan of the Vermont Center for Independent Living, "said it would be much fairer to raise taxes on people with expensive homes and cars, children in private school and a housekeeper at home than to cut programs that helped the 66,000 Vermonters living with disabilities."17 Dean responded callously, brushing off the pleas of Vermont’s most vulnerable by saying, "This seems like sort of the last gasp of the left here."18"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>



The rest of this article is here:
http://www.isreview.org/issues/32/dean.shtml



So if we liberals vote into office, someone like Dean who apparently abhors The Left (Left == Liberal), how on earth does that HELP liberals?????

It HURTS liberals if we vote into office the person who evidences beliefs and attitudes such as that shown in the quotes above.

[lifelong_Dem]

29. Nice selective quoting

If you pick and choose a few quotes out of hundreds or thousands, you can make anyone look like anything you want.

Dean's candidacy is good for liberals because it's crowding out the DLC crowd and giving us a seat at the table.

[rucky]

5. the most appealing thing to me about Dean

is his campaign: it's structure & it's potential power. It has it's own life that's much bigger than Dean the candidate.

[Myra]

38. Yeah. If Dean is a liberal then the word has no meaning.

But the public is being programed with that "FACT"
that Dean is too lib'rul too lib'rul too lib'rul.
That way after the media installs him as "our" Dem candidate
they can easily brush him aside for the master.

[flaminbats]

39. I'm crushed; words can mean so little to so many.

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a horse of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed.

Go right to the source and ask the horse
He'll give you the answer that you'll endorse.
He's always on a steady course.
Talk to Mr. Ed.

People yakkity yak a streak and waste your time of day
But Mister Ed will never speak unless he has something to say.

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And this one'll talk 'til his voice is hoarse.
You never heard of a talking horse?

[The Commie]

43. Howerver we may not like it...

...a fiscally libral canidate will never win because the ignorant masses don't seem to understand what taxes are for, I like Kucinich the best, but he has no chance on the nomination because he is fiscally liberal. Dean is the next best thing, at least he is socially liberal. We can do fiscally libral things once we slaughter the Supply-side think-tanks, like CATO, and get people to trust Keynesian economics again. :evilgrin:

[flaminbats]

44. Who may not like what?

:shrug:

[MGKrebs]

42. That's kinda like bulemia, isn't it?

Call Dean a liberal and then throw up because you called Dean a liberal.

:evilgrin:

[Bombtrack]

7. Liberals already control the democratic party

If Dean did take over the party, I would say assholes are taking it over, not liberals

[JohnKleeb]

9. I disagree with you the party is moderate

Though not smackdab in the center, it is more moderate than it is liberal. I don't think a Dean victory would mean that liberals would take over the party though, because while the article fully states Dean himself is not a liberal, Dean as governor supposely had trouble with his party's liberal wing as governor. Sorry no links and I am not insulting him, just saying what I've heard.

[Bombtrack]

13. you don't become a democratic leader if your not liberal

because that is what the democratic party, whether under Tip O'Neil or Bill Clinton.

According to the political mainstream lexicon, if pretty much agree with the democratic line 75 percent or more, your a liberal.

The democratic establishment is liberal. Teachers and labor unions, womens and minority groups, trial lawyers and consumer advocates, are all parts of one big liberal complex

Only the Naderite/Chomskyite fringe would believe that democratic leadership isn't liberal, and you shouldn't be going by there biased verbage over a neutral one

[JohnKleeb]

23. I would call Clinton a centrist honestly

Hey I may be on the fringe but I am a dem. I just say the party is more moderate than it is liberal. Agree to disagtee ya know.

[flaminbats]

32. Teamsters are an union, does this make the rank and file or Hoffa liberal?

What about the AARP or the NEA? What about MADD or the ABA?

Does wishing for a fair trial to sue for minimum compensation make one part of the establishment? Are consumer safety laws, that set the standard for seat belts and air bags in cars, a form of liberalism?

"Only the Naderite/Chomskyite fringe would believe that democratic leadership isn't liberal, and you shouldn't be going by there biased verbage over a neutral one."

Harry Truman on the benefits of democracy and liberity "Events have brought our American democracy to new influence and new responsibilities. They will test our courage, our devotion to duty, and our concept of liberty.

But I say to all men, what we have achieved in liberty, we will surpass in greater liberty.

Steadfast in our faith in the Almighty, we will advance toward a world where man's freedom is secure."

