TomPaine.com: "The Death Of The Doctor"

[displacedtexan]

The Death Of The Doctor

Doug Ireland

John Kerry’s New Hampshire win wasn’t just a victory—with a 13-point margin over Howard Dean, he scored a blowout. And a close read of the results confirms the lesson of Iowa: Dean is inevitably doomed.

<snip>
And Michigan, with its female governor and its legions of aging industrial union members, is stuffed with Catholics and evangelical Protestants who carry union cards. Whatever small cushion Dean might have from the early voting there won’t be enough to overwhelm the Kerry demographics.

<snip>
Edwards is also weak on the ground in South Carolina, where—as of a week ago—he had only 7 staffers, compared to Kerry’s 40. Edwards is so short of cash that his plan to hire 20 Dick Gephardt field staffers from Iowa fell through because he had no money to pay them. And his disappointing fourth-place showing in New Hampshire is not enough to have contributors whipping out their checkbooks for Edwards.

Given all this, it’s none too soon for progressives to begin asking: what will Dean do with the movement he has crystallized?
Does he have the will, desire, and vision to transform his legions of enthusiastic Deaniacs into a permanent, on-the-ground electoral instrument to "take back" the Democratic Party in future contests? If he doesn’t, can the Dean blogosphere, on its own, consciously coagulate itself into an institutionalized grassroots electoral fighting force capable of contesting future primaries against the moneyed, handpicked candidates of the party’s establishment? Will Dean, when he inevitably loses, simply turn over his extensive computer lists to the national Democrats, in the hopes of some future reward from the party? Or will Dean fall victim to the kind of angry pique on display in his "I Have a Scream" speech, lock his lists in a closet, and go home and sulk—and let his movement evaporate, as so many other insurgent candidates, from Jerry Brown to Jesse Jackson to Ralph Nader, have done before him?
The answer to those questions will be the ultimate test of Howard Dean’s true character.

more...
http://tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/9850

[MercutioATC]

1. TomPaine.com can bite my ass

What a complete weenie.

[rpf113]

2. What about Clark?

Dammit! Why doesn't anybody ever report on Clark? I swear to God by the media coverage you'd never know he's a top tier candidate. Kucinich gets more coverage than he does.

[MoonRiver]

6. I know. Clark's ahead of Kerry in Oklahoma, and second in Arizona!

Oh, wait, Tweety said Clark was finished. When 'god' speaks the whore minions must listen.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[molly]

5. Hi Bluto! Welcome to DU!

:hi:

I like Edwards too!

[tedoll78]

7. Wow.

Your generalization is sooooo astute. :eyes:

[polpilot]

8. Well they and their political 'heroes' have brought us to this glorious

moment. Ain't they smart. A 35 year pro-war, pro-Patriot act politico being sold as the 'agent for change'. The DLC is sooooooooo radical!!!!!

Dean '04...The Decent Party

[molly]

10. You must have missed this post yesterday...

"Kerry voted for abortion rights, for funding of the National Endowment of the Arts, increased government regulation of the insurance industry, against an amendment banning flag desecration (ie for freedom of speech), against banning gay marriage, against workplace discrimination against gays, in favor of affirmative action, against destroying government regulation of mining practices, against oil drilling in alaska, in favor of cutting bush's tax cut and useing the money for increased spending on education and debt reduction, against the confirmation of John Ashcroft, against another tax cut so the money could be used for social programs, in favor of raising the minimum wage, in favor of allowing seniors to receive social security while still working, to increase corporate taxes to fund veteran's health benefits, in favor of allowing the children of immigrants to be eligible for food stamps (welfare) and finally against drug testing welfare recipients."

[Skip Intro]

11. And on the Iraq invasion and the patriot act?

:shrug:

[JNelson6563]

9. Your crow sir

I am a Dean supporter and I have been involved in politics long before primary season. I have devoted long hours and plenty of $$ to the Democratic cause. I hold a Chair on my local Dem board, I have doubled our membership in less than a year, raised thousands of dollars and a small army of volunteers.

I have met many, many people through our local Dean meet-ups and have preached at almost every one of those events the importance of joining and being active in the local parties. As we have splintered off into six groups, each in a different county, we have learned the status of the parties in those counties, which is terrible. We are working at breathing new life into those parties and will resort to hostile take-overs from the apathetic and/or arrogant if necessary.

As I type this I have things baking and cooking in the kitchen for a fundraiser brunch I am hosting tomorrow for Senator Stabenow which Senator Levin will be attending as well. I am cooking for approx. 100 people for this event in a private home. I personally will not benefit whatsoever from this event but my local party will certainly score points with the Senators which will result in them coming up here for various fundraising events of ours that will help to fill our coffers. I have a volunteer support staff for this event made up entirely of Dean supporters. Seems no supporters of other campaigns are interested in this cause.

Lastly I participate in another on-line forum that is comprised of all Dean supporters. Seems that all over the country there are Dean supporters doing as much or more than I for the Democratic cause.

So what was that you were saying again...? Please do tell us more.

Julie

[jcgadfly]

4. Thank you TomPaine.com

for helping to continue the GOP line that Dean's exuberance at a pep rally in his honor was "angry pique".

Next, I expect you to say that Kerry and Clark are poor choices because they don't have enough "fire in the belly".