As of right now, I am formally backing Dr. Howard B. Dean III to challenge Obama from the left

[Hawkeye-X]

I will back either Democrat, but compromising to the Republicans has yielded disastrous results, and I'm afraid Obama will have to pay for it in '12 by shifting to center-left/left which is where he should have been in the first place, instead of kissing Rethuglican's asses and saying 'sorry' for the 'obstruction' of their dream(s).

Hawkeye-X

[Naturyl]

1. I support a primary challenge.

Dean would be fine, as would several others.

[Lucky 13]

2. Amen. nt

[Toucano]

3. I don't think Dean can challenge anybody "from the left".

Dean is a moderate.

[HuckleB]

20. +1

[scheming daemons]

4. All the hard lefties are getting slaughtered tonight... you're taking exactly the wrong lesson

[TBF]

7. Kucinich has his seat. Feingold had no support from the party. nt

[karynnj]

19. John Kerry sent a very nice email from his list soliciting donations for him

Obama went to WI - I think twice.

[readmoreoften]

8. Not exactly sure anyone would listen to you. It's the "hard lefties" that the DNC abandoned

who are getting slaughtered.

And by the way, there are no "HARD LEFTIES" in the running. There are only centrists, center rightists, far rightists, and proto-fascists in the running. You are in the center-right of the political spectrum. The people you call "far left" are centrist by any reasonable analysis.

[Hannah Bell]

there are no "hard lefties" in office & haven't been since the era of the farmer-labor party.

[BootinUp]

57. So you thought you would help his argument? nt

[girl gone mad]

17. If we keep playing that game..

we'll get slaughtered again in 2012.

Democrats had a mandate for sweeping progressive change. Instead, they caved to the same corporate interests that have controlled the Republican party for decades. The voters aren't as dumb as neo-liberal Dem strategists assumed.

[Inuca]

61. The logic of your statement excapes me

Because the "mandate for sweeping progressive change" was not implemented voters veered 180 degrees in the opposite direction?

[Number23]

25. I don't understand why this blatantly simple point has escaped so many here

All the hard lefties are getting slaughtered tonight... you're taking exactly the wrong lesson

One more time.

All the hard lefties are getting slaughtered tonight... you're taking exactly the wrong lesson

[SunsetDreams]

36. me either

Logic fails....the lefties got "slaughtered", because folks were teaching a lesson due to "Obama compromising with Republicans"...
seems to me, the lefties would be the last ones getting slaughtered if that were true. There is a lesson in there alright.

[Hello_Kitty]

45. Hard lefties like Blanche Lincoln, right? eom

[KossackRealityCheck]

60. Because people don't actually think anymore

Most people have preconceived ideas -- not just about opinions, but about factual issues.

They take evidence and no matter what it "should" tell them, it just confirms their views.

So the fact that Feingold and Grayson lost means that the Democrats in Congess should have been more like Feingold and Grayson.

[Hello_Kitty]

44. That's funny because 2 of the conserva-Dems lost in my state, AZ.

Ann Kirkpactrick and Harry Mitchell.

[totodeinhere]

55. Wrong. Most of the losers were Blue Dogs. With a few exceptions, true progressives

held on and won.

[cbdo2007]

5. That's weird - Dean will be supporting Obama.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

6. I am with you.

[WilliamPitt]

9. Sorry, bro, but (facepalm) to that.

[RiverStone]

10. Obama has never had to face a red House

Or radical TPers in it.

I'm banking on him fighting - but I have little patience to wait.

Come on President Obama --- kick some rightie ass!

[ScreamingMeemie]

11. People powered Howard...

I'd be in on that. It would get me out knocking on doors again.

[Arkana]

12. You asked Dr. Howard B. Dean III what he thinks of this?

Because chances are he's going to be supporting the President in his reelection bid.

[GoCubsGo]

24. Thank you.

I've not heard him even so much as hint that he'd be interested in running again.

[grantcart]

30. and Grayson and Feingold as well

All three of them would be laughing their asses off at the suggestion.

[VMI Dem]

13. Absolutely. Feingold or Grayson will do as well.

[prolesunited]

14. Because losing their seats

proves they can win a national election

[Toucano]

22. +1 n/t

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SunsetDreams]

34. exactly

[Inuca]

62. Are you sure about that?

Did you speak with them last night? A tweet maybe?

[ProgressiveMajority]

15. A primary challenge will just drain campaign funds. So... Obama 2012!

If the Republicans didn't have a big funding advantage, then I might support a primary challenge. As it is, I think on the national level the smart thing to do is to line up behind any Democrat currently in office (with a few exceptions). If there's no incumbent, then by all means go progressive, but I think we should all just get out and support Obama in 2012.

