Candidate for MT Dem chair won't get pic taken with Dean next week-end.

[madfloridian]

In my mind this is like saying that the DNC chair is not welcome in the state if this guy is elected head of the party in Montana. I find this extraordinarily divisive. Schweitzer has met with Dean in DC, and he has been complimentary of him in public.

This kind of statement serves no useful purpose.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050710/NEWS01/507100303/1002

"McDonald is president of the Montana Cattlemen's Association and a founder of R-CALF, a national group that has fought the importation of cheap Canadian beef.

The lifelong Democrat says he'd like to reach out to Republicans as well, and is critical of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean's recent comments blasting Republicans.

"I'm not going to be the kind of chair that goes out and says things about Republicans," McDonald says. "I want (Republicans) to think about the election and vote on the person and the issues, rather than their traditional thought process."

Dean, the former governor of Vermont, is the keynote speaker at the Democrats' convention in Great Falls, on July 16.

McDonald says he won't get his picture taken with Dean at the convention: "I just don't stand for the message that Howard Dean is trying to deliver."

Fenderson, however, says he'll pose with Dean for a picture "any day of the week."

"We need more Howard Deans," he says. "I don't want him to become quiet."END SNIP


On Edit: I took out Hightower's quotes. My point was being lost by their inclusion. I want it to stand out that a potential party chair is slapping down the national chair because he criticized Republicans. And the quote he made is clear. He is NOT going to criticize Republicans. That is dangerous, and that has gone on for way too long.

[Botany]

1. Fine .... no problem buddy .....

.... big tent and all that crap ...... BUT KEEP YOUR MOUTH CLOSED! ......
skip the picture and get on with your own fine self ......

EGO

[mrdmk]

2. Looks like some people like to do things alone, too bad. n/t

:yoiks:

[wildeyed]

3. I live in a state that is typically thought of as red

but has an extremely successful state democratic party. And all the state demo guys are like that. They pretty much ignore national democratic figures, court the rural voters and they win big.

[madfloridian]

4. Good for them.

Florida has done that a long time, and now we pretty much have Democrats who look and act like Republicans.

If the guy does not want to pose with the chairman, he should keep his mouth shut.

There is a danger in not standing up for what you think is right. That is why we are in Iraq today, that is why Medicaid people are losing their coverage. I could go on and on.

[blm]

5. Hightower should know better than to have fallen for breathlessly reported

stories that the media hyped up to play the Dems against each other.

They even got Dean to reply to a false question about the Conyers' hearing.

Sad that even Hightower is pushing this as a hyped up story. Not one Dem senator has said that they are mad at Dean for criticizing Republicans, just like Dean never said that Conyers hearing was anti-semitic.

[madfloridian]

6. Hightower was right. McDonald is wrong.

Many of the party leaders do not want to make big deals out of ethics right now. They do not want him criticizing the GOP very much. That is the reality.

I agree that the media tries to divide us, of course they do. Now that may be why our Democrats want him to hush, because they fear the wrath of the media.

[blm]

7. Hightower is dead wrong. Show me ONE senator who is mad at Dean for

criticizing Republicans. They may have preferred he not say that he hates Republicans, but, not ONE senator is mad at Dean for criticizing Republicans.

The media hit Dems with questions quoting Dean out of context....they did the same with Dean. People jumped all over Dean thinking he criticized Conyers' hearing, because that's how the media PORTRAYED IT.

Hightower bought into the ploy. He should know better.

[madfloridian]

8. Ok, blm, now see what you think. I took out Hightower's quote.

Actually it is better because McDonald's statement is even more damning to him without the distraction.

[blm]

14. This is same old same old. Same stuff I've seen in SC and NC the last 5yrs

Gore and Kerry were kept at arm's length by various southern candidates. May not happen in Florida, but, in the rural red areas, it does happen...ALOT.

I wish it wasn't true, but there is nothing unique in this situation. Give him another year, and watch some of these areas come around. Maybe when their media markets start telling the truth about Bush and his thugs, the red area minds won't be so closed to the Dem message.

[madfloridian]

18. We need to point out when this happens. Publicize it.

That is how you get change, point out the things that should not be happening. We need to educate, not avoid our own.

[AntiCoup2K4]

9. Joe Biden quit the Senate?

Feinstein did too?

I guess that's good news, but I hadn't heard. Good riddance to the useless PNAC'ers anyhow.

[blm]

12. Show me where they said they were mad at Dean. The media HYPED antiDeanism

just as they hyped antiSemitism to Dean.

They take out of context quotes and demand replies for what they SAY it means.

[madfloridian]

15. They were tripping over their own feet running away from him.

I have a bunch of articles saved, but the point is they did not have to do it that way.

Now that I took out Hightower's quotes, what do you think about the possible new chair refusing to have a picture made with Dean.

[blm]

16. Nah. The media HYPED that senators were running from Dean, when all they

did was comment on the questions posed by reporters who took Dean's quotes out of context. Same thing they always do to Dems. Same thing they did to Dean with the Conyers hearing. They played gotcha and lied to do it.

I answer your other question in the post above.

[ChiciB1]

10. Well, I'll Be Fucked!!

Well, one more time anyway! Madfloridan you are WELL informed, always! I think you work very hard to present the truth. I've never forgotten the info about Nelson!

I'll follow, keep the info flowing...

This INSANITY MUST DESIST!

Does it take WOMEN to do this???? Okay, I'm ready for the stone throwing, but be very careful NOT to make that the subject! This is about something getting sucked try! And it's called Democracy!!

Oh, I forgot that bumper sticker... Be NICE To Bush... He May Bring Demo-crazy To YOUR Country!!! Actually it said Democracy, I felt a need to re-arrange a couple of letters!

Perhaps as a friend of mine wrote me, Revolution may be inevitable. But I say it may not be between The Repukes & Dems, BUT BETWEEN the PEOPLE and Those with adverse views, but including OUR leaders who have no "shit in their necks"!

I'm into low-simmer, moving to medium heat, it wouldn't be a pretty picture to get into "red hot"!

Maybe I'm into medium, I have my days!!!

[madfloridian]

11. Here's how you do it...Willett, Arkansas chair, speaks out.

http://www.arkdems.org/home.html

In Quicktime. This is how Democrats stand up for each other, not like McDonald who is fearful of Republicans so much that he won't have his picture taken with the key note speaker at their convention. Too much is wrong with that picture.

[NYCGirl]

13. Interesting, since the wonderful Brian Schweitzer, Montana's new

Democratic governor was one of the original Dean's Dozen, and has been vocal in his support for Dr. Dean and Democracy for America.

[MaineDem]

17. MT Dems, who's got the lead in this race?

How does it look for the election?


Edited for grammar