Dean getting credit

[Mile Hi]

Finally Dean getting some credit.
Dean made a difference in this campaign.

http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040209/5909279s.htm

''He touched a nerve, and that jolted everyone else,'' says David Axelrod, a Chicago-based strategist for North Carolina Sen. John Edwards. ''When he had such early success, I think it forced a number of them to assess what they were doing out there.''

''Everybody did the same thing we did: They pulled words that Dean was using'' and adopted them for their own appeals, says Jano Cabrera, an aide to Sen. Joe Lieberman. The Connecticut senator withdrew from the contest last week. ''There was an entire period where all the candidates, including my guy, became 'angry.' ''

[Mile Hi]

1. Dean defined the campaign

[RetroLounge]

2. Okay, so Kerry is not bush-lite

maybe instead he's Dean-lite.

That's so much better. :eyes:

[blm]

5. Maybe Dean read the Conason article from August 2002 that said Kerry was

the only one that showed courage in challenging Bush. Deanwas still propping up Bush at the time, keeping Bush's leadership numbers up.

Kerry Shows Courage In Challenging Bush
Thursday, August 8, 2002 By: Joe Conason

New York Observer
>>>>>>>
But it was John Kerry who delivered the most interesting, substantive and challenging message. His subject was George W. Bush's shortcomings as a world leader.
The New York Times reported that Mr. Kerry "offered a long attack on Mr. Bush's foreign policy," although the paper gave short shrift to the details in the Senator''s speech. What he began to articulate was a Democratic critique of this administration''s blunt and myopic unilateralism, and a vision that restores international alliances to the center of American diplomacy.

He agrees with the objective of removing Saddam Hussein, but objected to the vague plans for what will replace the Iraqi dictatorship. He called the latest arms treaty with Russia a "cosmetic" one that inadequately safeguards decommissioned weapons. He denounced the "Cold War" approach to North Korea that has undone the progress achieved by the Clinton administration. He expressed scorn for the administration''s disengagement from the Middle East crisis before Sept. 11.


>>>>>>>>>>
There is, however, at least one benefit for Mr. Kerry in speaking out on those faraway places and problems. While his rivals sound as if they''re campaigning for the offices they already occupy, he sounds as if he is running for President.

In a sense, Mr. Kerry enjoys an unfair advantage that mitigates the burden of his home state. He''s a decorated Vietnam veteran whose Navy service may help shield him from attacks on his patriotism. Throughout his years in the Senate, that credential has allowed him to investigate and criticize disturbing excesses of American policy abroad, as he did when he probed U.S. aid to the contra gangsters in Nicaragua. (That rather lonely crusade made him a target of the notorious Arkansas Project, funded by Republican billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife to bring down President Clinton.)

Whether Mr. Kerry can engage the electorate in a discussion of America''s global responsibilities is far from certain. His own dispassionate style may hinder him. Yet he deserves great credit for reclaiming international leadership for his party when others cannot or will not.
>>>>>>>>>>


Dean on July 2002 MTP, propping up Bush after being shown clips of Kerry attacking Bush's leadership:

 MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe the military operation in Afghanistan has been successful?
       
       GOV. DEAN: Yes, I do, and I support the president in that military operation.
       
       MR. RUSSERT: The battle of Tora Bora was successful?
       
       GOV. DEAN: I’ve seen others criticize the president. I think it’s very easy to second-guess the
       commander-in-chief at a time of war. I don’t choose to engage in doing that.

[blm]

10. No reply to the truth?

.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

11. We should at least let them believe this

no need to waste energy arguing about who had spine when.

[mouse7]

15. I saw him on CSPAN saying the same things prior to August 2002

It was a taping of a mixer in NH where Dean was talking to people 1 on 1 with a camera trailing him.

