WH: Howard Dean Is Having "A Tantrum"

[kpete]

The White House Lashes Out At Howard Dean
by slinkerwink
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Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 10:35:21 AM PST

Here's an interesting report, and it's about the White House lashing out at Dr. Howard Dean for withdrawing his support of the health "insurance reform" bill:

Mika Brzezinski: I won’t name names, but I heard it from several people in the Administration: Howard Dean, very not pleased, with Dr. Dean speaking out about health care reform and this plan.

Savannah Guthrie: Yeah, very irritated. Yes, isn’t it fascinating they don’t seem to be too angry at Lieberman, they’re reserving their fervor for Howard Dean, but actually, one senior official who I talked to this morning paid the highest insult which was to call him irrelevant to the entire health care debate. You know he kind of had his moment in the sun in the last week when this Medicare expansion looked like it was going to be the thing that broke the logjam between the progressives in the party and the moderates, but, of course, because of Lieberman, the Medicare expansion is gone, and now Dean is having what one official called “a tantrum.”

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/12/16/white-house-irritated-with-howard-dean-not-joe-lieberman/

[Deep13]

1. Who is he to insist that elected officials give the public what they want?

If this Dean character wants democracy, he should move to Iraq.

:sarcasm:

[hootinholler]

36. Actually if he wants health care as a right, he should move to Iraq.

It's in their constitution.

-Hoot

[Dinger]

84. Ouch (nt)

[damntexdem]

67. The entire country SHOULD BE throwing a tantrum.

Dean is simply stating the truth.

[phasma ex machina]

87. +1 nt

[lonestarnot]

90. We are.

Cooker top about to blow along with the rest of their shit.

[EFerrari]

2. Go, Howard!

[Swamp Rat]

94. Geaux Howard!!!

:applause:

[mitchtv]

3. Rahm must be busy, with

all that selling out, and attacking real Dems

[David Zephyr]

Yep.

Sell out.

[Vinnie From Indy]

4. I hope all readers note "because of Lieberman"

The WH will undoubtedly repeat this phrase again and again in support of the completely transparent ploy of Lieberman doing exactly as he was instructed to do.

[bertman]

31. Joe Lieberman, AKA our President's personally-selected Senatorial mentor.

[cali]

75. that's not true. even pissed as I am, I hate this sort of lie.

Lieberman was assigned to him when he entered the Senate. Please don't make shit up.

[Oregone]

5. Mika? Isn't her father a murderer?

[Freddie Stubbs]

12. Who did he murder?

:shrug:

[Oregone]

22. Afghans. Eventually all the shit he stirred up led to Americans getting murdered

Just saying

[Freddie Stubbs]

25. How many Afghans did he murder?

:shrug:

[Oregone]

28. Hundreds of thousands

But some people don't think pulling strings or pushing buttons is the same as pulling triggers


Neither here nor there

[Freddie Stubbs]

33. Would that make him a war criminal?

:shrug:

[Oregone]

35. What do you think?

The common thought in political circles dictates that despite his games, ending the Cold War is more important than the death that was the foundation of an international Jihad against the United States.

Zbigniew Brzezinski: "What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?"

[Freddie Stubbs]

39. Wouldn't this also make Jimmy Carter a war criminal too?

Or was Carter "just following orders?"

[Oregone]

40. What do you think?

His signature is on the order

Reagan finished the job

[Freddie Stubbs]

49. Stirring up people is a war crime?

:shrug:

[Oregone]

57. Ah, thats *all* it was eh?

Hundreds of thousands of Afghans were killed, due to the training, arms, incitement of a rebellion, intelligence, orders, etc. Using the Afghan people as expendable pawns in a proxy war is "stirring up people". Hm mm.

You did introduce the "war crime" terminology into this. I merely stated he was a murderer, who happened to push buttons instead of pull triggers.

[glitch]

83. I would include Iraqis and Pakistanis among their number.

Brezinski will no doubt have interesting geopolitical discussions (to them anyway) with Satan, eventually.

[David Zephyr]

6. I'll second that tantrum.

I'm with Dr. Dean.

[krawhitham]

47. right or wrong it was a tantrum

[Deep13]

53. So emotional delivery somehow negates factual accuracy.

If we can't get upset over being sold out by our own party over its flagship issue, then what can we become emotionally invested in?

[Lance_Boyle]

58. Barack ain't seen a tantrum yet - wait 'til 2012. He'll see a tantrum then.

Dean should have been the nominee in 2004.