Too bad those damned establishment liberals never know when to quit!

[jonnyblitz]

22. I don't think bombtrack is worried about you insulting Dean. n/t

[JohnKleeb]

24. Ever the catious Jonny thats how I am

[salinen]

11. Studs Terkel

said it best. Because of the RW propaganda machine we all walk around leaning to the right. So when someone stands up straight, he is accused of being liberal.

[HFishbine]

15. As one of those "assholes"

I want to thank you on behalf of millions of others of assholes who support Dean for defending the losing ways of the DNC and insulting those of us working for progressive change. It's sure to help your candidate. Who is that anyway? You never mention him anymore.

[Bombtrack]

28. Dean doesn't have millions of supporters

unless they're imaginary

[Scott Lee]

34. Coming from a guy who just said "liberals" control the Dem party....

well, you know where that one's going.

[edzontar]

40. Assholes for Dean!!!!

Not like all those wonderful reasonable people who support the other candidates.

[Scott Lee]

41. Got my asshole on right here!

And a hearty POOT for they of other candidates....who are they again?

[flaminbats]

17. Did you mean Newt Gingrich or George McGovern?

Revelation 9:6-10 In those days men will seek death but will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

And the shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.

They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth.

And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle.

They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. And their power was to hurt men five months.

[dolstein]

18. I agree wholeheartedly -- shades of 1972

That was the last time the lunatics took over the asylum. Everything worked out great -- for Nixon, that is.

[HFishbine]

19. Shades?

That's a naive perspective that ignores present-day realities.

Even after Saddam Hussein was captured last weekend, all that some people could talk about was Howard Dean. Neither John Kerry nor Joe Lieberman could resist punctuating their cheers for an American victory with sour sideswipes at the front-runner they still cannot fathom (or catch up to). Pundits had a nearly unanimous take on the capture's political fallout: Dr. Dean, the one-issue candidate tethered to Iraq, was toast — or, as The Washington Post's Tom Shales memorably put it, "left looking like a monkey whose organ grinder had run away."

I am not a partisan of Dr. Dean or any other Democratic candidate. I don't know what will happen on Election Day 2004. But I do know this: the rise of Howard Dean is not your typical political Cinderella story. The constant comparisons made between him and George McGovern and Barry Goldwater — each of whom rode a wave of anger within his party to his doomed nomination — are facile. Yes, Dr. Dean's followers are angry about his signature issue, the war. Dr. Dean is marginalized in other ways as well: a heretofore obscure governor from a tiny state best known for its left-wing ice cream and gay civil unions, a flip-flopper on some pivotal issues and something of a hothead. This litany of flaws has been repeated at every juncture of the campaign this far, just as it is now. And yet the guy keeps coming back, surprising those in Washington and his own party who misunderstand the phenomenon and dismiss him.

The elusive piece of this phenomenon is cultural: the Internet. Rather than compare Dr. Dean to McGovern or Goldwater, it may make more sense to recall Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy. It was not until F.D.R.'s fireside chats on radio in 1933 that a medium in mass use for years became a political force. J.F.K. did the same for television, not only by vanquishing the camera-challenged Richard Nixon during the 1960 debates but by replacing the Eisenhower White House's prerecorded TV news conferences (which could be cleaned up with editing) with live broadcasts. Until Kennedy proved otherwise, most of Washington's wise men thought, as The New York Times columnist James Reston wrote in 1961, that a spontaneous televised press conference was "the goofiest idea since the Hula Hoop."

Such has been much of the reaction to the Dean campaign's breakthrough use of its chosen medium. In Washington, the Internet is still seen mainly as a high-velocity disseminator of gossip (Drudge) and rabidly partisan sharpshooting by self-publishing excoriators of the left and right. When used by campaigns, the Internet becomes a synonym for "the young," "geeks," "small contributors" and "upper middle class," as if it were an eccentric electronic cousin to direct-mail fund-raising run by the acne-prone members of a suburban high school's computer club. In other words, the political establishment has been blindsided by the Internet's growing sophistication as a political tool — and therefore blindsided by the Dean campaign — much as the music industry establishment was by file sharing and the major movie studios were by "The Blair Witch Project," the amateurish under-$100,000 movie that turned viral marketing on the Web into a financial mother lode.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/21/arts/21RICH.html?ei=5007&en=035abc452122c4ec&ex=1387342800&partner=USERLAND&pagewanted=print&position=n=

[sweetheart]

8. yea, like back in '72....

when the liberals taught those centrists a lesson they'll never forget when america swung forever to the left under macgovern. Wow! That liberal america is just east of the shire in middle earth. ;-)

While... back on THIS planet earth... the dean frienzy has all the great marks of a perot campaign...

