Repuke ammo against Dean (moved from GD forum)

[The Blue Flower]

Forgive me if this has already been discussed. I only just heard it last night. Someone whose political judgement I respect said that one of the reasons the r's want Dean as the Democratic candidate is that it will be easy to shoot him down over his work at Planned Parenthood. How? By characterizing him as an abortionist, even though the record shows that that PP office didn't do abortions during Dean's term there. As the person last night said, "No one--but no one--will put an abortionist in the White House." This particular weapon won't be used in the run-up to the convention. It will only happen once he becomes the Demo candidate. If there is truth in what this person said, the Dean campaign must get this issue out on the table right away to neutralize it. It is the single most divisive issue in the US. I believe Dean can neutralize it and turn it into a discussion about the need for compassion and positive action to prevent abortions. But it must be on the table before the convention.

[mopinko]

1. choice is already on the table

and the dems are for it. the winner of the 1992, 1996, and 2000 election stood squarely for choice, and won. so what's the issue?

[gristy]

2. Um, I think only mods can move threads between forums

What you've done is posted the same thread in two different forums, which is against the rules.

[SheilaT]

3. All of this silliness about Dean being the candidate

the Republicans want because he'd be so easy to beat is just that: silliness. Because Dean is so very much the front runner, these rumors are being planted precisely to demoralize his support. Ignore them. Just as supporters of all the other candidates need to ignore such rumors or claims that only candidate X can beat Bush, or candidate Y cannot possibly beat Bush.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: any one of the top three or five of the Dems currently running would beat Bush in a free, fair, and honest election. They all have specific negatives which would be one focus during the general election campaign. They all have unique strengths. What we have to concern ourselves with are, one, making sure that this is a free, fair and honest campaign; and two, never letting up on making sure everyone knows what Bush has done to this country since the coup that put him in power.