!! Howard Dean Appreciation Thread !!

[leftstreet]

Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American politician and physician from the U.S. state of Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009.<SUP id=cite_ref-0 class=reference><1>

As chairman of the party, Dean created and employed the 50 State Strategy that attempted to make Democrats competitive in normally conservative states often dismissed in the past as "solid red." The success of the strategy became apparent after the 2006 midterm elections, where Democrats took back the House and picked up seats in the Senate from normally Republican states such as Missouri and Montana. In the 2008 election, Barack Obama used The 50 state strategy as the backbone of his candidacy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Dean

October 28. 2008

If Sen. Barack Obama is able to prevail over Sen. John McCain on Tuesday, all of those Democrats who ripped Howard Dean's 50-state strategy over the last four years should call the head of the Democratic National Committee and offer a heartfelt apology.

They reasoned that money spent on get-out-the vote efforts in non-congressional elections was futile, and all the effort should be on reclaiming Congress.

But Dean resisted their suggestions, weathering repeated calls for him to resign after that election.

Dean's insistence on having a Democratic Party that existed in the heartland, and not just California, New York and Massachusetts, was brilliant in that it made clear that the party recognized the rest of America

http://articles.cnn.com/2008-10-28/politics/martin.election_1_50-state-strategy-howard-dean-democratic-party?_s=PM:POLITICS

"Not only are we going to New Hampshire, we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma And Arizona.. And North Dakota And New Mexico! We're going to California and Texas and New York! And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan! And then we're going to Washington D.C. to take back the White House! Yeah!!!"

:applause:





:cry:

[phasma ex machina]

1. A good man.

:kick:

[msongs]

2. Howard Dean 2, Tim Kaine 0 - looks like the DNC lost the deal nt

[Kurovski]

Who's that?

Oh, THAT guy! Thanks, Howie!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

3. HELL YES. (n/t)

[WorseBeforeBetter]

4. Whoops! (n/t)

[madmax]

5. Thanks Dr. Dean nt

[David Zephyr]

6. Yep.

Hey that's my pic! ;)

[Yeshuah Ben Joseph]

7. Just look how far this party has fallen without him.

Losing Russ Feingold's seat to a pedophile? Losing Ted Kennedy's seat to a nude Cosmo model?

Tim Kaine's only "accomplishment" is a stupid failure of a logo.

Dad bless you Dr. Dean. You gave this party a chance to redeem itself. Too bad they threw it away.

[leftstreet]

19. Oh you had to go there

:crazy:

[AspenRose]

33. Once again, you speak the truth

O8)

It must be difficult, trying to get through to people who won't listen to you. ;-)

[Beaverhausen]

8. We need him, now more than ever.

[leftstreet]

20. +1

I couldn't agree more

[calimary]

21. YES!!! I remain an absolute die-hard Howard Dean fan.

We Dean-supporters were correct the first time.

His 50-State Strategy was what carried the day in '06 and helped get us the White House back in '08. All the know-it-alls who thought the money and effort should be concentrated in the Beltway gave us little to be proud of throughout the bush years.

We DO need him now, more than ever!!!

[marew]

39. Absolutely!

This is one of the few I truly respect!

[thunder rising]

9. Obama kicked him to the curb with no fucking plan or person to replace him. Well buddy, I'm getting

popcorn and watching your ass answer all those subpoenas. How's that bipartisan shit working for you now?

[Celtic Raven]

41. No shit

The next 2 years will be IMPEACHMENT! 24/7 .

:nuke:

[polichick]

10. I'm so glad he's still active - still inspiring! nt

[NashVegas]

11. Tennessee Was a Bloodbath

Jim Cooper held on, so did Steve Cohen. At the latest count, Haslam still holds a 1k vote lead over McWherter in Davidson county; if a Dem can't win Nashville voters, he's screwed here.

Overall, Tennessee Dem campaigns were pitiful. Tons of money rolled into the state from elsewhere, pounding anti-Obama/Pelosi fever, and the blue men and women did little more than duck.

[Odin2005]

12. K&R for HOWIE!!!

[ScreamingMeemie]

13. Howard Dean will always speak for me.

[proud patriot]

14. Dr Dean Rocks

[MissDeeds]

15. Thanks Gov. Dean

Man, do we need you.

