Clark labeled as moderate; Dean as left wing. What gives?

[blkgrl]

Their stances are very similar, why the disparity in labels?

Both Clark and Dean were against the war.
Both Clark and Dean are for affirmative action.
Both Clark and Dean are for gay marriage/gays in the military.
etc. etc. etc.

[cherryperry]

1. There is just no way in

hell that Dean can in any way be considered left wing.

That is just bizarre!

Do you know who is labelling him as such?

[ButterflyBlood]

4. the media, the freepers, various people here like Bombtrack...

n/t

[Julien Sorel]

2. The power of the stars.

[Oracle]

3. Nothing wrong with left-wing...

Why do you believe there is?

Progressive liberals are good words...liberal; to allow personal freedoms, tolerant, to accept change, not stagnate.

[blkgrl]

7. The media has turned it into this dirty, naughty

word by constantly saying that Dean is too "left wing" to get the nomination. Regular folks may interpret that label in a negative way.

[Oracle]

10. Screw the media, they want milk toast corporate kissing...

moderate robots, and they are trying to make people believe that's what most people want...bullshit!

Conservative...that's a dirty word...against change or innovations, status quo, moderate!

[QC]

5. "The Democratic wing of the Democratic Party."

Dean himself has a lot to do with the perception that he is the most liberal candidate.

[Demobrat]

11. Signing the first gay civil union bill into law probably

has something to do with it too. There are those who consider equal rights to be liberal, in a said by a rightwing pundit with a sucking lemons look on his/her face kind of way.

[Evanstondem]

15. No

Shouldn't "The Democratic wing of the Democratic Party" be smack in the ideological center of the Democratic party?

[QC]

21. The phrase is identified with Paul Wellstone, a proud liberal.

[Skwmom]

22. You're right.

That and calling the other candidates "Bushlite."

[leetrisck]

6. They are all

very good candidates

[unfrigginreal]

8. The case could be made that Clark is more liberal than Dean...

but that might upset the crowd that's "blinded by stars."

[salin]

18. which group?

Seem to be a couple of camps that appear to fall into that category ;-) I like both candidates, myself.

[Brucey]

9. I think Dean was called liberal

because he spoke out against the war, and then the label stuck no matter his stance on other issues. Clark wears a military uniform, that automatically makes it impossible for the media or most people to call him a liberal. What's in a word? Quite a lot, it turns out.

[Code_Name_D]

12. For gods sake, don't trust the media!

Dean is too liberal. Clark is to moderate. Kerry cuts his hair in a deviant way. Take it from me, this is complete and total gibberish. Next time they say, "Dean is too liberal," ask your self, "what do they mean by 'liberal?" And then expect this question to not be answered.

The problem with the word "liberal" is that it has two definition. One is the one we are familiar with because where here on the DU have a say in defining it. But its not the same thing as what you may read in a dictionary. "Liberalism" is more than a list off issues and our position on the. But a philosophical and pragmatic approach to how we examine issues. And what that philosophy happens to be could fill encyclopaedias. So it's not so easy to define. That is why we use "liberal," because it represents a whole school of thinking.

But then there is the other definition. The one coined by the pig man himself, who equates Librium with socialism, communism, anti-American, anti-Semitic, fascism,, evil, Satanism and just about any other epithet he can think of.

The rest of us are fooled into thinking that when Fox news calls Dean "too liberal" that they even know what they are talking about. Just because they understand how to pronounce a word, doesn't mean there is any context to what they are saying.

Let me explain it in another way. Remember the reading comprehension test for the SAT tests that most of you had to take in school? You would be given about a half a page of contents to read. Something about say the Roman Coliseums or Jack and his Dog. Following that would be about 10 questions. You are suppose to read the paragraphs for comprehension then answer the questions using what you retained with your comprehension.

Well, if you do that for Faux News, or CNN, you would discover that their is nothing their. Their is no context, no meaning, no details, no examples, just a bunch of words with ambiguous definitions strung together to make a "correct sentence." If you aren't constrained by meaning, than calling Dean a liberal, or a moderate, nor what ever, may as well be calling Dean... nothing. You have no frame of reference for what is liberal by which Dean would qualify for the term. And this lack of definition lets pig boy call liberalism what ever he wants. But Rush just simply throws out more empathy words such as socialism, communism, and fascism. If you truly understood what these things actually were, you would realized that communism and fascism are contradictory terms. You can not be a communist and a fascist at the same time, any more than you can be a man and a woman at the same time.

When ever the press calls Dean a liberal, they are using this as an excuse to not cover Dean's campaign message, or to not talk about what he may have meant with last nights speech. And they trick the rest of you into carrying on with a meaningless dialog.

[cherryperry]

13. Cut that out!

...if you don't, I'll get a serious crush on you and your brain!

:hi:

[Renew Deal]

14. Clark and Dean are both against gay marriage. They are...

for civil unions.

[Donna Zen]

17. Clark will have a webcast

Tomorrow morning at 6:30 to speak to the draftclark people.

[ryharrin]

25. I don't think Dean is against gay marriage, he just doesn't think it's the

government's business. Civil unions on the other hand are.

[MrPrax]

16. Clark is Clinton

This the GOP rap...Clark is a way for the Clintons to get back into the WH and split the Dean vote...
The second part is probably right.

But I am sure Clark can follow a script as well as Dean so I don't buy the conspiracy garbage

[Tinoire]

19. There's no etc etc there.

Dean says he has broken with the DLC whereas Clark is the DLC's new guy.

NO etc, etc there. THAT'S WHAT GIVES

[w4rma]

20. I think you're right

I'm not really sure I understand what is going on with this though.

[Tinoire]

24. Yepper

The DLC realized there was NO WAY in hell one of their DLC poster boys was going to win this election so they started grooming Clark to be their new candidate. He's a total unknown, except for all the face time (read name recognition) he got on CNN and now they're writing his stance on the issues as they go (all these Clark-supporter-started polls at DU are probably to help with that very analysis) and presenting him to the American people as the ultimate Liberal (on Progressive boards) and the ultimate Moderate (on the Independent Boards).

Is it the connection to the DLC you're looking for?

[friendofbenn]

23. they are both moderates

dean is running left to appeal to the primary voter. once he gets the nomination he'll run to the center and stay there