[krawhitham]

85. shoulda woulda coulda

what fantasy world do you live in? He only won one state, his own and that was after he had withdrew from the race

He only got 18% of the vote in Iowa, PRE yell

Since 1972 only one candidate with 18% or lower in Iowa went on to be the Dem candidate in the general, and 7 (of 10) that won Iowa went on to being Dem candidate in the general.

He was done before the yell


He only got 5% of all primary votes, hell Kucinich got 4% of all primary votes

[corpseratemedia]

7. too bad the WH is "clueless" to the fact that when you insult Dr. Dean

you insult the us, the base

so the dire needs of the majority of people in this country are irrelevant, according to this senior official, who perhaps is rahm?

well at least ms. Guthrie pointed out that they're still pals with lieberman

[EFerrari]

15. I don't think they're clueless. It looks more like they don't care. n/t

[MisterP]

69. ah, it's the lofty conservadem stance

ever notice how arrogant the conservadems are, in Washington and on DU? they explicitly say they don't NEED to listen to what the public says or wants, or to any complaints. any anger is mere childisness and individualized, drawn solely from personal flaws or envy at people who can get elected. it's a remake of Legally Blonde 2: we're Elle Woods, they're the rancid, compromised Congresswoman who wants to win and to hell with policies.

they think that conservademocracy has accomplished so much, and so we shouldn't criticize them, because of what they've brought us. in their minds, their conservative policies led to the 90s' prosperity (despite the gutting of the "smellfare" safety net) and brought Dems into the majority. alas, they never manage to provide proof that the DLC was what brought about the post-Reagan victories. neither can they account for the party's increasing conservatism since the 80s, nor its 50% enslavement to Bush, even after 2006 when his ratings were in the toilet. in their minds, we owe them, and they've earned the right to be the supercilious Adults.

now, this arrogance extends to policy: YOU peons shouldn't question what policies we hand down from the Mountain, nor oppose their candidates, nor split off a new party, because parties are sacrosanct in America, because there's two sides to every issue (never mind that both parties take the wrong side on a lot of important issues now). since they're conservative, Right Wing Authoritarianism runs high: "he's the COMMANDER IN CHIEF and the Party LEADER so we must OBEY WITHOUT QUESTION." it's the same mentality that had cops breaking into high schools to photograph antiwar projects, and malls to eject someone with a "Peace on Earth" shirt as offensive (and the mentality that applauds this because he's on Private Property, and thus belongs to the Owners while standing on it)

there's another conservadem faction, which angrily says that if the GOP is against something, it must be entirely good--regardless of what your lying eyes will tell you. these people prefer to just vomit bromides (the response to Obama's annoucenement of an Afghan surge? a f&*(#$ing posterized 1000x1000 picture of him hugging a kid and the OP saying he "trusted" him) or cliches (Would you rather have PALIN as President?!!!111) (Splitting the Party will ensure Republican policies for decades! It'll erase the gains we have made since 2006!)

to both conservadem factions, "winning" doesn't mean getting policy through, it means having a lot of Congress seats. to them, there's only two options: a Dem majority, which might hypothetically pass good laws, or a Pub majority, which absolutely would not. thus, it's best to have the former option, no matter how compromised the members. the gaping flaw in this--as we've seen since the Dems started giving Reagan much of what he wanted (napalm to incinerate Salvadoran villagers) and sorta let the Iran-Contra scammers go--is that bad policies can be passed by the Dems, even if "hypothetically" they're the only party that would pass good laws. as the share of conservadems increases, and money flows into their pockets, those hypothetical good laws drift further away. eventually, the Dems alienate enough voters and the Repubs win. on top of this, the conservadems push the same laws as the GOP, while feeding us that line about being the "better party"

a proudly pinko party would not fold on issues (you want guns? okay, we'll give you guns! abortion? out the window!). it would EDUCATE voters: it would tell them the morals behind a law (wildlife existed well before humanity arrived on the continent, and thus has some claim to independent existence), or how universal healthcare or welfare would benefit them (people do lose their jobs, and a 5% tax raise would give you back 20% of your income); they'd also tax the rich more, and point out to the peons that they're not billionaires and never will be. it would teach voters to judge policies and strip away corporate disinfo ("N Blacks caused the mortgage meltdown!"). it would encourage voters, rather than take their votes and then give money to the bank that's throwing them out of their house while telling them to shut up and not dare create a new party.

in short, Marx was right when he said economic liberals ain't worth beans

[OnyxCollie]

91. Spot on. nt

[krawhitham]

86. Most of the base does not give a shit about Dean

[Last Stand]

8. "they don’t seem to be too angry at Lieberman, they’re reserving their fervor for Howard Dean"

That says it all, doesn't it?

