Dean: "and I've heard that song before." At his counter inaugural party.

[madfloridian]

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~6284~2665776,00.html

Gov. Dean appears at 'Un-auguration'

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) -- Former Gov. Howard Dean addressed about 250 supporters last evening at an event his political organization billed an "Un-auguration" to counter the inauguration of President George W. Bush.

Quoting from what he said was a Crosby Stills & Nash song, Dean told the crowd " 'The darkest hour is before the dawn. We've had our darkest hour' January 20, 2001."

Dean is a candidate to become chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

"It's all uphill from here, baby," Dean told the audience of supporters old and new.

"I don't know what's going to happen. Everybody says, 'yeah, you're doing great. You're way ahead.' And I've heard that song before," said Dean as the audience roared....."

And it will not be easy. I just found this interestng.

[patrice]

1. There is a "picture" of Lord Krsna . . . .

and a Dean sign on my study door.

America is in my prayers.

[janx]

2. As to the prayers part--

same here.

There is a sign on my old Jeep Wrangler:

[patrice]

3. Motorcycles too, of course.

And really great camping places.

The real America is really beautiful, inspite of all of this horrible W. Bushit War!!!

[janx]

6. It certainly is.

The people are gorgeous and the places are beautiful. I hate to see it wrecked by some weird fundamentalist and imperialist mindset.

[Kipepeo]

17. Do you know if there are stickers

like that?

[Carolab]

4. Thoughts on Dean for DNC chair from an e-mail I received

Howard Dean - Former Gov., pro gun, pro gay rights, pro health care.

Tim Roemer - Former Indiana Congressman, member of the Sept. 11
commission, is against a Womans Right to Choose, is pro-privatization of
Soc. Security, is very conservative and was a lobbyist for the energy
industry on K Street for a while. He is endorsed by Con. Nancy Pelosi
(Cal.) and Sen. Harry Reid (anti-choice from Nevada). If he is chosen
I will declare a one man war on the national Democratic party.

Martin Frost - Former Texas Congressman, lost his seat, ran very close
to Bush and distanced himself from Kerry, thinks people like Dennis
Hastert are great politicians, he is conservative. Here is an add he
ran, showing himself as a Bush supporter. He makes me ill.


Simon Rosenberg - Techonology activist, most interested in setting up an
effective organization and using the internet better. Founder of the
New Democrat Network, (I hope I got that name right). Was a Clintonite
I think, but has since been pushed out of that group because he wants
structural reform and has tried to stir things up. He doesn't seem to
be getting any traction. He isn't a committed progressive in my
opinion, other people have different opinions and think he is progressive.

Wellington Webb - don't know much about him, I think he is from the
south, not sure.

Donnie Fowler - His father was DNC chair I believe before Terry
Mcblahblahblah came in. He is some kind of consultant or campaign manager.

I don't think there are any other major candidates for the position.
Pick your poison. I pick Dean, at least he will be on our side. He is
more conservative than Kucinich, but he is far more progressive than all
the other choices. I think he is our only hope for the race. As far as
Republicans making fun of Dean, Dean will kick their butt. We will see
if they are laughing after that. This party is in a shambles. Entire
states don't even have a Dem. presence on the ground or anything like an
organization. Dean can fix that.

[madfloridian]

5. Here is how the Backbone Campaign described him......fairly good way.

http://www.backbonecampaign.org/

"Progressives Must Not Be Taken for Granted!
Urge the Democratic National Committee to embrace rather than alienate its progressive allies by:

Electing Howard Dean, a relatively progressive Democrat, responsive to the grassroots, as its new Party Chair
Amending its platform to include the "Voter Bill of Rights"
Vehemently opposing dangerous cabinet and judicial appointments such as Alberto Gonzales
Defending Social Security from efforts to undermine it through privatization "

I thought that was pretty fair, as he rather defies labels.

[janx]

8. I wish people would care about being better informed.

Webb is the former mayor of DENVER.

[Zhade]

12. Rosenberg: STILL supports the war on Iraq.

'Nuff said.

[fooj]

14. Dean isn't afraid to stand up!

That's what I think we need. Someone who will not be censored!

[lavenderdiva]

7. they just advertised that Dean will be on George Stephanopolous

this Sunday... talking about leading the Democratic Party.

[janx]

9. Watch the source, MF. n/t

[madfloridian]

10. Confused?

:shrug:

He did have a counter inaugural party last night...many DFA folks had them locally as well...fundraisers. His was in Burlington, and he attended.

