Reid And Pelosi Say Howard Dean Won't Set Party Agenda

[Itsthetruth]

JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS

The Bush Budget; Paul Shanley Convicted of Child Rape

Aired February 7, 2005 -


WOODRUFF: All red flags no doubt to Washington's top two Democrats: Senator Minority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Both struggled to mount a Stop Dean movement in the DNC horse race. Their candidate former Indiana congressman and 9/11 commissioner Tim Roemer enjoyed a mini boomlet.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: His message of the Midwest and as a moderate Democrat was one I thought would be useful.

WOODRUFF: But Roemer's candidacy never really got off the ground and today he pulled out. When Dean's victory began to seem inevitable Pelosi and Reid put him on notice. He may have won over the members of the DNC, but they still set the party's agenda. Said, Reid, "the Democratic chairman as a constituency of 447 people. Our constituency is much larger than that." A sentiment Pelosi echoes.

PELOSI: The policy is made by the members of the Senate, the House the governors, mayors, all elected officials throughout our country. And that isn't the role of the party.

WOODRUFF: Still, Dean has bucked the establishment again, zeroing in on his party's grassroots and not the elites. Now with victory in the bag, he's starting to court the party leaders. We're seeing overtures to those Washington downs. A phone call with Reid last week. This from a man who knows the value of political relationships.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0502/07/ip.01.html

[hippiechick]

1. Pelosi really pisses me off.

More often than not.
JMHO.

[MsTryska]

2. woodruff pisses me off more tho. nt

nt

[fishwax]

3. What will it take for the Dem leaders to listen to popular voice?

I guess, perhaps, more mini-revolts like the election of Howard Dean to the DNC chair.

Anyway, they may be having a little tantrum now, but given time I think they'll come around. The rank and file are starting to demand action, and they can't ignore us forever.

[Riding this Donkey]

9. Amen

These so called leaders have taken us down the primrose path long enough! I am not a Deaniac but he was exactly the right person for our chair. Those who think that they are the party are in for a rude awakening and it's about time. You go Dean!

[fishwax]

17. I know a lot of people who share that attitude

they might not have backed dean in the primaries (I did, personally), but they desperately want the leadership to DO something.

It isn't their party. It's ours, dammit. We Are the Democratic Party.

[Skidmore]

22. Yup. They have way much more to lose than

Howard Dean does--like votes maybe.

[On the Road]

4. I Expect Dean's Response Will Be:

No, I won't set the party agenda, but I'll represent the positions of the DNC members who elected me. Especially the early supporters. I believe Dean will spearhead a huge transfer of power from the Washington leadership to the state leadership. Different animal. More successful.

[jswordy]

5. I would also note how the divisive elements are being hyped...

...by Shill Woodruff, once a respected journalist who debased herself by joining CNN.

I can tell you right now that Howard Dean has been meeting with and talking to everyone in the party leadership for months, and if you do not believe me, then please Google around and find the stories for yourself or go to DFA's Blog for America and read it there.

The Governor is building an internal consensus that, despite the best efforts of the news folks to highlight discord, will bring our party more closely together. Rather than a few bigtime pols like Pelosi, Reid, the Clintons and the Kennedys running things, Dean is going out to state chairs, state pols, and others and asking them, "What do you want to see done?"

I am telling you, you can measure a man by the strength of his enemies, and Howard Dean is going to consensus-build us a party we will all be proud of. The Pelosis and Clintons of the world will have a seat at that table -- but they WILL NOT exclusively run the show. Dean did that kind of consensus work as a governor, and he'll do it as party chairman. He will make us proud...just give him some time to do so.

UNDER EDIT...my spelling sux...but it's the thought that counts! Heh.

[BrklynLiberal]

12. Good thoughts and well said! He's the man!

[ladjf]

6. Great start there Pelosi. Way to go. That's the kind of Party

unity we've come to expect from the entrenched Democrats.

But, you'd better not mess with the Dr. too carelessly. The boy might hold a grudge.