[LoZoccolo]

16. A bold move sir; you're sticking your neck out quite a bit there. n/t

[MadBadger]

63. Anonymously posting on the internet is never bold.

[tblue37]

18. He has said he will not run for public office again. nt

[KittyWampus]

21. LOL! You must be desperate for attention.

[John Commonsense]

23. This is a painful truth that we all have to accept.

After the last 8-12 years of GOP crap the Dem leadership should have never compromised once.

Now we'll see if they plan on doing the same dance all over again.

[okieinpain]

39. you right you can't compromise, but you have to put out a

smart bill from the get go.

[MrScorpio]

27. Because we all know how well a primary challenge did for the incumbent in 1980

Right?

Dean won't do it in 2012, sorry. You're dreaming.

[young but wise]

28. This has got to be one of the dumbest post of the night.

What is wrong with you? We should be focusing on how to beat the Teabaggers not Obama.

[Yeshuah Ben Joseph]

29. The teabaggers are manipulated brainless puppets

what we need to beat is the Koch Brothers/Chamber of Commerce machine which is funding them.

Not coincidentally, they are also funding the DLC.

Your enemy is not the idiot who can't spell their own signs. It's the entities which make those idiots believe lies and vote against their own interests.

[HughMoran]

31. (facepalm)

So you're saying, essentially, "we lost all our progressive candidates - Grayson, Feingold, Kuster et al because we weren't LEFT enough."

Where is the logic in that????

[Uzybone]

32. crazy talk

[kysrsoze]

33. Fuck yeah. How about a guy with a set of cajones for a change?

Man, I wish they hadn't railroaded Dean out of the nomination in '04.

[Kaleva]

35. Considering that Dean is a moderate, that ought to be quite a feat.

He's a fighter but not from the left.

[FrenchieCat]

37. He would be inevitable like he was the last time he ran.

Would be a nice show though......for some.

[Radical Activist]

38. Dean would have to move left first to be a challenge from Obama's left.

Hard facts.

[nofurylike]

40. hmm. white man pandering to white men with confederate flags.

that is your "better" candidate?

better how? is that more-forgivable pandering than what you charge obama with doing? - all white male president-possibles being inherently more forgivable when they do anything obama is being charged with doing.

[suzie]

41. Well, since white males are "the base" of the Democratic Party, what's the problem?

[nofurylike]

49. true, in their own minds. that's what matters i guess. when will i

learn?

:)

[Bluebear]

43. Sounds racist.

[nofurylike]

47. yeah, he was. "better candidate"? nt

[Bluebear]

48. No, your white men this and white men that sounds racist. Does that bother you?

[nofurylike]

51. he is a white man. and they receive more latitude from some

other white men. same about white women, though they also tend to receive less latitude than white men.

just fact. do you not recognize that?

it was dean who made it a racism issue by saying what he did. so, it is quite appropriate to discuss it in those terms.


bye.

[Bluebear]

52. bye. permanently.

[NYC Liberal]

42. As of right now, I am formally backing Barack Hussein Obama to run for a 2nd term.

He will win the nomination handily, without a challenge from the "left." Bank on it.

[nofurylike]

56. ++1 thank you, NYC Liberal! i wish i could've been as high-minded

as you just were.

:blush:

well said.


peace and solidarity

[BootinUp]

46. Dean will of course laugh off any such suggestion. nt

[ampad]

50. No wonder

I don't spend too much time on this side of DU. Thanks for reminding me why. Most stupid shit I have read all night.

[apocalypsehow]

54. I don't know why I spend so much time in GD, as opposed to the other side. It's like this ALL the

time.

And you are quite right: it's some of the stupidest shit I've read all night. It's been like this alot this evening.

[DFW]

53. I know Howard fairly well. He won't do it.

I know we all wish he had been president since 2004. His work as DNC chairman from 2005 through 2008 was nothing short of
brilliant, and had he still been DNC chair, we might have seen a VERY different result last night. But Howard got Obama
elected and got him elected with a substantial majority in both Houses of Congress. Short of being elected President himself,
he did everything he could for party and country.

It has long been his view that younger people need to get involved in the political process as candidates, and he already
considered himself too old to do this again, and he told me that almost two years ago.

He will lend what support he can, and will always be out there defending his progressive views, but don't look for him to
be running for national office again. If he changes his mind, we'll all know it in no uncertain terms. But Howard will be
62 two weeks from today. He is not looking to assume the office of president at age 64. He will back Obama again, barring
unforeseen circumstances (this IS politics after all, and who foresaw last night's result a year ago?).

[Catherina]

58. Rec'd n/t

[dionysus]

59. i take it you never knew that Howard's a centrist, did you?

[ecstatic]

64. I backed Dean in 03/04, but he is to the right of Obama

Even though that's still left of center. Sorry