We've been had.

[David Zephyr]

13. That's the quotation that everyone at the DU needs to see.

It does say it all, Last Stand.

[DJ13]

9. Hm, who has more credibility on this issue, the WH or Dean?

Which of them has been lying throughout the reform battle?

I'll get back to ya on that.

[Larkspur]

10. This is definitely a Rahm meme

Lieberman who is screwing millions of Americans by not supporting the public option or Medicare buy-in because Rep. Weiner supports them is given a pass.

F*k Rahm and F*k Obama.

[calico1]

11. But they defend the POS Lieberman...

amazing...

[Cali_Democrat]

14. Mika Brzezinski?

:rofl:

[chill_wind]

24. Oh come on. Rahm resents Dean.

You think Rahm's Republican spleen is not about to rupture over Dean's message to Americans at this hour?
Of course he's going to trash talk Dean. And he'll use any twit on MSNBC or elsewhere to do it.

[mike_c]

16. Dr. Dean speaks for me, and Lieberman can kiss my ass....

It's against the rules here to describe my current views of Rahm Emmanual and Barak Obama, so I won't.

[Blasphemer]

17. Screw the WH

They play these games ALL the time. Anyone who disagrees with their bad decisions is maligned and demeaned in this manner. It's not a "tantrum" to demand real health care reform for the American people. Howard Dean is doing what the Obama Administration is supposed to be doing. The fact that they would be upset with Dean but not Lieberman tells you all you need to know right there.

[chill_wind]

18. Rahm must be very pissed

that he & the DLCers can't force "the message discipline" on Dr. Dean.

Some men can't be bought.

[thereismore]

19. Bingo. nt

[EFerrari]

21. Exactly. Who is having the "tantrum" here, Rahm?

[Skidmore]

26. Doesn't Rahm have a vested interest in profit centered health care? Isn't his brother head

of some health care venture?

[peace frog]

29. Ding - Ding - Ding - Ding - Ding!

We have a winnah.

[gkhouston]

54. and I find myself wondering if this crapola bill is intended to alienate progressives.

If a lot of progressive foot soldiers sit out 2010 there may be fewer non-DLC candidates on the ticket, which would improve party "discipline".

[Le Taz Hot]

62. I'm not sitting out in 2010

nor in 2012. I just won't be voting for anything but progressives and if there's none running in my area I'll find the closest one and phone bank for him/her. Progressives DON'T sit out elections. By definition, we're THE activists.

[chill_wind]

66. Me neither.

[Umbral]

77. I'm imagining liberal use of the F-Word!

About the only liberal thing about Emanuel.

[tomm2thumbs]

20. seems to me they have shot more friendly fire from those weapons than at real targets

this Obama White House is really becoming a stupid waste of our time, money and interest

not angry at Lieberman publicly, but railing on Dean - WTF are they thinking?!!! Idiots!

[Individualist]

23. There's nothing even remotely friendly about DLC's attitude toward progressives.

[pissedoff01]

27. The "Dean Scream" smear deja vu

[deminks]

34. Welcome to DU, and you are right on the mark.

Dr. Dean is a progressive, and for the Chamber of Commerce and the Corporatist Centrists who follow them, progressives are enemy #1.

[pissedoff01]

37. Thanks!

:)

[seabeyond]

30. howard dean supported and backed the WH for a long, long time

giving them his faith....

[Le Taz Hot]

63. He was trying to be a team player.

In fact, the apologists on this board actually cited him many times IF it suited their needs. I think he's done with being a team player, at least I hope he is.

[Blue_In_AK]

32. I do find it fascinating

and disturbing that the Whitehouse would side with Lieberman over Dr. Dean. Not too surprising though considering that President Obama and Rahm Emmanuel come as a team.

[tnlefty]

38. Fellate Traitor Joe and spit on Howard Dean...

another stroke of genius.

[chill_wind]

42. Quite a final commentary. n/t

[democrank]

41. Imagine that.....

the White House angry because some Democrat is actually standing up for the people.

[Parker CA]

43. Bad move. The WH's frustration is clearly running their messaging right now. Never a good thing.

[closeupready]

44. Sorry, people respect Howard Dean; they do NOT respect those who compromise

on issues like wiretapping and war.

[ellie]

45. I hope that this is just

gossip because if not, this is beyond the pale.

[Hippo_Tron]

46. Oh more "anonymous sources" bullshit

If Mika isn't going to name names then I'm just going to do as CJ Cregg does and assume she made it up.