[Skidmore]

7. Pelosi is wrong

because the DNC Chairman does have the constituency of the entire membership, not just the party committee. This is exactly what's wrong with the Dem Party generally. The politicians seems to think that the DNC is a service organization/political consultation firm for them. They don't recognize it as the voice of the people who will develop and support its platform, if it is a good one.

Pelosi is irritating me mightily. Her office will get a call from me tomorrow regarding this. As long as the Democratic "leadership" keeps dissing the grassroots, they will lose. They need to hear this.

[jswordy]

11. That's EXACTLY what is has become...

"a service organization/political consultation firm" for the bigshots. Even Robert Reich said yesterday the Democratic party has ceased to exist except as a fundraising organization.

Dean will have to do a delicate balancing act, but I believe he will build a helluva party when it's all done. And he'll do it pretty quietly, contrary to the expectations of all his enemies.

[redqueen]

8. Why are they trying so hard to foment discord?

[GiovanniC]

10. Your Constituency Wants You to Knock Off the Bullshit and Fight Bush

You hear that Nancy? You hear that, Reid? FIGHT BUSH.

If you spent HALF the motherfucking energy fighting Bush that you spent fighting Dean, we might actually get somewhere. Dumb fuckers.

One of these days, the Democratic Party might start actually representing Democrats.

[redqueen]

13. What you said.

I'm so tired.

[Skidmore]

15. Guys, we need to call and write these people about this.

Keep hammering away. They didn't get that there was even a problem of any sort until they were practically bludgeoned with it. Talk about clueless. Lost elections weren't message enough. Over the past few years they've ignored e-mails, phone calls, and letters by pretty much developing some boilerplate doublespeak and yammering away with it to address every question. The Dems have just as many questions to answer to us for as the Rs do.

[CityDem]

19. Stop fighting Dean

I couldn't agree more. Searchlight Harry and Botox Pelosi should stop fighting Dean and start fighting Bush. Dean has a national following and credibility with progressives. Reid and Pelosi are a couple of inside the beltway politcal hacks -- they are really pissing people off.

[BuyingThyme]

14. The Obvious Point: HE ALREADY DID!

(Set the agenda, that is.)

Somebody needs to tell Reid and Pelosi that they already lost this one.

[jswordy]

16. By the way, this is a LIE, Judy!

TRANSCRIPT: "American say they are divided in their opinion of Dean with slightly more having an unfavorable view of him."

I read that poll this morning...38 percent unfavorable, 31 percent favorable. Hmmm....let's see, 31 plus 38 is 69....

WHY, THAT MEANS 31 PERCENT HAVE NO OPINION EITHER WAY! ALMOST A THIRD!

Gee...could that mean that only 4 in 10 Americans have an unfavorable view of Dean? That 60 PERCENT either view him favorably or have no opinion?

Not in the smarmy world of Shill Woodruff!

[Itsthetruth]

18. Howard Dean Being Suckered?

CounterPunch
February 2, 2005

The Suckering of Howard Dean
The Establishment Corrals the Deaniacs
By JOSHUA FRANK

Many Democrats seem to think Dean's future ascendance to the throne of the DNC will breathe new life into their dead party. They are right about one thing -- the party is out cold -- even so, Dean is not likely to resurrect its corpse.

Washington insiders are ecstatic that Dean will rush his grassroots enthusiasts right through the stodgy gates of the Democratic establishment. They hope the ex-Vermont Governor can corral these anti-war Deaniacs, and keep them well situated within the confines of the party.

Letting them flee would be the worst mistake they could make. The Democrats need their money and party loyalty -- indeed they are the Democrats only life-support.

Plus, Dean's symbolic role will most likely eliminate any chance of a presidential run in 2008. In fact Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has more to say with regard to Dem policy than Dean ever will.

The Democratic loyalists who will cast their vote for Howard Dean realize the DNC chair post is the best place to situate the mangy pest. Slap ol' Dean in a position that has little to do with policy, and much to do with corporate fundraising, they say -- we'll at least get his grassroots cash.

