Is it true that despite Dean's desire to move the party to left...

[Democrat Dragon]

He himself is a "moderate" or even conservative on many issues?

[eg101]

1. Dean is a rightwinger passing himself off as a Leftie whenever possible

this article pretty much says it all:
http://www.sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/12/1668089.php

Every now and then you get a reporter with half a clue who will call him on his liberal facade, and he of course will call himself a centrist then, and afterward he and his flunkies go right back to playing the faux lefty...

[Beth in VT]

12. Harsh. He's certainly not a Socialist,

so that makes him a right-winger? Or is there ground in the middle?

[AntiCoup2K4]

16. Broken record alert!

Another Dean basher from last year has come back from "retirement" and he's still calling Dean a "right winger".

Look, moron, Dean never called himself a "liberal", it was the Whore Media that did that. If you want to take FAUX News' word for something, then by all means go live in your illusion.

What Dean is NOT - and what far too many in this party's so called "leadership" ARE, unfortunately, are spineless corporatist appeasing, neocon enabling pussies. Right now, I'd support ANYONE who opposes that whether they claimed to be "liberal" "moderate" "conservative" or whatever. Dean would probably be considered a "centrist" if that word actually meant anything in an environment where both parties are currently in the hands of neo-fascists.

[pscot]

2. The lunatic fringe who now control our nations capitol

and most of the so-called liberal media have tried to define Dr. Dean as raging radical leftist. That is not the way he governed Vermont. He's a smart, imaginative moderate who will raise a ton of money for the Democrats and help put the party back on track.

[Skink]

3. He's Liberal when it counts...

Same for Clinton. Protects enviroment etc.

[welshTerrier2]

5. does withdrawing from Iraq count?

it does to me ...

[bobweaver]

6. Did it count when Clinton signed NAFTA?

[liberalhistorian]

7. I agree, and he'd be the

perfect choice for DNC leader, especially since he is NOT the flaming radical firebrand the repukes want to make him out to be. He's an intelligent, reasonable moderate who is, as someone else on this thread said, liberal when it counts most.

[itzamirakul]

4. I am a lefty and I do favor Dean even though he is a moderate..

because up until Ted Kennedy and Barbara Boxer finally spoke out against the Republicans, Dr. Dean was the ONLY person who seemed to have the guts to stand up to the Republican Noise Machine.

[SteveIrving1]

21. repukes are scared of Dean

because they know hes not some chicken shit that will rollover and die for them.

[StrongbadTehAwesome]

8. IMO, he doesn't seem to think about issues in the "left-right"box,

and so can be liberal and moderate on the SAME issue at times, without being seen as a flip-flopper.

For example, look at his take on gun control. He has an "A" rating from the NRA from his time as governor of Vermont, but he supported the assault weapons ban. He believes that states with large urban centers can and should be able to have stricter gun control laws, and that smaller more rural states with a lot of hunters (like Vermont) can get away with less restrictions.

So, I guess my answer to your question would be, "Yes...but not really." I'm no help at all, sorry!

[Beth in VT]

13. This is true -

his overriding characteristic is a level-headed, common-sense approach to problems, trying to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number - in true New England fashion. He's hard to pigeonhole ideologically and I believe he's said he doesn't consider himself an ideological person.

[mandyky]

9. Dean isn't trying to move the party to the left,

he is trying to restructure the party from top down to bottom up (grassroots). Dean is a moderate, who just happened to oppose the Iraq War and thinks equal protection under the law applies to gay people, in the form of civil unions (not gay marraige).

Dean can't really be labeled, in my opinion. He listens to people, studies up on things, and occassionally changes his mind, but he always takes a stand and sticks with it once he has listens and studied. I support Dean because I feel I can trust him, whether it was in the presidential campaign or now in the DNC Chair race.

[Orangepeel]

10. That people think he's liberal shows how far right the country has moved

that's a paraphrase of a Dean quote.

I don't know that I'd consider him "conservative" on anything. He is very much in favor of balanced budgets, which is supposed to be a conservative position, but isn't. He's moderate about guns.

I think he's a common-sense pragmatist.

[Beth in VT]

11. He is more of a moderate -

it was the Republicans who seized on his anti-Iraq was position to portray him as a wacko out-of-touch liberal.

In Vermont he took the heat from both sides, progressives and conservatives, but generally was perceived as a centrist or moderate.

I'm a fan but it's worried me all along that some of the progressives who are so ga-ga about him might be disillusioned if they got to know the real Howard.

[goodhue]

14. It is true that Dean is a moderate or even conservative on many issues,

but I don't think it is true that he desires to move the party to the left. Rather I believe he supports reforming the national party to support and capitalize upon grassroots bottom up activity rather than current top down emphasis.

[moggie12]

15. Moderate shmoderate, Liberal shmiberal

Labels, labels, I'm getting tired of labels. Dean had positions and a track record on both sides. So do I. So do many people. We can't categorize people and throw them overboard just because they don't "fit" our labels.

Also, maybe Dean is just smart. The way the primaries usually work, you need to be fairly liberal to win. In the past, our candidate has become more centrist-sounding as soon as they clinch the nomination (so they have a chance of winning the general election). Is this two-faced? Oh, grow up. It's called putting your best face forward.

Don't worry about labels, DD. Lots of DU folks like Dean's idea about giving the party back to the people. No more fat contracts to loser consultants. No more give-aways to Wall Street donors. No more wimpy bending-over to Bush and those insane neocons.

Doesn't that sound good to you???

[H2O Man]

17. In my opinion

anyone who attempts to call themselves or anyone else by such narrowly defined terms misses the point: human beings are complex. Most people are a strange mixture of liberal and conservative, and indeed of good and bad.

Was Malcolm X liberal? Conservative? Revolutionary? Yep! He was all of these and more. Same with Gandi. Same with Che.

The important question is does Dean have the ability to help advocate for those people who hold a wide and diverse group of values, wants, and needs, that make up the democratic party's base & grass roots?

[SeattleRob]

18. Wondering

Why do so many of us allow the Republicans to "frame" the deabte? I am sorry, I see no evidence of Dean moving the party to the left. That's what the whore media, Repuke noise machine keeps telling us. Dr. Dean is very centrist. I personally would like him to be more left - but I am gladly supporting him because unlike most of the people in power in the Democratic Party, he has a spine. We have been following the "let's be nice to the Republicans" strategy and it has failed.

It's time for us to take this Country back and with Howard Dean leading the troops, we will do it!

[roguevalley]

19. I listened to the Dean conference call to the bloggers and he's

interested in giving the party back to the people, getting people involved and returning to the issues that matter, not the nonsensical religio-morals BS that passes for party line these days. He's a man who will seldom be in Washington, but on the road getting things going. This is the BEST NEWS I have heard in YEARS!

RV, an old time dem from an old dem/union family

[Krinkov]

20. he's perfect

he's fiscally conservative, pro gun rights (or was before the campaign), an ardent social liberal, and against the war from day one. Me likey.

Definitely a moderate democrat, but fiercly liberal in just the right places for my taste.