[Deansspecialinterest]

13. Different wars, different problems

Dean was speaking of the military operation against the Taliban in Afghanistan, Kerry of the military operation against Iraq (remember, before his failure to find any WMD, Bush claimed that this was not about any single individual). Dean opposed the invasion of Iraq because he felt that the administration was not being honest with the American people (they weren't) and that the US should not engage in preemptive strikes, both of which were true of the Iraq invasion (which Kerry voted for) and not of the attack on Afghanistan. Kerry "agrees with the objective of removing Saddam Hussein" (which was actually not the stated objective of the war at its inception), which implies that he has no problem with preemptive strikes on the part of the United States, when there is no direct threat.

[blm]

16. Dean propped up Bush's FAILURE at Tora Bora.

It was specific to Bush's failed leadership on military strategy. It was not a matter of which war. Dean knew by then the strategy failed, yet he kept Bush propped up.


Dean was FOR pre-emptive war when he specifically stated he would have voted FOR Biden-Lugar bill whose provisions were mostly adopted by the IWR.


The greater point is that throughout 2002 Kerry was attacking Bush substantively and it was the media downplaying it. Once Dean started attacking the media gave him the stage for his entertainment value, not his substance.

[w4rma]

12. Heh, Dean-lite is so much better. (seriously) (n/t)

[NashVegas]

3. "We Come Not to Praise Dean, But to Bury Him"

Howard Dean may be limping toward the exits, but he has reshaped the Democratic presidential race he's leaving behind.

*sigh*

[Faygo Kid]

4. Thank you, Howard Dean

Looks like no nomination coming, but I thank Howard Dean for transplanting a spine into a Democratic Party that was a joke, absolute joke, in the 2002 elections. I bet he works hard for the nominee (yes, likely Kerry, let's be realistic here). Hope Dean does two other things: Keep the heat on for an honest November election, and serve in a Kerry cabinet (Secretary of Health and Human Services would be perfect for him).

[qwlauren35]

21. Actually...

The funny thing that nobody mentions - Dean would make an EXCELLENT surgeon general. If there was ever a position that he should be considered for, it's that one.

[MoonAndSun]

6. Dean is still making a difference,

I want him to take his message all the way to the convention. And I want Clark and DK to also be there with their supporters. All three have made a difference in this race against the establishement and the DLC. We need our voices heard at the convention, one way or another.

[CWebster]

7. This is like the networks apologizing

or running a retraction on the back pages only AFTER they accomplished their objective. Then it safe to acknowledge their actions, or plea their mea culpas or pay tribute to Dean, but no one discusses the underlying truth, so all the platitudes are simply that--good by and good riddance, the status quo is again stablised and Kerry is the beneficiary.

[LiberalEconomist]

9. Braveheart the movie version

Howard Dean is William Wallace and John Kerry is Robert Bruce.

Of course Mel Gibson's depiction of the Scottish struggle is not historically accurate. Wallace was no more of a warrior than Bruce. Bruce was the one who inflicted a mighty defeat against the English at Bannockburn. His army was smaller and half starved. Maybe Kerry will prove himself to be the real Bruce in the end.

[madfloridian]

8. Using past tense is not right.

That negates any good in the article.

[candy331]

14. Did notice in the article that Kerry aides

said it has nothing to do with their guys message that it would have changed w/o Dean. Surely better hope that it is true because the spine transplant is temporary and no amount of rejection medicine from Dean can fix a jellied spine candidate and a knockout punch can spell death or shall we say lost election?.......

[CWebster]

17. Yep, but well, he is playing his alpha male card with Bush now.

funny, ya look around and folks who wouldn't think of voting for Kerry two months ago are jumping on board....just because everyone else is.

Never ceases to amaze me how susceptible people are to this. That is why there were less people in the German resistance than jouned the Nazi cause. They done gone run with the pack.

[LiberalEconomist]

18. On the other hand...

let's not forget that in the early part of the campaign John Kerry was recovering from prostate surgery. And that ain't no cake walk. The physical stress takes a toll on one's ability to fight. Kerry is recovered now, and he is indeed showing some fight. Whether the differences in Kerry's behavior has to do with surgery or with Dean, we will never really know.

[CWebster]

19. Sorry, I don't buy that

Kerry is the same as he ever was, except he uses Dean's lines now.

[madfloridian]

20. Almost verbatim.

Almost exactly.