:shrug:

Two other stories about his party.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/21/politics/main668290.shtml
http://kutv.com/topstories/topstories_story_021123818.html

[madfloridian]

11. More at the blog as well.

http://www.blogforamerica.com/archives/005844.html

DFA Headquarters' Houseparty
"January 20th was a day when most Democrats wanted to turn away from the television. But here at Democracy for America, we found that watching the inaugural ceremonies provided us with great motivation to work even harder in the coming months.

While Republicans celebrate in Washington at extravagant, high-dollar events, Governor Howard Dean and the rest of us at DFA came together to celebrate our accomplishments at an event in Burlington, VT—the Unauguration."

[AntiCoup2K4]

13. The CSN song referenced by Dean - Long Time Gone

No doubt that Crosby wrote this one with the events of 1968 still fresh on his - and everyone else's mind. Vietnam, the murders of Dr King and Bobby Kennedy, the 68 convention in Chicago and finally the election of Nixon. Things probably looked as dark then as they do now. In some ways it's a blessing that I was only 2 years old at the time and didn't have a clue about any of that shit, or I might have gone insane at a very young age.

Long Time Gone (David Crosby)


It's been a long time comin'
It's goin' to be a long time gone

And it appears to be a long
Appears to be a long
Appears to be a long time
Yes, a long, long, long, long time before the dawn

Turn turn any corner
Hear you must hear what the people say
You know there's something that's goin' on around here
The surely, surely, surely won't stand the light of day, no

And it appears to be a long
Appears to be a long, mmm
Appears to be a long time
Such a long, long time before the dawn


Speak out you got to speak out against the madness
You got to speak your mind if you dare
But don't, no don't, no, try to get yourself elected
If you do you had better cut your hair, mmm

And it appears to be a long
Appears to be a long, mmm
Appears to be a long time
Such a long, long, long, long time before the dawn

It's been a long time comin' (Long time comin')
It's goin' to be a long time gone (Long time gone)

But you know
The darkest hour
Is always, always just before the dawn

And it appears to be a long
Appears to be a long
Appears to be a long time
Such a long, long, long, long time before the dawn

[madfloridian]

15. That was a sad era. Things did look dark, but it is worse now.

Not as dark as now. At least then we had a modicum of trust in our own government that it would eventually get its act together. We don't have that now.

"Turn turn any corner
Hear you must hear what the people say
You know there's something that's goin' on around here
The surely, surely, surely won't stand the light of day, no."

[BlueInRed]

16. and the backlash he mentions has apparently started

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&ncid=536&e=3&u=/ap/20050122/ap_on_re_us/western_democrats

I thought the other day that when the Florida delegation endorsed Dean, it was going to scare the other candidates backers and produce a backlash, just like Gore's endorsement did. (And I do want Dean for DNC....)

Well, apparently that is exactly what has happened. That article above says:
<snip>Earlier this week, Dean seemed to be steamrolling to front-runner status in the race, announcing that he had secured the endorsement of several state party chairs and other voting DNC members.
But that move produced a backlash among other state chairs and some activists. For example, several Oklahoma Democrats publicly criticized the decision by state party chair Jay Parmley's decision to endorse Dean.<snip>

I swear I think this party may be torn in two over the conflict between those who want Democrats to stand up and those who want Democrats to go along with the Republicans. It seems to me that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We've tried "going along" and it's just not working, so it's time give someone else a chance to test their idea out. But I don't know if we're going to get that chance.

[Kipepeo]

18. agreed

There seem to be two opposing strategies: stand up and don't be ashamed of your beliefs OR be quiet and shamefully try to make your beliefs look more like what you think others want to see.

I can't imagine what is goiong to happen if we put a mouse in the DNC position. It's kind of been my last source of hope lately. Dean's the only one of the list I feel comfortable and confident with.

[Andromeda]

19. Dean has such a great sense of humor.

I'll never get tired of him.

I don't know if he'll win the Chairmanship or not -- I hope he does --but he will always be *out there* representing our views and lifting our spirits.

[janx]

20. That's the beauty of it. DFA is not going away.

I went to a state meeting today, and it was amazing. There were over 100 people there, and these were not the rank-and-file from meetups (otherwise there would have been many more!); these were country chairs, candidates, etc. that will bring the messages from the meeting home.