Interesting. No interest in Dean's comment about his own mispeech!

[saracat]

re:"It's important to make the news, not be the news," he told them, according to Sen. Chris Dodd."
The Good Doctor must be wrong about himself!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1849643&mesg_id=1849643

[Dr Ron]

1. I'm happy if he realizes it

As a non-Deaniac who hope Dean succeeds, I see it as something good if he acknowledges some problems with his recent comments and then moves on.

Hopefully Dean has learned how the media will respond to his comments and uses this in the future. He must keep attention on the issues, as well as party-building, as opposed the types of statements which many Democrats felt the need to distance themselves from.

[saracat]

2. It is interesting to me how few take him at his word. A fictional Dean

appears most prevalent in the minds of some. I find it fascinating that some don't even believe the man himself! I think it is important that we attempt to be on the same page but with the fictional Dean battling the real man in the minds of some Dems, that is going to be difficult!

[Dr Ron]

3. Fictional Dean

That's really it. They project the ideal person onto Howard Dean and ignore it when he isn't the person they pretend he is.

[whometense]

4. I like that too.

It's been that way from the beginning. The deaniacs were all about the fictional Dean. I'm sure Dean had a group non-Deaniac supporters who understood persectly well who he is and what he actually stands for, but for the Deaniacs it was always about themselves. About fantasizing him into their ideal candidate. What was amazing to me was how far they actually took that fantasy.

Remember that NY Times Magazine article about the Deaniacs? It horrified me when I read it. The campaign came off like a giant gen-X dating service. Dean never seemed to be central to those people. Trippi was much more so.

[Mass]

5. Because the real Dean does not fit the image they have made of him

he is not a radical, and he understands the importance of unity in the party better than some of his supporters.

[TayTay]

10. Dean was the anti-war candidate

As such he was also projected to be the guy with the spine who would save the Democrats. (Remember all the anger in 2002 about * and his out-and-out lies to Dems about using the IWR votes against those running? The activists and lefties were really, really piseed about that.) I still think a lot of the Dean support is based on transference. The anti-war and pro spine crowd (spine as defined by them) see what they want to see.

The war is a very powerful issue. The American people are turning against it. (Heck, even *'s terrorism rating is now at 50% agree, 49% disagree.) Gov Dean is not the liberal panacea; he never has been. But he wrapped himself in the anti-war mantle and got a lot of mileage and amazingly loyal followers for his troubles.

So strange. I preferred the guy with dual citizenship on that. (Though I hated and still hate the war. I want a withdrawal. I disagree with others on this board on that. But I do, and I want it a little more each day. I no longer believe that we can actually do anything in Iraq or that our presence there serves any purpose.) I do respect Kerry's stance and his thoughfulness on this issue, especially because he holds that dual citizenship (fought in a war, came home and had a principled opposition to that same war.) But I think we need to set a date for withdrawal and keep it.

[sandnsea]

13. That was crap too

Kerry came out with "do not rush to war" before Dean made his anti-war statements in February. Dean's the one who said give Saddam 60 days to disarm, then go in unilaterally if necessary. AND that he thought Saddam had WMD, and just repeated that recently. Dean was a complete opportunist on the war, that was a Trippi fabrication.

[JohnKleeb]

14. Trippi really did change the way he was perceived, the man's a genius

in image department.

[Mass]

15. May be because the guy with dual citizenship was more guenuine

The Dean you are describing is an invention of Joe Trippi, a marketing package. Trippi himself said in an interview that this positionning was made to differentiate Dean from Kerry, not because of anything that Dean believed in.

[tishaLA]

6. I think I'd better be hiding out in here

The Place Where Sense Is Spoken

[TayTay]

9. Welcome to the DU JK group

Welcome, Welcome! You are among friends.

[Pirate Smile]

7. I love the Dean comments today. Does anybody have a problem

with these? There are more narrowly tailored instead of using a broad brush but hitting the right people.

Dean criticizes GOP courting of black voters

BY BRENDAN MCCARTHY AND JEFF ZELENY

Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO - (KRT) - Until President Bush and top Republicans reaffirm their support for the Voting Rights Act, they should stop courting black voters and showing up in black churches, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean said Sunday.

Dean, speaking in Chicago at a Rainbow PUSH Coalition conference, also labeled the Fox News Channel a propaganda machine and sharply criticized the Republican Party, which he said has yet to support re-authorizing certain provisions of the Voting Rights Act that expire in 2007.

"I think it's hypocritical for the Republicans to pretend to reach out to the African-American community unless they say they are going to reauthorize what gave the African-American community political power," Dean said in an interview. "I'd love to have the president say whether he's going to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act."

-snip-
Dean said Republicans should not "pretend" to be genuinely interested in courting African-American voters until the party makes a clear statement on the act.

"The chairman of the Republican Party as you know has made a big deal about attracting African-American voters," Dean said to conference attendees. "And this is a litmus test. If you aren't going to support the extension of the Voting Rights Act, I don't know what right you have to go to a black church and show your face."

-snip-
Cheney called Dean "over the top" and "not the kind of individual you want to have representing your political party," according to the Associated Press.

Asked by a reporter Sunday to reply to Cheney's criticisms, Dean said: "My view is that Fox News is a propaganda outlet of the Republican Party and that I don't comment on Fox News." The response drew applause from the room.

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/11879792.htm

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1543516

[JohnKleeb]

8. Now thats what he should be doing

and I agree with what he's saying about Fox News as well. The voting rights act is one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation and if the republicans are really committed to the rights of black voters, they should support it.

[sandnsea]

12. That's what he should be doing

Target something. It's not like there isn't a selection to choose from.

[Mass]

16. NO, these are great comments.

[sandnsea]

11. No interest in his remarks yesterday

If Howard is so great in standing up for the Democratic Party, how come nobody is talking about what he said about our agenda.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1849839&mesg_id=1849839

[TayTay]

17. That is too bad, because there was some good stuff

They are forming a Veterans and Military Families Council to advise the DNC on issues and advocacy ideas. Gov. Dean specifically praised the Kerry campaign for excellence in their outreach on Vterans issues. (I saw a program on UCTV with a nice Kerry Communications staffer who said that 10,000 Vets showed up at the caucus in Iowa in Jan 2004. She said this was the difference in the final numbers.)

Dean stated that the initial setup of the new grassroots effort is up and ready to start rolling in out in some states. Dean also has an outreach (I think, I know this was in planning, didn't see enough of the show to know if it is actual) program for religious voters. Nice stuff.

Too bad Dean's own folks can only see his mis-speaks. This was a positive DNC meeting. There was a lot of good stuff going on.