Kucinich is a liberal... dean is a moderate.

[JohnKleeb]

10. It states Dean is not a liberal sweetheart but my point as made above

is that Dean himself has admitted to having trouble with the party's liberal wing as governor. I would prefer Kucinich to Dean anyday :P but maybe because I am biased :).

[cosmicdot]

14. that Watergate period was one of the fair and balanced ever

the playing field was flat; no cheating and corruption going on to blur historical perspective ... no sirree, bob ...

gee, Nixon didn't even 'debate' McGovern ...

[opihimoimoi]

25. What is it about Dean that makes the Pubs a bit nergis??

Forget all about the minutae of him being a libreal, 45% or other wise, it don't matter very much. What does matter is his message.

Its one of true hope, its one of reality, and one of promise.

Out of the pack of candidates, he looks like the best shot with the best odds of taking the BushCo outta there. He has laid his game Plan out and its working. True, not a single round of primary battle has been fired. If we take a hard look at the odds we see Dean is heavily favored.

In the meantime, the Pubs will be throwing everything they got at Dean hoping to stop the momoterium(lol). They will even use the Kitchen sink. Only because thats all they got, to go neg. They got no pos in their message.

And so it comes down to a gamble:::

What to invest in? Do we go with Bush and the status quo or do we take a chance on Dean.

A brief look and we see BushCo is a fraud and Dean is the Real Thing.

Come, its time for a change, vote for the best odds.

[John_H]

26. "They've" sure picked an odd vehicle

unless of course, like many Dean supporters, they can't see past the rhetoric and looked at the record.

[amazona]

27. I don't find Dean blazingly liberal

...but if he is giving liberals more of a voice, good for him.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

30. Good analysis. Dean is the boat being carried by the tide.

I'm backing Dean, not because he's the most "liberal", but because he is acting as the battering ram that opens the doors to the Democratic Party now closed to liberal/leftists.

Sharpton, Kucinich or Mosely-Braun have much more "liberal" resumes but, let's face facts - they'll never get the nomination.

And, as you say, if Dean does get it and loses, the left will take the heat. If one of those perceived as "moderate" get the nomination and loses, the DLC will still blame the left for not supporting him.

The one thing that can be said about The Idiot Son's presidency is that it has awakened the slumbering left. I don't think it's going to go to sleep again.

[Skwmom]

31. They are in for a rude awakening

if Dean ever takes office. It will be back to calling liberals boneheads and ridiculing them.

[mouse7]

35. Fatigued with McCarthyism toward Progressives

The neo-cons declared war on progressives, using basically the same rhetoric Joseph MCCarthy used, and only swapped the word "liberal" with "commie" and "red."

Just like during the times of the black lists, many of the people in Democratic Party enabled McCarthyism against progressives, or at least stayed silent on the sidelines as it happened.

When you look at the polling data on issues, the vast majority of Americans SHOULD be "liberals." They support progressive positions. However, because the neo-cons have controlled the debate, and many Dems allowed the to do it, We currently have complete GlOP control of the Government. White House. Congress. Supreme Court.

Well, that dog is a progressive. People like Dean, Kucinich, Sharpton, are saying the words that have needed to be said for more than 20 years. People shouldn't be ashamed of being progressive. Time for the progressive dog to sit on that centrist DLC tail.

[quaker bill]

36. Great post

The premise is sound. My experience indicates a mix of liberals and centrists in the Dean camp. Most interesting from what I have seen in the local meetups has been the near complete absence of the professional political set and paid movement activists. I know the local party and movement activists personally and did not see any of them there.

The campaign locally seems to be a collection of self-movitated volunteers, largely a collection of homeowners and college students, pretty normal folks from what I have seen.

[poskonig]

37. I *like* being a special interest for once.

Interesting article. Thanks for posting! :bounce:

[LiberalBushFan]

45. so by acting liberal in the primaries

in order to win the primary vote, when he in fact is not liberal at all, is called giving liberals a voice. Interesting spin, but a fanatical spin is all it is, and you know it. If liberals prop up a centrist, and centrist somehow wins the Presidency and acts like a centrist, that does not help liberals.