[Unvanguard]

48. Lieberman has a vote in the Senate. Dean doesn't.

"Isn't it fascinating"... um, no, not really.

[maglatinavi]

50. DEAN

kudos to him!!! kill the bill, go back and start over with the right foot in front...do what is right, forget about the potus, etc. :mad: :mad: :mad: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[MessiahRp]

51. "According to Lieberman, Obama thanked him privately yesterday."

Yep. Sell Mother Fucking Out.

No way does he get my vote in 2012. And for the rest of the Democrats, you're mostly not either.

Rp

[Parker CA]

52. Link for that quote of a quote? Sounds like Politico.

[MessiahRp]

61. Quote is included in the above linked article. At the end.

nt

[Parker CA]

65. FWIW, it was from Politico and it was unsourced and unquoted.

[Tom Rinaldo]

55. First Obama threw Clark to the Jackals during his 2008 Presidential campaign

The same is being done to Dean now. The Right smeared Clark out of context after he defended Obama on "Meet the Press" during the 2008 race and Obama just put his hands in his pockets and walked away from that mugging. Dean pioneered the 50 State Strategy that the Obama campaign built on to success in 2008 but got replaced as Party Chair and frozen out of the Obama Administration. Now this. I suspect Obama didn't find Clark or Dean personally loyal enough to him to keep around. Unlike Lieberman who Obama reportedly pressured Senate Democrats to keep in the Democratic Caucus without stripping him of his Senate Committee Chair. Lieberman earned Obama's support after addressing the 2008 National Republican Convention and campaigning against Obama for McCain.

Obama I suspect believed that he didn't need either Clark or Dean to inspire loyalty from Democratic activists. He is more inclined to attempt to curry Lieberman's favor now. The Greeks long ago pointed out that arrogance precedes the fall.

[David Zephyr]

59. Yep.

.

[libertypirate]

56. Wait the other half of morning doh, makes sourceless claim.

There are many of these and how they deliver it which is so telling.

Use gossip to manufacture division. This is on it's way to being legitimized Rove bullshit. What makes these retards so gullible?

[hfojvt]

72. we sure do seem to jump when they push our hot buttons

"I won't name names, but somebody close to Oprah told me that Mika is a serial shoplifter."

[Le Taz Hot]

60. This Administration's true colors are coming out.

"Tantrum." Is that anything like "wanting a pony?" Is any of this diatribe starting to sound familiar. It should.

[lame54]

64. Great - now they're adding insult to sodomy

[madmom]

68. One senior official called him irrelevant and they put palin on every thing? Now I

know we're screwed!

[williesgirl]

70. FUCK THE WHITE HOUSE - THEY SOLD US OUT. Go Dean! rec'd

[tsuki]

71. Note to ObamaRahma. I'm throwing a tantrum also. nt

[optimator]

73. thank you all who paid attention

they thought they we would go to sleep like 1992-2000 but we didn't.

[hfojvt]

74. unrec for a rumor trying to create disunity

let's not get played by hearsay

[Waiting For Everyman]

76. The WH is tone deaf.

They're throwing the public to the wolves just to get Lieberman's vote on climate change after this. Want to bet on Lieberman doing the same thing on that?

[shireen]

78. if that's a 'tantrum' , i'm having one too

this bill is CRAP.
I'm so disappointed in the Democrats.

[yodermon]

79. DEAN IN '12

primary time baby.

[laughingliberal]

80. Yep, just keep that liberal bashing up over there. Good plan! nt

[glitch]

81. Surprised they didn't say he wanted a pony. And what about his poutrage.

They are fast becoming the new caricature, formerly known as Republicans.

And no, I am not happy about it -- it means I am now the same as my Republican relatives, wholly without credence.

Thanks so much for that.

[amborin]

82. outrageous! i hope the American public can see through all this

[phasma ex machina]

93. Yet another fait accompli where they powers that be stick it to the little guy for his own good.

"Wish you'd stop bein' so good to me, cap'n." - Luke.

[TexasObserver]

88. That characterization is what I expect from Glenn Beck, not the White House.

I'm very disappointed in them over that. How hard is it to say "we disagree, and are moving forward in the direction we think is best"?

It was petty, it was wrong headed, and it was uncalled for.

[Zomby Woof]

89. I can't keep up

Weren't there a lot of Dean supporters on here just a few months ago lamenting he sold out, and so they wallowed in their collective disillusionment? Now he's okay again? I need a scorecard.

[donheld]

92. Many of us intent to keep having tantrums till they get this right!

[BrklynLiberal]

95. tsk tsk tsk.

I thought with all the transparency and openness, this administration welcomed opposing views.