Why ABD???

[question everything]

Are there really forces in the Democratic Party that would follow ABD, or is this just a media hype?

I did not support Dean during the primaries; like many I did not think that his raw outrage would make him electable.

But I do want him to chair the party. Yes, Clinton's "new Democrat" worked in the 90s but no longer, now that the Republicans caught on and have adopted Democratic concepts.

The elections of 2000 and 2004 showed that either the message or the messenger do not speak to enough voters to get them to vote for the national ticket.

So we need to clean house, even if we won't gain any of the branches of government for 8 more years. We cannot continue with the same "center" stand. The demographics of this nation have changed during the past 25 year, ever since Reaganomics - or whatever one calls the events of the 80s - when good, stable jobs disappeared with the exuberance of Wall Street mergers and acquisitions. When the gap in income between the top of the bottom strata of income has been widening, when there is no shame in the obscene compensations that executives receive.

I don't think that "old time" leaders, like Gephardt got it. I don't know whether Kerry, who has been ensconced in Washington got it. At least Dean traveled the country on his own, without the shield of "seasoned" campaign managers and has a better sense of what exurbs are all about.

[xultar]

1. Media Hype. Used to get us to Fight one another so they can Giggle

@ us behind our backs.

Why continue to give them the stage?

[question everything]

2. Thanks. Watched Judy Woodruff talk with Terry McAuliffe

and she was trying to pin him on this same point.

[Debi]

3. I still think this has the Clintons and their Establishment Democrats

fingerprints all over it. Don't rock the boat...we like being in charge.

Dean brings change and lets ALL Democrats be part of the Party...not just the big donors!

[mattclearing]

4. I disagree. The Media are simply repeating RW talking points.

They are divide and conquer, same as the Republicans.

Just like the election was about gay marriage and Michael Moore, the direction of the Democratic Party is an attempt to put the Clintons and the Deans and the Kerrys and Kennedys in a circular firing squad.

We are smarter than that, and we have to start turning the TV off and telling others to do the same.

[Debi]

5. I hope you are correct.

I think I have a visceral dislike of the Clintons and probably give them more credit than they deserve (good or bad) - The important thing is to see Dean through and continue to support him no matter what is said or where it comes from.