Instead of fighting, all Dems should be thanking Howard Dean

[Jersey Devil]

Dean shook them all the entire Democratic establishment and forced them to re-examine their positions, especially on the war. Before Dean started making headway with the grassroots of the Democratic Party many of the Democratic leaders were laying down for Bush and letting him do whatever he wanted. Dean changed the entire dynamics of the campaign by making the Dem pols realize that the core Democrats did not want Bush Lite but something far different. They wanted candidates who had the guts to stand up to Bush and fight him whenever he was wrong (like most of the time).

Without the Dean dynamic in this campaign I fear that the only "debate" amongst the Dems running now would be about who could look more like Bush.

I supported Dr Dean in his candidacy and continue to do so. It is far from over and anyone who says otherwise must have magical powers that can forsee the future.

I hope my guy wins. But even if he doesn't he has added something to this year's campaign that no one else had the ability to do and I think everyone owes him a debt of gratitude for doing it.

I know I can support virtually any of the other candidates (with one exception I won't discuss here) now based on their positions that Dean made them take time to re-examine.

So as far as I am concerned, no matter what Dean's final numbers are tonight, no matter where this primary process eventually leads, his ideas are the big winners in Iowa tonight and his principles will lead the way to the nomination.

After all, this campaign is about ideas and principles, not about individuals. Let's all remember that.

[lovedems]

1. Beautifully stated. n/t

[KCDem]

2. FWIW, Iowa historically isn't that important

Dean could still be our nominee--and our President! I'm not a Deanie. I'm still basically an ABB. But I respect what you wrote and think you're absolutely right. He's had a great influence on the party and its candidates.

Be disappointed tonight, but remember that it isn't over!

[AP]

4. Dean treated it like it was really important, and that's the problem for..

...him.

[AP]

3. He has given the Dems a Goliath to beat in the primary so that the nominee

can have the appearance of really having achieved something in the primaries.

If he's doing it on purpose, it's very galant of him.

If he's not, then he really took the bait.

[cindyw]

5. I may not support Dean, but I will agree with you on this.

"I hope my guy wins. But even if he doesn't he has added something to this year's campaign that no one else had the ability to do and I think everyone owes him a debt of gratitude for doing it."

He may not be my choice. I do not think he would make a good president, but there is no doubt of Dean's place in history, no matter what happens after today.

On to NH. May the best man win.

[DrBB]

6. One of the best threads I've seen tonight

Dean opened things wide--made it possible, hell, necessary for all the candidates to seriously confront the anti-war sentiment in this country. No question he has made a HUGE and POSITIVE difference in this campaign. He's not my primary candidate, but I'm damned if I'll chime in with the negativism I've been seeing here. The enemy is NOT the other Dem candidates, goddamit, not even Lieberman.

[Cuban_Liberal]

7. Well said, from an Edwards supporter!

Dr. Dean has done the heavy lifting and laid the groundwork for us to beat Bush next November, and that's something that all but the most cynical and jaded here should admit. We owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Dean, and I thank him for his work. :)

[caledesi]

10. Dean supporter, but I like Edwards. I only have one worry about

him in that he is so nice - if he becomes our nominee I hope he fights back bec the thugs will crush him.

[Cuban_Liberal]

12. He's got plenty of fight, and...

"he ain't scared of nu 'pubs!" ;)

[caledesi]

8. Exactly! The pink tutus came off after Dean. nt

[BeyondGeography]

9. Howard confronted the complacency of the party

and for that he did a great service. However, his is not a campaign of ideas, it's about confrontation, with a grass-roots wrapping. Policy-wise, there's not much separating him from any other Democrats. Pat Caddell (who I don't usually agree with) said tonight Dean hasn't had a message for a month.

"I'm not part of the Washington establishment" isn't much of an idea, especially when you spend all your time running around with or courting Washington insiders.

That said, I hope Dean stays strong, because the "establishment" needs to be shaken up. It will be interesting to see what direction his rhetoric takes from here.

[lurk_no_more]

14. Well said

And then there were none!
” JAFO”

[Guaranteed]

15. ...and confirmed it. nt

[Jersey Devil]

17. Very perceptive comment IMO

A salesman can get his foot in the door with a sharp line but once admitted inside has to have another gear he can shift into to complete the sale. Dean has to find that gear now.

[cprise]

20. What he accomplished in VT is nothing to sneeze at as 'rhetoric'

People should be ashamed of the intellectual dishonesty required to look down their nose at Dean like that.

Clark has shown an affinity for corporate lobbying and creating 'collateral damage'. Wait, I'm sorry, that's what neocons consider to be the unassailable sacrifice of service in Vietnam. And what does he give us now? Word-processor liberalism so over the top, it's bound to be phony.

[BeyondGeography]

22. I compliment your guy

and you slam mine. Did I say a word about Clark in relation to Dean?

Arggh, forget about it.