[AsahinaKimi]

16. I worked for Howard Dean...

I am a Dean Democrat. Always will be! :kick:

[Hawkeye-X]

17. He is still the man I want challenging Obama from the left on '12 primaries

even if he doesn't win, he must force Obama to change his shift to the left for the next 4 years. BIG time.

No more compromises, no more huggy-feely. It's time to bloodify Republicans, and NOW is the time to do it.

[leftstreet]

22. That would be interesting

Leftward push would be nice

[EFerrari]

18. K&R

[fadedrose]

23. No bigger waste of a natural resource than not having Dean...

serve in some official position in the Government where he can be of so much benefit to so many...

I like him so so much....and trust him....

How can I have faith in my President who is not able to see in Dean what we all do..(or most of us anyway)?

[leftstreet]

24. a kick for Howard

[XemaSab]

25. I love Howard!

:bounce:

[Nostradammit]

26. Down with the DLC.

Trojan horse bastards.

[laughingliberal]

27. K & R nt

[inna]

28. KR

[_ed_]

29. Thanks Tim Kaine!

For being a stupid, careless, incompetent corporate hack.

Please tell that man has already resigned or has been fired and thrown out into the street.

[AspenRose]

30. One man who made a difference.

Alas, he's only one man...and we are going to need more than Dr. Dean to cure what ails us now.

:patriot: Thank you Howard. Wish "they" appreciated you more. We do.

[Le Taz Hot]

31. How about We The People

liberating him from the losing corporate Democrats and resurrecting his candidacy for a 2012 primary run? OK, I know he would never do it, but that is my fantasy.

[fascisthunter]

32. indeed...

[whathehell]

34. Howard Dean: The best thing to happen to Democrats in Decades...absurdly unappreciated. n/t

[Uncle Joe]

35. Self-delete due to technical error.

[Uncle Joe]

36. Kicked and recommended for a brilliant strategist.

Thanks for the thread, leftstreet.:thumbsup:

[Iggo]

37. -

:thumbsup:

[BlueMTexpat]

38. I am now, still and always will be a loyal Deaniac.

Obama did not treat Dean well, IMO, after all Dean had done for him and for the Dems. No, Dean didn't want to stay on at the DNC. But he was very interested in the HHS Cabinet position. He deserved anything he wanted. But his participation in the Cabinet was nixed by Rahm because Dean would be too "polarizing." We've all seen exactly how "bipartisanship" worked out for us on health care reform - how could a little "polarization" have made things any worse?

I believe that this 2010 election was going to be difficult, especially with the MSM so in the pockets of the Repubs and the Citizens United decision, to say nothing of difficult economic times. But keeping Dean's "50 state strategy" would have helped to minimize Dem losses. Abandoning it was catastrophic and whoever made that decision is directly responsible for the extent of the losses that Dems suffered. Whether it was Obama, Emanuel or Kaine - or all three in tandem - who made the decision, it was wrong. Perhaps President Obama made the mistake of believing just a bit too much in his own hubris and charisma. Yes, he has both, but they are simply not enough when winning elections for others - especially those in the House of Representatives - requires local boots on the local ground.

If we learned anything, it should be that whoever is named to the DNC slot should commit to Dean's strategy in exactly the way that Howard Dean did. If they don't, we will continue to lose. It's that simple.

[mnhtnbb]

43. Me, too.

[Jamastiene]

40. I'll drink to that.

K&R

:toast:

[Celtic Raven]

42. K&R nt

[patrice]

44. K & R

[goforit]

45. We would not have had these losses with Dean's strategy.

Dem's huge error!

[Naturyl]

46. Converted Deaniac checking in

I was slow to embrace the Dean hype. For a long time, I resented the Dean-loving everywhere on DU...

But I got over it. Dean is the man. :)

[fishwax]

47. k/r

:kick:

:yourock:

:applause:

:kick:

[myrna minx]

48. K&R for Howard.

:loveya:

[R. P. McMurphy]

49. If only 5% of the members of congress were people of . . .

Dr. Dean's intellect and character this nation would be transformed. We had an opportunity in 2004 to elect a real leader and we (I am one of them) blew it. I hope he decides to run for the presidency again.