End of the affair: Democrats move to ditch Dean

[T_i_B]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=489725

Surely, it is among the most astounding political implosions of modern times. The conventional and hitherto almost infallible wisdom has been that the candidate who entered the new year ahead in the polls and with the most money invariably won his party's nomination to run for president.

Instead, in barely three weeks remarkable even by the volatile standards of America politics, Howard Dean has faded from overwhelming favourite to rank outsider. But however devastating his collapse, he has blazed the trail that could end with another Democrat recapturing the White House this November.

Eventually, Mr Dean's brutal honesty caught up with him. Saddam Hussein's capture would not make the US any safer, he said. True perhaps, but hardly a politic remark. He then suggested Osama bin Laden should enjoy due process. Next, the anti-establishment candidate secured the endorsement of the former vice president Al Gore, the supreme insider. The rebel lost some of his fire. Uncharacteristically, he began to pander, for instance suddenly talking about his religion in a bid to woo southern voters. He put in a couple of insipid debate performances, and grew snappy on the stump. Then on 19 January, the Iowa caucuses turned the Democratic race on its head. Much has been made of Mr Dean's post-defeat "I have a Scream" rant to campaign workers. Maybe it was overplayed by broadcast and 24 hour cable networks (clips of it were shown 633 times in four days). Inevitably, the episode was mercilessly pilloried on the internet and by late-night talk-show hosts.

But the real damage had been done earlier that evening, when Iowa's voters relegated Mr Dean to an abject third in the caucuses. Mr Kerry never looked back. In New Hampshire, a rash of red front-garden posters told the story, "Dated Dean. Married Kerry". Democrats in the two states of face-to-face politics had inspected the former Vermont governor and decided they did not want him to carry their standard for the presidency.

[ShaneGR]

1. The Dean campaign will be pondered and studied for years

The fire. The internet fundraising. The gaffes. The successes. The Scream. The Insider. The outsider. The liberal. The conservative-moderate.

[Atlant]

2. Which is why some of us are moving to ditch the Democrats. (NT)

[polmaven]

3. Buh-bye!

:nopity:

[izzie]

4. Sorry to see it but it is how things go.

He may have woke up a lot of people so did a lot of good.

[polmaven]

8. I agree, izzie..

My salutation is to folks who come on Democratic(big D)Underground and then "threaten" to "dump the Democrats" because they don't get their own way. Well, sorry to see you go, but, as Senator Kerry would say, "don't let the door hit you on the way out".

[DemBones DemBones]

6. The author is talking about Democratic VOTERS

who have not been crazy about Dean. Read the whole article or see my post below for more details.

[DemBones DemBones]

5. Odd choice of title for this article, I thought.

"End of the affair: Democrats move to ditch Dean" sounded, to me, to indicate the article would describe DNC or DLC machinations to get Dean out of the race, but the article actually says the opposite.

The author acknowledges that

"Many in the Democratic establishment were horrified by the prospect of Mr Dean as nominee, fearing an electoral rout to match that of George McGovern in 1972,"

but goes on to state

"But to say Mr Dean was the victim of a media/ insider conspiracy is nonsense. Mr Dean destroyed himself."

He also points out:

"But the hard-edged man from Vermont inspired enthusiasm rather than affection. As front-runner - and a politician little known at a national level - intense media scrutiny was inevitable, as polls and punditry gave way to real primary voting."

[T_i_B]

10. Hmmm...

By the same token, whilst some of his gaffes appear to have been just that some have been spun out of all recognition. Some may even have been true. From the article.

Eventually, Mr Dean's brutal honesty caught up with him. Saddam Hussein's capture would not make the US any safer, he said. True perhaps, but hardly a politic remark.

Plus the article does credit Dean for galvanizing people, including rival candidates. All in all it's actually a bit of an even handed article, which is nice to see every once in a while.

Mr Dean's scathing attacks on the President, his denunciation of tax cuts lavished on the rich and his criticism of the Congressional Democrats for their failure to confront the Republican juggernaut, all galvanised the contest.

His best lines were un-ashamedly stolen by his rivals, witness the transformation of the stump speech of John Kerry, the front-runner, from tedious lecture to stinging tirade against the Bush administration. That has united the Democratic field against Mr Bush, rather than set them against each other, so much so that polls show Mr Kerry running ahead of Mr Bush if an election were held tomorrow.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. spot on

as you say there.

[mopinko]

9. excuse me

"Howard Dean has faded from overwhelming favourite to rank outsider."

not quite, he is in second place, and far from mathematically eliminated.

[Mass_Liberal]

11. if honesty

is a reason to be ditched by the Party, than that is shameful.