Best of all it'll shut the guy up. No more tangents. No more unscripted interviews. He'll have to tout the party line at every turn. Which is all any of the party elite ever wanted anyway.

http://www.counterpunch.org/frank02022005.html

[jswordy]

20. CounterPunch...

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[madfloridian]

21. Dean spoke on this at the NYC forum. Reid and Scalia

I will have to transcribe exact words from the video, but here is part of it. He did say he would have things to say at times. I believe he said Condi Rice's appt. was a foregone conclusion, and indicated he would not have said anything...sort of a pick your battles.

The segment from a NYT article got the sentiment:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/02/politics/02dean.html?oref=login&oref=login&th

SNIP..."As chairman, Dr. Dean would not only become one of the leading voices of the party, but would also be responsible for raising money and continuing Mr. McAuliffe's effort to build a party organization in preparation for the 2006 and 2008 elections. His prominence is likely to diminish as the party's presidential candidates for 2008 start to emerge.

Dr. Dean is moving to the forefront of Washington politics at a moment when the party, seen as lacking any obvious leaders in the wake of the November defeat of Tom Daschle, the Senate minority leader, has been struggling to define its case against Mr. Bush on the war in Iraq and on overhauling Social Security.

Dr. Dean has already shown that he may not be willing to be the traditional deferential party chairman, declaring, for example, that he would have opposed the nomination of Alberto R. Gonzales for attorney general and criticizing Senator Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, for saying he would support Justice Antonin Scalia to be chief justice."

He said that is not where most Democrats are, and he made it clear he would have spoken out on it.

This is still at C-Span, I believe. He was pretty outspoken. I don't think we need to worry about his being too silent.

[IrateCitizen]

23. Pelosi has completely lost me...

She's an establishment hack, someone who identifies far, far more with the moneyed rich than she does with the majority of the Democratic Party. And it's beginning to show.

I remember back when she was running for Minority Leader an article I read that profiled one of her challengers. I'm not talking about Harold Ford or Martin Frost -- I'm talking about Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur. Kaptur had the crazy idea that the party on a national level should support active grassroots outreach efforts -- even to the point of helping to promote regional bake-sales and the like for party fundraisers.

Kaptur was dismissed as being from another planet by many operatives within the party. Pelosi was embraced not because she was a liberal, but rather because she was a prolific fundraiser among wealthy donors. She's actually probably considerably LESS liberal than her SF district's constituents, overall.

This is the problem with pols like Pelosi, and why they end up making me dislike them even more each time they open their mouths. They act as if the Democratic Party is supposed to work for THEM, that THEY are the ones who develop policy positions and carry them out, and it's up to all of us to just shut up and like it. Kaptur's philosophy was the exact opposite of this -- that we could be successful by LISTENING to constituents on issues and taking our lead from them, and by DECENTRALIZING the party in the process to make it more of a true people's party. I think that Dean echoes this a bit, especially with his goal of deferring a lot of control out of DC and into state parties.

Of course, such a course scares the hell out of professional politicians like Pelosi, whose power is dependent upon maintaining Beltway control over the entire party apparatus. And that just convinces me more and more that people like Pelosi will eventually have to fall by the wayside for pols who are more committed to truly representing the people if the Democratic Party is to really become a dominant force in politics again.

[Skidmore]

24. So when someone is chosen for Minority Leader, what does it

take to get a new person in that position? How often is it voted on? Is it associated with the term, or do they just get voted in that position until they get voted out of Congress? Can the people call for the person in that position to be changed?

[IrateCitizen]

27. It's voted on by the Democratic House membership

Every two years, I believe. However, when someone attains that position, it isn't too often that they're actually contested.

[Skidmore]

28. Are you aware of any circumstances when the

grassroots membership demanded new leadership in that position and a contest resulted from that demand?

[Itsthetruth]

25. Reid Would Support Scalia????

Senator Reid said he would support Scalia for chief justice?

Well, if that's true the nomination is in the bag!

I'd like to see a source for that.

[IrateCitizen]

26. He said it, I believe, on Meet the Press...

It was highly publicized after his appearance on one of the Sunday-morning gabfests.

[Placebo]

29. "The Democratic chairman as a constituency of 447 people...

our constituency is much larger than that."

