Undercutting our Party Chairman: Insider Dems Launch a New Assault

[Tamyrlin79]

The recent criticism against Howard Dean has suddenly morphed into an outright attack on the DNC Chair. See this post on Americablog regarding Bill Richardson's recent comments:

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/06/tell-bill-richardson-to-go-cheney.html

Once with Biden is eyebrow-raising, twice with Edwards is suspicious, but three times with Richards makes a pattern. Add to that Salazar and Nelson's comments on some TV show last night (I've only heard about that one...) and that pattern suddenly begins to look like an outright attack on Howard Dean to minimize his influence, his (and our) voice, and perhaps even to undo his chairmanship.

It is not unprecedented to remove a chair. I certainly hope it isn't coming to that. It better not be, or I guarantee that it will be the end of the party. Dean is the only glue holding this rig together.I said I was out if they didn't make him chair, and I stand by that. They pull that kind of crap, and that's it. I'm out. And, I've heard others hold a similar line. So, if Dean falls, the party falls with him.

So, I'm tired of this "Dean isn't the spokesman for the party" crap that has now been trumpeted by both Edwards and Bill Richardson. If Dean doesn't speak for them, that's fine. But as DNC chair he DOES speak for the party, nimnutz. And, regardless of whether he speaks for the party or not, he sure as friggin' hell speaks for ME.

Someone out there with the software and webspace and know-how, please create a petition that states simply this:

------------------------------
Howard Dean speaks for me.

Signed,
<list of gazillions of names of grassroots Democrats who agree>
------------------------------

Then send the petition to all our Dem leaders and every Democrat who dares make such a statement about Howard Dean into the future.

This isn't just about Dean. It is about limiting his influence, controlling him, controlling his message, controlling his ardent supporters, and harnessing their money and efforts to their own ends. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN if this party is to ever be truly reformed as Dean is trying to do.

So, I hope that there are others out there who will rally around Dean in this time of need and make sure that the party insiders understand who is calling the shots now and that we expect them to "fall in line", not undercut OUR popularly elected party chairman.

[LittleClarkie]

1. Define "elitist Dems"

Seems to me that is leveled at the party as a whole alot of the time.

[JNelson6563]

18. It's actually very common

They like to meet for lunch with only the "right" kind of people. They would rather not soil their hands with a lot of business with the unwashed masses. They know what is best, the masses, well, they are mere commoners.

Trust me, this is a reality in our party. I've seen it in every county party I visit and have seen it way too up close in my own. It's quite something to behold and I don't mean that in a good way.

Julie

[Mountainman]

2. Is it possible that they are working together? Dean saying what others

would like to say but since they are politicians they can't so they take the high road but only as a ruse.

Maybe it is a coordinated thing. Someone has to tell it like it is and someone has to be sanctimonious. They all can't be just one or the other.

[Guaranteed]

9. Dean's actually saying pretty tame things. He's probably been

saying similar things just about every day. There's nothing all that offensive about any of it except that the media is shining the spotlight on it. The difference is the media focus, which, if I had my bet, is due to the DLC whores. Once again.

[Inland]

3. Fact is, someone's got to give a party message for there to be a party.

And if it isn't Dean, it's nobody.

Maybe the dems in congress feel comfortable with the fact that nobody is saying shit for the party as a whole, but I'm not.

Once you agree that there is one message and one voice, then you can be part of the process to hone the message. So anyone who doesn't like what Dean says should start showing up at meetings behind closed doors, give advice, reach consensus, and then shut up. Senators building up cable news fiefdoms are crap.

[Elwood P Dowd]

4. Call them corporate dems or slave-wage dems.

Bill Richardson never saw a job-killing trade deal he didn't support. He sold us out on NAFTA, GATT, WTO, and just about every other corporate scheme that came through the house when he was a member. Every thing he said about NAFTA was a damn lie, and he knew it!

[liberalmike27]

5. I agree

Dean is doing what needs to be done, he's showing the vim and vigor, as well as the attacking style that we need to win. It is unfortunate, perhaps that people respond so well to it, the attacking style, but they do. Maybe it is because of the conviction a person has that will roundly attack their core beliefs, I don't know. But it worked for Republicans, and if they'd stick together and show republicans for the evil they are, and they do, then maybe we could win.

I see the two sides of the aisles getting progressively closer together, this stupid compromise is just another way that they've been giving in to Republicans, and Reid isn't much better than Daschle at fighting back. But if they want to keep losing, they will if they attack Dean in this manner.

Dean was the only thing that kept me from voting third party, especially after the way they crucified him for being enthusiastic with the scream, as well as the coverage leading right up to Iowa. I begrudingly voted for Kerry, though living in Alabama it didn't really matter. I was such a fool for even thinking he had a chance here, I wish I'd voted for Nader again. Kerry ended up with millions of dollars left, in this hyper close race, and ran a monsterously bad campaign, as always in my opinion.

