Arianna on Dean: DEAN, BOBBY, AND THE GHOST OF LANDSLIDES PAST

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

I have posted a few paragraphs from an email she sent. It is not yet available at www.Ariannaonline.com but I suspect it soon will be:

I swear, if I hear one more Democratic honcho say that Howard Dean is not
electable, I'm going to do something crazy (maybe that's what happened to
Britney in Vegas this weekend).

The contention is nothing short of idiotic.

Consider the source: the folks besmirching the Good Doctor's Election Day
viability are the very people who have driven the Democratic Party into
irrelevance. Who spearheaded the Party's resounding 2002 mid-term
defeats. Who kinda, sorta, but not really disagreed with President Bush
as he led us down the path of preemptive war with Iraq, irresponsible tax
cuts, and an unprecedented deficit.

Dean is electable precisely because he's making a decisive break with the
spinelessness and pussyfooting that have become the hallmark of the
Democratic Party.

So, please, no more hand-wringing about Dean being "another Dukakis". And
no more weepy flashbacks about having had your heart broken by George
McGovern, whose 1972 annihilation haunts the 2004 Democratic primaries
like a political Jacob Marley, shaking his chains and warning about the
Ghost of Landslides Past.

There is a historical parallel to Dean's candidacy. But it's not McGovern
in 1972, as the DLC-paranoiacs would like us to believe -- it's Bobby
Kennedy in 1968.


<snip>

In the same way that Kennedy was able to take his outrage over Vietnam and
expand it to include the outrages perpetrated at home, Dean has gone from
railing against the war to offering a New Social Contract for America's
Working Families that harkens back to the core message of FDR: "The test
of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who
have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

It's a message which Bobby Kennedy made central to his campaign but which
the Democratic Party has since abandoned.

[cprise]

1. bump!

:)

[candy331]

4. When the other candidates surpass

Dean, then tune your ears but till then Dean, Dean, Dean, and still more Dean, Dean, Dean.

[tridim]

2. Arianna has been way too quiet lately

Probably stunned by her new governor. Keep talking Arianna, America is listening.

[Khephra]

3. It's great to see her back!

And with a new book too!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. yeah but they shot Bobby

Still love Dean though. And I'm really sick of the Lieberman wing and their constant whining.

[hedda_foil]

6. I've been saying this for at least six months.

And yes, we do have to keep him safe. Because this man is making the life blood of the Democratic Party pump anew in the body politic. He is resurrecting the heart and soul of what made the party great and giving it a new birth of freedom for the 21st Century.

Do not think to put old labels on Dean's first decanting of strong Democratic wine in more than 30 long years. Liberal? Centrist? Progressive? Moderate? Conservative? Pragmatic? Ideological? No! What he is creating with our support is far larger, more expansive, more inclusive, and more American than any of those old ragged words.

This is about Democracy. This is about our Republic. This is about all of us.

[AndyTiedye]

7. That's What Worries Me

> There is a historical parallel to Dean's candidacy. But it's not McGovern
> in 1972, as the DLC-paranoiacs would like us to believe -- it's Bobby Kennedy in 1968.

Or JFK in 1963.

Might I suggest a flack jacket or other bulletproof attire
be added to the Dean wardrobe?

And NO SMALL AIRPLANES!

[DEM FAN]

8. Arianna Is GREAT. Great To Have Something From Her Again.

:loveya:

[dfong63]

9. right on

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. Glad I could post something that makes you happy

:D