DEAN Emerging Chief:"Its a fait accompli, it's over: Deans going to be it"

[Karenca]

Dean Emerging as Likely Chief for Democrats
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
and ANNE E. KORNBLUT

Published: February 2, 2005

ASHINGTON, Feb. 1 - Howard Dean emerged Tuesday as the almost assured new leader of the Democratic National Committee, as one of his main rivals quit the race and Democrats streamed to announce their support of a man whose presidential campaign collapsed one year ago.

Dr. Dean's dominance was secured after Martin Frost, a former representative from Texas, whom many Democrats viewed as the institutional counterpart to Dr. Dean, dropped out after failing - in what had become an increasingly long-shot effort - to win support from national labor unions. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. announced instead that it would remain neutral, freeing its affiliate members to do what they wanted, which proved in many cases to be boarding the Dean train.

"It's a fait accompli, it's over: Dean's going to be it," said Gerald McEntee, head of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, who runs the umbrella political organization for all the unions in the A.F.L.-C.I.O.

Actually, the final word rests with the 447 members of the Democratic National Committee, who will vote on Feb. 12 in Washington on a successor to Terry McAuliffe. And Dr. Dean faces a last obstacle, the candidacy of Donnie Fowler Jr., a Democratic operative from South Carolina. ....... more:

Link.... http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/02/politics/02dean.html?th

[David Dunham]

1. Lemmings, lemmings, lemmings

[Cha]

2. Spamming, Spamming, Spamming..

[David Dunham]

24. I refuse to be a Dean lemming.

[Cha]

31. Good, you keep spamming and

we'll do this without you.

[glitch]

3. I hope Dean's it, but I only trust Nagourney to tell me the * spin. nt

[Karenca]

4. Do you think Dean thinks the election was stolen?

UNLIKE McAuliffe (sp?)

[meganmonkey]

5. If he doesn't , I bet we could convince him

UNLIKE McAuliffe ;)

[Karenca]

6. Yes! I bet we could!

I love Howard Dean. :hug:

[glitch]

10. He's certainly smart enough to grasp the possiblity and do the research.

Far better than these people who dismiss the idea out of hand, based on, I guess, their faith that the far-right wing idealogues who own the vote machine corporations will not cheat despite faulty and none-to-limited oversight and the potential for enormous reward.

Uh huh.

[Carolab]

23. He has spoken out about the fraud and the need to make reform a priority.

eom

[mattclearing]

33. I guarantee he is extremely suspicious.

He said he had a plan to prevent it in the WashPost chat he did during the primaries.

[go west young man]

7. Go Howard!!!!

The train is now rolling down the tracks and even assholes like the NY Times have to acknowledge they can't stop it!!

[fudge stripe cookays]

8. There IS a God. n/t

[Cha]

32. Hey, FudgeStripe! I haven't

seen hide nor hair of you, lately! :hi:

[fudge stripe cookays]

34. Hey zid!

I dived back into my genealogy for a bit as a coping mechanism.

I had a death in the family back in December that hit me really hard. I had to have some downtime.

I'm still around, don't worry!
FSC

[Cha]

35. Good that you're still around and I'm

sorry for your loss..:hug:

[fudge stripe cookays]

39. Thanks.

That's very sweet! :hug:

Fudge

[Brooklyn Michael]

9. NY Daily News "Dems' Suicide" + reply

Apologies in advance for the long post....The NY Daily News, supposedly the "Voice of the People" in NYC, has for some time now been lurching further and further to the right. Today was the last straw, even for a tabloid rag like the Daily News, at least for me. The following ran on their editorial page today. Although it is not available in their online version, here is the complete text. (I strongly suggest all NYC Dems start making their voices heard and write in to the NY DN at [e-mail] and tell them they no longer represent "the voice of the people" - if they ever did.)

New York Daily News - Editorial
Feb. 2, 2005

"Dems' Suicide Pact"

Teddy Kennedy, blathering away there, we sort of don't mind anymore: The old duck cries for forbearance, as with a doddering uncle. Howard Dean is another story.
Howard Dean imagines himself to embody the ideals of a Democratic Party many of whose more thoughtful leaders want to tack hard back toward more centrist views. It's difficult to believe the Democrats could possibly be serious about electing Dean the party's national chairman. Yet it now seems there is good reason to expect that on Feb. 12 they will do exactly that, firmly positioning him as the party's public face, public voice, public bearer of its standard.
Granted, the man proved himself a spectacular fund-raiser, give him that. He also proved himself to be so to the left of the American mainstream that saner Democrats - grasping that nothing would make Republicans much happier than a Chairman Howard - are mounting every last-ditch Stop Dean effort they can think of. For now, though, Dean appears to hold a commanding lead. And the Democratic Party appears to be determined to snuff itself out.

.........my reply.........

Dear NY Daily News editors,

It is admirable that a newspaper that purports to be the "Voice of the People" has some scope to it's views, both from the left and the right, but you have clearly lost touch with your readers in favor of pushing a pro-right / anti-Democratic spin. 75% of New Yorkers voted Democratic, but you wouldn't know that from reading your opinion columnists and editorials, as right-wing views and Dem-bashing are represented far more than anything else. Your editorial today, "Dem's Suicide Pact" merely underscores your lack of understanding. You speak of the Dems' "more thoughtful leaders (who) want to tack hard back toward more centrist views." What you fail to realize, (or conveniently ignore) is that the more Democrats try a more centrist approach, the further to the right the Republicans swing, until those to the left of center (i.e. the large majority of New Yorkers) find themselves with no representation. You seem to want Democrats to simply be "Republican-lite", which no one would vote for, and why would they when they could just vote Republican? Which seems to be your goal to begin with.

