CSPAN- Dean may suffer from being pessimistic and angry in the GE.

[bhunt70]

People generally would rather vote for someone upbeat, optimistic, and forward thinking as opposed to someone angry and pessimistic.

On cspan right now.

[jonnyblitz]

1. who is saying this? a caller on the republican line?

just curious.

[vi5]

I'm the furthest thing from a republican....

And I don't think that's an entirely inaccurate statement. I'm not saying it will cost us the election but I generally think that the statement that was made is true. People I think would rather an optimistic, positive thinking candidate who they disagree with on a few issues, than a dour, negative, angry one who they may agree with more. Notice they included the caveat that it would cost him in the general election not the primary. The general election obviously has more independent and swing voters who time and time again shows don't like negativity or angry people.

I don't like that this may be true, but I don't think that it's only republicans who feel that way.

[AP]

11. FDR's camapaign song in '32: Happy Days are Hear Again.

Hoover was worse than Bush, and Bush is trying to revive the exact same pro-Wall St fascism that his grandfather and other Republicans were trying to foist on America that FDR fought back with hope and optimism in the 30s.

FDR is the blue print for victory in 2004. Dean is no FDR.

Edwards, at the Commonwealth Club said that FDR didn't win by telling Americans that the economic situation was their fault becuase they didn't get in Hoover's face.

[bearfartinthewoods]

26. i agree...we need our own version of 'Morning in America" message

and nothing i have seen, yet, let's me think dean can pull that off.

[bhunt70]

6. An op-ed piece...I can't remember the name...

Still listening, I'll update.

[maddezmom]

9. it's from the NYT here's the link

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/26/politics/campaigns/26REPU.html?ei=5062&en=f70dde43205be535&ex=1073019600&partner=GOOGLE&pagewanted=print&position=

[bhunt70]

10. Anna Migori (sp?)and Richard Stevens

[edzontar]

2. Says who?

Is this more Friday AM flamebait?

[NashVegas]

3. The Script: :"Dean is Angry/Snippy"

So why do my eyes and ears almost always show something different?

[AP]

12. I think I was the first person on DU to say that Dean was angry and it was

after listening to one of his stump speeches, and it was based on his language and imagery. The speech was filled with battle imagery and metaphors for fighting.

If anyone cares to prove that this is the case, just look at and listen to some of his speeches.

[Monte Carlo]

4. I'm not interested in Dean's purge of the Democratic Party...

... by someone from the "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party". I'm very concerned that his campaign is based upon exclusion, not inclusion. That is the great mistake of Democrats past.

[CWebster]

5. let's clarify this

the things that fire-up Dean are the very reasons for hope and optimism in this country.

Poor lil' Democrats, why, they have forgotten their place in lining up behind the idiot son. We tried to tell them it was the unpatriotic thing to do, the unAmerican way, and look they are still angry...don't worry, be happy, and elbow for photo ops with the smirking chimp. The voters will love it. obviously not, no matter how the media mouthpiece promotes it.

[AWD]

7. Exactly....

...I mean, why would we vote for a guy who VOTES to startthe war or a guy who CHEERED for the war on CNN when we can just KEEP the guy in the White House who got us into it all to begin with.

The record is clear. Kerry supported the war and Clark cheered it on. Time to clean out the primaries and let someone run who actually stands AGAINST Bush and his war.

[Monte Carlo]

8. The Iraq war is ancient history.

And Dean had better find something else worth talking about, because the war is over and done with. Now we are just left with a quagmire.

[MoonRiver]

13. I don't think it's ancient history, but this brief bump in *'s polls from

Saddam's capture is a temporary illusion. Every day more G.I.s are being killed. It's getting to be about two or three a day. Obviously getting Saddam is backfiring in terms of violence against US. The only way * can permanently turn Iraq into a winning issue is by pulling out before November and turning over the control of Iraq to the U.N. and the Iraqis.

Clark's my preferred candidate and I believe that Iraqmire will prove to most voters that we need a strong anti-war Democratic leader with military know-how to clean up the mess, and restore America's international status. That candidate is Clark, IMO.

[Monte Carlo]

14. I appreciate what you are saying...

... and forgive my bluntness.

I think there is much too much focus upon how we got into this mess. Important, yes, but largely irrelevant. We must deal with our present situation now, where U.S. troops and Iraqi guerillas are taking turns killing each other. Dean's campaign, IMO, seems to be too focused on the past.

BTW, if Kerry drops out of the race, Clark is my second choice.

[MoonRiver]

24. Thanks for your respectful tone. It's seen far too infrequently here.

Personally, I think Kerry is a fine man and would make a wonderful president. But I was deeply disturbed by his IWR vote, as well as his support of the Patriot Act. Granted, many of those in Congress were bamboozled by this hard right administration that will, IMO, stoop to absolutely anything in its plan to completely take over our country. Still, many of we less informed citizens knew *'s claims that Saddam was an immediate threat to be a thinly veiled excuse for an imperialistic power grab, particularly in regards to obtaining Iraq's oil reserves.

Still, if Kerry gets the nomination I will enthusiastically vote and work for his election. In all but one or two areas he has never disappointed me.

[edzontar]

15. Tell that to the families of the dead soldiers...

JEEZ.

[Monte Carlo]

16. Gladly.

And I would tell it to the families of the dead Iraqis. The truth hurts sometimes.

[KoKo]

17. Well, lying to Congress and the American people may be "old news"

to you, but it's a Big Issue for some of the rest of us. It goes to the foundations of our Democracy. And when we see the lies of the Business Community, the Financial Markets and the Government, it's no "small matter, of old news" to be forgotton.

[edzontar]

18. You are confusing me. My point was that the war is NOT over.

I was and still am against the Iraq war, and consider the killing of Iraqis by Bushco to be a war crime of the first order.

Now, please, explain what you mean by "Ancient History."

As a professional historian, this remark strikes me as a classic example of short-attention-span thinking.

[Jim Sagle]

23. It does hurt but it's not the truth.

[edzontar]

19. (Edit) Oh-it was an NYT peice--thanks for the link..

nt

[CWebster]

20. Says who?

WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 — President Bush's campaign has settled on a plan to run against Howard Dean that would portray him as reckless, angry and pessimistic, while framing the 2004 election as a referendum on the direction of the nation more than on the president himself, Mr. Bush's aides say.

Some advisers to Mr. Bush, increasingly convinced that Dr. Dean will become their opponent next fall, are pushing to begin a drive to undercut him even before a Democratic nominee becomes clear. But others said the more likely plan would be to hold back until after the Democratic contest had effectively ended, probably no later than March.

As a Bush strategist put it, Dr. Dean's rivals are "doing a great job for us" with their increasingly tough attacks on him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/26/politics/campaigns/26REPU.html?ei=5062&en=f70dde43205be535&ex=1073019600&partner=GOOGLE&pagewanted=print&position=

[Rose Siding]

21. That is *THE* planned r-wing strategy...

as reported in their own voice today!

If people want optimistic and forward thinking, Dean's the man.

I hope you'll learn enough about whoever becomes the Dem candidate to be able to refute such a ridiculously feeble argument as the one the GOP is planning to use.

[killbotfactory]

22. Bush: "I'm running this country into the toilet..."

"But at least I'm hopeful!"

[KittyWampus]

25. Case In Point-Dean's Rsponse To Matthews Query RE:Amercian Exceptionalism

Matthews essentially threw Dean a soft ball and Dean proceeded to launch into yet another attack on Junior and what he's done to the country... rather than present his own Vision of a Successful America and its roll in the world.