Can Dean Save the Dems? Failed Presidential Candidate Poised to Lead

[JoMama49]

Struggling Party?!

I thought this was an interesting piece of MSM news - on AOL front page!

From Ashes of '04 Effort, Dean Reinvents Himself

By TODD S. PURDUM, The New York Times

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON (Feb. 5) - A funny thing happened to Howard Dean on his way to becoming a losing footnote in the Democratic Party's past: he gained a winning foothold on its future. So there he was at Café Milano, Georgetown's power joint, buying a pounded veal paillard on Wednesday night for Terry McAuliffe, the man he is all but certain to succeed as party chairman next week.

"A lot of people came by the table to congratulate him," recalled Mr. McAuliffe, who said Dr. Dean had invited him to what became a three-hour dinner to discuss the party's operations. "And he said, 'No, no, not till the vote's over.' But I did tell him, 'You are about to become a human fire hydrant. You will get blamed for every loss. You will get zero credit for any win.' " Dr. Dean, the former governor of Vermont, is no stranger to blame. His presidential campaign flared, then flamed out over questions about his judgment, temperament and discipline, and he left the race without winning a single primary.

Then, as now, some party elders worried that his tone was too sharp for a national spokesman, and then, as now, they tried to stop him. This time, he stopped them.

At first, almost nobody in the Democratic establishment wanted Dr. Dean as chairman - not senators, congressmen or governors, most of whom looked askance at his insurgent presidential candidacy last year and tried to field their own candidates for party chairman this winter. Only the people - more precisely, a critical mass of the 447 members of the national committee - liked Dr. Dean. They are generally liberal state and local grassroots activists eager for a party leadership that will take on President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress.




Perhaps we should just let them think of us as a "struggling party". More surprise strategy when we all hang together on an issue.

If you are an AOL member, go here and also take their poll re Dean:

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050207103909990004

[KarenS]

1. AOL polls are soooooo RW-leaning,,,,,

but I did vote & here's how it looks right now,,,,,


Does Howard Dean help or hurt the Democratic Party?
Hurt 51%
Help 49%
Is he the best choice for party chairman?
No 46%
Yes 42%
Not sure 12%
Total Votes: 18,408

[Guaranteed]

15. I noticed that one of their poll questions was "How many primaries

did Dean win before leaving the race?" The answer to that question is, of course, zero, but it's misleading- he DID win a primary, AFTER he left the race. Vermont.

They said it in the article, too. No one will make the distinction. That's a form of misinformation, right there.

[theorist]

2. Sounds like we could effectively milk this.

Although we won essentially half of the votes in the official count, it looks like the press could unknowingly help us lower our own expectations, hence raising those of republicans. I'm not sure that I would agree to doing this, but it sounds like a reasonably successful option.

"Struggling party" is a laughable term. We raised more money than the bushies. If you ask me, they're scared of what the Dems could do with the internet. (Thanks VP Gore! ;))

[ynksnewyork2]

3. CNN too

They showed a poll this afternoon that said only 31% of people polled thought Dean was the right person for the DNC. 38% no and 31% unsure.

[NYCGirl]

6. Probably 95% of those responding don't know what the DNC is or

what it does.

[last1standing]

4. Can Dean save the Dems? I don't know.

But he'll do more to revive our chances than anyone would have done. All of these power brokers who tried to push him out of the way have no clue as to what the people of this country want. The repubs have subverted every demographic while the Dem leadership has talked about moving to the right.

What the Dems need to realize is that when God tells you to vote repub, you vote repub. That is what many white suburban and rural people are being told and now they are trying to use the "homosexual agenda" to do the same with black urban voters. We can't win by moving to the right and doing even less for the poor and middle classes. We have to fight the "holy repub" image head to head. The only way to do that is to let the local parties have the control and resources to do it in the churches and the town halls. That seems to be Dean's plan.

Will it work. We'll see. If it doesn't, we're in a whole lot of trouble.

[Mend]

5. I emailed AOL customer service

and complained about their headline and said I would cancel if there wasn't immediate improvement in their "reporting". Fuckers.....

[DireStrike]

7. AOL...

[paineinthearse]

8. May I ask where you got your title line?

Your line: "Can Dean Save the Dems? Failed Presidential Candidate Poised to Lead Struggling Party?!

NY Times headline: "From Ashes of '04 Effort, Dean Reinvents Himself"

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/politics/06dean.html

February 6, 2005
From Ashes of '04 Effort, Dean Reinvents Himself
By TODD S. PURDUM

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 - A funny thing happened to Howard Dean on his way to becoming a losing footnote in the Democratic Party's past: he gained a winning foothold on its future. So there he was at Café Milano, Georgetown's power joint, buying a pounded veal paillard on Wednesday night for Terry McAuliffe, the man he is all but certain to succeed as party chairman next week.

more....

==========================================================

If this is the AOL headline, they sure put a negative spin on it, and their negative bias should be called. If it is yours, I'd caution to use the original.

[Mend]

9. that is exactly the line AOL used...."failed candidate, struggling

party"...yadda, yadda and used one of those "angry/crazy" pictures of him

[AntiCoup2K4]

11. Why am I not surprised?

AOL has always been a sewer of right wing idiocy. Last time I used an AOL account was in the late 90's right around the time "Blowjobgate" was er... fully erect, so to speak. I told all of those idiots that this was the beginning of an attempt to bring about an extremist right wing "Fourth Reich" in the 2000 election. Naturally they all refused to see it. Wonder if any of them have woken up yet?

[Just Me]

10. DEAN IS A LEAN, MEAN, RIGHT-WING FIGHTING MACHINE!!!

*giggle* and he scares the shit out of everybody,...which I embrace to the very core of my being!!!!

:bounce:

[Larkspur]

13. Amen!

:bounce: :kick:

[msongs]

12. nice to have a democrat who is NOT a quitter isn't it??

we will end up being glad dean is the dnc chairperson. at least there is one national democrat who will fight for us.

msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[sellitman]

16. Dean is good news for Dem's.

He will bring a fresh outlook and take no prisoners attitude with him to the game. I look forward to the outcome.

Dean Rocks!!

:yourock:

[John_H]

14. Not the hard part comes for Deaniacs.

Kudos to those who have been fighting for Dean--you have done something very few grassroot groups ever do--gained and used real political power.

Please remember one thing: exactly half of political power is having the ability to give someone what they want. The other half is the willingness to take it away if necessary.