Democrats will lose as long as they keep supporting all of these programs that are terrible for the workers of this country. In a battle with the third world where we are competing against 30 cent an hour labor, with no benefits, or environmental laws, we will lose not just badly, but horribly. I don't think people understand how bad off we are, or how much alike both parties are. I know more liberals and democrats are aware of this than Republicans. The rich own everything, including most democrats.

[meow2u3]

6. Attack of the DLC DINOs

DLC: Damned Loser Corporatists!

[Eloriel]

7. There's more -- MUCH more -- look at this:

Includes links for the Biden/Edwards and Richardson remarks:

It's official: the DLC wants WAR
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1836491

Beltway Dem insiders whine, 'Dean stole our Golden Goose!'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1835521

Dean-hating "Dem strategist" Gary South = Gray Davis' Campaign Manager
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3809724#3809888

"Richardson distances self from Dean: He is not our spokesman."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3807744

John Edwards responds to the Dean Controversy!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1833416&mesg_id=1833416

DEAN: REPUBLICAN POLICIES DON'T HELP HARD WORKING AMERICANS
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1834118

Note to Biden and Edwards: Howard Dean speaks for me.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3792471#3793043

And WHY is it that the only time we seem to have "talking points" that people follow is to attack Howard Dean?

[Guaranteed]

8. DLC WHORES- Keep this up, and the party will SPLINTER.

GUARANTEED.

Shut the FUCK up.

[Ksec]

10. Gad, these people make me freakin mad

Why not just STFU Richardson?

Do you stab your Mamma in the back too?

No character, low rent , back stabbin, turncoats .

[paulk]

11. what has morphed

is Richardson saying "Dean is doing a good job, but I wouldn't have said what he did" into "an outright attack on the DNC Chair".

More nonsense from the that rabid wing of Dean supporters who have done more to damage Dean than any Republican (or Democrat) would dream of.

[BeFree]

12. Yep

Seems some folks have fallen right into the trap set by the pukes and baited by the Whore-porate media. Gawd, it is sickening.

There is no great divide between Dean and Edwards, et al. except for the divide between some folks ears!

[Ksec]

13. He is not our spokesman.

Sounds like hes saying Dean isnt the chairman to me. Or at least he isnt our spokesman..

I mean if the chair of the party isnt your spokesman , who is?

I think some people need to stop pretending here.

[Tamyrlin79]

15. I don't care what Richardson thinks of Dean's job...

My issue is with this mess is saying Dean is not the spokesperson for the party. But oh yes he is, and for Richardson and Edwards to say that he isn't is implicitly undercutting Dean and anything he says. "Why listen to Dean at all? He's not our spokeman." Pay no attention to the Dean behind the DNC curtain. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Even if coated in happy "he's doing a good job" B.S. crap, it IS an attack on Dean and his position. If he isn't the point man to talk about the Democratic Party and its platform/positions and principles, then WHO THE FUCK IS??? We don't have a president or a presidential nominee. We don't even have a majority leader. So, Dean is, yes, the de facto head of the party. And most sane people see it that way. If that weren't the perception, then Richardson and Edwards wouldn't have to make a point of saying "He is not the spokesperson for the Democratic Party". So, I'm tired of it. As they said last year to us, it is time for these Dems to get with the program and "fall in line" behind the chair that the grassroots of this party petitioned the DNC members in their state to elect.

He is the leader of this party, and the sooner these idiots accept that reality the happier they'll be. And if they can't accept it, then they are free to mount a campaign to remove him as chair... and destroy/splinter the party in the process.

[paulk]

16. since when has a DNC chair been the "leader of the party"

and no chair is a spokesman who's not reading off a script. Dean doesn't get to run around shooting off his mouth without the approval of the party as a whole. Clearly that's not what he's doing, since so many elected party members are saying so.


Dean would be fine if he WERE talking "about the Democratic Party and its platform/positions and principles" Instead he's making ill considered remarks that hurt the party.

Dean is the de facto head of the party? You have placed Dean on a throne he doesn't occupy.

[RogueTrooper]

19. Dean is an elected party member

One of the few ( and the most senior of those few ) who is elected by the party as a whole. My question is why do people think he is not a leader of the party? After all he seems to fill all of the criteria. None of the people who are attacking him ( or claiming leadership of the party ) seem to be talking from a position of strength IMO.

[paulk]

22. by elected I mean elected to representative office

not elected as a party functionary.

A "leader" is someone who sets policy - that's not the job of the party chair. It never has been. The job of the chair is to raise money and build a party infrastructure that can get people elected . In the end getting people elected will be the criterion in judging the success or failure of Dean's tenure as chair.

It's certainly not the job of the chair to say controversial things that some of those elected members of the party feel will hurt them in their attempts at getting reelected. Or, in Richardson's and Edwards' case, considering a presidential run.

[Pepperbelly]

21. Did you feel that way about Terry Mac?

I suspect not.

[seabeyond]

14. who has richardsons email n/t

[RogueTrooper]

17. As a spokesperson

Dean has more legitimacy than Edwards. As far as I am aware Edwards has no elected position within the Democratic Party. All he has is an election record of won one lost one.

[Al-CIAda]

20. Why did you cover up election fraud Mr.Richardson? n/t