I'm loving Reid more and more these days, and he's so right on that one. At least Dean is talking like he won't try and push policy but work more toward infrastructure and organizational type goals, but we'll see if he can avoid letting his ego get in the way.

[Skidmore]

32. Dean will affect policy development by the type of voters and

resources he can marshall to support a platform set by party membership. I'm looking forward to the changes he can bring. The leadership in the party has its collective head so firmly ensconced in its collective butt, it can no longer see daylight. Explain the vapid and glaring stupidity of the past three elections.

[madfloridian]

34. Wait, are you sure you agree with that?

I thought the constituency was all of us, not just Reid's or Pelosi's constituents in their districts.

They are the minority leaders of all of us. If Reid is anti-choice, and Pelosi picked Roemer...then are they really speaking for the majority of Democrats?

Dean was chosen in spite of what the congressional leaders wanted, but now they want us to let them set the agenda. I don't think it will work that way.

They let the war go through, they have allowed the dismantling of Medicare, and are talking about Social Security. They are acting anti-choice more and more.

If Dean does not speak up on some issues, we still have our groups that will.

[aintitfunny]

30. Whoever sets the agenda

better pay attention to the people supporting the party. They have not done so in the past and therefore have been part of the problem.

[Emboldened Chimp]

31. In Reid's case, his consultant, Joe Hansen, will lose business...

...if Dean becomes chair, because he will change how the Dems raise and spend money. That's where the real fear is. It isn't ideological; it's about money.

[Skidmore]

33. That's fine with me. Paid consultants are part of the problem

and I don't see them as part of the solution. When your livelihood depends on gaming a system, you can't serve the people. You serve yourself.

[UdoKier]

35. While they may technically be right, it's not the right foot to get off on

They should be wishing him well, not trying to undermine him from day one.

He is bound to be a huge improvement over McAuliffe, why not support him while he's getting to know the ropes?

[madfloridian]

36. What Reid said about Scalia....I am glad Dean opposed this.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1107783311912
SNIP..."Scalia got an unsolicited boost in December from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. He suggested he would be open to elevating Scalia, calling the justice a "smart guy." Reid described Thomas as "an embarrassment."

Liberal groups such as People for the American Way say they are ready to attack Scalia's 18-year record against abortion and plan to highlight his browbeating dissents attacking colleagues."

Dean was highly critical on Meet the Press recently of Scalia's temperament as a judge. Would have to look it up.

Dean in the NYC forum had something to say about Reid's advocacy for Scalia...he did not like it.

[BlueInRed]

37. If Dean does nothing but firmly state consensus opinions with backbone

it will be a huge improvement to what we have now. Dean can stand his ground in defending consensus opinions better than most of the people I've seen on the talk shows.

Even if he's not pushing to change policy, just having him defend positions would be a big help. They can't make him back down from being a Democrat. That's his ultimate strength.

[Itsthetruth]

38. Will Dean Help Democratic Party Bosses?

I'd like to know what a "consensus" opinion is and how's it arrived at in the Democratic Party. I suppose if you avoid little issues like the Iraq war, civil liberties and trade agreements you can arrive at a consensus.

So the big question is: Will Dean in fact prove to be a big help in defending Democratic Party positions, when it does take a position, that are unpopular with many rank and file and liberal Democrats.

If the answer is yes, Dean could prove very useful to more conservative and corporate minded Democratic office holders.

[BlueInRed]

41. My point is that even if someone else decides the policy

Dean is great at defending policy with well-reasoned arguments, facts and such. He also doesn't back down in the face of pitbulls like Russert.

If for example, Reid and Pelosi lead the way on policy, Dean could probably defend and promote those policy choices better than either of those two.

If Dean did nothing but follow the platform, I'd be fine. And, I believe the platform is supposed to represent the consensus.

If you're hoping Dean will take on our own elected Democrats, I wouldn't hold my breath. He may do it occasionally, but I'm not expecting that, and if he did, he'd be breaking promises he made to get the job.

[Cleita]

39. Dean I'm sure will do is job to the best of his ability and

within the power structure that he is able to do so, but I hope Democrats don't expect miracles.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

40. oh the DLCers resist the will of the people who put them where they are

FOOLS