A few words on real faith and values from the new party leader....moving.

[madfloridian]

A few words from the new leader of our Democratic party on truth, faith, and virture. In "You Have the Power", Howard Dean explains the worst things the Republicans have done to us.

SNIP.."The theft of meaning...of truth and faith and the ability to believe....has been one of the worst things the Republicans have done to the American people. It is time for the Democrats to fight back. We've got to fight fire with fire. Not by cynically co-opting the language of religion for our own purposes, or by blurring the line between church and state, or by aping the self-righteousness of the right wing. But by challenging their charade of virtue with a real politics of meaning."

"I am a Christian, and it seems to me that the right wing of the Republican Party preaches virtue on the one hand and intolerance on the other, while welcoming the money changers into the temple of government. Jesus spent most of his days ministering to lepers, prostitutes and Samaritans and advocating care for the poor."

"Those who wave the Bible as a threat to sinners ought to open it once in a while to learn from the teachings of Christ."

He further says Democrats can....say that our traditional mission of standing up for the disenfranchised follows the teachings of Jesus more closely than do the modern-day Pharisees of the right."

[GetTheRightVote]

1. Amen Mr. Chairman, I want to join your church

:kick:

[madfloridian]

5. I get emotional about religion now...we left our church over the war.

When I read this, I remember the way my church used to be here when I was growing up. What Howard Dean says is the real Christianity, not the war-like, hate-filled stances in my old church.

I like his realness, and I relate to it. I get sort of teary now, thinking about the uphill battle we all face to save not only our party but our country.

[Southsideirish]

2. Wonderful! Once more Howard has nailed it. The hypocrisy of the right.

is staggering

[JDPriestly]

3. Thanks. Great post.

The saddest thing is that the right-wing fundamentalist Christians have co-opted and corrupted the Bible to use it for political purposes. That turns a lot of us off to the Bible itself, unfortunately.

[Tux]

6. Er

Isn't the Bible used by the right to push their agenda? If it's about love, peace, and understanding, wouldn't it automaticly counter their agenda?

[John Q. Citizen]

4. This is what the Republicans are afraid of,

someone who will say it straight and plain and not only offer a good defense but also a good offense.

[thereismore]

7. Gotta love him

There is nothing, absolutely nothing to add. Pharisees of the right!

[proudbluestater]

8. It's almost uncanny, but how many others feel he is speaking FOR THEM?

I have never come across a politician who speaks so eloquently about what is already in my head at the time. I was a Republican until Clinton bowled me over, but now it is Dean who speaks the words I wish I could say, if only somebody would listen. I love Howard Dean. I could not have hoped for a better DNC leader.

[madfloridian]

16. That I agree with.

I often want to let out a little shout when I realize he has just said what I have been thinking..but did not have the words to express.

[hvn_nbr_2]

9. "Pharisees of the right" & "charade of virtue"

Great lines.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites!" - Jesus Christ

[madfloridian]

10. Reminds me of the words "whited sepulchres"....

all good on the outside, but dead and ugly on the inside.

[hvn_nbr_2]

11. I had to look that one up

Matthew 23:27

[madfloridian]

12. That verse stuck with me from my religious upbringing.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness."

I often think of it lately. Sadly.

[zann725]

13. Wow! He's the Man!

n/t

[madfloridian]

14. Dean, Woodruff, and the Pharisees....how to hold your ground.

December 8 last year...Judy is doing her usual lecture in a chiding tone...

WOODRUFF: At the same time, Governor, I'm sure you know the Republicans are already starting to talk about the fact that you -- I think by your own acknowledgment, left the Episcopal Church in some dispute over a bike path, and you switched to another denomination, the Congregationalist denomination.

They're asking what does this say about the depth of your commitment to your own faith?

DEAN: You know what it really says? It says the Republicans are talking like they're out of the Pharisees. Because if you're a Christian, you're a Christian. I don't believe it ought to matter what kind of a denomination you are.

So people who talk like that are what Jesus would call the Pharisees. And I think that's enough of that kind of stuff in the Republican Party. We are all in this together.

<...> WOODRUFF: And you don't believe, Governor, the Republicans are going to have a field day with comments like these?

DEAN: The Republicans always have a field day with things like this. That's the reason Democrats lose, is because they're so afraid of the Republicans having a field day with comments like this or like that, that they never make any comments."

This was an amazing interview. He was right, we were always so afraid of how they would react that we said very little.

[hvn_nbr_2]

15. Exactly!

He was right, we were always so afraid of how they would react that we said very little.

Not only so afraid of how the Pukes would react, but also afraid to offend anyone anywhere, even people who would never vote Dem anyway. It's time we start calling a Pharisee a Pharisee, and do it so often that the words Republican and Pharisee are linked together in people's minds so completely and habitually that they can't think one word without the other popping up. We need to do with Republican and Pharisee what they did with Dem and tax-and-spend and big gummint.

[madfloridian]

17. Phrase..."the Republicans will have a field day.." was used to intimidate.

Our party used it as well to keep us from being outspoken. Let them have their field day.

[JDPriestly]

18. The Kerry campaign insisted on our being positive

and what was the response -- the Swift Boat liars.

[politicasista]

19. Yeah. Thanks alot Ms. Cahill and Mr. Shrum

:nopity:

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

20. Say it loud!

Wow-- saying exactly what needs to be said with a rhetorical flourish. Dean's right on the money with this. I wasn't sure of him getting the leadership of the party but I'm already starting to respect him more and more. The guy's definitely one smart cookie.

[madfloridian]

21. Yes, he has great ideas.....if given a chance.

He will make a great, though outspoken, chair.

[vickie]

22. When did Dean say these things? Were they a part of a speech

or interview? In any case, they are right on the mark.

[madfloridian]

23. I put it in my post.....they are in his book You Have the Power.

It is a powerful book to be so small. Clear language easy to read. Spares no one, not even himself.