One last thing - Again, I am all for diverse opinions on your editorial and opinion pages. The purpose of a comics page, however, is to be funny. "Doonesbury" and "Boondocks", while undoubtedly biased, are VERY funny, not to mention well-written and drawn. "State of the Union", the comics equivalent of a typically angry, uninformed caller on right-wing talk radio, is none of the above.

Keep this up and you'll be helping boost sales of the NY Times.

[marions ghost]

11. About the NY Daily News editorial--

SO IF what the editors say is true about the choice of Dean:
"...the Democratic Party appears to be determined to snuff itself out."

Why wouldn't the Repugs be quietly thrilled?...isn't that what they've been aiming for? Nah, their real agenda is a world For Republicans Only, where Dems kowtow. They are not happy about Dean.
-----------
All the progressives I know are openly ecstatic. Dean won't have an easy job, but he's the man--to begin to restore some sense to this party.
When he formally gets it we should send him congratulations. Then pretty quickly after that let him know we are looking for support for election investigation and reform.

:) :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :kick:

[IronLionZion]

13. If Dean really was going to kill the Dems, then the Repugs would be happy

They are obviously not. Repugs are afraid of Dean. He might actually stand up to them.

[meganmonkey]

15. Great letter, and WELCOME TO DU!

:toast:

[Brooklyn Michael]

16. Thanks!!!

:hi:

[Stephanie]

20. They censor Doonesbury and Boondocks all the time

Did you ever notice that sometimes they are just missing? The Daily News still has a few good columnists but the editorial page is as rightist as they come. They publish Bill O'Reilly's column for god's sakes. Fish wrap.

Welcome to DU, Brooklyn Michael, from Manhattan Stephanie.

[Brooklyn Michael]

22. If the NY Times...

...had a comics page, I'd never bother with the "fish wrap" (that was funny).

I don't think they censor certain comics as much as the artists take vacations...but I could be wrong. And yeah, they publish Bill "phone moan" O'Reilly, but the @$$#*!% who really pisses me off is Krauthammer...

Anyway, Cheers! :toast:

[Stephanie]

27. I'll save you fifty cents

http://www.ucomics.com/

[loudsue]

29. The NY Daily News is a MAJOR right wing rag.....has been forever

Just listen to Rove's r/w talking points, and you'll hear the same lies.

Dean's going to kick some repuke ass if the Dems choose him, and the repukes KNOW it!!

Dean knows how the vote was hacked, and you can count on it, there will be some changes all across the country with grassroots activism.


http://www.democracyforamerica.com/
:kick::kick::kick:

[Catamount]

40. Good letter! n/t

[flyarm]

12. please , please please let it be dean!!! n/t

[IronLionZion]

14. Dean, Dean, Dean Dean

oh please let it be Dean!!!

[NationalEnquirer]

17. Who cares what people say.

Dean, along with Kucinich, was the ONLY Democrat candidate who was ALWAYS against the way.
NO flip flopping for him (them).
I felt that those two were really the only ones who had real integrity.
I had a great time hanging out with Kucinich supporters at the Miami WTO demonstrations.
I know he was "unelectable", and that Dean supposedly was too, but they were consistent.
I dont see how ANYONE can do as bad a job as Terry anyways, so I say, let it be Dean!

[Karenca]

19. " I felt that those two were really the only ones who had real integrity".

Me too!

I loved them both, I knew that Kucinich would be viewed as unelectable...Such a shame that was.

They were the two REAL Dems.

[NationalEnquirer]

21. exactly!

And I had meant to say that they had both always been against the WAR.
But I hope ya know what I mean :)
Damn media torpedoed Dean, and never game Kucinich a chance.

[Carolab]

25. Yup.

Their integrity oozes from every pore. Impossible not to see it.

[carnie_sf]

18. First Barbara Boxer

Now this. HOO-AAH

[garybeck]

26. sad prediction - Dean won't get it

The "higher ups" in the party want to move to the center. They will squash Dean even though everyone wants him.

[understandinglife]

30. Getting tougher by the min for anyone to 'squash'; UAW, Steelworkers...

....exceptionally strong endorsements announced earlier today.

We'll see.

Peace.

TBO;24/7

[Bill Bored]

28. It's not over 'til it's over!

Could be a replay of the primary.

To whom should we be writing at this point? The state chairs have voted, so who's next? I'm not worried about the labor vote, but who else has a say that we can bother?

[McCamy Taylor]

36. Look for major Karl Rove smeak action in the next 10 days,

however, I dont see how they can possibly shoot down Dean, since "mad as hell" just about describes Dems right now.

[Peace Patriot]

37. This is the best news I've heard all week--besides Ted Kennedy's..

...and Robert Byrd's speeches on Alberto Gonzales (fabulous speeches!). I thought I was going to have to leave the Democratic Party because of the Dem leadership's unforgivable malfeasance on electronic voting, and years and years and years of letting the country get pushed closer and closer to fascism. I'm still considering it (big deal for me--been a loyal Dem voter for 44 years, family tradition), but what Dean said about election reform--that we have to do it state by state--perked me up. There's a man I can work with. Eyes wide open.

GO HERE

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x314419

[DemoMemo]

38. Dean Represents a Break from Business as Usual

Dean represents a break from business as usual in the Democratic party. That's why we really need him--or someone like him. The Republicans have successfully turned their President and their party into a brand that marketers can only envy. The brand matters more to Joe Six-pack than the issues. The only way for us to have a fighting chance to bring issues back to the forefront is to adopt a party leadership that will stir people up. Howard Dean has shown that he can do that. Without getting out in front on the issues, getting heated up and passionate, and attracting attention, the Democratic Party will only continue to attrit away. From my perspective, he's almost our last and greatest hope.

[Karenca]

41. From my perspective, he's almost our last and greatest hope.

Exactly!!!!!

And welcome to DU :)