The Memo is Available
The DLC has posted its full memo. And when you read it, I think it becomes clear that they have no good reason for attacking Dean, a man talking about fiscal sanity, a pragmatic health care plan, and who is uniting centrists and the left.
Some people commenting here have wondered why, in the Dean Defense Forces post on the subject, we worked hard to make it clear that Dean should appeal to New Democrats. The answer is that New Democrats and the DLC, as is clear by the memo, are not right-wingers. They're hesitant progressives. They, like Howard Dean, realize that social justice can't be achieved without financial security. They, like Howard Dean, realize that progressivism must be pragmatic. The only problem is that they don't realize that they are like Howard Dean, arguably more like Howard Dean than John Kerry, Dick Gephardt, Al Sharpton, or even the conservatives in the group like Joe Lieberman (because Lieberman truly is an old-school conservative Democrat - there's relatively little "new" about him).
Dean's power comes from his ability to unite the activists and the rank and file. He's willing to fight, but he's not Quixotic. The DLC should be defending him against charges that he's too liberal to run for President. They should be working with us.
Please, Al and Bruce, work with us.
And please, stop the sniping.
Some people commenting here have wondered why, in the Dean Defense Forces post on the subject, we worked hard to make it clear that Dean should appeal to New Democrats. The answer is that New Democrats and the DLC, as is clear by the memo, are not right-wingers. They're hesitant progressives. They, like Howard Dean, realize that social justice can't be achieved without financial security. They, like Howard Dean, realize that progressivism must be pragmatic. The only problem is that they don't realize that they are like Howard Dean, arguably more like Howard Dean than John Kerry, Dick Gephardt, Al Sharpton, or even the conservatives in the group like Joe Lieberman (because Lieberman truly is an old-school conservative Democrat - there's relatively little "new" about him).
Dean's power comes from his ability to unite the activists and the rank and file. He's willing to fight, but he's not Quixotic. The DLC should be defending him against charges that he's too liberal to run for President. They should be working with us.
Please, Al and Bruce, work with us.
And please, stop the sniping.
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