open thread: the loyalty of the grassroots
A lengthy report from the road with Dean by the LA Weekly has the usual breathless comentary and bemused fascination with the Dean campaign on tour that we have seen in most such pieces. But near the end is a major stunner of a quote by Dean:
This is almost alarming, but there's a disctinction between Dean supporting a Democratic nominee and the grassroots doing so. Dean has publicly stated in the past that he will only run as a Democrat and he will support the eventual nominee. But what do you think? Should Dean lose the nomination, and declare his support, do you think he should encourage us to also lend our support?
Speaking for myself, were the nominee to be Lieberman or Kucinich, I'd have a very hard time voting in their favor. Not to say I definitively wouldn't, but they would have to convince me, I'm not going to blindly pull any levers in that voting booth. And to be honest I'd find an effort by Dean to tell me who I should support to be presumptous. What's the point of being independent if you don't intend to think for yourself? I'm a DEAN supporter - and if Gephardt thinks he can inherit my vote if he just takes Dean out, he'd better rethink.
What do you think about this quote? where do you stand on supporting another (non-dean) nominee should Dean not triumph in the primary?
When I ask Dean about Clark, his response is characteristically two-fold. He praises him with sincere fervor: “I know Wes Clark, he’s a very good human being, and he’s got an enormous amount of integrity.” At the same time, on the subject of Clark entering the race, he shows more than a glint of steel. “It’s going to be very hard to start late,” he says, “and think you’re going to do well in Iowa and New Hampshire. It’s going to be incredibly hard. I mean, we’ve already got 39,000 people working for us all around the country . . . I really do believe — and I think about this — I want to get this nomination, and if I don’t . . . these kids are not transferrable. I can’t just go out and say, ‘Okay, so I didn’t win the nomination, so go ahead and vote for the Democrats.’ They’re not going to suddenly just go away. That’s not gonna happen.”
This is almost alarming, but there's a disctinction between Dean supporting a Democratic nominee and the grassroots doing so. Dean has publicly stated in the past that he will only run as a Democrat and he will support the eventual nominee. But what do you think? Should Dean lose the nomination, and declare his support, do you think he should encourage us to also lend our support?
Speaking for myself, were the nominee to be Lieberman or Kucinich, I'd have a very hard time voting in their favor. Not to say I definitively wouldn't, but they would have to convince me, I'm not going to blindly pull any levers in that voting booth. And to be honest I'd find an effort by Dean to tell me who I should support to be presumptous. What's the point of being independent if you don't intend to think for yourself? I'm a DEAN supporter - and if Gephardt thinks he can inherit my vote if he just takes Dean out, he'd better rethink.
What do you think about this quote? where do you stand on supporting another (non-dean) nominee should Dean not triumph in the primary?
Comments