Dean Losing Support on Left For His Stances on Its Issues

[Renew Deal]

Dean Losing Support on Left For His Stances on Its Issues
By E.J. KESSLER
FORWARD STAFF
Howard Dean has rocketed to the front of the Democratic presidential pack with his angry, outsider style and his overt appeals to the anti-war left. But even as the former Vermont governor galvanizes the party's left flank, many liberals are voicing concern over his stances on some of their most cherished issues.
Many single-issue activists who work on Middle East peace, gun control and drug policy reform — including some who say they were initially attracted to Dean — are becoming increasingly vocal in opposing him. Some are speaking about a "reassessment" on the left and warn darkly that Dean's stands are already costing him support among core Democrats.

"Howard Dean could be the worst of both worlds for progressives," said Norman Solomon, a columnist and figure on the left on the West Coast. "He's not a true progressive, but he's been tarred as being this kind of Birkenstock leftist. What's the payoff here?"

Privately, Dean's supporters say that the opposition of activists such as proponents of Palestinian rights can only help Dean by drawing a bright line between him and the other candidate competing for the hardcore anti-war vote, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. To a certain extent, their argument goes, a backlash from the left will aid Dean when he needs to tack more to the center in some of the more conservative primary states. Dean's rhetoric is already moving right: In an August 15 speech to Iowa's Hawkeye Labor Council, he touted his support for balanced budgets and the first Gulf War.

Some analysts think Dean will not lose that much support when people look more closely at his stances, because his support on the left comes more from "outsiders" than it does from "ideological" liberals — perhaps an 80-20 split. His moderate stands on issues the left holds dear will hurt him only if he is seen to have a credibility problem, because he has staked so much on the image of himself as a straight shooter.

"Only if the argument 'Howard Dean is a moderate' is commuted to 'Howard Dean is a phony' are his prospects fundamentally altered,"

said independent analyst Stuart Rothenberg.


http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.08.22/news3a.html

[wndycty]

1. Edit this post. . .

. . .please only provide a few paragraphs.

[realFedUp]

2. No one thinks he's a liberal.

So, who's your dog in this race bleachers or are you
just a plant?

[Paschall]

3. Please take a look at the DU posting rules

And edit this post down to 3-5 paragraphs.

[Booberdawg]

4. Oh goody - Another new member with Dean dirt

:eyes:

I'm not even going to bother to read it. :boring:

[Renew Deal]

6. Keep crying

I had seen this days ago.

[Booberdawg]

9. Who's crying? And so you admit your only point is revenge???

:boring:

That was my original point, in case you missed it.


Under the Bleachers, by Seemore Butts

on edit: you edited the revenge part of your post.:eyes:

[Northwind]

5. Wasn't this

posted already about a week ago?

[charlie]

7. Just a couple of days ago

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=216775

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=108&topic_id=23933

[Renew Deal]

8. Too bad I missed it.

It's up to you what you ant to do with he info.

[caledesi]

17. Well that is sure a surprise since his challenge for 1 million dollars

is going very well. www.deanforamerica.com

Where are the people he's losing?

[opstachuck]

10. 15000 people in seattle might disagree

http://thomas-media.com/dean/

[Renew Deal]

11. They might be wrong.

[opstachuck]

15. or maybe they're all lost?

you can't be 'wrong' in defining someone as left or right because it's a subjective valuation. the point is, my shoes hurt.

[HereSince1628]

14. Can you give me a link to a published crowd estimate?

I thought I saw a link on buzzflash yesterday but I couldn't find it this morning.

[opstachuck]

21. it was more like 8-10 thousand, still impressive though

15,000 was the propaganda from the dean website. here's an article i just found...
seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001608243_dean25m.html

[Walt Starr]

12. Ahhh, wake up alarm, morning coffee, a danish, and the requisite

Dean bashing thread from Bleacher.

It's definitely Monday morning.

[AWD]

13. Another frightened person.....

...really scares you, doesn't it???

Keep trying.

[ClintonTyree]

16. Single issue activists...................

seriously, how many "single issue activists" are there? If these people are going to cast their ballot on the weight of a single issue, they're wasting their vote. An intellectually active person looks at the big picture, IMO. I don't worry about this crap much.

[Khephra]

18. The writer of this piece seems to be a one-trick pony

Democrats have yet to craft a national message
http://www.thejournalnews.com/kessler/

Bush Bid for Jews' Votes Zeroes In on Gen X
GOP Nurtures Cadre of Activists
http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.07.11/news1a.html

Orthodox, Hawks Blasting Joe For Remarks on Mideast Trip
http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.01.10/news2.html

Spotlight Moves to Lieberman's Children After Campaign Shuffle
http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.07.18/news.extra.html

Now is the time for finger-pointing.
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/110702/kessler1107.html

(It's interesting that all the articles I could find that are of recent origin are all critical of Democrats or primarily about their weaknesses.)

...............

Kessler is a native of Rockland County who writes an exclusive column for The Journal News.

Kessler has written for a number of New York area publications, including the New York Post, The Forward, Newday and the Wall Street Journal. Her main interests are the politics of New York state and the lower Hudson valley.

http://www.thejournalnews.com/staff/kessler_bio.html

[caledesi]

19. The person that should be worried about support is Bush!

[otohara]

20. Locking - Double Dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=216775

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=108&topic_id=23933

[mandyky]

22. My single issue is to send Bush, DeLay & Ashcroft back to TX

Yeah, I know Ashcroft is from MO. but they don't want him back.

While I am a flaming liberal, Dean addresses the main issues fine for me. While Dean may be losing some lefties to DK, due to heavy recruiting, Dean is expanding his base from Independents, swing voters and even moderate republicans.

Hopefully, when Dean wins the nomination, all these one issue folks will come back and support his campaign.