[Cuban_Liberal]

11. Kick

[Guaranteed]

13. I dunno...I'm starting to think they really DO want Bush-lite.

At least the Democrats do. They're afraid, you see, to give real opposition. That means that they have to say the same thing, or nearly the same thing, as Bush.

Of course, that makes it REALLY difficult to win. When you're just agreeing with the incumbent president....:shrug:

[cprise]

16. Taboo issues he put on the media-map :

* Re-Regulation of business

* Breaking up media conglomerates

* Injustice of the Iraq invasion

* Universal Healthcare (with a working example of how to start it!)

* Bush's incompetency ON THE DAY OF 9/11/01

[One Taste]

18. I thank Dean for making the Dem Primary a bigger story

than it would have been without him.

[nankerphelge]

19. Well stated

Whether you like it or not, Dean was the first and best to stand up to the nonsense. In April, John Kerry was giving speeches on funding for firefighters, when Dean was denouncing the war. Democrats need to grow a backbone and stop holding their fingers in the wind or let polling data decide their policy statements.

[arewethereyet]

21. not all dems

Edwards wrote his platform over a year ago and he's stuck with that and his record without wavering. He could do that because its that good.

[mourningdove92]

23. You beat me to it Jersey Devil.

I was planning on starting a thread with this theme. Of course, I believe you did a much better job than I would have.
We need to give credit where credit is due. Dean energized the party, took the fight right at Bush, opened the floodgates to dare to criticize the thief, and got America thinking again.

John Edwards is my 1st choice and I am thrilled at his success this evening. However, if Dean wins the nomination, I would be honored to vote for him. He has done us a great service.

:kick:

ABB, ABB, ABB, ABB, ABB, ABB, ABB, ABB, ABB, ABB, ABB, ABB!!!!

[xrepub]

24. I partially agree

I agree that we all should thank Dean for being the first to take on Bush. He did this at a time that many dems were afraid to call him out. I do not agree that that state of affairs would have continued to the present. Nor do I agree that the kind of anger projected by Dean would be the best thing for dems now.

I do thank him for what he started.

[onecitizen]

25. Amen!!

Can you imagine how boring this would have been had Dean not existed? There would be Joe,:boring: Kerry,:boring: Dick,:boring: all running around trying to be more bush than bush. Dean fired up everyone. He shed light on so many issues that needed light. The media attention would be nil(maybe THAT wouldn't be so bad). No one would be paying much attention,sadly. Dean stirred up many people who would never even have given a second thought about politics. I say, here's to you Doc, you are my hero!:toast:

[mourningdove92]

26. kick

:kick:

[shoopnyc123]

27. Lieberman would be at the top of the ticket...

...if it were not for Howard.

[frank frankly]

28. bravo bravo

that is what Dean has already done, and it is historical

thanks for saying it so well!

[Tatiana]

29. Agreed.

This is from another thread, but it fits in with this topic:


Ron Reagan actually made a good point on MSNBC with Tweety. Tweety played the video of Dean's rallying, "we're not gonna give up" speech. He was trying to bait Ron into saying something negative about Dean, I think. But Ron, to his credit made a wonderful point, which I think some of us should consider.

He said that regardless of whether Dean lost Iowa or not, ALL of the Democratic candidates have benefitted from Dean's candidacy. Dean brought about the fight and fire in Kerry. Dean helped Clark to get on point with his message. Dean's being the frontrunner, not only in this race, but as a national figure criticizing Bush when criticizing Bush wasn't popular, helped Edwards to slide in beneath criticism with his own populist message (irrespective of his voting record as a Senator).

If Dean isn't the nominee, whoever is should thank him. He's prepared our candidates for the Bush machine. He's showed us how to find alternative methods of fundraising. He's showed us alternative routes of grassroots organizing. Dean's campaign literally has revolutionized the way campaigning will be done in the future.

We ALL, as Democrats, owe him a great deal of gratitude.

[mourningdove92]

30. Well said, Tatiana

Thanks Doc. We needed a sharp, swift kick in the rump and thats what you gave us.

[LatinManNH]

31. Kick

and off to bed. Dean has energized the party and actually made the political season exciting. The reason the media pay so much attention to him--whether for good or ill--is that he does not follow the standard script of how politicians are supposed to speak or act. He has passion, which some call craziness, but which shows through as genuine. Good luck to Dean and all the candidates in NH.

[Zomby Woof]

32. lol

Dean shook them all the entire Democratic establishment and forced them to re-examine their positions, especially on the war.

How many times have I read this myth? DK needed no one else to shake him up against the war, nor is he part of the establishment.

I have NOTHING to thank Dean for. I can only hope Iowa was the beginning of the end for his campaign.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

34. fighting revisionist history

is damned hard isn't it?

[DrBB]

33. Gladly will I KICK this thread, again and again!

Dunno if it's off the front page, but it's a message a lot of us need to tune in on.

:kick:
:kick:
:kick: