Nation-Building

This is worth revisiting, as one of our rivals is claiming that Dean doesn't even have a plan for Iraq. The 7 points are as follows:

* A NATO-led coalition should maintain order and guarantee disarmament.
* Civilian authority in Iraq should be transferred to an international body approved by the U.N. Security Council.
* The U.N.'s Oil for Food program should be transformed into an Oil for Recovery program, to pay part of the costs of reconstruction and transition.
* The U.S. should convene an international donor's conference to help finance the financial burden of paying for Iraq's recovery.
* Women should participate in every aspect of the decision-making process.
* A means should be established to prosecute crimes committed against the Iraqi people by individuals associated with Saddam Hussein's regime.
* A democratic transition will take between 18 to 24 months, although troops should expect to be in Iraq for a longer period.
* "We must hold the Administration to its promises before the war, and create a world after the war that is safer, more democratic, and more united in winning the larger struggle against terrorism and the forces that breed it," Governor Dean said. "That is, after all, now much more than a national security objective," he added. "It is a declaration of national purpose, written in the blood of our troops, and of the innocent on all sides who have perished."

Let's not forget this plan was released on April 9, 2003.

Continue reading/discuss Reminder: Howard Dean's 7 point plan for Iraq ...

I got an email on Sunday from Kimmy Cash of PunxForDean.org, but I waited until today to post it because traffic slows down over the weekend. I want to give Kimmy a big plug, and I want to also give a big plug to the good folks at PunkVoter.com. Kimmy writes:

I can't begin to describe to you all the excitement that we, Punx for Dean.org, have for Dr. Dean. We are so sick of the way things are being handled by the current administration that we have decided to dedicate every second of our time skyrocketing Dean's campaign to unimaginable heights and showing an entire generation what a miserable failure the Bush Administration is. We know that it is in our hands now. We will most likely strike a new fear in the eyes of the ultra conservative. We will break in our second quarter with support that no campaign has ever counted on.
What most people don't know is that "Punks" have a real good idea about what goes on in the world and keep up with current affairs. You can't go to a Punk Show without hearing about lying politicians, citizen sheep, bible thumpers and corporate scum. We are very much aware and now we have the chance to really hurt their wallets and spoil the right-wing Republican agenda.
On any given night of the week in every U.S. City and State there are local and international bands showcasing their music to young Americans. Some with a serious message, others with no message at all. All have one thing in common: An audience full an angst ridden adults who have been pushed aside by this administration and forgotten during others'. We are the part of the disenfranchised that everyone speaks of. The more lies we hear from other campaigns and our current government, the more fuel we have to feed the fire. Sharing a common ground all across the Nation, it won't be difficult to spread the word about the good fight. The Howard Dean Campaign.
We will use the power of the internet, word of mouth and footwork of punks across the country. We will be showing up at gigs with a hand full of flyers and the blueprints to kick George W. Bush out of office! There is no competition, the Dems, Greens and Independants had us all along, they just never plugged in to us. There is no such thing as a RePUNKlican or a Punksevative. We are the disenfranchised. You have our vote Howard Dean and in 2003-2004 there's going to be a new Generation screaming for Dean!

Being a punk rock girl at heart, I can vouch for this. Punks are some of the most active, politically aware people you'll find, and like many in the Dean movement, they are disaffected voters who are usually ignored by the Washington politicians. Kimmy also sent out a call for action this weekend that I want to post here in case any of our California Dean Nationals can help out:

We, punxfordean.org, are putting together an all day punk rock show for Dean. Here's the deal.. we need video screens (similar to the one used at the Union Station party). We are putting together a Video to ignite our scene. Its going to be the Adicts "Viva la Revolution" song playing with clips of Dean at his most passionate moments.. "I want my Country Back" etc. This will have clips of Bush and his lies throughout. See, our scene is angry and anger and extreme passion is what will seal the deal with us. The show will have Dean Tables with info and we need people there registering us to vote. This will be held in the Inland Empire and we expect several hundred to show. Obviously we are in charge of getting the bands, getting the place and getting the audience...
What we need is a Dean Representative (can we have Dean???) to show our movement that Howard Dean and his camp truly do care about us, the disenfranchised punks of America. Let us not forget that there are approx. 5,000 signed up with Punxfordean.org The fact is that there were 40,000 people at the Last Inland Invasion Punk Rock Show here in the I.E. That's only here! You can imagine the number of punkers in the U.S. More than enough to start a DEAN Revolution I would say... Soooooo... anyone know where I can go for help? I had a guest column on the Gen Dean Blog and posted this there..so hopefully that works out too. We have alot we need to go over with the Dean Campaign and those involved. If you can be of any assistance, please let us know.

If you can help out with this show, you can reach Kimmy via her Deanlink page.

Continue reading/discuss Punks unite for Howard Dean ...

Guess who voted to authorise a $130 BILLION dollar reduction in Medicare over a five year period in 1997? Guess who's "yes" vote increased medicare copays by about $60 per month over five years? Guess who voted to authorise a $13 billion dollar decrease in Medicaid spending?
Now before all you Kerry supporters get your panties twisted in a knot, this is not an attack. This is a Defense of Dean. Since John Kerry has decided to team up with the other guy who lives in a glass house, it is only fair that we point out that Kerry's hypocrisy in defense of our candidate. Once you know the truth, the attack just doesn't hold water.
In 1997, Kerry voted yes on HR2015 - the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. This bill increased medicare copays, reduced government funding of Medicare over a five year period, and also decreased medicaid spending.
Oh, but I haven't gotten to the good part yet. The bill also gave $24 billion to the states for health insurance for low income uninsured children (I guess to make up for cutting them from the national rolls), partially financed by a gradual 15-cent increase in the tobacco tax!! BWAHAHAHA! And Kerry's going to attack Dean for expanding health benefits in Vermont via increasing the cigarette tax! He's attacking Dean and accusing him of doing exactly what Kerry's yes vote did. That's just rich!
Senator Kerry, this is exactly why I can't support you in the primaries. I'm sure you had good intentions when you voted for this bill, but for you to turn around and attack Howard Dean without double-checking your own record, well that's just silly.
*serious freakin' hat tip to Dean National Tod Nichols for the link

update: Okay, I'm breathing now. My point in posting this is to point out that John Kerry can't have it both ways. You can't vote to authorise a bill that is deficit-hawkish, and then turn around a few years later and attack someone (Dean) for being equally fiscally responsible. This was a Clinton-era bill, and we all know that prosperity during those years required people to make tough decisions like the ones outlined in this bill. Tough decisions like the one Dean made when he called the Vermont legislature's bluff and got them to pass the cigarette tax in order to save Medicare/Medicaid in Vermont. John, you either stand by your vote or you don't. You can't have your cake and eat it, too. Do you regret your vote? If so, that's fine, but you need to acknowledge that at one point you took a position similar to Dean. Now if you've had some sort of epiphany and you no longer stand by that tough decision, then say so and move on. But unless you disavow this vote, don't go attacking my guy for doing exactly what you did.

update2: A flip, a flop, a flippity flop... Kerry voted both yes and no on this bill. On a vote on 6/25/97, John Kerry voted against S947, which never became law. On 7/31/97, HR2015 passed instead. That was taken in conference and Kerry voted YES. HR2015 became law (and was a companion to S947), and that's the bill I originally posted about. If you look at Kerry's health care voting record you can see there was a pretty big fight in Congress at the time. Kerry's public votes (read: non-conference) are fairly consistent (no on the cig tax, no on using revenue from medicare reductions to pay for a tax cut [of course that is the middle class tax cut Kerry's been trumpeting lately]), however once you get him off the Senate floor and away from the public eye his votes change dramatically. His yes vote in conference betrayed his public votes on the Senate floor, and show him flippity-flopping his way through those votes. So again, this comes back to integrity and hypocrisy. Kerry's accused Dean of flip-flopping when Kerry flip-flopped several times during the fight over the balanced budget. In fact, the charge of flip-flopping is just stupid because all the candidates have done it at one time or another. I just wish he'd stop accusing Dean of doing things that Kerry's done, hence the hypocrisy charge I've levelled today. You can't have your cake and eat it, too, John. Dean never shies away from his record, and I just can't say the same thing for the good Senator from Massachusetts.

Continue reading/discuss Hey look, John Kerry lives in a glass house too! ...

WOODRUFF: We're working on establishing a connection with Governor Howard Dean, who is in New Hampshire today. We're going to get that going just as fast as we can.

Mean time a question -- do we have him? All right. Terrific. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean joins us.

Thank you very much, Governor. We appreciate it.

DEAN: Thanks, Judy.

WOODRUFF: First off, on the California recall. You said yesterday that you think Gray Davis is going to keep his job, that he can beat this recall. Do you still think so?

DEAN: I think so. It's going to be a close election, as is obvious by the exit polls and so forth. But I think that he will keep his job.

You know, there's been a lot of controversy around Arnold Schwarzenegger. I think the people don't want to make that kind of a switch.

Sure, people are mad at Gray, because he's had a tough economy to deal with, but the fact is that it's probably better to continue with somebody that you know, even though you may not be fully satisfied, than it is to take the enormous risk of having somebody with the kinds of charges leveled at them that have been leveled at Arnold Schwarzenegger over the last few weeks.

WOODRUFF: If Arnold Schwarzenegger were elected, and Gray Davis is removed, would it be impossible for the Democrats to win California next year in the presidential campaign?

DEAN: It's not impossible, but it's always more difficult to win a state that has a governor of the opposite party in it. They have the patronage mechanisms, they have all the levers they can pull with state workers. So it just makes it that much more difficult. And I think that's one of the reasons the right-wing congressman, Darrell Issa, decided to finance this recall.

You know, although the president has kept his hands off this, I suspect strongly that Karl Rove has not kept his hands off this, and I see this as another attempt, just as we had in Colorado and Texas, to undo a previous election because the right wing didn't like the way the election came out.

WOODRUFF: Governor Dean, I want to turn to an issue that's part of the presidential campaign, and that has to do with Medicare. Yesterday, Senator John Kerry, campaigning in Iowa, brought up the dispute over your support for Medicare back in the mid-1990s.

He said, quote, "He," meaning you, "was for deeper cuts in Medicare, beyond what President Clinton wanted. He's trying to have it a different way."

What do you say to Senator Kerry?

DEAN: You know, these guys came after me, saying I was like McGovern and I couldn't win, now they're claiming I'm like Gingrich and I can't win.

The truth is, a third of all of the seniors in Vermont have prescription drug benefits. The people who are running against me have served in Washington together for almost a century.

Tell me what seniors have to show for their stay in Washington, and compare it to what seniors in my state have, with prescription drug benefits.

If you want change in Washington, you had better get rid of all the Democrats and the Republicans who've sat on prescription drug benefits for all these years and support somebody who's actually delivered them to seniors. I've delivered it. Those guys can say whatever they want about my approach to Medicare.

Of course, I support Medicare. But I want health insurance for every single man, woman and child in America and I've come closer to delivering that than any of my Washington opponents.

WOODRUFF: Senator and a question about the middle -- I'm sorry, governor -- and a question about the Middle East. President Bush said today that what Israel did in striking Syria was an essential -- was part of an essential campaign to defend the country of Israel. Do you agree with him, that it was essential for Israel to go after -- to go into Syrian territory in order to defend Israel's security?

DEAN: I don't know the facts and I don't know -- have any intelligence information about that terrorist camp. If it was a terrorist camp, I think Israel had a right to strike it. You've got to defend yourselves, as we did in Afghanistan because terror does come from other countries and the Syrian government is known for supporting that.

In general...

WOODRUFF: So you would encourage the Israeli government to do this sort of thing on...

DEAN: Well, that's not the question you asked me. The question you asked me is is it essential for -- was it essential for Israel to strike in to Syria. And the answer I gave you was, if that was a terrorist camp, I think they had every right to defend themselves.

WOODRUFF: And in other words, if these situations present themselves again, Israel should do the same thing?

DEAN: If Israel has to defend itself by striking terrorists elsewhere, it's going to have to do that. Terrorism has no place in bringing peace in the Middle East.

It's -- you know, the attack -- deliberate attack of men, women and children is not permitted under the Geneva Conventions and nations have a right to defend themselves, just as we defended ourselves by going into Afghanistan to get rid of Al Qaeda. And if there are terrorist threats coming from other parts of the world, Israel has a right to defend themselves, if those are aimed at Israel.

WOODRUFF: Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. Governor, thank you very much for talking with me.

DEAN: Thanks very much.

WOODRUFF: We appreciate it.

DEAN: Thanks, Judy.

WOODRUFF: Good to see you.

Question -- did Gray Davis run a smart recall campaign?

Continue reading/discuss transcript: Inside Politics (10/7/03) ...

a rare moment of unity: all the Democratic candidates agreed with President Bush, that Israel was right to strike Syria:

The top Democratic presidential candidates, who have differed sharply with President Bush over his conduct of the Iraq war, are registering their agreement with him over his support for Israel's bombing of a terrorist target in Syria.

The president called the airborne attack, which hit what Israel described as a training camp of Islamic Jihad in retaliation for Sunday's bloody bombing of a Haifa restaurant, an "essential" part of a campaign to defend the country. "We would be doing the same thing," he added, according to The Associated Press.

The Israeli attack, the first such strike inside Syria in 26 years, was criticized in editorials in several leading American newspapers.

But the leading Democrats, at least, all stood with their commander in chief. Republican operatives have been arguing for months in the Jewish community that Bush has been the strongest presidents ever on Israel's defense, but the agreement among the candidates is only the latest instance in which they and congressional Democrats have been just as accommodating as Bush — if not more hard-line — on Israel's security needs.
...
Former Vermont governor Howard Dean, asked to comment Tuesday by CNN's Judy Woodruff on the show "Inside Politics," said, "If Israel has to defend itself by striking terrorists elsewhere, it's going to have to do that. Terrorism has no place in bringing peace in the Middle East. You know, the attack, [a] deliberate attack of men, women and children, is not permitted under the Geneva conventions, and nations have the right to defend themselves just as we defended ourselves by going into Afghanistan to get rid of Al Qaeda."

It will be interesting to see whether a similar concensus develops if Israel bombs Iran's nuclear sites.

UPDATE: Dean's approval was HIGHLY qualified. Several commentators point out that the context of Dean's remarks was that IF the intelligence was conclusive that Syria was harboring an active terrorist training camp, then an attack was warranted. He noted that he had not seen any such intelligence.

Billmon has rescinded his support of Dean over this - though the DDF has a related FAQ entry, B.4.iii. Middle East: "What is Dean's stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?"

Continue reading/discuss Dems Stand With Bush on Syria Attack ...

With most campaigns, this kind of profile would be firmly in the "unauthorized" category. With Dean, I think they're probably grinning, widely:

With the turbulent ’60s as a backdrop, what his friends remember most are the good times and Dean was at the center of that — a fun guy, quick to organize a mixer and hang out for a card game.

"He was just somebody, and it remains true, that people liked to be around. You sort of feel good about yourself around Howard. I think it has something to do with his unpretentiousness," said David Berg of New Haven, his good friend from Yale’s Pierson College.

Dean was at Yale from 1967 to 1971, as the war escalated in Vietnam, the civil rights movement advanced, the National Guard patrolled New Haven on May Day and the first women came to the Ivy League campus.

"He was seldom, if ever, a loner. He was always the guy who was getting a group of people together, and he was very inclusive," said Bill Kerns, who is now a family physician in Virginia.

Dean was also the guy who invited you back to his room to finish off the keg that was left over from those socials he helped organize, said good friend Richard Willing, a national correspondent for USA Today.

Classmates, contacted across the country, remember his stamina and the intensity he brought to those late night bull sessions on Old Campus during freshman year and later at Pierson.

"Howard had a huge amount of energy and you would be coming back from lab, ticked off at the world, and Howard would go by singing and buzzed and you couldn’t help but laugh," said Kerns.

His intramural gridiron feats — Dean was an offensive lineman — also came to mind, mainly because he was game enough to take on much bigger players.

"I was impressed that he dove in there and did it because you take a beating playing football like that," said Jeffrey Knight, 53, a marketing consultant in California.

There were oblique references to some "outrageous" things happening in the freshmen dorm, but no one was elaborating.

"He did some interesting things as a freshman I’m not going to tell you about, but I mean, hell, didn’t we all?" Kerns said.

There's more - it's a great piece! Read on for a description of Dean as a "bulldog" and more insight on Dean's request for a black room-mate.

Continue reading/discuss Friends recall Howard Dean’s intensity, worldly ways ...

From The San Jose Mercury News via The Contra Cost Times:

"It has become a fairly predictable cycle: Politicians don't listen to the voters, the voters get mad that they are not being listened to and they find a way to get the politicians to pay attention," said Republican strategist Dan Schnur. "This anger is directed at the entire political system and everyone in it. The recall was about the car tax. It was about driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. And it was about the energy crisis. But more than anything this recall was about voters who were mad because nobody was listening to them."

Political insurgency here [in California] is a reflection of a broader national trend that has helped power the presidential candidacy of Howard Dean. "Though we might be seeing this most intensely in California, this anger certainly isn't unique," Schnur said. "The only difference between Californians who signed a recall petition and New Hampshire-ites who go to Meetup.com to talk about Howard Dean is geography."

This meme is a major theme on all the weekend political shows, too. Once the transcripts go up next week, I'll sample ya'll a recap.

Continue reading/discuss Meme Picks Up Steam ...

Though I posted this link on the ZonkBoard, we are having a little troll problem and it's already buried. Since it's the weekend, I'm posting it here. Gray Davis doing the Top 10 List from David Letterman: the list, links to news stories and links to video at Points West. It's surprisingly funny, and like Gore before him, it makes you wish he'd shown a little personality and humor, well, earlier.

P.S. Isn't it an honor, we've been assigned our own troll? Certainly a sign of success -- Rove and the gang must be getting worried, the Freepers are going nuts! Well, nuts-ier!

Continue reading/discuss Davis: Top 10 List on Letterman ...

We continue with card #3 in Dean Nation's exclusive look at our villains on The "Right" from the folks at Dean Deck! And here is He Who is Hoist on His Own Petard:

Hmmm, are those Opium Pom-Poms? Interesting to consider that Rush was stoned out of his mind on his "show" most of the time, but does it explain anything? Nope. In fact, it's kinda sad that he received apparently little "fun" from being high as a kite! Well, after all his condemnations of addicts, he's getting what he deserves -- in spades. Please note, we are not affiliated with Dean Deck, they are not advertisers with Dean Nation, and your purchases will not directly support Dean for America. A quick note, the artist who designed the cards is one Kelley Hensing -- a Dean fan from Cincinnati, OH!

Continue reading/discuss Rush + Payback = Spades ...

OK, the abuse that Dean and staff inflict upon themselves is far more penance than is required for the Phoenix debate sins. (the link above is easily the best post on the O-blog, btw, in months).

Continue reading/discuss all is forgiven ...

Well, I know lots of you detested my picks last week, so this week, it's reader's choice. E-mail your friends, lobby on the ZonkBoard, do what you will but Dean Nationals, the majority will rule. Take the responsibility seriously -- this Spine is yours! And, who should get the Jellyroll?

P.S. Don't forget to provide relevant news and blogs links if you have them handy!

Continue reading/discuss Backbone Award: Nominations Open ...

We have been slackin' on FTZF for the past few weeks. And while our good friends at NotGeniuses.com haven't posted a specific topic, I'm going to suggest one. Let me say upfront that I absolutely cannot believe we have to address this, but the DDF needs our help. I'm sure you all read Aziz's post about the Hill article. Well, the petards at LittleGreenPartisans have picked it up and they're spreading it like wildfire. DDF needs you to flood the zone with the truth. Here is what I left in the comments of Aziz's post:

the reason for this confusion is that the article WARPS the term "blogger". see, before politicians got hip to this blogging thing, a "blogger" was known as someone who keeps and maintains a weblog. the people who commented on said weblog were called "blog commenters".
now, blog commenters on political blogs have taken to calling themselves "bloggers". technically they are not bloggers, but they've adopted the term anyway. this article misleads people into believing these "bloggers" (read: blog commenters) are paid. truth be told, the campaign "bloggers" (using the non-bastardised term here) are people like zephyr, mathew, and joe who do indeed get paid by DFA. however, none of the blog commenters (or as the article calls them, "bloggers") get paid by DFA. neither does anyone here.

Write the Hill (info is on the DDF article I've linked) and tell them the truth. Nobody here is on the DFA payroll, and nor are the many blog commenters. Thanks for your time. Go!

Continue reading/discuss Flood the Zone Friday ...

I often critique Dean on minor issues, but this is the first time I've been outraged by his actions. Or specifically, his inaction. I don't use the title above lightly.

There is a Candidate Dean that I believe in. That candidate said of President Bush, "I think what the president is doing is setting the stage for the failure of America." That candidate said of President Bush, "Never have we had a president in this country whose rhetoric was so far removed from his record."

But that candidate was missing in action last night. That candidate was absent without leave.

When the Plame affair first broke in major media, I noted that it was an opportunity for Dean to take the lead. Unfortunately, Dean didn't really mention it as I had hoped he would on the morning show circuit at the start of October. He did release one official statement, but the Plame Affair never entered his major talking points on the trail.

And then last night - he really dropped the ball.

What other issue so cleanly illustrates the principled critiques of Bush that are the centerpiece of Dean's appeal? What other issue is so perfectly timed with the President's lower poll numbers to illustrate that he can be beaten? What other issue so forcefully reminds people of this Administration's disdain of facts, and pursuit of politics at the expense of national security?

If our man won't press his advantage, then what use is he to us?

UPDATE: here's Liberal Oasis' full commentary on this:

In the Clinton-Gore days, when the GOP caught a whiff of Dem scandal, no matter how thin the evidence was, they drilled it relentlessly. It’s always worth remembering such ferocity can be taken too far (namely, impeachment, a political disaster for the GOP). But if you want to make something stick, you can’t stand back and assume the media is going to do the job. You gotta push and push and push.

Today, you have Bush in the most politically precarious position in his entire presidency. Approval rating hovering around 50% (49% in one poll). Iraq WMD hunt a complete embarrassment. And a burgeoning scandal involving a “criminal” act (to quote Dubya) jeopardizing national security. What better time than a nationally televised debate to pile on and jack up the political pressure?

Yet, almost no candidate even mentioned The Leak. Only John Kerry did, and it was barely more than a joke line: They used to think their strong suit was national security. They can't find Osama bin Laden. They can't find Saddam Hussein. They can't even find the leaker in the White House.

This scandal has the potential to transform people perceptions of what this entire White House is all about. But it won’t, unless Dem candidates pound away and constantly turn up the heat.

and if the Deocratic nominee isn't able to change those perceptions, the nominee will lose in 2004. It's that simple.

Continue reading/discuss dereliction of duty ...

CNN's debate transcript is online, so I thought I'd append my post from last night. Here is the exchange in question:

WOODRUFF: Governor Dean, before you sit down, I've just been handed a document. I think it came out of the press room that Senator Kerry's staff has been distributing some comments about what was said. Among other things they are saying that you, Governor Dean, tried to kick Vermont seniors off their prescription drug plan. That's relevant to what you were just saying here, so do you want to respond to that?
DEAN: Does that go along with the fact that I'm just like Newt Gingrich, too, and I tried to undo Medicare.
That's silly, of course. What I did try to do was get a cigarette tax past the Republican House. They wouldn't pass them. I told them if they didn't pass a cigarette tax to pay for our health care program, then they wouldn't be able to fund seniors' prescriptions. They passed the cigarette tax, as I knew they would.
WOODRUFF: Senator Kerry, what about that?
KERRY: Well, it's not silly. It's what he did. I mean, it's sad. But he in fact, in order to balance his budget, terminated -- called for the full termination of what was called the V-Script program, and also turned to seniors and made prescription drugs more expensive for them in order to balance the budget.
Now, that's a fact. I didn't raise this, and I didn't know they were saying that, and it's sort of separate from where we were.

Senator Kerry doesn't even realise what's going on in his own war room? Sheesh. Once again, let me reiterate that this was a dirty trick on the part of Kerry/Woodruff, but it was good for Dean. He needs to demonstrate that he can think on his feet and respond to these types of attacks. I am satisfied with his answer. He forced the legislature in Vermont into enacting a cigarette tax that would make medicaid solvent and preserve health care benefits. In this action, he demonstrated leadership and gravitas, two qualities I admire in a President. Dean fought hard for health care in his state, and for someone like Kerry - who has never delivered health care - to belittle Dean's record or accuse him of kicking seniors off health care, well that's just disgusting and disingenuous. Any questions? I'm happy to answer them if any come up...

Continue reading/discuss More on Kerry/Woodruff attack ...

Dean and Clark are in the lead in the latest Gallup poll, which was conducted Oct. 6-8, and samples just over 1000 people. Again, I'm not comfortable extrapolating these results to the entire population, but it's worth a gander.
Clark 21 (22)
Dean 16 (13)
Other/none 15 (16)
Lieberman 13 (10)
Kerry 13 (11)
Gephardt 8 (11)
Sharpton 6 (4)
Braun 4 (3)
Edwards 2 (4)
Kucinich 2 (2)
*link via Kos. As he notes, there hasn't been a lot of movement. Dean's numbers are still good and getting better, but this does show that we need to work even harder to get the word out. Thoughts?

Continue reading/discuss Latest Gallup Poll ...

Anna's already done an excellent rundown on last night's debate (see below). This morning, our buds over at Liberal Oasis weigh in with their take. It’s a long post, but here are the highlights:

1. All the Dems, except (barely) John Kerry, get slammed for not mentioning the Plame scandal. Why this outrage wasn’t hammered away at relentlessly by all the candidates, but especially Dean, is a mystery to LO -- and to me, frankly. Major flub by Dean, imo.

2. Clark’s position on the Iraq war is quite similar to Kerry’s making it all the more odd that Kerry attacked Clark on the war resolution issue. Um, John, what is up?

3. On the Judy Woodruff ambush with the Kerry quote, LO slams Woodruff for flirting with bottom of the barrel journalistic standards a la Tim Russert’s ambush of Dean with cooked up Bush Administration numbers (I’m sensing a pattern here).

As for the specifics of the Kerry attack on Dean’s record:

Kerry’s right on the technicals, but he leaves out a huge chunk of context.

Dean did propose such a budget. But it was a dare. A scare tactic. Political gamesmanship to get what he wanted.

(snip)

As these disputes continue to show, Dean is a balanced-budget hard-ass.
You can argue that being cheap hurts people. Dean would most likely argue he’s protecting these programs in the long-run by keeping them solvent.

The overaching lesson here? Governing’s a bitch.

These are the kind of hard questions that (non-Dubya) executives have to face up to, and their choices show their character and their principles.

It’s completely fair to question Dean’s record, which appears to be as imperfect and messy as anyone whose been around long enough.

But Kerry doesn’t spark healthy discussion that educates voters when he goes for the cheap shot that only tells a slice of the story.

Continue reading/discuss Debate Recap ...

Steve Carrell's hilarious peice on the Dean movement is on right now. I'll post a link to the Daily Show archive when it becomes available. It includes a hilarious shot of Dean being a good sport and manning the Daily Show's camera for his short interview with Carrell. Especially funny is all the Dean staffers laughing hysterically at the end of the clip as they walk away. Hey Trippi, when are you guys going to hook up that appearance?

Continue reading/discuss DO NOT miss tonight's Daily Show ...

Wow, Charley Reese totally gets it:

Whether you agree with him or not, Howard Dean actually believes in his convictions. He is a genuine man. An honest, genuine man will not suffer fools lightly, nor will he stand around like a dummy with a phony smile on his face while he hears himself lied about.
I probably would not agree with Dr. Dean on all of his positions, but I certainly trust him, if he is elected, to do what he honestly believes is in the best interest of the country. That's more than I can say for any of the other candidates. It's this quality of being real and genuine that I think has attracted hundreds of thousands of people to his campaign.
What people see is an intelligent man who isn't catering to the press, who isn't resorting to weasel words. This could be, and I pray it is, the start of a sea change in American politics. It could be that after so many disappointments, Americans are finally wising up to the professional politicians whose statements are manufactured for campaign purposes only.

Read the whole thing. This is some good stuff.

Continue reading/discuss Charley Reese on Howard Dean ...

Tonight during the Presidential debate on CNN, something unprecedented occured. John Kerry's staff issued a press release attacking Dean's health care record and it was passed on to moderator Judy Woodruff. Woodruff interrupted Dean (who was at the time answering a question) and read the release. I cannot reproduce the question verbatim, as nothing is currently posted on the Kerry blog or the press release section of Kerry's website. To paraphrase, Kerry's camp accused Dean of cutting health care and threatening to kick seniors off of medicaid while Dean was governor of Vermont.
Here is a lengthy explanation of what transpired in Vermont. Essentially, a decline in revenue combined with an increase in demand for government resources led to a situation quite similar to that which Vermont faced during the first Bush recession. Tough budget choices had to be made in order to maintain a certain level of service to Vermont's neediest citizens. Dean proposed raising the cigarette tax in order to prevent cuts in the state's Medicaid program, and the legislature resisted. The Governor also intended to preserve the state's rainy day fund, which he created during his tenure. The rainy day fund was designed to pay down Vermont's state debt or be tapped should a dire fiscal crisis arrive. When it became apparent that the leg was either going to have to cut peoples' health care or enact a sin tax, they quickly voted in favor of raising the cigarette tax.
All this really does is prove that Dean can make the tough choices, and that he can get things done. This doesn't change anything. Dean did what he had to do to ensure that Vermont's seniors didn't lose their coverage. Dean demonstrated courage by standing up to the legislature, and he forced them to do what was right, which was to preserve medicaid in Vermont by any means neccessary.
What's really sad about this situation is that Judy even took the question in the first place. That was an ambush, pure and simple. But unlike some of the commenters over at the O-blog, I'm glad she did it. If we are going to go up against Bush, we have to be prepared for these kinds of attacks. In addition, it gives us a preview of what topics we'll be attacked on. These are the kinds of moments that make us stronger. I would advise (again, contrary to some of the commenters on the o-blog) that if you send feedback, don't bite Judy's head off. That's not going to help either. Just take this debate as a learning experience, and be better prepared next time.

Continue reading/discuss Response to Kerry's attack on Dean's medicare record ...

Hey June Thomas of Slate, a little credit where credit is due, please. The drinking game started after the South Carolina debate, and was recently revisted here, thank you very much. *snicker*
Don't forget to watch tonight's debate live on CNN beginning at 8pm Eastern, 7pm Central. As far as I know, there are no online or radio broadcasts being planned. Use this thread to discuss tonight's debate, or to add to the DN Debate Drinking Game.

Continue reading/discuss Are you ready for the next debate? ...

meme p.(meem) n. A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.

A few days before the recall election in California, my buddy Paul and I discussed the pros and cons of victory for Carnal Arnold. The Bad News: CA is now in play for next year's Prez race. Bush, who ignored the state totally for years, will now shower us and The West Reich with dollars and attention. Dems will be forced to spend ad money here that we could otherwise spend in key swing states.

But now, a few days after the election, what's on all the pundits minds, pens and lips was what we saw as The Good News: "Recall fever" ain't gonna happen, but a tsunami of voter protests are likely to cascade over our state's borders and across the nation, preceding major primaries and a Presidential and Congressional election year. It's everywhere. And, it sprouted organically. From Chris Matthews on Leno to e-mails from MoveOn.org to tons of bloggers and even plenty of Republican talking heads, the "what I wanna know" meme is here, and it's here to stay. With Republicans holding majorities, this is good news for Democrats. Further, and most importantly, this is great news for Howard Dean.

The Republican spin machine, desperate to play the "CA in play" meme, find themselves instead face to face with Dean's "what I wanna know" meme and it's driving them koo-koo-crazy bananas. But why can't they get traction?

Consider this: If you remove the one-liners from his movies, Arnold directly lifted all of Dean's talking points and used them to "terminate" Gray Davis. In fact, his winning tactics are the same tactics that National Republicans have decried as "negative doom and gloom" when they come from Dean's lips. Further, Dean actually has far more specifics and a much more positive vision than Arnold has demonstrated.

Sure, Bush will come out here to Kah-lee-foh-nya and try to get him some of that "recall shine" but it won't do him or Arnold any favors -- in fact, it will likely harm them both. While the national Republicans including Jeb Bush personally belittle Dean, Dean keeps his critiques of Bush on the administrations policies and performance. So what I wanna know is, why did it it take the media so long to finally get that Bush and Co. should be spooked and warily looking over their shoulders at this recall race?

Ironically, Arnold gave us our first, huge test of the Dean Doctrine -- and it worked. Note to Arnie: Thanks! Also posted in slightly different form at Points West.

Continue reading/discuss the "what i wanna know" meme ...

Here is #2 in Dean Nation's exclusive look at the villains in Emperor Dubya's Cabal from the folks at Dean Deck! And here is our Chief Dog of War:

Ironic that his title is Secretary of Defense! Ummm, Rummy, they re-named that post from Secretray of War like a really long time ago dude! Please note, we are not affiliated with Dean Deck, they are not advertisers with Dean Nation, and your purchases will not directly support Dean for America. I just received my deck, and I love them! I'll need to buy a few, because they are such cool collector's items I don't want to use them!

Continue reading/discuss Rummy + Iraq = Gin ...

Alan in CA asked for polls, and we've got one that's hot off the press. The latest AMR poll has Dean maintaining a ten point lead over his nearest rival, John Kerry, in the New Hampshire primary. Clark's entry to the race seems to have shaved a percentage point or two from the top candidates, but overall he has not made a significant impact. Here's the breakdown:
Dean 29%
Undecided 29%
Kerry 19%
* everyone else is in single digits
The MOE is +/-4, and there were 600 people sampled. I'm not comfortable saying that the opinions of 600 voters can be extrapolated onto the will of the entire state, but AMR has been pretty consistent so far.

Continue reading/discuss Dean maintains lead in New Hampshire ...

Well folks, what can I say about this? It looks like the odious Chris Lehane has joined Team Clark. I'll let Kos speak for a moment:

Fresh off his astounding success in helping John Kerry fend off Howard Dean and Gray Davis beat the recall campaign, Chris Lehane, my favorite boogeyman, has joined his long-time partner Fabiani at the Clark campaign...The reason Lehane showed up yesterday was simple -- the recall race was over. And jobless, it was only natural he join his partner in Little Rock. And conveniently, Fowler had "quit" the previous day.

Clarksters, I have this to say to you in response to this rumor. First, think about Lehane's track record and his MO. His MO is mudslinging, dirty politics. He's responsible for the attacks on Bill Bradley that came from the Gore camp in 2000. He's responsible for the behind-the-back sniping from Kerry's camp towards Dean all those months ago. He has worked on losing campaigns for his entire career, and is known to be a egotist who thinks its "my way or the highway". I'd really hoped that Dean and Clark would stay above the fray and not attack each other too viciously. But with Lehane on board, you can bet the gloves are off between the two candidates. This story is developing and I'll post more info as it becomes available.

Somebody get this guy a ball-gag!

update: more from tapped, which states Lehane will play an as-yet-undetermined role in the Clark campaign.

Continue reading/discuss Lehane joins Clark campaign ...

I just loved the title of this student piece from the University of Virginia :) But there's solid meat to this Generation Dean leader's prose:

Schilling has it right when he asserts that "Howard Dean is no George W. Bush" when it comes to former governors. Indeed, Howard Dean would never pursue the reckless fiscal policies of the Bush administration that have led to the loss of 22 million American jobs. Howard Dean would never send American troops into harm's way without telling us the truth as justification. And Howard Dean would never stand by anti-gay Sen. Rick Santorum or inappropriately use the word "quota" on national television to divide us by sexual orientation or race. I'm proud to support a man who has had the vision to make healthcare accessible to every resident of his state, the courage to fight for the law that allowed the middle-aged Dean staffer I interned under this summer to finally get a civil union, and the power to inspire 200,000 supporters to contribute an average of $80 to counter Bush's $2,000-a-plate special interest fundraisers.

The Dean campaign is thriving not only because of its candidate but because of the nature of its support. At 141 official members, Hoos for Howard Dean has already become the largest Generation Dean chapter in the nation and one of the larger CIOs on Grounds. No less significant, however, many on our roster are almost completely new to politics. In the coming months, we'll only see more growth as more people join the fight to take their country back in 2004. It's only October, but in Charlottesville, it already smells like Dean spirit.

Continue reading/discuss Smells like Dean spirit ...

We have a brave kindred spirit out there taking heavy abuse for her commitment to Dean:

As shouts of support and hate rain down, a woman, who has been called everything from a communist to a socialist to a terrorist to a patriot, stands and waves with signs reading "Fire Bush" and "Dean for President."

Kelly Jacobs, from Hernando, has been traveling around the Mid-South for eight weeks standing in one spot for a week protesting Bush and supporting Dean. "The first day is usually the quietest because people are just shocked to see me standing here," Jacobs said. "By the last day, people have figured out they can honk and wave, and people are usually the ugliest on the last day."

Jacobs, during her protests, has had cars try to run her over, people throw her rude gestures and had attempts at stealing her signs.

Continue reading/discuss Dean supporter demonstrates in hostile territory ...

There's an article in The Hill that focuses on how far behind the other Democratic candidates are in leveraging the Internet to build support at the grass-roots level. Of course, the article doesn't even mention Joe Trippi, which is a shameful omission. What really struck my attention though was this graf:

Dean has done other things to maximize his online fundraising punch, like reinvesting money into expanding donor lists and paying “bloggers” or professional Internet surfers to keep the enthusiasm up on his website.

The campaign is paying bloggers to pump up enthusiasm on the official blog? We all know (and envy) that Matthew Gross is the campaign's chief blogger and that they have lured many of our own Dean Nation alumni to Burlington to maintain/update the blog as paid staff. That's 100% legitimate (and is in fact why the official blog is so interesting and innovative).

But the implication here is that the campaign is paying for false boosterism by "professional surfers" to "keep up enthusiasm" in the comments threads. There's no evidence for this whatsoever, and Matthew Gross debunked it in an open thread on the O-blog yesterday:

Hey all,

The Hill article is confusing. The only paid bloggers are me and Zephyr-- which the author must be referring to.

We certainly don't pay anyone to post on the threads, which is how some people read the article. When you have up to 2,200 comments a day, that would be an incredible waste of money.

Posted by Mathew Gross at October 8, 2003 12:53 AM

Still, the denial by Matthew in comments won't be enough to stop this story from gaining ground by those with a vested interest in Dean's failure - especially if they see it as a way to spin Dean's greatest asset (his Internet support) as his Achilles heel. Rabid pro-Bush partisans like LGF already take the allegation as gospel. The prior history of Dean internet supporters acting in bad faith doesn't help, either. The Clark bloggers have predictably seized upon this story, too.

There needs to be a stronger response from the campaign, sufficiently high up the food chain (Trippi, IMHO) that the allegations can be authoritatively put to rest.

Continue reading/discuss bloggers on the payroll? ...

This message was forwarded to me by a Kentucky Deaniac. I've linked directly to the KY4Dean blog above in the hope that you'll visit their site and give them some kudos. I'm going to reproduce the email in full, as it includes some valuable background information as well as a great description of what's happening on the ground in Kentucky:

"Dean Tuesday" Helps to Elect Ben Chandler Kentucky Governor!
The Presidential election is 13 months away, and Kentucky is a late primary state. Undeterred, Howard Dean supporters across the Bluegrass are organizing with a dedication and energy that, hasn't happened in Kentucky politics in a long time. Committed Democrats, Independents, and even Republicans have found themselves together, working for Howard Dean, spreading the word into the "hollers and hills" that this country, its principles, and its flag are not the property of the Republican Party, and that we can take our country back!
This November 3, an election of great importance to the Democratic Party and to the entire country takes place right here in Kentucky. Attorney General Ben Chandler (D) is in an extremely tight race with Congressman Ernie Fletcher (R) for the office of Kentucky Governor. Ernie Fletcher is a politician unapologetically in the hip pocket of the conservative Bush Administration. A "yes sir" supporter of the President's disastrous tax cuts for the wealthy, a "how high sir?" supporter of the misguided and wrong war in Iraq and a "will do" supporter of the fallacy that is "No Child Left Behind". Oh, and since the election of 2000, we've lost 67,000 jobs in Kentucky!
The election of Ben Chandler as Governor is the best thing that could happen to Kentucky. Yet today, with 27 days to go, the election is too close to call, with most polls a statistical dead heat. The national media and political watchers across the country are looking to the KY Governor's race as a bellweather election; an indication of how well a committed, progressive and positive Democrat can stack up against a Republican beholden to special interests and to the destructive policies of tax-cuts for the rich and unfunded mandates. Sound familiar?
In the past month, Lexington-area Howard Dean supporters have come together to help the Ben Chandler campaign, bringing our "People Powered Howard" energy to this important election. We're going door-to-door talking with voters. We're planting yard signs and handing out flyers and buttons. Last night was our first "Dean Tuesday" at Fayette Democratic HQ, where all ten phone-banking volunteers are Howard Dean supporters. The Fayette County Democratic Party Chairman expressed his gratitude (and amazement) and declared last night "the best night so far" for Chandler volunteer efforts in Lexington.
Yes, Kentucky is a late primary state. Yes, the election (of Howard Dean) is 13 months away. Here in Lexington, though, we've come to realize that the best thing we can do right now for Gov. Dean is work to elect Ben Chandler Governor of Kentucky.
Jeremy Horton
Kentucky for Dean
http://kentuckyfordean.com

Kudos to Kentucky for Dean for showing their local party leadership just how valuable a true grassroots network can be. Similar efforts are happening around the country as Dean Corps integrates into our local parties to lend a hand at phone banks, block walking, election poll-watching, and voter outreach. Keep up the great work, Kentucky. I hope you'll inspire Deaniacs in other states to do the same. Does anyone else have a story to share about how you are working with your local democratic party?

Continue reading/discuss Kentucky's Dean Tuesday gets results ...

When I heard this news last night I knew I had to post something, but I wanted to wait for a day and digest the fallout in the blogosphere and mainstream media. Here's my take on this. And bear with me, as this is probably going to be a long-range thought.
First, I've heard the rumors about the Draft Clark movement being manufactured. Since it's all smoke right now, I will not speculate whether that's true or not. But Fowler resigning does indicate that there is a problem between the Washington-insiders who've taken over Clark's campaign and Clark's core devotees. Whether these devotees were egged on by the same insiders who seem to have blown off the Clarkroots, well, that's still unclear at this point.
Then we have this post on DraftClark.com. The author, a long time Clark devotee and member of the draft movement, levels accusations of law-breaking and offers some advice to Clark on how to clean up his mess of a campaign. Wondering what the hell he was talking about, I googled and found this article, which states Clark may have violated FEC rules by getting paid to speak after he announced his candidacy. The issue hinges not on whether Clark spoke and got paid (he did), but whether these forums were used (purposefully or inadvertently) to advance his political aspirations. Again, I won't speculate as to what this will mean in the long run. But it is looking like there might be some fire under that smoke.
Then we get the news of Fowler's resignation. The only thing I want to know is whether Team Clark is truly blowing off the Clarkroots. Fowler seems to think so, but since I have not been deeply involved in that movement I cannot speak to the veracity of that claim. But on top of Fowler, there is this from Kos, who is in a position to know.
Basically what we have here is a ton of rumor and innuendo, and it's going to take a few more days for all the chips to fall. But if there is indeed a problem within Team Clark, here is what I have to say about it.

First, to the Dean campaign, keep up the good work. You folks are blazing the open-source politics trail, and we are proud to be part of this movement.
Second, to the Clarkroots, IF you are being blown off, might I suggest that you come over and join us. The Dean campaign truly has an open-door/open-source style of campaigning. You would be welcomed with open arms if you joined us. You would be free to innovate, to give and receive feedback, and play a major role in this campaign. Just keep in mind that if you ever need a new place to call home you've got one with us.

I was originally a Dean/Clark advocate because I believed that team was capable of delivering a knockout punch to BushCo. I still believe - even with all the rumor and innuendo that's been floated about Clark - that D/C is the best ticket we could offer up in 2004 (and this is going against my personal preference of Dean/Edwards). So Clarkroots, take note of what's happening with your guy right now. If his Washington-insiders falter and the campaign stumbles, join us. Imagine how powerful we could be if we joined forces. The numbers one and two grassroots organisations in Democratic politics could shake the foundations of our democracy and change the system so that special interest will no longer trump the peoples' interests. Just think about it for a moment. We can do this. We have the power. If you feel the need to leave the Clarksphere, join us. We welcome you with open arms.

Continue reading/discuss Clark campaign manager resigns ...

I'm dismayed.

Not because Arnold was elected Governor of California last night. The people of California spoke, and last night they chose a new governor, with such a forceful mandate that there is no way to doubt the will of the people. And they had every right to do so.

The recall itself was a function of the classic GOP disdain for democracy - and they were counting on low turnout overall, but high turnout amongst disaffected voters, to propel their chosen candidate McClintoc to power. But the people of California responded en masse, and chose a socially liberal, bipartisan-minded Governor, someone who was fresh, someone who stood outside the tainted circle of politics.

And Gray Davis, in the most gracious concession speech since Gore in 2000, put it best:

"My friends, we've had a lot of good nights over the last 20 years, but tonight the people did decide it's time for someone else to serve. I accept their judgment.
...
I am calling on everyone in this state to put the chaos and the division of the recall behind us and do what's right for this great state of California.
...
And I pledged to Mr. Schwarzenegger tonight the full cooperation of my administration during the transition, we want to let the new governor know what the challenges are, what the status is of various issues in Sacramento, we will do that."

As the San Diego Union Tribune editorial notes, the recall may have required GOP partisan money to get started, but it tapped into a massive vein of voter discontent which must not be trivialized as we analyze the results. And in so doing, the recall offers hope for a historic opportunity in California:

All the same, the voters' drastic action yesterday also creates an uncommon opportunity for structural reform of state government, starting with the out-of-control budget process. It is our fervent hope that the recall of Davis less than a year into his second term will concentrate the minds of legislators of both parties. The paralyzing partisan polarization that has stymied progress in Sacramento for years must come to an end. As Schwarzenegger aptly stated last night, "For the people to win, politics as usual must lose." In that spirit, Republicans and Democrats must work together to solve the chronic problems confronting the state.

After yesterday, it is clear the voters are demanding nothing less.

No, I am not dismayed by Arnold's victory. I'm dismayed by the reaction to it.

I'm dismayed by Hesiod's view the vast majority of people are fools. That condescension towards the common man is as profoundly distasteful to me coming from the left as it does from the right.

I'm dismayed by Kos's plan to launch RecallArnoldNow.com. In so doing, he legitimizes the tactics of the GOP. This isn't a game, to see who gets the most tallies under their column marked D or R. It's about what's best for California - and Arnold deserves a chance to carry out the will of the people.

The single reason I support Dean is because he promises a return to the shared sense of duty to the country, rather than partisan loyalty. His campaign isn't about building a vast network of D-lever-pulling robots. It's about bringing people in to a common cause, reaching across party lines, and putting the needs of our nation above the petty political interests of the party. ANY party.

The recall is over. Arnold won. Now the challenge is fixing California - and all energies must be devoted to helping that cause succeed.

Kevin Drum is as always the voice of sanity - and I'll leave him with the final word:

Trying to mount a recall against Arnold would be bad for California, bad for the Democratic party, and only distracts attention from the bigger task at hand: electing a Democrat to the White House in 2004. It's time for the circus to stop.

This is one time that we should accept defeat graciously and turn our attention to more important things. Remember, anger is only useful if it's focused and channeled on something worthwhile, and recalling Arnold isn't it. Let's not blow it.
...
Eyes on the prize, folks, eyes on the prize. I don't actually care all that much who the governor of California is — and I live here! — but nothing in this world would give me more pleasure than to see George Bush sent packing back to Crawford next November, never to be heard from again. That's the goal to keep front and center.
...
Plus, to be honest, I really don't want California to be a continual war zone. We really do have some problems to solve here, and running two recall campaigns a year isn't going to help us do it.

Continue reading/discuss Give Arnold a chance ...

Here is today's roundup of press releases:

First and formost, Gov. Dean released this statement on the outcome of the California Recall Election.

Next we have the news that Congressman Jim McDermott (D-Washington) is endorsing Dean for America.

Also among todays releases is this statement from Gov. Dean on the head of the G.A.O.'s comments on the national deficit.

Finally, Gov. Dean announced his plans for national "Welcome Baby" visits as the first phase of his comprehensive "Success by Six" initiative.

Continue reading/discuss Press Releases: 10/7/2003 ...

Today Sen. Don Nickles announced that he will not be seeking another term in the U.S. Senate. This is, of course, a good thing. The part of CNN's story that most interested me was where he stated that he would work against a Dean presidency.

He will work for the Republicans in the coming presidential election and campaign against Democratic candidate Howard Dean, saying that he is concerned Dean would undo tax cut legislation supported by the GOP.

"I don't want him to be elected president," Nickles said about Dean, the former Vermont governor. "I'm going to be very active in the presidential race." Dean is one of nine Democrats seeking his party's presidential nomination.

Does he forget that there are eight other candidates? Does he think that a Dean nomination is certain? Does he think that he'll really have to work and that Bush v. Dean won't be the cake walk that many in his party claim it will?

Continue reading/discuss Nickles Won't Seek Re-election; Will Work Against Dean ...

Dean just isn't lefty enough:

Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) scolded Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean for his friendly relations with the National Rifle Association during a Capitol Hill rally last week to drum up support for renewal -- and strengthening -- of the federal ban on assault weapons.

While other speakers stuck to the subject of assault weapons, Kennedy assailed Dean, saying he was "saddened" that one of his party's leading presidential candidates is "pro-NRA." He suggested that Dean has "compromised his principles" as a physician by opposing stronger federal gun controls.

Kennedy has endorsed Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) and campaigned on his behalf. But Kennedy told a reporter after his remarks that he had not discussed with Gephardt his plans to attack Dean on gun control.

"This is a personal issue with me, and I'm very disturbed at the fact that people are not paying attention to Dr. Dean's record" on guns, said Kennedy, nephew of President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, both of whom were assassinated by guns.

More proof of Dean's electability! After all, gun control cost Gore key states. Viewpoints like Kennedy's are simply out of tune with reality. For once, the NRO Corner has an insightful comment in response:

Who knew that Lee Harvey and Sirhan-Sirhan were both inanimate objects?

As Glenn Reynolds notes, Dean's position on gun control is a winning one:

HOWARD DEAN IS A POLITICAL GENIUS: While various people are snarking at Patrick Kennedy's condemnation of Dean's second amendment stance, they're missing the real story, which is that this is a masterstroke for Dean. This kind of thing won't hurt Dean's chances of getting the nomination, and being attacked by a Kennedy on gun control will be a big plus in the general election if Dean gets the nomination. Democrats will vote for him anyway, and it'll help him with the many moderates put off by the gun-prohibitionist mindset of the Democratic Party.

This is important - because, as noted by Glenn in a separate post - Libertarian disenchantment with the GOP is a real issue, and one that Dean alone out of the field of Democratic candidates is poised to capitalize on.

For more on the potential for a Libertarian revolt in 2004, see Noah Schactman's analysis in the American Prospect:

Libertarians across the country are slowly beginning to question their Republican loyalties. And if they break with the GOP -- or even decide to sit out the 2004 election -- it could be as bad for George W. Bush as the alienation of the religious right was for his dad in 1992.

"When Bush won, I was very hopeful," says Stefanescu, who runs fellowship programs at the Institute for Humane Studies, a libertarian foundation. "He sounded like he was going to do some very libertarian things: a less interventionist approach [overseas], school choice, free trade. He says all the right things. He just didn't do them.

"Normally, I wouldn't consider it," she adds, "but if I had to vote today, I'd vote for [Howard] Dean."

Continue reading/discuss Dean's Gun Stance Draws Rep. Kennedy's Ire ...

Schwarzenegger States Opposition to Domestic Partner Law as Governor Davis Signs Groundbreaking Health Care Bill Covering LGBT Families

Schwarzenegger Opposition Comes as Republican Legislators Try to Repeal LGBT Rights

SAN FRANCISCO – Arnold Schwarzenegger would not have signed Equality California’s Domestic Partner legislation that was recently signed into law by Governor Davis, the San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday. [...]

In contrast to Schwarzenegger’s opposition to a law protecting LGBT families, Governor Gray Davis just signed a health insurance act that will provide access to health care for a million uninsured California workers and their spouses or domestic partners. As a result of lobbying by Equality California, the new law will require large employers to provide domestic partners of their employees with health insurance, making California the first state in the nation to do so.

"Governor Davis’ support of this bill has resulted in the enactment of what is without question one of the most important pieces of legislation ever passed for same-sex couples and their children," [Geoffrey] Kors explained.

[read the rest here]

Continue reading/discuss Ah-Nold: not so gay friendly after all... ...

For those of you that think I'm recall-obsessed, I'll do nothing to dissuade you this week. Today is (finally) election day in California (don't forget to vote!) and as Paul Hogan puts it at Points West:

The recall succeeds by a wide margin and Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes governor....or not. Your guess is really as good as mine, the newspapers', the pollsters' and my Uncle Frank's. The reality is that nobody has any clue how tomorrow is going to turn out.

But the good news is, for better or for worse, we are almost off this merry-go-round and back to focusing on the Presidential race, but not without a few final (Back) bones to throw. First award, The Los Angeles Times printed a series of stories regarding Ah-nold that indicated a troubling and undeniable pattern of sexual abuse and humiliation toward women. For this, they have faced a reader backlash and angry assertions from Ah-nold's campaign that they are in cahoots with Davis and playing "puke politics" even though he admitted that many of the allegations were true. The Times has repeatedly denied such claims, stating that they worked on the stories for months, that none of the women came forward voluntarily, and that no names or information were provided by the Davis campaign. Nonetheless, at least 1,000 subscriptions have been canceled so far....and the paper is on the defensive:

[By contrast] "In the case of Davis, we did, three or four weeks ago, a huge front-page story on our biggest circulation day, Sunday, on the case against him. It was the most comprehensive account of all of his shortcomings that I've read in any publication."

Carroll said the newspaper has also written numerous other stories that were critical of the governor, "about his fund-raising, his use of attack advertising, his links with special interests — I can't count the stories we've done on that." He also pointed to stories about Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, focusing on his acceptance of campaign funds from Indian casino interests and his legal problems with an investment property.

He defended the timing of the Schwarzenegger stories, and noted that the short schedule of the recall campaign made the task more difficult than it might otherwise have been. "We didn't have a story until the day we ran it," Carroll said. "We were working for seven weeks, seeking women, trying to persuade the women we found to talk with us. Investigative reporting of this sort takes a lot of time."

Please send supportive emails to the The LA Times at letters@latimes.com and if you get a second and live in California subscribe -- they even have a SoCal college discount!

Next, I'm gonna just say it: I love Gray Davis. I haven't liked him much for years, and it's too bad it took him so long to show us who he really is, but folks, Davis is a progressive. Though this LA Times OpEd tries to make it a bad thing, and many other articles have accused him of pandering to the left, personally, I see little political benefit for him in doing so. Faced with the very real possibility of being removed, he has signed incredibly important bills and filled vacancies on the bench with progressives. To wit:

As a result, California government has become a liberal bastion, a development with profound implications for the future of governance.

Davis' recent signing of domestic partners legislation, which grants same-sex couples expanded rights, positions California as perhaps the second-most-liberal state, after Vermont, on the issue of gay rights.

Consumer advocates and environmental groups, staunch Democratic supporters, got what they long wanted. After generally supporting banks and other financial institutions on privacy legislation, Davis signed a bill that, Consumers Union says, "provides Californians the strongest financial privacy rights in the country."

Meanwhile, the Wildlife Conservation Board, composed of Davis appointees, hurriedly called a special meeting to allocate funds to buy Ahmanson Ranch in Ventura County and the last available piece of the Ballona Wetlands in coastal Los Angeles County.

Davis has faced considerable criticism for sigining the bill allowing undcoumented workers to receive a drivers license. I thing it's bogus. These folks come here because cheap-labor conservatives pay them to. They perform back-breaking work for shitty wages so that we can have cheap produce on our tables and cheap food in restaurants, yet we haven't allowed them to drive to the doctor or take their kids to school, for medical care, or even for vaccinations? Critics say that it's a homeland security issue -- I say the security issue is having folks here that have no ID, no fingerprints on file, no home and work data. This improves security, not vice versa. Whether Davis is in office for three more weeks or three more years -- three cheers for Gray Davis! You can contact Davis by e-mail at governor@governor.ca.gov and other methods of contact are here. Tell him you are a Dean supporter, tell him about the award, and remind him that Howard Dean was the first Prez candidate to campaign with him! It took a little time Gray, but when the chips were down, you finally got some Backbone.

Finally, The Spineless Jellyroll goes to His Hopefullness, Governor Gangbang - The Grope-inator. First he admits the allegations, then denies the allegations, then dismisses it as "puke politics" and says that he will get to the bottom of this (snicker) "after the election." Doesn't he, of all people, know the truth? This guy has such a memory problem, will he make it to work in the morning? Come on. Ah-nold is NO Jesse Ventura, not by a longshot. He's more pre-packaged than the worst Velveeta politician. But hey, why let those pesky, girly, puny facts get in the way when you are on the campaign trail with wrecking balls, pyrotechnics, special effects crews, hundreds of paid extras and Twisted Sister? Attention Ah-nold! Do you think all these women didn't feel like "puking" when you humiliated them? Say what you will, but beyond the widely discredited Paula Jones allegations, Bill Clinton had consensual sex -- and I can guarantee the looked and looked and looked.....so, why the reverse gender gap? Check out Conan the Vulgarian by Susan Faludi:

Clinton was perceived by men as having lost this control, and worse, lost it to a series of women. He may have been the aggressor, but as a seducer he really meant to seduce, thus exposing an almost feminine sort of desire and vulnerability. For this, he was humiliated, held up like Howard for ridicule in male eyes. No wonder so many women empathized with Clinton: He was essentially shamed like a fallen woman.

Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, is Chad the "playful" cad, going after women, sniggering frat-boy style, for the score. Sex isn't even the prime object here: The women in the Times story were manhandled, not seduced. There is no warning, no courtship. [...]

Humiliation so often seems to be the theme in these tales of Schwarzenegger's conquests, humiliation not just of women but — perhaps even more notably — of the men these women "belong" to. [...] Schwarzenegger was said to have used the wife of Don Peters, another bodybuilding competitor, to shame her — and him. [...]

After Schwarzenegger had bedded the woman, he picked up a phone and, claiming he was dialing his lawyer to reschedule an appointment, asked her to take the receiver. It turned out the number he dialed was her husband's, and while she held the phone, Schwarzenegger yelled into it these words, cleaned up by The Times' censors: "I just [made love to] her! I just [made love to] her!"

Classy dude, eh? You can fill in the blanks. I'd give you contact info, but why waste your time? This guy does not care about your opinions -- trust me. He could give a flying [make love]. So, why not just give a donation to Howard Dean!

And how was your weekend?

Continue reading/discuss DN's Backbone Award: The LA Times and CA Governor Davis ...

Over at Open Source Politics, Jeff Alworth makes a pitch that is very familiar to the Dean grassroots:

I could give the example of a certain governor from a tiny New England state whom six months ago everyone had dismissed as impossibly marginal. That was, until . . . well, you get the picture.


We all know that money has corrupted politics. It has skewed national elections so that those who win are those who can attract the biggest spenders. It has aced out the little guy and put the democratic process at an arm's length -- held at bay while wealth and business attend $2,000-a-plate dinners. Good Democrats are at a loss about what to do: You can't beat money without money, but getting the money means drifting from your agenda.

In 2000, 50 million people cast a vote for Al Gore. That's a lot of people; put them together and you have mustered a force of enormous wealth. My proposal: Give fifty bucks to a political campaign.

Let's say Bush shakes the wealthies' coffers to the tune of something in the neighborhood of $400 million this election season (a reasonable ballpark). In order just to match this total, only 16% of Democrats would have to pony up a U.S. Grant -- and that assumes they only give fifty, and that no other groups give a dime.

Let's face it - the only way Bush can get re-elected is to buy the votes. When people are polled about the issues, they lean heavily Democratic. But put a half-billion dollars of fear and hate on the airwaves, and pretty soon people start to shape up and vote GOP. However, if this is countered by a popular movement of the people, and if these people have pooled their resources, they become the power brokers. Politics following the people. Imagine.

We Dean supporters don't need to imagine - we are living it in real time. And of course, there's a direct correlation between the way the Dean campaign has embraced this idea early on, and its ensuing success. We at Dean Nation lead the pack, having raised almost $25,000 for the campaign thus far. But there's so much more we could do!

Forget $50. Imagine if each of us committed to just $10 a month. That's three lunches at Taco Bell, or coffees at Starbucks. That's one Chipotle burrito with guacamole and chips. That's half a tank of gas.

We, Dean Nation, could contribute $30,000 A MONTH to the campaign.

We have set our goal much, much lower, Right now the Dean Nation Team goal is at $30,000 - we are aiming to raise an average of only $5,000 a month. This is a modest goal but it's certainly the least we can do.

We must boot Bush. We can't expect that Bush will boot himself - or that the special interests, whose pockets are far deeper, will recuse themselves. Bush has unlimited funds. We must enable Dean to fight back - to give him our voice with our support and lend him the strength he will need if we are to prevail.

This current Administration sacrifices national security for political payback. It rebuffs our allies and then is forced to send genocideal Serbian troops to Iraq. It pursues ideological domestic policies, designed to "starve" the federal government and destroy the social safety net. It has embarked upon a course of imperialism whose bill will come due to our children and our children's children. It has brought us closer to the darkest fate that can befall any democracy.

What price is too high to save ourselves and this nation that we love so dearly? A nation that has been until now a beacon to the world?

$10 a month - or $20 - or even $50 - is a pittance. And in these days of a weak S&P 500, it is the best investment any of us can make. Join us and let's raise $5,00 a month, every month, until that great day in November 2004 where we send Bush back to his poseur ranch and we can take our country back.

Continue reading/discuss The $50 solution ...

From Dean for America...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6, 2003

Statement of Governor Howard Dean on the Withdrawal of Senator Bob Graham from the Democratic Nomination for President:

"I will miss seeing Bob Graham on the campaign trail. Since his entry into the race, I have come to know him as a man of decency and integrity who cares deeply about this country and our position in the world. He was an honorable opponent who treated his fellow aspirants for the Democratic nomination with respect. I am proud to call him my friend.

Senator Graham now returns full time to the Senate where he will continue his outstanding work on behalf of all Floridians and all Americans. I wish him well and look forward to his wise counsel throughout the remainder of the campaign."

Continue reading/discuss Dean Statement on Sen. Graham's Decision to End Candidacy ...

Click the link above for a great report on the Gen Dean rally in Charleston by Dean National Jen in SC:

When Dean mentioned the importance of the South Carolina primary, I shouted "Feb. 3" and he repeated it.
Among the topics he touched on were the deceptiveness of the Bush administration about the war and other things; the need to get the economy going; his desire to be sure every American has healthcare; the South's loss of textile jobs over the last 30 years, and the myth that the American middle class got a tax cut.
He also pointed out that SC has been voting more or less for Republicans for the last 20-30 years (true) and asked, "What do you have to show for it?" It's a valid question. SC is a poor state with big problems, from domestic violence to children in poverty to low-wage workers without healthcare to environmental erosion.
In my opinion (and Dean's), South Carolina would be better off if we'd wake up and realize that we'd be better served with Democrats in office.

Sounds like a great time, Jen. And it's nice to finally put a face with your name. =) Way to go, South Carolina!

Continue reading/discuss Gen Dean rally in the Charleston, SC ...

The speculation has ended. Florida Senator Bob Graham has become the first of ten Democratic contenders to end his bid for the Presidency. Graham's departure leaves Gov Howard Dean as the only remaining candidate who served as Governor. Graham had difficulty raising funds even though his resume was impressive. He sat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and cast a vote against the Iraq war, which he characterised as a distraction from the war on terror.
I'm sad to see Bob go, although it was obvious it was going to happen at some point. He's consistently held his ground in the debates and spoken eloquently about the security threats we face as Americans. His voice will be missed, and his departure has a ripple effect on many of the candidates. Who will pick up the Graham activists in Florida, where he is beloved and respected by many residents? Will Clark and/or Edwards make a more aggressive push in the south? I think Dean should seize the moment and ask for Bob's endorsement. After all, they both opposed the war for honest, legitimate reasons and they both share a common background in government. They are both well respected by their constituents and both have been a peoples' champion. How do you think Graham's departure will affect the race?

*hat tip to Barbara Callahan

Continue reading/discuss And then there were nine... ...

via Political Wire:

"A memo being circulated by a prominent Republican polling firm argues that GOPers run a serious risk of underestimating" Howard Dean "as a general election candidate," Roll Call reports.

From the memo: "The difference between Howard Dean and the rest of the Democrat[ic] candidates is that Dean comes across as a true believer to the base but will not appear threatening to folks in the middle. We are whistling past the graveyard if we think Howard Dean will be a pushover."

The fact is that this is hardly news - in fact, it's arguable that the GOP leadership has been well-aware of the threat posed by Dean from the start. Recall Karl Rove's exagerated cheerleading for Dean - which was an attempt to portray Dean as "unelectable" - and hence damage his appeal as nominee.

Unfortunately, subscription required to read the link in full. If anyone has a subscription, please do post in the comments!

Continue reading/discuss Republicans Underestimate Dean ...

The Capital Times, a progressive newspaper in Wisconsin, ran this editorial on Oct. 4th comparing Gov. Dean to President Bush:

Two candidates for president have chosen opposite ends of this weekend to bring their very different campaigns to Wisconsin. In so doing they have provided voters with precisely the sort of contrast that makes politics interesting and meaningful.

The first candidate to visit was President George W. Bush, who swept into Milwaukee on Friday for a $2,000-a-plate fund-raiser that his aides hope will collect another $800,000 for a re-election campaign.

The money will be added to the more than $84 million the campaign has already raised from special interest groups and givers who have benefited from tax cuts for the wealthy, free-trade policies that help Wall Street while harming Main Street, and farm policies that favor corporate agribusiness over working farmers.

The president's behind-closed-doors meeting with people who can afford to pay $2,000 apiece to whisper their latest requests in his ear will allow him to avoid contact with the mess he has created in Wisconsin, where the administration's economic policies devastated this state's manufacturing base, undermined the farm economy and reduced access to health care benefits for working families.

So, from the Bush campaign, it's insider politics as usual.

From the campaign of the other contender to visit Wisconsin this weekend comes a dramatically different signal.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who many now see as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, will arrive in Madison this afternoon for a rally at 4 outside the Kohl Center.

The Dean rally is free and open to the public, and the candidate's backers are encouraging those who attend to bring donations of a canned good, nonperishable food or personal care item for the families of UFCW Local 538 members who have been on strike at the Tyson Foods plant in Jefferson County since Feb. 28.

The contrasts between the Bush and the Dean campaigns could not be more stark:

Bush came to Wisconsin to collect money from corporate interests.

Dean comes to Wisconsin to help residents of this state who have been victimized by corporate interests.

Bush put a $2,000 price tag on access.

Dean's "price tag" is a can of food for a striking worker.

Bush came into contact with an elite few Wisconsinites who will tell him what he wants to hear.

Dean will be seen by thousands and, if pattern holds, he will interact with all comers - those who are already enthusiastic supporters, those who are still deciding whom to back and even those who disagree.

There is a long time between now and November 2004, when the voters of Wisconsin will play a critical role in choosing the next president of the United States.

There are no guarantees that they will be choosing between George W. Bush and Howard Dean.

But if it comes down to a Bush-Dean contest, all evidence is that voters will be offered an opportunity to make a genuine choice not just between two different candidates of two different parties.

The choice will be between two different visions of America's future: one of elites gathering behind closed doors to decide what they will do next to working families in places like Wisconsin, the other of citizens gathering out in the open to help those working families.

Continue reading/discuss Editorial: A tale of two very different candidates ...

Gov. Dean calls on California supporters to vote "No" on the recall HERE.

Gov. Dean condems the Haifa bombing HERE.

Wisconsin for Dean responds to Republican plans to protest a Dean rally HERE.

Continue reading/discuss Press Releases: 10/04 & 10/06 ...

The New Republic offers its take on Roll Call's recent analysis of Republican memo's indicating that the GOP is far more worried about Dean than they let on. Basically, the argument goes that Dean's personality and style is what drives many to his side, while his socially liberal/fiscally conservative credentials coupled with states rights platform on guns and civil unions may be enough to swing key states back to the Democratic column on election day. It's a compelling argument and one that has not received enough attention. Apparently that is beginning to change:

"One interesting point the pollsters bring up that we hadn't even considered is that Dean may actually be well-suited to pick up the marginal electoral-college states a Democrat needs to win the presidency. The article cites Nevada and West Virginia in particular--the former because Dean could focus his anti-Bush vitriol on the administration's plans to turn the state into a nuclear waste dump, and the latter because Dean's moderate position on gun control could bring blue-collar voters back into the Democratic fold. (Al Gore narrowly lost the traditionally Democratic state in 2000 thanks to defections among these voters.)

What's truly amazing is that Nevada and West Virginia are (theoretically) the only two states Bush carried in 2000 that Dean would need to carry in order to win the electoral college. Meanwhile, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to think Dean would hold his own in the state's Gore won. After all, the winning margin in many of the state's Gore carried only narrowly--Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, even Florida--was depressed because of defections to Nader or broader liberal dissatisfaction with Gore. Dean's aggressive criticism of the president should only help him here."

Continue reading/discuss Electoral College Favors Dean ...

I hope everyone's keeping their eyes on the Generation Dean blog this weekend. Gov Dean's been barnstorming through universities all over the country and rallying the next generation of grassroots activists. Thousands of students from all over the country have turned out to support him, and the stories and pictures over on the G-Blog are great. Also, here's a quick post from Thorin of the University of North Texas Generation Dean group:

Starting early on a Saturday morning, a rather sleepy group of Texan college students from the University of North Texas, University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas at Arlington climbed into vans and trekked north towards Norman. We made good time, [some of us that is. We lost one of our vans in a fender bender, but as soon as it happened, they encouraged us to go on. Luckily there were no injuries and they were with us in spirit as we arrived in Norman about 15 minutes before the rally was supposed to start]. We got there just in time as there were barely enough seats for us when we arrived. The OU Generation Dean group did an excellent job of getting everything ready. Our group was only fourteen people, but we were arguably the loudest fourteen in the house. Governor Dean's speech was excellent. His comments on foreign policy, the economy and education got huge roars. He seemed to notice a lot of rowdy Texans in the crowd who couldn't help but be the loudest. A lot of those were us UNT kids. The University of North Texas Students for Dean started just a couple of weeks ago and after some really hard work by the founders of the group, we now have an active organization of about 30 who came to the rally and over 100 people on our contact list of students interested in the Dean campaign. The OU rally was a great chance for us to further our experience in dealing with a national campaign. It also gave a great chance for us to bond with the great activists from UTA (UT-Arlington) and UTD (UT-Dallas) and it will be absolutely wonderful to coordinate with the other area colleges to win this area for Howard Dean. The Students came back energized and excited for the next week of campus activism. It sparked creative new ideas from new members as well as the original core group. This is the amazing thing about Generation Dean. Never has there been this kind of a buzz on the campus about a political candidate. We'll just keep working and working until we take over the entire campus for Howard Dean in 2004. We will win the Texas primary because of the kind of hard work and devotion that just these past couple of weeks have shown in these students. It's incredibly exciting to have the opportunity to help Governor Dean in his quest to restore this nation's moral purpose. We just can't wait for Governor Dean to get down to Dallas so we can show him what North Texas college students can really do!
-Thorin Wright, co-chairperson of the University of North Texas Students for Dean.

Later on I'll post the story from those of us who didn't make it. Needless to say, yesterday was quite an adventure.

crossposted at Annatopia & BlogForTexas

update: here are my impressions from working with my Generation Deaniacs over the weekend, and here is the picture essay and story of van number two. enjoy!

Continue reading/discuss Raise the 'Roots! ...

To go along with the Raise the Roots tour, Generation Dean

has launched a new petition. It reads:

BILL OF RIGHTS for A NEW GENERATION OF AMERICANS
We the undersigned, in order to restore the ideals upon which America was
founded, call upon our nation's leaders to honor the following rights:

1. The right to be free from national debt

2. The right to be free from government surveillance and unwarranted suspicion
of American citizens

3. The right to a government of, by and for the people, free from the influence
of special interests

4. The right to a quality education

5. The right to patriotic dissent

6. The right to a government which deals honorably with other nations

7. The right to leadership which does not operate in secrecy

8. The right to know the truth about the commander-in-chief's reasons for
sending our troops in harm's way

9. The right to a government which works for the benefit of all its citizens,
and not only for those who have the most

10. The right to leadership which seeks to form a more perfect union -- and does
not divide its people by race, by gender, by income or by sexual orientation

Continue reading/discuss BILL OF RIGHTS for A NEW GENERATION OF AMERICANS ...

I'm going to try this new format for the press releases from Dean for America. It's sort of an "index" format. Let me know how you like it as opposed to posting the whole thing.

First, today the campaign announced that Vermont is rated as the "healthiest state" for the third year in a row.

Second, Gov. Dean asks W where the jobs are that were promised to accompany the tax cuts.

And just for those who are interested, I liked this political cartoon run by Newsday on Oct. 1st. The permalinks are screwed up, but it's the top of the page.

Continue reading/discuss Press Releases: October 3, 2003 ...

Kudos to C-SPAN for putting it on their site so quickly! Click to watch the Real Video. The Governor starts speaking at 1:12:45.

Continue reading/discuss Video of Dean Speech at DNC Meeting ...

So, did anyone show some Back this week? If so, who, and why? If you have made nominations in the past and your choice was unfairly snubbed, don't despair and nominate them again! Whe possible, please provide news links regarding you nominees.

And finally, who should receive Novak's Spineless Jellyroll?

Continue reading/discuss Dean Nation's Backbone Award: Nominations Open ...

I think it's essential, with the ongoing revelations of how the Bush Administration lied to the American people in order to wage war on Iraq, to address the point that Howard Dean has consistently made on the campaign trail - we cannot leave.

Kos has done an excellent job of highlighting US casualties, which puts a human face on eth sacrifice that our troops are making out of duty. That puts the Bush Administration's treatment of our troops all the more despicable. But the fact that American troops are dying (Bush Lied, people died) is NOT an argument for withdrawal! It's a condemnation of the fundamental distrust of the American people by the Administration, and a call to multilateralism and cooperation with the international community.

Many liberals and Bush opponents do not understand this essential reality. For example, Kucinich and his supporters have endless rhetoric about withdrawing US troops immediately, completely oblivious to the obvious consequences.

Steven Den Beste has an excellent essay which describes exactly why we cannot abandon Iraq as we did Afghanistan after the Cold War, that is essential reading. I urge everyone to read this essay in its entirety, but here are some relevant excerpts.

If you have to pay the awful expense in blood and treasure to fight and win a war, then if you're smart you'll try to make sure you never have to fight that particular war again. A war to end all wars probably won't ever happen unless it's one which annihilates our species, but at least you can make sure that you don't have to again fight the foe you just defeated.

You don't want to do what the US did in 1991: wound a foe badly but leave him standing. And you don't want to do what the treaty of Versailles did: create a situation where there's a strong likelihood of further war later.
...
The new Iraqi government doesn't have to look like ours, but it does have to be secular and democratic, and the new constitution has to guarantee certain fundamental civil rights to the people of Iraq, including in particular the right of free speech, free press and legal equality for women.

But once that's in place, if we then shake the hands of Iraq's new moderate leaders and go home, it could all fall apart within just a few years. In the 1930's in Germany, the Nazi party took power by winning elections within the rules of the democratic system there but then eliminated that democratic system and converted the nation to a dictatorship; extremists in Iraq might do the same. When Iraq is militarily weak after the war, hostile or ambitious neighbors might take that opportunity to invade. If Iraq builds up a military force to defend itself, that could in turn be seen as a threat by other nations there, especially smaller ones like Kuwait. Any of those could lead to war; all of them represent long term failure.

That's why we can't leave. We had to occupy both Japan and Germany for decades, and we're going to have to do the same in Iraq. In a year or two or five, whenever enough progress has been made to permit it, a new constitution will be put into place and the Iraqis will elect their own government, and we'll turn power over to them. But we will need to keep a substantial military force there afterwards for the foreseeable future, on the order of 30 years.
...
By their presence, our troops will say that the US guarantees that Iraq will remain peaceful, liberal, and democratic, because anyone who says otherwise will have to answer to us. Any threat of invasion by Syria, Turkey or Iran would face our troops and our air power, with all that implies. Iraq will eventually have an army and an air force but it will be far smaller than the one Saddam created, and we'll guarantee that it won't be used by Iraq to invade any other nation or oppress any minority group inside Iraq. And we will guarantee that Iraq's government never comes under the control of extremists who would then scrap the constitution and once again institute a brutal autocracy.

As they say, read the whole thing. That's why Dean is right - and why we are committed to Iraq, now for better or for worse.

Continue reading/discuss No Exit Strategy ...

The Minneapolis Star Tribune's Dane Smith is reporting on Dean's incredible team in Minnesota. Ted Mondale is doing a great job leading the charge, along with other DFL luminaries like Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, and State Auditor Judi Dutcher. Together they have put together a grassroots network of 4,000 across the state to help Dean grow over the next four months heading into the primaries:

"Howard Dean's Minnesota campaign strutted its stuff Thursday, releasing a list of 37 prominent DFLers who back the Democratic presidential candidate and claiming to have rounded up 4,000 grass-roots supporters ready to march into next March's precinct caucuses.

Ted Mondale, a former legislator and Metropolitan Council chairman who is leading the former Vermont governor's Minnesota campaign, said Dean is assembling a coalition that includes both moderates, like himself, and liberals, such as state Sens. Becky Lourey of Kerrick and Scott Dibble of Minneapolis.

Dean's aggressive and creative use of the Internet to assemble supporters at nationwide "MeetUps" has been particularly visible in Minnesota. It will be on display Monday as the campaign conducts an electronic event billed as "the largest conference call in the world," his supporters said.

A third Democratic candidate generally perceived to have a large following in Minnesota is Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. Hubert (Buck) Humphrey IV, a spokesman for Kerry's Minnesota campaign, acknowledged that Dean has "done a good job" putting together a Minnesota team."

Continue reading/discuss Dean Team Takes Root in Minnesota! ...

Graphic from CBS NewsJust something to remember for when you're talking to people who still think Bush can't be beaten...
CBS News is reporting on a poll they conducted with the New York Times. They report that Bush's popularity rating has reached the watermark low of his presidency.

White House officials say they expected the numbers to slide, but the dramatic drop has them troubled. The president's marks on foreign policy have hit new lows (44 percent approval), half of Americans (50 percent) don't have confidence in his ability to handle an international crisis, and a majority (53 percent) now believes the war in Iraq wasn't worth it – a big change from the heady days after the swift defeat of Saddam.

Also from CBS:

The mood of the nation is shifting: 56 percent now say the country is on the wrong track, a bad trend heading into an election year.

For Bush, perhaps. But a good trend for Dean to win!

Continue reading/discuss A Little Motivation ...

Foxnews is reporting a story from the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON — Democrat Bob Graham told a Senate colleague Thursday that he would abandon his struggling presidential bid, a Democratic source said, but in a day filled with mixed signals, aides said he will continue to campaign.

The Florida senator's future in the crowded Democratic field remained in doubt as the campaign made several staff changes and held a series of high-level meetings.

Initially, the Graham campaign announced a news conference for Friday at 2 p.m., suggesting that he would quit the race. But late Thursday, the campaign and state Democratic Party said there would be no news conference. "Senator Graham has decided to soldier on," said Florida Democratic Party Chairman Scott Maddox.

Graham, after one of several staff meetings in Florida, said, "We'll make a decision shortly."

A Democratic source, speaking on a condition of anonymity, said the three-term senator had informed one of his colleagues that he was getting out of the race.

Continue reading/discuss Source: Graham to Drop Out of Race. Campaign: Not So ...

I just wanted to share something I saw on Chris Matthew's Hardball on MNSBC. Gov. Jeb "I was supposed to be the smart one who'd be elected president, but I lost my first bid for governor of Florida and instead my dopey brother gets it" Bush (R-FL) described Dean supporters as "hot, angry and irrational" people who do a lot of "screaming and hollaring."

WFTV in Florida reports:

Responded Dean campaign spokeswoman Courtney O'Donnell: "It's unfortunate that Gov. Bush finds balanced budgets to be a laughing matter. It's understandable that he would, given that his brother's administration has run up record deficits while three million jobs have been lost. Those folks must be angry."

Continue reading/discuss Gov. Bush on Dean ...

I wasn't able to post this when it was particularly timely. But I thought better late than never. From Dean for America...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 1, 2003

Governor Dean's Statement on Rush Limbaugh

BURLINGTON--Governor Howard Dean issued the following statements today regarding comments by Rush Limbaugh:

"Rush Limbaugh's comment this week about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb is unacceptable. To imply that the success of African-American is an undeserved gift from a biased media is absurd and offensive.

"ESPN and its parent company, ABC, should terminate Limbaugh's contract immediately, and send the message to its viewers and the nation that it holds commentators to the highest standard. There is no legitimate place in sports broadcasting for voices that seek to discredit the achievement of athletes on the basis of race."

-- 30 --

Continue reading/discuss Dean on Limbaugh ...

Amid all the bigtime fundraising news and the surging polls and the very Presidential statements from the campaign on the Plame affair and other issues...let us pause for a moment and appreciate the Everyman side of our candidate.

Two recent articles do a great job of showing the low key, human side of Howard Dean. Although my favorite article in that vain remains the February 2003 New York magazine expose, in which Dean allowed a reporter to "feel free to look around" his family's (rather messy) house and meet their cat. No doubt the other Dr. Dean was thrilled. :-)

Anyway, the Burlington weekly Seven Days profiles Howard Dean, Hockey Dad. According to one of his fellow hockey parents:

“Six-thirty in the morning on the little rink at Leddy Park and half of us are still asleep and trying to figure out how to motivate the kids — there was never any question who was going to lead them. What Howard brought to Saturday and Sunday mornings — to this day I remember it vividly — is that he always had that smile on his face and was a motivator of the kids.”

And the Burlington Free Press recaps Dean's transition from "rock star," as he arrived at the Burlington meetup last night, to "Everyman," as he quietly walked back to his car and drove away all by himself:

In Vermont, it takes only a minute to transform from leading Democratic presidential hopeful to Everyman. Former Gov. Howard Dean made that transition Wednesday night.

Just minutes after Dean delivered a short, emotional speech to a crowd of cheering supporters at Nectar's in Burlington, he set off on foot toward his car, alone. He walked quietly, along Main Street, through City Hall Park and to his car, which he drove himself, parked at the corner of College and St. Paul streets.

Continue reading/discuss Howard Dean, Everyman ...

Continue reading/discuss open thread: post-meetup ...

via Liberal Oasis:

October 4, 1997
CNN’s “Evans & Novak"

JOHN ASHCROFT: The truth of the matter is that if the law's been violated, we should be able to ascertain that.

We can, if we have an independent person without a conflict of interest…

ROWLAND EVANS: …The attorney general has shaved down all the allegations that Vice President Gore apparently down to one single allegation -- which telephone he used to make these fundraising calls from.

Do you really think that alone is worthy of a special prosecutor?

ASHCROFT: …you know, a single allegation can be most worthy of a special prosecutor.

If you're abusing government property, if you're abusing your status in office, it can be a single fact that makes the difference on that.
So my own view is that there are plenty of things which should have caused [Attorney General Janet Reno], a long time ago, to appoint a special prosecutor, an independent investigator.

We asked for that on March the 13th of this year in letters from Republican members on the Judiciary Committee. And she's in a bad position…

…The man who signs her check is the man that she's investigating, and she hasn't been very aggressive about it.

Is there any candidate other than Dean who is better positioned to highlight this hypocrisy?

Continue reading/discuss Ashcroft opines on Independent Counsels (1997) ...

The folks over at Dean Deck tell me that they are getting ready to ship next week! In fact, they have given us at Dean Nation an exclusive look at some of our favorite featured villains in Emperor Dubya's Cabal. And here is our Impartial Inquisitor Ashcroft:

Though this card is currently featured on their site, in the next couple of weeks they have offered us Dean Nationals a cool sneak peek at some of the rest -- and yeah, I've seen them and they are cool! -- so stay tuned! Please note, we are not affiliated with Dean Deck, they are not advertisers with Dean Nation, and your purchases will not directly support Dean for America. But hey, fun is fun, right? Just don't make it solitaire -- share Dean with a friend!

Continue reading/discuss Ashcroft + Orwell = Rummy ...

Dean on NPR's Talk of the Nation 9/29/03

Continue reading/discuss audio: Talk of the Nation (9/29/03) ...

The transcript of Bush's remarks about the Plame affair reveals that Bush seems to be operating from talkig points, and not addressing the substance or the seriousness of the scandal. As Josh Marshall of TPM points out:

There's no mention of blowing the cover of a CIA covert operative, no mention of Wilson, the issue of retaliation, or anything like that.

His repeated mantra is his opposition to "leaks of classified information." That of course is a much broader issue and, not coincidentally, a charge that the White House has previously levelled at Congress.

They're trying to move the subject on to much more comfortable ground and push the whole controversy over into the long and muddled history of leaks of classified information.

The law which seems to have been violated, of course, is a different one. And this allows the president to sidestep entirely the issue of his staffers retaliating against a critic by ruining his wife's career.

not to mention the serious threat to National Security. Cue Kevin Drum:

The fact that administration officials took it upon themselves to expose a CIA agent shows appalling judgment. They didn't know whether or not that endangered any CIA operations, which is why you just don't do this. And the fact that they did it for such base (and trivial) reasons says a lot about the kind of people they are.

But beyond that, of course the fundamental issue here is that — especially in a post-9/11 world — you don't play games with national security. Regardless of whether blowing Plame's network caused any serious problems, this is the reason the CIA is fighting back so hard on this: because they want to make sure no one ever does it again. Next time it might get a city full of people killed.

So: this affair exposes bad character and high school freshman levels of poor judgment among allegedly senior officials. But it also betrays a lack of seriousness about national security at a time when national security should be the most important thing they're thinking about.

Dean needs to stay on top of this message and these points when he appears on the morning show circuit this morning. Hopefully he'll touch on the same basic points.

Continue reading/discuss Bush dodges the Plame issue ...

African-American supporters of Dean have several new resources to help them organize and make their voices heard. First is Blacks for Dean, which focuses on Dean news related to the community, focuses heavily on Get Out The Vote (GOTV) efforts, and runs the Blacks for Dean forum. Also, check out African-Americans for Dean which has media and volunteer links.

Continue reading/discuss Blacks for Dean ...

NOTE - Dean will be on all the morning shows this morning: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and FOX. Tune in and discuss!

Continue reading/discuss open thread: morning show run today ...

DFA has created a new site for meetup hosts to work out logisitics, share ideas, and poll our resources. Check out the new Forum for America.

UPDATE (Aziz): Also, don't forget that the Unofficial Dean Forum has an special sections devoted to grassroots planning and organizing media response . I guess that we should start calling the original Dean Forum the "U-forum" and the new one the "O-forum" :)

Continue reading/discuss Forum for America ...

Howard Dean made his late night debut tonight. What did you think? I am not entirely convinced that it was his element or that he won over many supporters, but I certainly don't think he lost any. It was almost void of any substance in the conversation, but that must be attributed to Leno. Your thoughts?

Continue reading/discuss Open Thread: Dean on Leno ...

The video feed form LA is up and running at websoapbox. I know HD is pretty riveting, but try not to forget to swing the bat while he's speaking. You have the power. Let's break that last bat.

Continue reading/discuss Union Station webcast now online ...

An audio report from Julian Borger for Guardian Unlimited states regarding the source of the Plame leak that "...several of the journalists are saying privately 'yes, it was Karl Rove who I talked to.' Now, the thing is that the journalists are not going to name Karl Rove publicly because you don't name your sources and to do so would discredit them as journalists so the White House is safe for the time being but Karl Rove's name is very much out there."

Further, Paul Hogan reminded me of another pesky detail: it is a felony to have knowledge of a felony and not report it. In fact, it is considered aiding and abetting. So, we ask again: What does Bush know, and if he indeed knows who did this, how long has he known it? Who else in this administration knows the identity of the leaker? And, have these individuals also committed a crime by refusing to come forward and report the felonious official?

Continue reading/discuss Rollover Rover? ...

Well, we have our first double-winner: Ambassador Joe Wilson -- who won the award a few weeks ago -- and by logical extension, his spouse, CIA Agent Valerie Plame. There is simply no way to give Dean Nation's Backbone Award to anyone other than Plame and Wilson this week. Today, the Department of Justice (haha) finally launched a criminal investigation into the felony leak of Plame's identity. Despite some reports to the contrary, she was an undercover agent, but now that cover is blown. Then-President George H.W. Bush at the 1999 dedication ceremony for the George Bush Center for Intelligence (ironically named considering his son, eh?) stated:

"I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources," the former president said at the time. "They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors."

As regards Wilson and Plame, this isn't just about political backbone, this is about courage under fire, national security and the safety and lives of countless CIA agents and individuals. In other words, this shit is real shit, folks. Covert contacts have certainly been exposed, and many of them may already be dead. If not, they are useless, and their lives are worth next-to-nothing. So when you hear Wilson say things like...

"I want to see if we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs."

...you should know why. This isn't some harmless political leak. This is a dangerous and evil game, playing chicken with people's lives.

For exhaustive posts and links on this story, I strongly recommend having a double over at Billmon's Whiskey Bar. And, you can read more on the Plame Affair from Aziz at Dean Nation here and a statement from Dean and the campaign here. And, no e-mail that I know of, but you can contact Wilson here. If you do, let him know that you are a Dean supporter, and that Dean and Kerry supporters stand together in support of him, his wife Valerie Plame, and their family, and let him know about the award. You may also want to contact your Senator or perhaps your Member of Congress.

The Fruitcake this week goes to Bob Novak -- not because he originally reported this but because now he's trying to backpedal out of his own words and defend the administration officials who leaked him the info, claiming that "it's all politics" and such rubbish. Yup, Bob, you are right -- but the politics was the leak, not the investigation.

In Novak's honor, The Fruitcake has been re-named as The Spineless Jellyroll. After all, a treasonous felony is a treasonous felony! Now mind you, even assholes have first amendment rights and should be able to protect their sources, but what Novak doesn't seem to get is this: the story isn't that Plame was an agent, the story was that they chose to leak it as retaliation for Wilson's statements -- and that is a crime! Regardless of Wilson's initial motivations, was this an appropriate response? Of course not, nor was it legal, or moral, or ethical. It was, put plainly, evil.

Now, after doing their bidding, he's part of the story and feeling under fire -- poor thing. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy, eh? For a couple of great posts on all of Novak's ludicrous excuse-making and story-changing, see Daily Kos here. To contact Robert Novak, write a a letter to the editor of The Chicago Sun-Times or make a comment on this form at Crossfire!

NOTE: I posted a much-abbreviated version of this column earlier, and comments 1-14 reflect only the earlier version. Much was added, but nothing was removed beyond, spelling, syntax repair and typographical correction.

Continue reading/discuss Backbone Award: Ambassador Wilson & Agent Plame ...

It's that time again. The good folks behind Dilbert are taking votes for the 2003 Weasel Awards. Pop over there and cast your vote. Hat tip to Deb McCarver in Nashville.

Continue reading/discuss Give George W Bush the award he deserves ...

So... this is what brought down the O-blog a little while ago (hat tip to Jeff in WA). =) They got Slashdotted! Check out the thread about Deanspace. It seems the Slashdot community is pretty impressed with the idea. As one poster over there said:

I wonder if RMS thought he'd see a US presidential candidate releasing stuff under the GPL when he founded GNU 20 years ago!
That's a gnu-candidate thank you.

For those unfamiliar with Slashdot, they are probably the biggest online tech community. They've been around for ages, and even pioneered their own CMS (content management system, which is what Deanspace is) called Slash. They are a one stop source for all news that is geek, and they have a very vibrant community. Check 'em out.

Continue reading/discuss Deanspace gets Slashdotted ...

If you don't believe in dirty politics, if you don't believe in dishonesty, if you don't believe in special interests controlling our political system, now is the time to take a swing at that bat.

If you believe in a new American politics, if you believe in Howard Dean, if you believe in yourself and this community, and if you want to take your country back, take a swing at the bat. Now is the time. Not tomorrow, not next week, now.

Hat tip to Chris in Philly for the zonkboard link.

Continue reading/discuss Facts, not fiction ...

Good morning everybody! (yea, I know it's the middle of the afternoon but cut me some slack here okay?) I wanted to direct everyone over to the shiny, spankin' new BlogForTexas.com, where Texans have started posting their stories about our trip to Iowa over the weekend. Be sure to check out the photo gallery, as more images are being added every few hours.
I've gotta say that was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. Iowans are an amazing, progressive bunch of people, and they were incredibly hospitable. They also take their "first in the nation" responsibility very seriously. We really feel that we did some great work over the weekend, and we can't stop now.
As you can see, we're down to the last bat. Right now we stand at $14,127,460 with 178,135 contributors with less than ten hours to go. I know we can do this. I believe in Howard Dean, I believe in this community, and I believe we have the power to take our country back. Now is the time to prove once and for all that nothing can stop us. Not Wesley Clark, not the special interests, and not George W Bush and his cronies. As Trippi says, "LEAVE NO COUCH CUSHION UNTURNED." I'm gonna take another swing at the bat. I'm asking everyone here at Dean Nation to do the same. We aren't the number one Dean Team for nothing. We're number one because we are generous, caring, passionate, motivated individuals who've come together for a common cause. Remember, as individuals it's difficult to affect change, but together, we are powerful! SWING BATTER BATTER, SWING!

Continue reading/discuss Texas Rangers Reports ...

I'm on the line and waiting for Governor Dean to join what we all believe will be the largest conference call in world history, and will likely break the Guinness world record! The Governor just joined the call, consider this call -- and this thread -- open! And, don't forget to give to the bat!

Continue reading/discuss Open Thread: Making History...Again! ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28, 2003

Governor Dean Calls For White House Cooperation in Justice Probe
Says Ashcroft Must Allow Independent Investigation by IG

DES MOINES--Democratic presidential candidate Governor Howard Dean, M.D., issued the following statement today:

"Today's report in the Washington Post of alleged criminal wrongdoing by members of the White House staff is deeply troubling. The suggestion that the White House may have revealed the identity of an undercover CIA agent in retaliation against the woman's husband not only is highly disturbing and illegal, but may have grave national security implications.

See the rest of the press release HERE.

Continue reading/discuss Dean Calls for WH Cooperation in Justice Probe ...

From Dean for America...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 27, 2003

Governor Dean Calls for a New Partnership with America's Families:
"We Must Meet the Long Term Care Needs of Our Aging Population"

DES MOINES, IA--Democratic presidential candidate Governor Howard Dean, M.D., unveiled his plan for long-term elder care today. From his prepared remarks:

"Our leaders can no longer ignore America's aging population. In 25 years, nearly one in five Americans will be over 65. The number of people over eighty will swell by nearly one third. Age has many benefits, but it also brings increased risk of chronic illness and accompanying disability," Governor Dean said.

Explaining that a year in a nursing home can easily consume the entire annual income of the average American family, Governor Dean argued that the country is "ill-prepared" to meet the challenge of an aging America.

"I propose a new partnership to take on the challenge of long-term care. It will be a partnership with families, between the federal and state governments and between the public and private long-term care givers," Governor Dean said.

"Our current long-term care system spends nearly three out of every four dollars on nursing home care -- a care setting few families would choose. And the price of admission is your life savings," Governor Dean said. "Yet what is the Bush administration's response to this looming crisis that increasingly threatens our economic, physical and mental well being as we grow older? Nothing at best, or
aggravating the situation even further at worst."

Governor Dean laid out these key points to his Long Term Elder Care Plan:

See the rest of the press release HERE for Governor Dean's full plan.

Continue reading/discuss Dean: We Must Meet the Long Term Care Needs of Our Aging Population ...

We have collectively raised $21,000 for Dean - but we have not yet met our September fund-raising goal of $25,000. Remember, the 3rd Quarter ends in 3 days and the campaign still has to raise $2.5 million to reach its goal. We must do our part!

Remember, by pooling our donations we at Dean Nation have taken the lead among all Dean Teams and spoken with one voice - and $21,000 - of our resolve to see Dean win the nomination and defeat Bush.

Doesn't the Plame affair make you angry? Bush 43's white house has broken a law signed by Bush 41 - deliberately blowing the cover of a CIA agent to fulfill a petty vendetta. They place their political gain and their school-yard bully ethics above the national interest, above the law, above morality and basic human decency.

And Howard Dean is the only one who can defeat them.

But we must help Dean raise dollars - and in so doing, again excercise our power as the grassroots, the voice of the People, who are the true engine driving Dean's campaign rather than the special interests.

Do what you can - join us and let's get Dean Nation to our goal of $25,000 - do it for Valerie Plame, do it for all the troops dying in Iraq, the National Guard reservists who have been forced into extended duty, the hundreds of thousands of new jobless every month. Do it for ourselves. This is our country and we have to take it back - and that means we have to FEED THE BAT!

Continue reading/discuss FEED the BAT! ...

Turns out that the campaign issued a statement just last night on the Plame Affair:

Governor Dean Calls For Accountability

BURLINGTON -- In response to news that the CIA has asked for a Justice Department investigation into allegations that the White House revealed the identity of one of its undercover employees in violation of federal law and in retaliation against the woman's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, Governor Howard Dean issued the following statement:

"I applaud the CIA's request that the Justice Department investigate the Plame affair. I urge the Justice Department to investigate the matter swiftly and objectively, without the taint of partisan politics that have so plagued this Administration's conduct of foreign policy.

But this investigation should not be necessary. Those responsible should resign immediately.

"President Bush came into office promising to bring honor and integrity to the White House. Instead, the President took us to war on what appears to be false pretenses and is now using every means possible to obfuscate that fact. If the allegations are true, someone within this Administration has sought retribution against a former U.S. diplomat who sought only to bring truth to an otherwise murky situation by revealing the identity of his wife, an undercover analyst. This is a very serious charge. If it is true, they have gone way beyond petty retribution - they have undermined a key national security tenet and violated two federal laws.

"Almost three months ago, I demanded answers to sixteen questions surrounding the use of questionable evidence used to bolster the Administration's argument for war. At that time, I stated 'Mr. President, we urgently need an explanation about the very serious charge that senior officials in your Administration may have retaliated against Ambassador Joseph Wilson by illegally disclosing that his wife is an undercover CIA officer.' I called for those involved to take the appropriate action and resign. They have not served in the nation's interest.

"Since that time, we have heard nothing. No one has been held accountable for this serious action, or for the other instances in which senior officials in this Administration have misled the public and the world about their justifications for war with Iraq. Instead, we see a continuing pattern of deceptive statements. I urge accountability now.

but this is not enough. Dean needs to drill the Plame Affair issue at every campaign stop, at every public appearance, and especially at every media appearance for the next month or longer. All too often, the campaign releases a statement and then the issue disappears off the radar - this issue must not be allowed to die quietly.

As Dean points out, the Plame Affair was actually referenced in Dean's famous 16 Questions for Bush - but to my knowledge he hadn't mentioned it once since then until last night. Note that Dean made no mention of Plame in his Face the Nation appearance this morning.

Continue reading/discuss Governor Dean Calls For Accountability ...

To be honest, the Dean campaign missed the boat with their press release calling for Rumsfeld's resignation. It's a matter of timing - and Iraq has been temporarily eclipsed in importance by the Valerie Plame affair.

the BIG Story was not buried as I pessimistically expected, but was actually picked up over the weekend by the Washington Post and the New York Times (which nicely renders moot Billmon's fears that MSNBC's original lead would be left hanging in the wind).

This story illustrates why the blogsphere is so essential - there is a wealth of inference from the WaPo and the NYT stories that I would not have picked up on from reading them cold. But the major lefty bloggers, with combined experience in journalism and politics, are able to really shed light on the shorthand and the subtext. The major new revelation was by the Washington Post:

A senior administration official said two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and revealed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife. That was shortly after Wilson revealed in July that the CIA had sent him to Niger last year to look into the uranium claim and that he had found no evidence to back up the charge. Wilson's account eventually touched off a controversy over Bush's use of intelligence as he made the case for attacking Iraq.

"Clearly, it was meant purely and simply for revenge," the senior official said of the alleged leak...The official would not name the leakers for the record and would not name the journalists.

This is an amazing excerpt in its own right - it highlights the direct "shopping around" nature of teh vendetta by the White House to deliberately try and payback Wilson. But there's so much more to learn. First, Kevin Drum summarizes the implications:

1. This involves two top White House officials who blew the cover of a CIA agent solely for payback against a minor political enemy.
2. They systematically called six different journalists.
3. Only Robert Novak went with the story. (Which, by the way, actually speaks pretty well of the rest of the Washington press corps.)
4. There are a whole bunch of people, including Mike Allen and Dana Priest, who know who the White House officials are.

I find point #4 astonishing. The names of the people who blew Plame's (alleged) cover are well-known by journalists. And Billmon takes it further, pointing out that "when the Post reporter gets up at the Monday press conference and asks Scott McClellan if Mr. X or Ms. Y was involved, everyone else will know, too."

Kos speculates that the "two top White House officials" can only be Ari Fleischer and Karl Rove, and Billmon theorizes that the source for the WaPo quote above is likely George Tenet, who has to still be smarting from being forced to eat the Administration's feces on the whole yellowcake affair (which is nicely being re-summarized by the current flap). Apparently, journalists have a spectrum of explicit monikers when they quote sources off the record, which dramatically limits who "top White House officials" and "senior administration officials" can possibly be.

Kevin comes to the same conclusion, belatedly, that most of us who have been following the Administration since before 9-11 already arrived at. But he puts it much more succinctly:

these are radical ideologues who care about nothing except staying in power and will do anything, no matter how craven and malevolent, to get what they want.

That's the reason in a nutshell we need to boot Bush in 2004, not for partisan gain but for the safety and security of our nation itself. That's why I've changed my mind and will even vote for Lieberman is necessary. But only Howard Dean offers the chance to heal these wounds in a meaningful sense - only Dean offers a chance to rebuild American politics on a foundation of civil responsibility to our nation as a whole rather than the naked pursuit of power.

Disappointingly, amongst righty bloggers, only Tacitus has been following this issue. Glenn hasn't touched it yet. I sincerely hope that changes on Monday. But I fully expect that when the right-sphere does address the issue en masse, it will probably resemble the desperate spinning that partisan hack Macallan frantically spews in Tacitus' comments than any substantive critique.

That won't stop those erratic defensive talking points from being appropriated by Fox news, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh in a last-ditch effort to capitalize on their carefully cultivated ditto-head legions to reject the facts. By the end of next week, the story may just be another non-issue. I'm often quite hard on the media for not doing their part, but the public also has a responsibility too.

What the campaign must do is take the lead in making the Plame Affair public. The Plame affair is a shameful example of putting the nation's interests second and political payback first. This is far worse than Nixon authorizing a break-in - blowing the cover of a CIA operative is so egregious that then-Vice President George HW Bush fought hard for the Intelligence Identity Protection Act in 1982, which made it a felony offense. The senior Bush, a true war veteran and builder of a true military coalition for Desert Storm in 1991, must be privately aghast at how his son has aped his career but done so with none of the principled sense of duty and responsibility.

Dean alone can convincingly push hard on this - coming from a partisan like Gephardt the message might be discounted, but Dean is uniquely positioned leverage his status as frontrunner and principled cross-over candidate to this crucial issue. Yes, raising more money before Q3 ends is a big priority, but Dean has a very limited window to use his grassroots pulpit to do major good for the country by addressing this issue strongly NOW. Nothing else is more important.

Continue reading/discuss The Plame Affair: Dean must lead ...

Todd at Independents for Dean beat me to saying why Clark is not as strong a candidate as we expected. Here's a part of what he wrote:

I have been intrigued by Clark, but have come to the conclusion that Dean has better odds of beating Bush than Clark does. Why?

Clark is a "resume candidate". But so is Kerry, and that hasn't worked so well for him, has it? Clark's support is currently more abstract than real: "Pollsters note former Gen. Clark leads only in surveys where he is named by his military title." This support depends on the linking of "credibility" and "strength" with the title "General". However, it is clear that Clark has many enemies within the Pentagon. This doesn't mean anything, due to the normal internal politics of the place, but you can bet the Bush/Rove campaign will trot out four star generals to smear him, using their $200 million war chest. This will have success. Thus, Clark can't depend on his title and military background to be enough. He'll have to equal the Bushies in campaigning skills and resources. And I have not seen evidence that he can do that.

That's not to say that he can't. But we already have a candidate who has shown courage and steel by standing up to Bush back when it was unpopular, who has shown he can energize people, and who has begun building a grassroots infrastructure that might actually compete with the Republicans. Plus the power of the idea: millions of regular Americans contributing small efforts and dollars versus the big money and special interests behind Bush in order to take our country back. This idea needs to continue to grow, and switching support to Clark will interrupt it. He might be able to replicate it, but it seems unlikely in the short period of time available.

The main thing Clark supporters say against Dean is that he is unelectable because people will think he's soft on national security. But those who look at the facts know that 's not so. And those that go by superficial "impressions"? I submit that if they see the fire/steel in Dean's eyes when he is unfairly attacked, as in the debate last night, their impression won't be that Dean is soft. Sure, this is shallow. But the voters the Clark supporters are worried about are shallow. (Here is an example of young Republicans being impressed by Dean's "steely resolve".)

I agree that if Clark runs against Bush, we will see a string of stories pouring forth from the Pentagon from every general who ever had a gripe with Clark. As this Washington Post article makes clear, he has lots of enemies. I suggest reading this account by Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel of one incident that, fairly or unfairly, earned Clark a reputation as a hothead.

I would add that every sign I've seen suggests that Clark's campaign is being colossally mismanaged, which reflects not so much on Clark but on the people he's put in charge. From the move to dismantle the grassroots Draft Clark organization to the decision to drop an unprepared Clark in that 1 hour interview with four reporters the day after his announcement, I think these people are blowing whatever chance Clark might have had.

Continue reading/discuss Why Dean and not Clark? ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2003

Governor Dean Calls For Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz To Resign
'Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz Must Go' To Restore Credibility

WASHINGTON--This afternoon, Democratic presidential candidate Governor Howard Dean, M.D., called for the resignations of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.

Following his comments, Dean for America announced that it was launching a petition drive to demonstrate the national support for the resignations of Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. The petition is available at www.deanforamerica.com/mustgo.

In making his statement, Governor Dean cited the "long line of problematic statements from the highest levels of the Administration, from the discredited line in the President's State of the Union address regarding Iraq's supposed attempts to acquire uranium from Niger to the Vice President's claim that Iraq had reconstituted its nuclear program to Secretary Rumsfeld's claim that he had 'bulletproof' evidence of ties between Iraq and al Qaeda. This pattern of deception is but one major reason that this Administration deserves to be fired by the American people."

"For officials at the highest levels of this Administration to exploit the emotions of the American people regarding the attacks of September 11 to achieve their political objectives is unacceptable," Governor Dean said.

He also cited the "abject failure of planning for the post-war period in Iraq. There is no need to wait until the next election to hold the major architects of this disaster responsible for their gross incompetence. The time has come for the President to fire them. To get Iraq on track, it is vitally important that the Pentagon begins the task of restoring credibility not only in the world community, but here at home as well. That is not possible under the continued leadership of Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. They must go."

"A decision to send our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters to war is the most solemn decision any president can make. As president, I will not hesitate to send our military anywhere in the world to defend the United States and its key interests, but I will never do so without telling the American people the truth. The American people expect and deserve the truth from their leaders--especially an Administration that purportedly took office to 'restore honor and dignity' to the White House. But we have seen something very different from this Administration," Governor Dean said.

His complete statement is available at www.deanforamerica.com and on the campaign's official weblog, www.blogforamerica.com.

-- 30 --

Continue reading/discuss ...

Continuing the trend of groundbreaking moves within the Democratic primary, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is launching a spanish-language ad campaign to attract more support from the latino community in America - an extremely important consituency in the coming election. Two things are important about this outreach effort. First, we all need to do our best to make this the most inclusive, diverse campaign in America in 2004. That means all of us need to reach out. Second, the ad features Dean himself doing all the talking (he learned spanish working one summer working alongside Cuban co-workers). It's important that the message is coming from Dean himself.

One thing I've been struck by is Gov. Dean's willingness to talk openly about controversial issues in this campaign - including civil unions and race. The point he's beginning to make, quite persuasively, is that the Bush Administration is "dividing and conquering" this country based on fear (both of outsiders, and of each other). The xenophobic stance of the Bush Administration makes many afraid of people of other nations, and translates into subtle efforts to divide us as a nation along religious, ethnic, racial, and class lines. By doing so, they continue to ensure that a very small minority of extremely wealthy people control political debate in this country.

I'm not saying that Dean can cure ALL of the nation's ills, or bind its racial wounds, but I am saying that by working together we build understanding and a shared future. I think Dean understands that. Perhaps I make too much of this ad campaign - but I believe reaching out counts for something. You might call it leading by example.

An excerpt from the AP story by Will Lester:

"The most important values in the Hispanic community are family, children, education and work," Dean says in the Spanish-language ad. "As governor, I created thousands of new jobs, we provided health insurance for all children and youth and a first-class education system."

"The values of the Hispanic community are the values of Howard Dean."

Dean learned Spanish while working on a ranch in Florida with Cuban exiles during a break in high school, aides say.

Earlier this month, the Dean campaign launched radio ads in South Carolina aimed at attracting black voters, who could make up almost half the electorate in that state's presidential primary, set for Feb. 3. New Mexico holds its presidential caucuses Feb. 3. "

Continue reading/discuss Dean to Air Spanish Language Ads ...

So, did anyone show some Backbone this week? If so, who, and why? And, who should get the Spineless Fruitcake? When possible, please provide relevant news links with your nominees. You can now check out all past awardees-- thanks Anna! -- on the lower-left sidebar! Winners (and losers) posted by Monday.

Continue reading/discuss Backbone Award: Nominations Open ...

One of our members at Mass for Dean, Gabriel Ben-Yosef, took some excellent pictures of prepping for the Sept. 23 rally and the rally itself. All pics are copyrighted. Enjoy!

Continue reading/discuss More pictures from the Boston Rally ...

Liberal Oasis delves into Lexis-Nexis and finds that the record shows clearly that:

1. Dean opposed the '95 budget that led to the government shutdown: "What they're interested in is cutting the budget and making sure that somebody else gets the blame,"-- Star Tribune 10/27/95


2. Dean was critical of the lack of health care issues in the GOP budget: "It helps to balance the budget but does nothing to move toward universal coverage in the private system. . . . The Republicans are missing a wonderful opportunity to expand coverage, not reduce it" -- Washington Post 7/11/95


3. Dean criticized the GOP version of welfare reform (note that Dean successfully implemented welfare reform in Vermont): "When Americans elected the new majority ... they voted to do things in a new way, but I don't think they voted to starve children."" -- Tikkun 5/95


4. Dean was strongly against cuts in Medicare: "This will bankrupt the state. It will guarantee that either people will go totally without health care or there will be tax increases. This is a disgrace." -- Associated Press, 9/95

However, LO finds that Dean did not toe the Democratic party line, either. He expressed support for some aspects of the Contract with America, and also was receptive to the idea of a balanced budget amendment. Liberal Oasis summarizes Dean's stands on these issues during the time as follows:

So it’s pretty clear where Dean was at:

Opposed to the cruelty and mismanagement of the GOP, but willing to cut spending in popular programs -- not gut them -- to balance the budget and not burden state services.

It’s certainly debatable whether or not Dean was right on those points, but he was not in lockstep with Newt and the anti-government GOP.

However, regarding Medicare, it's a bit more complicated. Gephardt's deanfacts.com site is full of out of context quotes, but LO finds that in context, Dean's position was not that much different from Bill Clinton's:

Dean also said he could defend Domenici's approach to reducing Medicare costs…

…"I fully subscribe to the notion that we should reduce the Medicare growth rate from 10 percent to 7 percent, or less if possible,” Dean said.

Dean has acknowledged the accuracy of the quote (not necessarily the preceding paraphrasing).

But technically speaking, this doesn’t mean he “stood with” Newt, as Kerry alleged, and it’s not the “very plan” that Gingrich backed.

And when the final GOP budget bill came down later that year, Dean opposed it, as noted above.

Gephardt and Kerry supporters can rightly retort that the heart of the Medicare portion, the reduction in the growth rate, was still similar, and Dean expressed support for it.

Then again, so did Bill Clinton. Sort of …on Oct. 5, 1993 [Clinton said:]

"Today, Medicaid and Medicare are going up at three times the rate of inflation. We propose to let it go up at two times the rate of inflation. That is not a Medicare cut. ... So when you hear all this business about cuts, let me caution you that that is not what is going on."

"The president said it better than we can," said [Sen. Pete] Domenici.

Clinton proposed to save $ 178 billion from Medicare and Medicaid over five years as part of his plan to guarantee health coverage for all Americans. It failed in the last Congress...

…But Domenici…did not include the rest of the president's remarks…

Clinton went on to say, "We are going to have increases in Medicare and Medicaid, and a reduction in the rate of growth will be more than overtaken by the new investments we're going to make in drugs and long-term care."

So, what you would do with the savings from slower growth matters a lot.

LO concludes that the important question for Dean is not whether he supported Newt then but what he would do with the savings now? Dean needs to put his statements in the past in context, and issue a detailed plan about what his long-range vision is for medicare. Without his own articulation of his broader goals on this critical issue, Dean runs the risk of having it defined for him by his opponents.

Continue reading/discuss Dean vs. Newt ...

Chris Suellentrop puts the debate Dean pile-on into perspective:

But the real story of the debate turned out to be the same as the old story: Let's all gang up to try to stop Howard Dean. The former Vermont governor continues to be attacked from the right by his opponents, who are using the same tactics that the GOP would surely use against him in a general election: 1) He's a flip-flopping politician who will say anything to get elected; 2) He's weak and inexperienced on national security; 3) He's going to raise taxes on average Americans.

As a result, Dean is facing several candidates who are serving as the functional equivalents of stand-ins for Bush. Kerry is using the "tax families" that Bush used to great effect in the 2000 election to show how changes in tax rates affect specific American families. Lieberman is at least as hawkish as Bush on terrorism and Iraq, and probably more of a free-trader. And now Clark comes along as the candidate who possesses at least the appearance of an unbeatably impressive aura on defense and national security matters (even if substantively he agrees with Dean). During the debate, Kerry accuses Dean of wanting to raise taxes by $1,000 on 32 million couples, and by $3,000 on one specific firefighting-and-teaching New Hampshire couple. Lieberman accuses Dean of abandoning "the Clinton-Gore record" on middle-class tax cuts and trade. And Clark doesn't say anything about Dean, but when you're a general, even an antiwar one, you don't have to.

Democratic partisans are probably dismayed by all the criticism, but the truth is that if Dean wins the nomination, he'll have been made stronger by the gantlet he's being forced to run. And if he can't beat what he calls "Bush Lite," how can he expect to beat the real thing?

Continue reading/discuss bring it on ...

full transcript is at the link above. Note that the debate opened with a question to Clark for his Democratic loyalties, and an invitation for Dean to critique Clark. Dean demurred and shifted the topic to Bush. Excerpts below are the attacks on Dean from Kerry and Gephardt:

KERRY: We Democrats fought hard to put those tax cuts in place, Ron. Those represent the efforts of Democrats to try to reach the middle class of America.

The 10 percent bracket wasn't George Bush's idea. It was our idea. It was in keeping with the spirit of our party to try to help the average American get ahead in a country where increasingly average Americans are getting stomped on, where there's an unfairness in the workplace, where corporate executives, as we've seen, are walking away with millions and sticking the average American with the bill. I think Governor Dean is absolutely wrong. And he's wrong on his facts. The fact is that 32 million American couples get about $1,000 out of the tax cut. The fact is that 16 million American families get $1,500 to $3,000 from it.

Just ask Ted Walsh (ph) and Mia Gloss (ph) in Barrington, New Hampshire. He's a firefighter, she's a teacher. If Governor Dean has his way and Congressman Gephardt, they're going to pay $3,000 additional taxes. We can cut the deficit in half, we can be fiscally responsible, but we don't have to do it on the backs of the middle class.

DEAN: And all due respect to Senator Kerry and the others from Washington that voted for these tax cuts, this is exactly why the budget is so far out of balance.

Washington politicians promising people everything. You can have tax cuts, you can have insurance, you can have special education. We cannot win as Democrats if we take that kind of attack. Tell the truth: We cannot afford all of the tax cuts, the health insurance, special ed and balancing the budget, and we have to do those things.

The fact of the matter is that 60 percent of Americans at the bottom got $325.

That is not a tax cut. Whatever you got out there in tax cuts, the majority of Americans saw their kids' college tuition go up, their property taxes go up, because people like the friend--Senator Kerry's friend in Barrington got laid off because of the enormous tax cuts and no money coming to the states. Let's call this one right. Let's be fiscally responsible and balance the budget. Bob Graham and I are the only people up here that have ever balanced a budget and I think we ought to balance this budget and not promise more than we can deliver.

[...]

WILLIAMS: Senator Kerry, you have accused Governor Dean of playing on workers' fears and advocating protectionism and saying that under him it threatens to throw the economy into a tail spin. It that fair?

KERRY: Yes, it is fair, because Governor Dean, on a number of occasions across the country, has said very specifically that we should not trade with countries until they have labor and environment standards that are equal to the United States. That means we would trade with no countries. It is a policy for shutting the door. It's either a policy for shutting the door, if you believe it, or it's a policy of just telling people what they want to hear.

I think there's a middle ground that's smart for America. No president can shut the door to globalization and no president should.

President Clinton traded. We created 23 million jobs in the 1990s, we balanced the budget, we paid down the debt, we brought more women into the workforce than at any time in American history. We lifted a hundred times the number of people out of poverty of Ronald Reagan. We can do that again, but we have to enforce trade agreements. We have to be fair in our trade.

And I intend to sign no trade agreement that doesn't have adequate labor and environment standards. I'm going to raise the enforcement level. But I'm not going to shut the door, because that would depress the economy of our country.

WILLIAMS: Governor Dean, you have said that the senator from Massachusetts lacks an understanding of the job loss in this country. You have heard the accusation from him.

DEAN: You know, to listen to Senator Lieberman, Senator Kerry, Representative Gephardt, I'm anti-Israel, I'm anti-trade, I'm anti-Medicare and I'm anti-Social Security. I wonder how I ended up in the Democratic Party.

I'm not a new entrant to the Democratic Party. I've been here a long time. I voted for--I supported NAFTA, I supported the WTO. We benefited in Vermont from trade.

But I have spent a lot of time in the Midwest in the last couple of years. Our manufacturing jobs are hemorrhaging. We have to go back and revise every single trade agreement that we have to include labor standards, environmental standards and human rights standards.

And if we don't, the trade policy that we seek to help globalize and help workers around the country and the world is going to fail. I want a successful trade policy, but I'm no longer willing to sacrifice the jobs of middle-class Americans in order to pad the bottom lines of multinational corporations.

Trade has to be fair to workers, not just multinational corporations. And I think Senator Kerry is insensitive to the plight of workers--American workers who have lost their manufacturing jobs.

[...]

WILLIAMS: A question for Governor Dean: What is your position on raising the retirement age?

DEAN: We shouldn't do it.

You know, Dick Gephardt, earlier in his career considered means testing Social Security and Medicare both, something that I have never considered. I considered raising the Social Security age possibly to 70, possibly to 68. I've rejected that. I think Dick has since rejected means testing Social Security.

What we're trying to do as Democrats is save Social Security and Medicare both. And I think we've succeeded in doing that. In fact, many of the things that I suggested in 1995, which Dick Gephardt has attacked me for, were actually incorporated into the Clinton plan to save Medicare and Social Security, and has resulted in the savings of over $200 billion.

So my view is, we do not need to raise the retirement age above 67. We do not need to means test Social Security or Medicare. If we need to do anything, we may need to raise the cap on earnings in order to make Social Security solvent.

But Social Security is solvent today, and it will remain solvent if we can turn this economy around, and that's what we're all trying to do here.

WILLIAMS: Congressman Gephardt, we would be remiss.

GEPHARDT: Howard and I just have a basic disagreement. He said in, I think, 1993 that Medicare was the worst federal program ever. He said that it was the worst thing that ever happened.

He also supported, at our darkest hour--when I was leading the fight against Newt Gingrich and the Contract With America, he was shutting the government down--Howard, you were agreeing with the very plan that Newt Gingrich wanted to pass, which was a $270 billion cut in Medicare.

Now, you've been saying for many months that you're the head of the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. I think you're just winging it. This is not the view of Democrats, in my view.

This program has been under attack from the Republicans since the beginning. And we need a candidate against George Bush that can take the fight to him on it, not someone who agreed with the Gingrich Republicans.

WILLIAMS: Governor Dean?

DEAN: That is flat-out false, and I'm ashamed that you would compare me with Newt Gingrich. Nobody up here deserves to be compared to Newt Gingrich.

(APPLAUSE)

First of all, I did say that Medicare was a dreadful program because it's administered dreadfully.

I've done more for health insurance, Dick Gephardt, frankly, than you ever have, because I've delivered it to a lot of seniors and a lot of young people. And I'll stake my record on health insurance against anybody up here.

Of course, we're not going to get rid of Medicare, and you are wrong to insinuate so, but we're going to run it properly because we're going to have somebody that actually is taking care of patients running Medicare and Medicaid in the FDA so we can get the things that we need to get to patients.

To insinuate that I would get rid of Medicare is wrong, it's not helpful, and we need to remember that the enemy here is George Bush, not each other.

Continue reading/discuss transcript: NY Democratic Debate (9/25/03) ...

From the Dean Campaign...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 25, 2003

John Kerry Should Heed His Own Advice

At virtually the same time John Kerry sent out a fundraising email to supporters vowing to fight back against the politics of personal destruction, he failed to take his own high-minded advice. At the moment in the debate when Kerry had a chance to take the high road and join with Sen. Edwards in calling for the candidates to focus on their own plans and visions and not criticize each other, Sen. Kerry instead joined Dick Gephardt and resorted to the politics of the past by seconding the ridiculous comparison of Gov. Dean to Newt Gingrich.

Despite stating in his email, "I have taken the high road in this campaign," John Kerry continues to distort Gov. Dean's record and attack him at every turn.

John Kerry will soon learn that he is right that these tactics turn good
people away from the process. That is why more than 425,000 people have joined Gov. Dean's call for a new people-powered politics based on participation and hope, rather than based on the politics of the past and fear.

John Kerry should heed his own call.

-- 30 --

Continue reading/discuss Dean for America: John Kerry Should Heed His Own Advice ...

I'll post more in this space shortly, but let's get some comments going! For those who missed Dean knocking it out of the park -- rebroadcast on MSNBC at 8 p.m. EDT - 5:00 p.m. PDT.

Continue reading/discuss Debate Wrap & Open Thread ...

Governor Dean is in New York today for the Democratic National Committee debate, cosponsored by the Wall Street Journal and CNBC. The debate, which will be shown on CNBC at 4 p.m. and rebroadcast on MSNBC at 8 p.m., will focus on the economy.

Does anyone know if the debate will be webcast or broadcast on radio? If so, please let us know!


update from anna: You can listen online via NY public radio. Click here (listen link is top left, says fresh air right now). Right now fresh air is on, but they'll play the debate right afterwards.
update again: My mistake. It's billed as being played live, but it's not. Nevermind. Someone out there have some public radio links? Someone has to be broadcasting the debate online...

Continue reading/discuss Debate Webcast? ...

EJ Dionne writing in the Washington Post:

The analytical mistake is to assume that the anti-Bush feeling, which is there, leads straight to the fever swamps of radicalism. In fact, the dislike of Bush among Democrats is more personal and partisan than it is ideological. Democrats are not, in fact, moving to the far left.
...
To beat Bush, they are willing to back a general whose views on many issues are unknown -- and who appears to have voted for Ronald Reagan. Whether they are right or wrong about Clark, pure ideologues don't do stuff like that. They back Dennis Kucinich.

Nor can former Vermont governor Howard Dean be seen as some kind of leftist. Yes, he won many left-wing hearts by opposing Bush on Iraq. But Dean has been a moderate, even conservative, Democrat on many issues, including Medicare and Social Security. Rep. Dick Gephardt is going at Dean hard on these questions.

If the rebellion in the Democratic Party were primarily ideological, closet centrist Dean would be going nowhere. What Dean understood earlier than his rivals is that Democrats wanted someone who did not seem intimidated by Bush. Iraq became both a substantive issue and a symbol. If Dean was willing to fight Bush on Iraq, many Democrats reasoned that he'd be tough enough to take him on across the board.

not just Democrats! but also centrists like me. The rest of the article is just as excellent, poiting out that the roots of anger at Bush were planted well before the war in Iraq. And this centrist discontent has been steadily building, to the point where Bush is facing routine sub-50 polling numbers.

(also see David Neiwert's comments)

Continue reading/discuss Anti-Bush moderates ...

I've noticed that certain chattering heads have been making an interesting distinction: Clark is the national frontrunner (based on national polls) but Dean is still the frontrunner (based on polls in New hampshire and Iowa). Here's why. First, there is little doubt that Dean will be tops in fundraising for the third quarter. It's already being reported that Dean will easily beat Bill Clinton's 1995 record (10.3 mil) for a Democrat in a single quarter, and this was as a sitting President. If, indeed, Dean takes in 12-16 mil it will be 6-8 times as much as Clark will bring in, and we will likely raise at least double what Clark raises in the same two-week period since he's entered the race. You can help Dean with this effort by giving to THE BAT now!

However, that's not the only reason to be optimistic. Dean's unprecedented grassroots army -- yes, that means you who are reading this! -- is formidable. And, Dean still leads in New Hampshire and Iowa. This means little if you win just one or the other, but if you win both, it may be a lock. Dean is the only candidate who can possibly win both states. Further, no presidential candidate has ever won a nomination by "writing off" Iowa or New Hampshire. From today's Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff on CNN:

WOODRUFF: With me now to talk more about Wesley Clark's chances in Iowa, as well as New Hampshire, are two veteran political reporters. David Yepsen of "The Des Moines Register" and David Nyhan of "The Eagle Tribune" newspapers.

David Yepsen, to you first. We're only a week in, but what impressions so far has Wesley Clark left with the voters of Iowa, would you say?

DAVID YEPSEN "DES MOINES" REGISTER: I think very few, Judy. He made one stop in Iowa City, Iowa for a long-scheduled experience and met a few people and then he was gone.

One thing significant, Judy, that he was not doing, none of his people were collecting any names of supporters. He had about 1,000 people that showed up at the university of Iowa. He got a decent reception. And then he was gone.

If you're not at this stage of the game organizing your people to turn out on caucus night, then you're missing the boat.

WOODRUFF: And quickly, how does that compare to the other Democrats at this point?

YEPSEN: They're way ahead of him. They've got staff on the ground. They've been here for months. They've spent a lot of time here. General Clark is going to have to try to run a wholesale campaign in a retail state, and I'm not sure he can do it.

WOODRUFF: All right, David Nyhan, what about in New Hampshire. What are the voters there seeing or hearing of General Clark so far?

DAVID NYHAN "EAGLE TRIBUNE" NEWSPAPERS: Well, the people I talked to, everybody's astonished that Clark did so well coming out of the gate in the poll. But given the fact that Howard Dean surged to the front in New Hampshire was propelled by his opposition to the Iraq war people were astonished when Clark first said he would have voted for the war resolution because the president deserved to be supported on a war resolution and then that he would have opposed it.

So I think he stumbled coming out of the gate. It remains to be seen whether he's a Seabiscuit of a candidate. But he better be because with barely four months to go in voting in the first primary in New Hampshire, he's way behind the others in terms of organizing on the ground just as David Yepsen finds in Iowa.

WOODRUFF: All right give me a quick example of that, David Nyhan. How is he behind the others?

NYHAN: Well, some of them, people like Kerry, Gephardt and Howard Dean, whose organization has surged on this great -- the great wave of antipathy towards President Bush among Democratic core primary voters, they have built substantial organizations. They have offices in different cities and towns around the state. People are pouring money into the Dean campaign. I mean, it's really a phenomenal growth [perhaps as high as] $20 million in this quarter.

WOODRUFF: Still?

NYHAN: Absolutely, yes. And what I find and some of the Kerry people agree with me is that Kerry as a former front runner underestimated the depth of antipathy to President Bush and to his policies and to people like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz and Cheney and Tom DeLay. The Democrats in New Hampshire are boiling to get a crack at the administration. And Dean was the messenger they selected out of this deck that now includes ten cards.

WOODRUFF: So, David Yepsen, give us a little more of the lay of the land in Iowa. You're saying Clark's barely put his toe in the water there. But what about for the rest of the candidates?

YEPSEN: I think Governor Dean is running quite well. He's got a good organization. He's spent time here. I see nothing that changes my view that [Dean] is a front-runner right now.

Dick Gephardt is right behind him, got a lot of support from labor unions, picked up another won in the laborers. He's got thousands of union members supporting him. And I think Senator Kerry, he's down, but he's certainly not out. He's coming out here in a few days with Senator Kennedy to try to add a little juice to his campaign here.

So these guys have got time to get their campaigns either reignited or to light some fires. General Clark has done none of the basic organizing in Iowa. And I think he sounded an uncertain trumpet with his waffling on whether he would have voted for this war resolution or not.

I was talking to one of Howard Dean's people who said he was really worried about General Clark when he got into the race. And once he saw that Clark waffled on the war issue, he's not worried about the man anymore. If you sound an uncertain trumpet, who will follow? I think General Clark has done that with the anti-war movement. They're just not sure about him. They've got a horse to ride, and that's Howard Dean.

Continue reading/discuss Dean Remains Frontrunner: Here's Why.... ...

Tuesday September 30, Gov Dean will be at Union Station. There are appearances scheduled by Martin Sheen, Rob Reiner, CA State Senator Sheila Kuehl, LA City Councilman Eric Garcetti, Patton Oswalt and award-winning spoken-word poet Adam In-Q. To signup for the event, click the link above.

Continue reading/discuss LA, get ready for a visit from the Doctor... ...

Tuesday night, Local 119 union boss Dennis Rivera hosted a Dean fundraiser that raked in at least $30,000 (um, has that been added to the bat, DFA?). Although Rivera didn't formally endorse Dean, Dean's the only candidate Rivera's raised funds for.

"We have been incredibly impressed with him (Dean) and particularly his campaign," union boss Dennis Rivera told a crowd of about 100 union members gathered at the headquarters of Local 1199, Service Employees International Union. "One of the things that Governor Dean is doing is basically campaigning dramatically hard to try and bring more people into the equation and almost changing the way that American politics (is done)."

Rivera seems to understand that reaching out to disaffected democratic voters is the way to win in the general election. Sure, you can play footsie with "centrists" but there's two disadvantages in doing so. First, the centrists float back and forth between parties (hence the term "swing voters"), so you can't really count on them as permanent party converts. Second, by playing to the swingers, you alienate your base and generally you don't inspire new people. And then the result is that the democratic majority stays home on election day. See, we like to be inspired, and playing to the mushy middle just doesn't accomplish that sometimes. Back to the article:

"It's a sign we are impressed and intrigued by the Dean campaign and their ability to mobilize people and contributions, and we're trying to do what we can to be helpful," said Jennifer Cunningham, Rivera's top political adviser and executive director of the health care workers' union, which has more than 200,000 members. "We're not anywhere near an endorsement." The national leadership of the SEIU has said it is still too early to offer an endorsement. Rivera, however, is a key member of the national's leadership. Dean is the only Democratic candidate for whom Rivera is raising money. Nonetheless, Cunningham left no doubt about Rivera's feelings. "We wouldn't be doing an event for him if we weren't supportive," she said.

The SEIU represents many health care workers, and I'm pleased to see that they're open to Dean's health care plan. If anyone knows what ails our county's health care system, it's these rank and file workers who spend every day on the front lines battling the beauracracy while providing the best care possible. While I personally don't worry too much about health care, I know it's a major issue that we need to deal with, especially as baby boomers retire. I'd much rather see the US tackle this problem sooner rather than later. And as my staunchly conservative, baby-boomer, Republican father in law said about two weeks ago when we were discussing the nation's health care crisis, "When you get to be my age, universal health care starts looking pretty damned good."

Continue reading/discuss Dean gets an assist from SEIU 1199 ...

Reviews from this morning's GMA appearance are good, according to comments on the O-blog. I didn't get to see the show since I was already at work (!), so here's a transcript:

ABCNEWS' CHARLIE GIBSON: Are we any closer today to getting assistance from other nations in Iraq?
GOVERNOR HOWARD DEAN: I don't think so. I think the president poisoned the well and now he's going to have a hard time getting help. His father had over 100,000 troops in Iraq, and that's the right way to go about it. Now all Americans, including our soldiers, are paying the price.
GIBSON: Would you cede control to the U.N. for the rebuilding effort?
DEAN: I would not cede control of American troops, but I would bring in the U.N. I think ultimately both Afghanistan and Iraq have to be international reconstruction efforts.
GIBSON: But that's not a popular political move in this country. and you're giving control in Iraq to countries that opposed the war in the first place?
DEAN: It is a popular political move in this country, because people want out and we can't get out. We can't lose the peace in Iraq but we didn't afford to get out without somebody taking up the slack. If we do, al Qaeda, which is not in Iraq, which wasn't in Iraq before … or somebody else will take over. And since they're likely to be friendly to the Iranians, that's a huge problem to the United States. I think having a United Nations force in Iraq makes sense. The Americans will play a significant role there, but this business of $87 billion out of the deficit to continue to finance this is going to be …
GIBSON: Would you vote for the $87 billion?
DEAN: If the president will begin to balance the budget. Take that $87 billion from somewhere, mainly from the tax cuts, then I think you have to support the troops.
GIBSON: Absent tax cuts, would you vote for?
DEAN: Unlikely. You can't continue to tell the American people that you can go to war, do something about education, have health care and continue to finance these enormous deficits.
GIBSON: Do you agree with Senator Kennedy that the reasons for going to war were a fraud?
DEAN: Nobody has any way of knowing that, but I think the president was not truthful. He told us Iraq was buying uranium from Africa and admitted there was no obvious connection between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein. Those are the reasons he gave us for going to Iraq and turns out he admits they were not true. That's a serious problem.
GIBSON: You said in a rally in Boston this week, democracy is itself is at stake and then you said the extreme right wing has shown nothing but contempt for democracy. Do you think the extreme right wing is in control of this administration?
DEAN: I think the right wing is in control of this administration, and I do think they show contempt for democracy. The Supreme Court wouldn't count he votes again in Florida. I think that was a mistake. The impeachment of the president, which had nothing to do with his administration, but that was clearly political. Now we have reapportionment in Texas and Colorado with the delivered intent of taking votes way and the California recall election, which is about taking or undoing an election that took place in 2002. These folks believe they have a god-given right to run the country the way they want.
GIBSON: And you think this administration shows contempt for democracy?
DEAN: I do. I do not believe that the rest of us have a voice and this is our country.
GIBSON: Let me turn to the Wesley Clark phenomena. New man in the race. Some people thought you were the frontrunner, all of a sudden he is. How do you explain that?
DEAN: I never get into saying who the frontrunner is. You guys all like to do the horse race thing. I think he's got good credentials.
GIBSON: Is he a true democrat?
DEAN: I think we have to find out about that. we don't know what his positions are.
GIBSON: He said he voted for Nixon and Reagan. Does that disqualify him?
DEAN: It doesn't, but I am surprised. I spent a fair amount of time with him before he got in, because I thought he has very good credentials on foreign policies.
GIBSON: do you think the clintons are behind him?
DEAN: I don't think there's much evidence of that.
GIBSON: We've been asking candidates some sort of frivolous questions but interesting in showing perhaps their character. Your favorite movie?
DEAN: Oh, gosh, there's a lot of them. I would say Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid.
GIBSON: Favorite book?
DEAN: All The Kings Men.
GIBSON: And favorite car?
DEAN: Favorite car? Oh, my goodness. Well, the politically correct answer is a Toyota Prius, but I would have to say Chevy Blazer.
GIBSON: Good to have you with us, covering all the bases.

Notice how Charlie gave Howard two opportunities to tear into Clark, and our man took the high road. No circular firing squad here, and if possible, it should remain that way.
Notice also that Dean comes out firmly against giving Bush yet another blank check for war. You know, something occured to me the other day. We've got an $87 billion dollar request, plus that $75 billion from early on. Didn't Bush's "disgraced" former National Economic Council Director Larry Lindsey say before the war that it was going to cost us $200 billion dollars? Oh that's right, he did, and shortly thereafter he was forced into resigning. So... $75 billion + $87 billion = $162 billion. So I'm assuming we'll get another bill down the line for about $36 billion. Ah, yet another example of BushCo crushing the dissent of anyone in the administration who actually lives on this planet. *sigh* What happened to those oil revenues that were supposed to pay for the occupation?
Anyway, sorry I got off on a tangent there, but the numbers have really been bothering me as of late. We must unseat the Boy King and replace him with a chief executive who not only knows how to handle a budget, but who'll also be able to reverse Bush's diastrous foreign policy and get us some help in Iraq. Unfortunately, it takes money to do that (remember Bush's $200 million dollar warchest?), so if you haven't done it yet this quarter, go take a swing at the bat. Do it for your country. Do it for the future.

Continue reading/discuss Transcript from Good Morning America ...

This Salon article mainly talks about the Israel flap from two weeks ago, and the author leaves out some facts related to the issue (like Pelosi & Dean reaching agreement, for example, and what Dean really said about Hamas). However, it ends with a note that we should all heed:

No matter how many gaffes he makes, then, no one can say Dean's imploding till the money dries up.

It really is that simple. It takes money to win the Presidential race. We need to fill that bat today. Not tomorrow, not next week... today.

Continue reading/discuss Why the bat is so important ...

From a Truthout article on Iraq by William Rivers Pitt:

A moment will come on January 20th, 2005. It will be cold in Washington D.C. A man who is not George W. Bush will raise his hand and swear and oath to preserve, protect and defend the United States of America. The words "So help me God" will be snatched by the wind and carried across seas and mountains to the furthest corners of the planet. When that happens, all of the Earth will be joined together in the deepest and most profound exhalation of relief. When that happens, George W. Bush will have become in his absence what he completely failed to be with his presence: A uniter.

Am I the only one that was misty eyed while reading this? Thanks to Debra in SF from the Zonkboard for the link.

Continue reading/discuss Snatched by the Wind ...

Continue reading/discuss RealAudio of pre-rally interview with Dean on WBUR ...

It was a wild day in Beantown! Thanks to Anna for the timely summary (scroll down) -- I'm still catching my breath and didn't have time to post until now.

First and foremost, we dodged a major bullet. A fierce thunderstorm was threatening to blow in all morning and the wind gusts were incredibly strong. All the posters and signs had to be anchored down and the tall signs at the back of the crowd had to be held up by two or four people (side note: duck tape and trash ties are beautiful things). The thunder got really loud about midway through the Governor's speech but the first drops of rain didn't start until a few moments after he finished...and the skies really opened not long after that. Whew!

Mass for Dean volunteers and DFA staff arrived at Copley Square this morning around 8am to set up. Security was much tighter than at past rallies, apparently. So more volunteers were needed to corral attendees and the media, make sure everyone was where they should be, etc. The press area was mobbed. Our MFD photographer and videographer got credentials and mingled with the real press, which was a new experience to say the least! By the way, high quality MPEG video of the speech will be available tomorrow.

We had great t-shirts made for the rally that said "Democracy, Freedom, Action. Howard Dean in 2004." One of our members, Kelly Fitzsimmons, introduced the Governor. Kelly has never volunteered for a campaign before. She did an amazing job of speaking to the theme of the day -- we all need to be politically active in order to safeguard our democracy. You can see a picture of Kelly, along with Dean and numerous Massachusetts state representatives who've endorsed Dean HERE (Kelly is on the right in the brown suit).

Another MFDer, Kim Elliott, was profiled at the rally by Claire Shipman for a "Good Morning America" segment that will air later this week, apparently. (Here's a picture of Kim and I flyering at Fenway Park recently; I'm on the right, Kim's on the left.)

My favorite quip from the speech: Dean spoke about how Bush has refused to deal with North Korea because Bush doesn't like Kim Jong Il. "Well, I don't like him either, but..." Heh.

Best sign from the rally: We Believe! Red Sox '03, Howard Dean '04

Oh and on a personal note, my mother checked the O-blog for the first time today. I've finally corrupted her! Bwahaha! And, to top it all off, my rock rib Republican grandmother informed me this past weekend that she won't be voting for Geedubya in '04...and though she's leaning toward Clark, she thinks Dean is legit. The tides are turning, folks! :-)

Continue reading/discuss Report from the Boston Rally ...

Sen. John Edwards has launched television ads in Iowa and is expected to soon expand them to New Hampshire. You can view them by the link above. I think they are very well done and portray Edwards in a positive light. Dean got a bump when he was the first candidate on television, but I'm not sure if Gephardt saw similar effects. This is a "must" for Edwards - he's in the single digits and hasn't showed any momentum. If he starts to climb, this could keep him in. If he doesn't, then he may soon have to consider his options. My guess is that he dumps his entire campaign war chest into an ad blitz. I only wish that he was taking this message to the people of North Carolina and seeking a second term. He's needed in the closely divided Senate.

Continue reading/discuss Another Candidate Takes to the Airwaves ...

Dean, Kerry trade barbs on baseball

By KEN MAGUIRE The Associated Press

BOSTON — Presidential hopefuls John Kerry and Howard Dean have been playing hardball for months over who offers Democrats the best chance at unseating President Bush.

But now things are getting serious.

Kerry’s camp, reacting to news that Dean will hold a rally today in the senator’s hometown, brushed back the former Vermont governor by claiming he’s a New York Yankees fan. Those are fightin’ words, especially within four months of the crucial primary in New Hampshire, a key state in Red Sox Nation. Dean, who grew up in New York, says he dumped pinstripes for Red Sox three years ago.

“When you move to New England, you put your old loyalties behind you,” said Dean campaign co-chairman Steve Grossman, a Massachusetts businessman. “You’ve got to have a sense of humor about this.”

The “flap” began when Kerry’s campaign said Dean’s Red Sox switch was just the latest in his quest for the presidency.

“Of all the flip-flops, this is the most inexplicable and indefensible,” Kerry spokeswoman Kelley Benander said Monday. “It’s like switching from the Redskins to the Cowboys or from Carolina to Duke.”

Dean told the Boston Herald that the Yankees accusation was the “biggest insult” hurled at him so far. He says Roger Clemens’ beaning of Mets catcher Mike Piazza in 2000 was the final straw.

Even Dean’s “bloggers” — supporters who post Web logs on the Internet — are having fun with the controversy.

One blogger described himself as a depressed Yankees fan: “Whoever kidnapped Governor Dean and replaced him with a Nomah-loving impostor, please return him safely, and we promise not to taunt you too badly (save some 1918 chants) when the Yankees win the Series again.”

The Red Sox last won the World Series, of course, in 1918. A year later, they traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees. As the Yankees have gone on to win 26 World Series titles, some Red Sox fans have come to believe they’re team has been undermined by the “Curse of the Bambino.”

NOTE: One question: what blogs are these? Nice of them to name their source! If anyone knows, I'll add links. And hey, I'm from the West Coast, this must be like a Giants v. Dodgers thing, right?

Continue reading/discuss Ain't No Cryin' In Baseball ...

Reports are coming in from today's Boston rally, and by all accounts it was a raging success. Yahoo already has a report online (linked above), and the O-blog has posted a transcript of Dean's remarks. Here's the intro:

“We’re here today to talk about what’s at stake in this election. Ten months from today, we’ll be coming back to Boston, not just to decide who will be the Democratic nominee, but to determine the future of our democracy.
230 years ago, right here in Boston, 50 dedicated patriots known as the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships in Boston Harbor to protest a government more concerned with moneyed interests than its own people. Those 50 patriots believed that they had the power and the duty to change their government.
What they did that night became known as the Boston Tea Party. It marked the beginning of the first great grassroots campaign in our history. Their action -- which they took together -- set this country on the path to freedom and democracy. And a King named George -- who had forgotten his own people in favor of special interests -- was replaced by a government of, by and for the people.
The people who boarded those ships in Boston Harbor joined together in common action to create a free society based on individual liberties. And through that action, they changed the course of history.
Democracy and freedom, forged through action. That is the story of America.

The crowd was estimated by a Boston ranger on duty as between 4,000-5,000 - and that was just inside the park. Onsite reports from Deaniacs say that there were people lining the streets well beyond the area that was cordoned off. If you want to see some pictures, Deaniac Donglai has posted his gallery here, and DFA photographer John Pettit's pictures are here. Stay tuned, as I'm sure DN contributor Amanda will be posting her account of today's rally. And don't forget to take a swing at the bat today!

update: The rally's made the front page of the Boston Globe online (great pic there), and they are running the AP article. Boston's Channel 7 also covers the event and they've got a short video clip online. Oh, and C-SPAN has the video archived here.

Continue reading/discuss Beantown is Deantown ...

Here's a taste of the analysis over at Kos

Gallup has Bush at *50*

The Gallup poll has always been friendly to Bush. Nothing ideological or nefarious. But whatever methodology they used always gave Bush some of his highest numbers amongst the various polling outfits.

So it's amazing to see a 9-point drop in Bush's approval numbers over the past three weeks. That's no typo. The floor is collapsing under the Bush presidency.

Sep 19-21
Approve: 50
Disapprove: 47

Sep 8-10
Approve: 52
Disapprove: 43

Aug 25-26
Approve: 59
Disapprove: 37

Aug 4-5
Approve: 60
Disapprove: 36

Meanwhile, Clark jumps ahead to a major national lead: (Sep 8-10 results in parenthesis)

Clark 21 (9)
Undecided 17 (20)
Dean 12 (13)
Kerry 12 (11)
Lieberman 11 (12)
Gephardt 9 (15)

It may be early, but I think it's safe to annoint Clark the frontrunner, allowing Dean to ease back into his original role as the insurgent. Ironically, Clark's entrance has provided Dean with some respite from incessant attacks, as his opponents have all shifted their guns to Clark.

Many of you may not agree, but I truly believe, at least for the moment that this is good news for Dean. Clearly, it's good news for Dems!

Continue reading/discuss Bush Tanks, Clark Surges ...

All veep speculation aside, we Dean supporters do have a challenge to face with respect to Clark's candidacy: the "resume" meme. Eric Alterman gives a perfect example of a pundit fascinated by Clark's curriculum vitae :

So Clark is in. Everybody I’ve spoken with in the past few weeks figures that if he turns out to be a decent candidate, he’s definitely the guy with the best chance to save this country from the catastrophe that is Mr. Bush. That’s a big if, I know, but here’s my question. What are you Deanies gonna do? Let’s all admit that, in the abstract, a decorated general, Southerner, and Rhodes Scholar has a better chance to be elected president of the United States during an age of terrorism than the governor of a hippie state, born and raised in upper-class Manhattan (and with a Jewish wife and kids to boot), who has no military or foreign policy experience.

Of course, its had to argue with the implicitexplicit assumption that it is now only a question of Clark or Dean (though I still give Edwards a chance). After all, Alterman isn't posing his question to Gephardt's or Kerry's fans.

But there's zero reason to accept the reductio ad absurdum thesis that Clark makes all other candidacies irrelevant. For one thing, Alterman completely ignores the importance of the grassroots support - which stands at over 400,000 on email, over 100,000 on meetup, and over $10,000,000 raised in small contributions eligible for federal matching funds. Can Clark inspire the base? Can Clark motivate new voters? Can Clark increase voter participation, run an inclusive campaign, and assemble a broad coalition across party lines and ideologies?

well, I hope so. But he hasn't proven it yet. Until then, Dean fans have every right to back the guy who has all these key elements in place. Thats how you beat Bush - it takes more than a resume.

Continue reading/discuss pundits and Kool Aid ...

Try out that URL above and you'll be redirected to our Dean Nation Team page! The campaign is rewarding the best DeanTeams with direct links to acknowledge just how integral we are to the "war effort" :)

And while you're checking out the new link, don't forget to FEED the BAT!

Continue reading/discuss deanforamerica.com/deannation ...

Back's Back! -- and for those who think us too Dean-centric please note that this week's Dean Nation Backbone Award goes to a big supporter of one of our chief rivals, Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy -- and boy, does he deserve it. Dean supporters know quite well how difficult it can be to stand up and tell the truth, right? Well, check out this excerpt by AP writer Steve LeBlanc from The Washington Post:

The case for going to war against Iraq was a fraud "made up in Texas" to give Republicans a political boost, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said today.

In an interview, Kennedy also said the Bush administration has failed to account for nearly half of the $4 billion the war is costing each month. He said he believes much of the unaccounted-for money is being used to bribe foreign leaders to send in troops.

He called the Bush administration's Iraq policy "adrift." Kennedy expressed doubts about how serious a threat Saddam Hussein posed to the United States. He said administration officials relied on "distortion, misrepresentation, a selection of intelligence" to make their case for war.

"There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud," Kennedy said.

But did he stop there? Nope. This, from an interview with Judy Woodruff on CNN's Inside Politics:

WOODRUFF: Senator, [what Tom Delay called] hateful rhetoric at the president -- is that what this is?

KENNEDY: Well, it's basically politics as usual. This is the same kind of response that the Republicans had for Max Cleland when they called him unpatriotic after he lost three limbs in Vietnam. It's the same kind of rhetoric from the Republicans that they had for Tom Daschle when he questioned the administration's policy.

It will be the same kind of rhetoric, I guess that they're going to have for the American people who are questioning the administration's policy in Iraq. This is a failed, flawed, bankrupt policy. The American people want answers. They want to know what the peace policy is, what is really going to secure the peace in Iraq? What the cost is going to be to the American taxpayers and when will we be able to bring home our troops with honor?

WOODRUFF: Senator, do you know for a fact that the administration did what it did in Iraq for political reasons, which is in essence what you were charging?

KENNEDY: There's no question in my mind that the White House has hyped the political aspects of the war in Iraq. Karl Rove himself, the principal spokesperson for the Republican Party addressed a Republican National Committee out in Los Angeles in January 2001 and talked about the advantages that this war would have for Republican candidates.

So we also see the bitterness that the Republicans have for anyone that questions -- raising these serious questions about their policy. So they understand what they're doing. They're questioning the patriotism of those that are asking the questions, but the fact is the American people are asking the questions and they should ask the questions.

The administration's had an initial tie between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein; they rejected that. They said we were in an imminent threat of being attacked by nuclear war; that has not worked out. They said we are going there because of weapons of mass destructions; that isn't so. They also said we wouldn't have to ask the American taxpayer for money for reconstruction because there's sufficient oil reserves there and that's wrong, too. [...] The President of the United States ought to come clear with the American people in terms of the cost of this war and also recognize we never had a peace policy. The administration is asking us now for $87 billion more dollars. There's a blank check for this administration and there is no peace policy.

Despite the fact that Kennedy has, not surprisingly, endorsed the junior senator from his home state, I've no doubt he will be a great Dean supporter once we have a lock on the nomination. Please write or call Senator Kennedy -- tell him you are Dean supporter, tell him about the Backbone Award, send him a link to Dean Nation, and request that he continues asking the tough questions of Bush and Co. on behalf of all Americans!

There were some great runners-up this week: Max Cleland, Robert Byrd, Jimmy Carter and Paul Krugman, among others. Something tells me we'll get a chance to honor many of them with a Deany sometime soon.

But what about The Fruitcake? This one is no fun -- the toughest ever. Charter Backbone Winner Nancy Pelosi dodged a fruit-brick and I was ready to personally snatch that virtual statuette right out her hands! But there was no need. Texas Senator John Whitmire -- also a former winner with the Texas 11 -- removed his own spine and caucused with the jellyfish. By breaking the deadlock and throwing the Republicans a probable win in Texas on redistricting, Democrats may not regain the United States House of Representatives for years to come. He might as well switch parties, because personally, I believe he's the most despicable Democrat in the nation today. To add insult to injury, according to a report at Burnt Orange, Quitmire -- who I like to call Twitmire -- took a swipe at protesting Dean Supporters:

All 500 seats in the gallery were filled and I saw some Howard Dean shirts too. The gallery held up newspapers during the Roll Call to show their disgust (since we can't make noise during the actual session.) Then when the Senators voted to disband and meet tomorrow at 10 instead, things got crazy! ... Whitmire...before the motion...made a statement along the lines of "I want to say that the people here in Dean for President shirts are not supporters of mine."

Nope, Senator, they certainly are not! Haven't you noticed? Contact Senator Quitmire and inform him -- Duh! Dean supporters have Backbone!

P.S. While your at it, let Senator Twitmire know that you are giving a contribution, in his name in memoriam, to Howard Dean.

Continue reading/discuss Backbone Award: Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy ...

As you can see, the bat is back! Time to step up to the plate and take a swing, folks. There's lots of fundraising challenges happening this week, and I'd like to hilight the one we're doing down here in Texas.
In honor of this weekend's Iowa trip by Dean's Texas Rangers, Dean for Texas is taking part in the Texas challenge. This is how the challenge works: we're divided into counties and each county's goal is proportionate to the number of democratic primary voters. The winning county will get lots of kudos as well as some fun prizes.
So, if you're a Texan, please consider making your donation via your county link.
For example, if you live in Bexar county, go to http://deanforamerica.com/bexarcountytexas. For each county, just switch the name to match your county.
We're trying to raise at least $100,000 toward the bat challenge. Take a swing at the bat. And if you're not a Texan, please consider making your contribution via the DN Team page link.

Continue reading/discuss Texas challenge ...

Josh Marshall, Beltway Typing Head and Talking Points Memo maven has joined DC's hottest new band: The Split Ends. To wit:

Dean's political draw today seems to be the fact that he didn't allow himself to be fooled by arguments about Iraq's WMD. Thus this line Thursday at a speech to the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce in New Hampshire ...

The most important piece of foreign policy is judgment. The other four fellas who supported the (Iraq war) resolution all now say they were misled by the White House. If you were misled by the president and you were in Washington, what kind of experience is that if I could have figured it out in Vermont.

But what about what Dean said on Face The Nation a couple weeks before the war resolution vote, when asked what the president would have to do to prove that there was an immediate threat justifying war ...

I don't think he really has to prove anything. I think that most Americans, including myself, will take the president's word for it. But the president has never said that Saddam has the capability of striking the United States with atomic or biological weapons any time in the immediate future.

More important, what about this whole issue of conditional or contingent support for war? A number of Dean's opponents in the Democratic primaries said at the time -- and still do now -- that they weren't opposed to war under all circumstances. Their position was that if it were going to be done it had to be done in a multilateral fashion, with allies, and so forth -- you know the drill. Dean is now getting credit on the campaign trail for avoiding that kind of shilly-shallying and just arguing that the war was a bad idea in any case.

Call me crazy, but if you can navigate the labyrinthine split ends of these hairs and their attached, selective quotes, please let me know. You see, trouble is, Josh knows better -- is he actually trying to say that Dean has been, in some way, unclear on his opposition to the war? Please. For more about Josh on Dean, check out the comments on this thread over at Billmon's Whiskey Bar.

San Francisco for Dean's Paul Hogan, who has recently joined the emerging blog team over at Points West, writes in his new Sunday Victuals column at PW about Marshall's reaction to a letter from a Dean supporter critical of the above:

Today he is shocked, shocked, that he received a testy response from one of Gov. Dean's unwashed grassroots supporters. So shocked, in fact, that he posts the email and responds:

There is an awfully distressing tendency among a minority of Dean supporters to serve up no end of lacerating comments about other candidates and then to react with a sort of stunned and outraged shock when anyone criticizes their guy

Um, Josh, aren't you reacting with a sort of stunned and outraged shock when someone criticized you?

But I digress. We here at Points West would like ease Josh's distress and help educate him about the rough and tumble world of presidential primary politics. In that spirit I think it might be a nice gesture if everyone could forward to Josh at talk@talkingpointsmemo.com nice examples of the hatemail and/or attack comments you have read from the wingnuts, fanatics and boors who don't like their guy being criticized. Clearly Josh thinks that Dean supporters are exceptional and he badly needs to hear from you.

Trust me, there is not one candidate in this race who lacks a whacky/zealous supporter or two-hundred -- you should see the notes we get at Dean Nation! You can check out the rest of Paul's column here -- there is an especially fun item regarding the recent spate of attacks on Dean by Gephardt and others. Enjoy!

Continue reading/discuss The Split Ends ...

This is an interesting (if spartan) website that criticizes Bush from a staunchly conservative perspective. Their strongest critiques are of the neo-Imperialist foreign policy, gross fiscal irresponsibility, and assault on civil liberties by the Bush Administration. They also are not fans of government spending, of course. I wonder if these guys have been to Republicans for Dean yet? Obviously Dean will not be a perfect candidate, but as an alternative to Bush who wears conservatism as a fig leaf for his corporatist agenda, he certainly has to be attractive to these and other like-minded people.

BTW, note that Republicans for Dean has moved to a new MT-based blog, and also do visit ModerateRepublican.net for more yummy conservative goodness.

Continue reading/discuss Conservatives against Bush ...

From the New Republic:

So who does [Clark] help? Well, assuming Dean is still the de facto front-runner, and that the rest of the major candidates, including Clark, are pretty much just vying for the anti-Dean slot in the race, then one possibility is that Dean benefits. That is, the non-Clark candidate (remember, Clark's almost certainly not going to win) who ends up filling the role of non-Dean will almost certainly arrive in that role weaker than he would have been without Clark in the race. (Since Clark sucks up support and money and media attention...)

The other possibility is that Dick Gephardt benefits. As we've already mentioned, Clark undermines part of the case for Kerry and Edwards. As an apparent cultural moderate with impeccable national security credentials, he also partially undermines the case for Joe Lieberman. It's Gephardt whose rationale for running seems most different from Clark's--he's a lifelong insider, whereas Clark will probably claim the outsider mantle. And, among Democrats, he's probably most closely associated with the war, having essentially given George W. Bush the cover he needed on the issue. Geographically, too, Gephardt seems to be most immune to Clark. The one early contest he has to win, Iowa, is the one race Clark is least likely to contest. (New Hampshire, on the other hand, has shown itself to be pretty amenable to unorthodox insurgent-types over the years.)

In the end, though, this too could help Howard Dean. That's because Gephardt seems to be the non-Dean/establishment candidate Dean best matches up against, should the nomination come down to a one-on-one faceoff. Gephardt is exactly the kind of special-interest, inside-the-beltway stiff the Dean campaign has been engineered to beat.

Which, come to think of it, is maybe why Joe Trippi has been the lone major-campaign operative not to seem especially worried about Clark these last few days.

Continue reading/discuss Why isn't Trippi sweating Clark? ...

Think about what we have achieved. Dean Nation alone has collectively raised $20,000 dollars for the campaign, the most of any Dean Team group.

Imagine what we can still achieve. We have had over 430,000 visits to this weblog, currently averaging 15,000 visitors a week. Imagine if everyone reading this post chipped in with only $10, right this instant. Imagine if everyone reading this post decided to send in just $20 a month, every month until November 2004.

We at Dean Nation could collectively raise $3.9 million dollars for Dean alone.

The campaign is seeking to raise $5 million in the next 10 days - and I know that we at Dean Nation can do our part as we have done. This isn't a luxury donation, it's an investment in our future, and the future of our children. It's our way to assert ourselves as We the People, who have been forgotten in the Corporatist takeover of both parties and the country as a whole.

It's our way to TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK. One dollar, one day, one week at a time.

Please join us! Contribute via Dean Nation and lend your voice to our chorus. Make a commitment and stand with us as we roar with a voice so great, that Bush trembles beneath its fury, and resolve.

FEED THE BAT! For it is our turn at the plate...

Continue reading/discuss $5M in 10 days! ...

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:

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?

Continue reading/discuss open thread: the loyalty of the grassroots ...

The Washington Times has an editorial decrying Gephardt's attempt to scare voters on Dean's positions on Medicare:

As a physician who actually spent years delivering services to Medicare patients, Mr. Dean has an informed insider's view of the program. Recently, Mr. Gephardt dredged up some clips from 1995 and asserted that Mr. Dean, who at the time was Vermont governor and chairman of the National Governors Association, supported Republican efforts to reform Medicare and restrain its growth.

The Republican reform plan, as this page noted at the time, would have increased Medicare spending by 54 percent between 1995 ($158 billion) and 2002 ($244 billion). Then-Gov. Dean apparently expressed support for the GOP reform plan; but Democrats, led in part by Mr. Gephardt, relentlessly demagogued the fact that the reformed Medicare program would have spent less over the same period than an unreformed program.
...
As a family physician, Mr. Dean has experienced firsthand how easy it would be to waste tens of thousands of dollars in a fruitless effort during the last days of a terminal patient's life. As Medicare races toward bankruptcy, Mr. Dean's views surely carry more weight than those of a long-standing health-care demagogue.

These are hard questions. When funds are limited, there certainly ought to be a kind of triage for care just as is practiced on a more immediate level in the ER. Dean's positions are at the very least opening these issues for much-needed debate - as long as Democrats like Gephardt resort to scare tactics on Medicare, against principled reformists like Dean or implacable enemies like Bush, they are undercutting the self-interest of the constituents they purport to speak for. If Medicare is to even exist as a viable program in the next few decades, we need more people like Dean willing to discuss its basic assumptions.

Continue reading/discuss principles vs medi-scare ...

In a time when some people are still making up their mind about their position on Bush's war, remember who it was who said the following on February 21, 2003, a month before the war started:

What I want to know is why in the world the Democratic party leadership is supporting the president's unilateral attack on Iraq!

What I want to know is why are Democratic party leaders supporting tax cuts. The question is not how big the tax cut should be, the question should be, can we afford a tax cut at all with the largest deficit in the history of this country.

What I want to know is why our folks are voting for the president's No Child Left Behind bill that leaves every child behind, every teacher behind, every school board behind, and every property tax payer behind.

I'm Howard Dean and I'm here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic party.

(I would have been there in Sacramento if there hadn't been an anti-war march in SF that day.) Sakitume writes:

Whatever you think of Howard Dean, whether you think he should be president or not, he reminded this country that we have a choice, and he did so when President Bush was wildly popular and most Washington Democrats were mum.

Call it the Washington Tea Party. Like the Boston anti-tax revolt, Dean's public act crystallized a rebellion against the established order, the one that quietly suggests it's better not to raise a fuss, because the consequences of ruining a country are less important than the consequences of a ruined political career.

CORRECTION: Dean gave the speech at the winter meeting of the DNC on 2/21. But the California Democratic Party Convention speech in Sacramento, which more people heard about, was on 3/15. The "what I want to know" portion of the Sacramento speech was similar to what he said before the DNC.

Continue reading/discuss Just a reminder ...

And the mic stays on, and on, and on...

Kerry Says Dean Is 'Imploding'

By MICHAEL JANOFSKY, The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 — Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts today sharply criticized one of the other leading Democrats running for president, Howard Dean, asserting that some of his recent pronouncements show that his "bubble's bursting a bit."

Referring to statements by Dr. Dean, the former governor of Vermont, on the Middle East, the Hamas guerrillas and other issues, Mr. Kerry said, "You can't make 15 gaffes a week and be president."

Mr. Kerry's remarks came near the end of an interview on WCBS-TV in New York when the camera had turned away from Mr. Kerry, who was still wearing a microphone.

Mr. Dean's campaign manager, Joe Trippi, seemed mildly amused by the interview. "I guess we're just on his mind a lot," Mr. Trippi said, pointing to another episode, the recent debate in Baltimore, when a microphone picked up Mr. Kerry muttering, "Dean. Dean. Dean. Dean. Dean."

Kerry, heal thyself! Hmm, can you forget that your mic is on twice in a week and still be President? Heck, even Bush learned that lesson the first time -- sheesh. As Jumbo put it on the ZonkBoard: "I think there's a psychological term for Mr. Kerry's affliction--I think it's called 'projection' ..." (Thanks to Joe M for the link!)

Continue reading/discuss he's not a doctor, but he plays one on tv ...

Via Economists for Dean:

"One of the Democratic candidates - who I'm not endorsing, because I'm not allowed to endorse - has as his slogan, 'I want my country back'," Krugman says, referring to the campaigning motto of Howard Dean. "I think that's about right."

Continue reading/discuss Semi-endorsement from Krugman! ...

Hey, I dropped the ball on Dean Nation's Backbone Award for a bit, what with all the family stuff of late, so at the request of many faithful Dean Nationals -- weeeee're baaaaack. Dean Nation has added a sidebar with all the winners on the lower left of the page, and either I, or one of our other terrific bloggers, will do our best to keep the award weekly through next November! So, nominations please? Has anyone shown some Back recently? What did they do that was above and beyond? And, any good nominees for the anti-back Fruitcake? When possible, provide a link with your nominee. Winners -- and losers -- posted by Monday morning.

Continue reading/discuss Backbone Award: The Return ...

This is a strange article, which tries to blame Dean for the fact that reporters focus on the superficial. It pushes its "Dean is a phony" hypothesis but seems to show just the opposite.

Continue reading/discuss Dean in the Nation ...

This is not an "attack post" on Clark. I like Clark in general and think he's a good man. But so far he's done everything to confirm my fear that he's not prepared for the political world.

Writes one Democrat with national political experience:

"I have read the accounts of the Clark interviews and my reaction is despair and anger. Why did my party's best operatives think it would be a good idea to subject their neophyte candidate to the country's savviest reporters for over an hour? Why have my party's elders rallied around a candidate who is so shockingly uninformed about core issues and his own positions? I am not a Dean supporter — but I am angry that our party's leaders have anointed an alternative to him who seems even more ignorant and unprepared — and that this supposed 'anti-war' candidate turns out to have been in favor of both the war resolution and Richard Nixon!! And let's not even talk about the Clintons. Today I am embarrassed to be a Democrat."

Continue reading/discuss The Note on Clark ...

The first gaffe of the Clark campaign...

Dean has been steadfast and consistent in his opposition to Bush and his war. Here, Clark seems to be saying: "I would have voted for it, but I disapprove of the way the President is executing it..." I'm glad we know this now, before serious VP talks were underway. This is going to be a problem for Clark - along with his statement that he voted for Ronald Reagan.

I think Gen. Clark is a good man, and will be a formidable candidate, but here's the perfect foil for Bush and his war, and he comes out saying he would have voted for it. What gives? This is good news for Dean, and should reinforce to all of us the need to help get him nominated and elected. Not only does Clark lack the fire that Dean has, but he's now down one on the issues as well.

An excerpt from today's Boston Globe:

"Retired Army General Wesley K. Clark said yesterday that he probably would have voted for the congressional resolution that authorized President Bush to wage war in Iraq, taking a position on a key campaign issue closer to that of Senator John F. Kerry than Howard Dean's strong antiwar stance.

"On balance, I probably would have voted for it," Clark said. "The simple truth is this: When the president of the United States comes to you and makes the linkages and lays the power of the office on you, and you're in a crisis, the balance of the judgment probably goes to the president of the United States."

A former supreme allied commander of NATO, Clark has long been a vocal critic of the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq, at various times calling it an "elective war" and questioning whether it drew resources away from the war on terror. "There was no imminent threat," he told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday. "There was no reason to do this."

But Clark offered a more nuanced view to reporters yesterday as he discussed his positions on issues from domestic policy to national security aboard a flight from Little Rock, Ark., to Florida for his first campaign stop since his Wednesday launch.


Clark said yesterday that he was "against the war as it emerged" because more could have been done to build international support: "There was no reason to start it when we did."

He added that he also would have sought assurances that the president would consult with Congress again before taking action, and now that troops have been committed, they should be given the resources they need to be successful.

Asked about Dean's criticism of the war, he said, "I think that he's right that, in retrospect, we should never have gone in there."'

... Nice to see the General lauding Dean's foreign policy opinions.

Continue reading/discuss Clark Would Have Voted for Bush's War ...

The Hub is going to be hopping next Tuesday, September 23!

Governor Dean will give a major address -- "Democracy, Freedom & Action" -- at a noontime rally in Copley Square, Boston. Mass for Dean is working overtime, along with the fabulous staff at DFA, to make this rally a huge success.

Governor Dean's speech will lay out "what is at stake in this election" and outline "how Dean’s vision for America will restore political power to the American people."

If you know someone who lives within driving distance of Boston, please pass this information along:

What: Speech on “Democracy, Freedom & Action”
Where: Copley Square, Boston
When: Check-in starts at 11:00am, program begins at 11:45am

Register to attend HERE and download flyers to post HERE (two to a sheet).

We're gonna show a certain US Senator from Massachusetts that Beantown is Deantown!

Continue reading/discuss Beantown is Deantown on 9/23 ...

Hi there, everyone! First time poster Amanda here, posting from Boston and bringing you greetings from Mass for Dean!

So...remember that great Paul Wellstone TV ad (called, appropriately, "Fast-Paced Paul") back when he was first running for the US Senate in 1990? The one where he said he didn't have nearly as much money as his wealthy opponent so he had to talk really fast to fit his pitch into a 30-second spot?

I think about that ad a lot. To say the least, it was a fabulous ad. It may have helped Wellstone win, since it got a lot of attention and put his opponent, Rudy Boschwitz, on the defensive. And I often find myself hoping that the Dean campaign will adopt, to some degree, a similarly cheeky, clever, outside the box style of advertising. They've already adopted a pretty bold strategy with their audacious ad buy in Texas. So here's hoping.

And it seems I'm not the only one who fantasizes about the TV ads that a toughminded Democratic nominee, like Howard Dean, might run against GWB. Rick Perlstein over at the Village Voice has a great piece called "Come Out Fighting" that outlines his most wished for anti-Bush TV ads.

Read the article...and imagine. What's your fantasy Dean TV ad? Any ideas for how the campaign could use humor a la Wellstone to get its message across to the voters? Or how they could use stark imagery and hardhitting/clever messages to attack GWB's record and lies?

Personally, I'd love to see Dean do an homage to Wellstone -- with Dean talking and walking really fast so he can compete with GWB's stinking $200 million warchest. But I'm guessing folks here have all kinds of creative ideas. Share away!

Continue reading/discuss Dreamin' of Dean's TV Ads for the Main Event... ...

Hey folks, please check out the links on the left-hand sidebars, as I've finally gotten around to adding some new organisations. The links with the asterisk * are the new ones. Yea I know, I am a total slacker. Feel free to berate me in the comments.

Continue reading/discuss Long overdue sidebar update ...

Gregg Easterbrook of TNR fames also the sports fiend behind Tuesday Morning Quarterback (TMQ) on ESPN.

But it's not all fun, games, and hanging with the cheer-babes! He's covering his political bases too:

With the Howard Dean bandwagon rumbling toward carrying two, three or perhaps even four states in the 2004 election, everybody wants on board. Time and Newsweek both had Dean on the cover. The Tuesday Morning Quarterback political action committee, TMQ-PAC, just covered its bases by donating the legal maximum to the Dean campaign. (Note: under campaign finance law, the "legal maximum" varies between $2,000 and unlimited, depending on your lawyer. Also, Federal Election Commission documents show that hundreds of Vermont cows have already donated the hard-money maximum to Dean's committee.)

So TMQ is onboard the Dean-Train to the tune of (at least?) $2k. Heh heh. You will be assimilated. Read the rest of his column for his hysterical ice-cream flavor suggestions for other candidates. My favorite is Dick Cheney's...

Continue reading/discuss Easterbrook ponies up ...

Here's how I see it playing it out. Everyone plays nice for a week or so. Clark tries to pull close to Dean's positions on just about everything while presenting himself as more electable. However, rather than draw down Dean's support, Clark draws from Kerry's numbers, and Kerry decides he needs to take out Clark to have any chance of staying in. Kerry's campaign starts to feed the media stories from Clark's many critics in the Pentagon and takes some direct shots at Clark, questioning how such a controversial general could be fit to be commander in chief. Clark responds in kind, and the battle sinks both Clark and Kerry. Dean stands above the fray.

Continue reading/discuss The Clark-Dean-Kerry Chess Game ...

I just clicked over to the DN Team donation page to make my monthly contribution, and I noticed that we've met our goal of $5000 for September. As it stands, we (and that means all of us bloggers and the fantastic people in the DN community) have raised $20,052.93 for Dean for America. On behalf of the DN bloggers, I would like to thank everyone who continues to make their contributions through the DN Team link, and I'd also like to thank you all for your generosity.
I'm going to plead with Aziz to increase the goal and try to raise another couple of thousand before the end of the quarter. I hope that when DFA brings out the bat later this month (as I'm sure they will), that you'll continue to donate via the DN Team link so all of us can continue to demonstrate the power of this community.
I realise some of us are might be getting a bit weary with the never-ending plea for funds, but I've gotta say that now - more than ever - our contributions will show the pundits, the press, and the Beltway insiders that we intend to place Howard Dean at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Now that Gen Clark has entered the race, the establishment has crowned it's new golden boy and they (not neccessarily Clark or his grassroots supporters, but rather the Washington insiders running his campaign) are going to try their best to "stop Dean". We can't let that happen. We've gotta remain focused on our goal and we've gotta buckle down and keep fighting. Our dollars have more impact now than they have thus far, so start thinking about the end of the quarter, because it's only twelve days away. Start scrounging for change in your couches, skip that Starbucks coffee, and clip those coupons this week so we can dig down and give what we can. I'm going to start today by donating $25.01, and then I'll be checking my budget this weekend in order to determine how much more I can give before the September 30 deadline. Join me today if you can, and join me next week because we must.
Thank you again, Dean Nation. You are the most generous community I've had the pleasure of interacting with. Help us make this a September to Remember.

UPDATE (Aziz) : Done! We now have a new goal of $25,000 - and we are 80% of the way there solely because of the vision, teamwork, and corps d'esprit of Dean Nation. Let's continue to lead the charge and show Dean our support!

Can we reach $100,000 by Election Day 2004? I think we can. I know we can!

Continue reading/discuss Thank you, Dean Nation ...

BFA has a new poll linked, fresh from ARG, that has Dean up at 31 in New Hampshire, with Kerry at 21 and everyone else in single digits (including Clark, who is at 2).

The AP story on the event is somewhat misleading, though. It says that Dean's lead has narrowed in comparison to two other recently released polls. What they ignore is that the last ARG poll had Dean at 28 and Kerry at 21. Kerry isn't closing the gap. He's stalled and Dean is still building.

Gephardt is also down slightly in this poll from the one last month.

Given the current numbers, without a major shakeup, Dean and Kerry are the only two candidates on track to win delegates in New Hampshire. Clark may still be able to provide that shakeup, but it is yet to be seen.

Continue reading/discuss New NH Poll - Dean Widens Lead in ARG Poll ...

If Clark gets Lehane on board, a Dean/Clark ticket is almost certainly dead on arrival. Discuss who you'd pick for Dean's veep if the General is not an option. Some ideas: Cynthia McKinney, Gary Hart. others? and why?

Continue reading/discuss open thread: non-Clark Veep? ...

Gabriel points out below that Clark's entry could conceivably demolish Kerry. And several have pointed out that yesterday's pre-announcement leak was timed to undercut Edwards. Clark is well-positioned to take the gloss of of every major candidate - except for Dean. Kos pointed out that the Clark campaign is rejecting the Dean-pioneered campaign model for a more traditional approach - one that also highlights the divisions within the Draft movement:

The Clark plan is probably simple enough -- set themselves up as the anti-Dean. They probably figure Dean will take care of Gephardt (Iowa) and Kerry (NH) all by himself. So they'll give Dean a temporary pass and train their guns on Edwards and Lieberman. (Clark's announcement date was strategically timed to drown out Edwards' effort -- something I previously missed.)

Take those two out, and Clark has a clear path in the SC and OK primaries. Then he and Dean can fight over AZ, DE, MO and NM -- the rest of the states on Feb 2.

After that, it would be a Dean/Clark battle to the bitter end. And with Fabiani and Lehane in the mix, it won't be clean or amicable.

It pains me to say this, but it's not looking like a Dean/Clark or Clark/Dean ticket will be viable.

Also keep an eye out on the competing Draft teams and the role they'll play in the campaign.

There's the classy team of DraftWesleyClark.com, and then there's the DraftClark2004.com team (who should get along really well with Lehane. They're cut from the same cloth). There is no love lost between the two groups.

Clark is building a team with high-powered Clinton guys, seemingly deploying a traditional top-bottom approach that runs counter to the very spirit that fueled the Draft movement.

Clark's challenge is to integrate the Draft movement into his organization despite any resistance his new consultants may exhibit, while also forcing the feuding Draft camps to settle their differences.

The major weakness of Clark's entry positioning is that it is routinely described as "aided by the Clinton/Gore campaign team" - a phrase that suggests Clark is entering as another blank slate candidate, a vehicle for the ambitions of the advisors rather than someone who brings original ideas to the table and stimulates debate. This may be incorrect, and Clark may well prove himself to be the driving force behind his own campaign, but the litmus test will be what happens to the Draft movement.

If the DraftWesleyClark.com (DWC) folks are sidelined, and their ideas of distributed campaigning are brushed aside, then Clark will have failed. The DraftClark2004.com people will probably quickly abandon all grassroots-centric ideas and fall into line, whereas the DWC might find itself feeling betrayed. If that happens we need to make a case to them to join us.

Ultimately, the benefit of Clark is that he embodies the counterargument of the "Dems soft on defense" meme. And his entry is to be lauded for that reason alone. But at this point it doesn't look like the Emperor has any clothes. And if that turns out to be true, we need to extend a hand to the DWC people and make our case, that Dean is still strong on defense without Clark, simply because its a simple case to make that Bush's foreign policy has been harmful to the national interest.

So, it would be great to have Clark be a strong candidate, but we need to be ready in case he isn't.

Continue reading/discuss Clark can't fill Dean's shoes ...

The DNC has launched a new blog, and its witty and well-researched. Welcome them to the blogsphere!

In case any DNC-bloggers are reading this post, I invite them to do a guest-post on Dean Nation. If you guys are interested, email us at the Team Dean address below.

Continue reading/discuss DNC Blog: Kicking Ass ...

Well, the AP is reporting that former minority leader Dick Gephardt is apparently in the hour of great desperation. And thus begins the negative aspect of politics:

Not content to limit his criticism of Dean to campaign speeches, the Missouri congressman has launched a Web site - Deanfacts.com - that detail the former Vermont governor's eight-year-old comments about raising the Social Security retirement age and overhauling the Medicare program as well as his recent remarks about the issues.

...

Dean spokeswoman Tricia Enright called the Web site "the first smear Web site we've seen produced by a major presidential candidate."

Gephardt's cyberspace attack is the latest attack on Dean, who has used the Internet to organize supporters, raise millions and propel himself to the front of the Democratic presidential race.

I don't think this is a very good idea for Gephardt. Yes, he has to do something to distinguish himself and shake up the race, but going negative isn't it. Howard Dean is bringing new people into the process. Many of these people have been disenfranchised by this type of politics. I think it will only work to motivate them to send more money and work harder for Dean.

Continue reading/discuss See Dick. See Dick Attack. Attack, Dick! Attack! ...

It's hard to say, isn't it? First thing, it will probably kill Kerry's campaign. All Kerry has had going for him is his military service, and Clark's experience as NATO commander trumps that.

Overall, it *could* be a good thing, since the presence of Clark will focus new attention on the hideous situation we face in Iraq and the president who took us there.

The Washington Post asks the right questions about Clark, which really are just that--questions:

It is unclear whether Clark has the personal and political skills to mount a serious run for the White House, according to Democrats who know him. He has never run for office and has virtually no experience with domestic policy. Several people who worked with him during the Clinton administration also found him abrasive and controlling, two traits that could hinder him on the campaign trail. Several Democrats who have met with Clark in recent weeks, however, walked away impressed with his ideas and confident he would quickly become a formidable candidate.

Dailykos paints the dismal scenario: Clark hires attack mutt Chris Lehane, who's roaming the streets after being booted out of Kerry's campaign, and thus begins a nasty back and forth which brings down both Clark and Dean. The *really* dismal scenario is that this does so much damage to both men that Gephardt or Lieberman (or Kerry, if he manages to stay in) gets the nomination. Even if Clark manages to get the nomination this way, the conflict could so anger Dean fans that it deprives Clark of a vast and energetic group of people (that's us) who could otherwise help him bring down Bush.

Here's hoping that Clark keeps it clean and leaves Lehane out in the cold, and that Clark's voice joins Dean's in helping the American people understand just what the worst president in the history of the United States is doing to this country.

At this point, Dean is way ahead in terms of national organization, motivated supporters, proven campaign skills, AND demonstration that he has a visionary domestic agenda. We'll see if Clark can overcome the doubts about him and catch up.

Continue reading/discuss What Clark's Announcement Means ...

Brian McGrory of the Boston Globe writes:

Pretend, for a moment, that Kerry was talking in clear English, which is something of a stretch these days, given that he's making Tom Menino sound like Tony Blair.

But what he's doing, if I'm interpreting him correctly, is accusing Dean of not being a man of his word, and a man who doesn't live up to his word, Kerry is essentially saying, is unqualified to be president.

So let's go back to 1996, to Kerry's reelection campaign against then-Governor Bill Weld, specifically to the night Weld met Kerry at the senator's wife's Beacon Hill mansion. They finalized an unprecedented agreement to limit advertising spending to $5 million apiece, and to limit the use of personal funds in the campaign to $500,000 apiece.

Good government types hailed the agreement as a major breakthrough. Kerry and Weld basked in the plaudits of editorialists the nation over. Kerry described the pact as "a model for campaign reform across the country."

But a funny thing happened on the way to Election Day. Kerry didn't just violate the deal, he pulverized it. Running out of money in the waning days of October, Kerry mortgaged and remortgaged the Louisburg Square house, ultimately pouring $1.7 million in personal funds into his campaign. For those of you keeping track at home, that's $1.2 million more than the agreement allowed.

Unless I'm mistaken, Dean isn't exactly talking about tapping personal funds. He's talking about tapping $50 donors. Personally, I've been getting really sick of the Kerry attacks on this point.

If Kerry has a moral objection to small donors, why doesn't he just come out and limit himself to $2000 donors and explain his rationale.

Continue reading/discuss When your hometown press says this about your nasty political ploys...well, it just may be time stop ...

Liberal Oasis has some tough love advice for Dean regarding his words on NAFTA:

Dean blew this big. But it’s fixable, if he’s willing.

On ABC’s This Week on Sunday, he picked a worthless fight with George Stephanopoulos over whether he used to be a “supporter” of NAFTA (Dean’s claim) or a “strong supporter” (George’s characterization).

To make matters worse, the Gephardt campaign did its oppo research, and quickly alerted the media of Dean’s '95 statement (also on This Week) that he was a “very strong supporter” of NAFTA.

(To any skeptics, check the transcript on Nexis. He said it, and it’s in context.)

This particular flub isn’t getting major media attention, but the political press corps (led by The Note) is surely fully aware of it, and is flummoxed, maybe even peeved.
If this is not corrected, he will be open to charges as severe as lying.

Of course, it is far more likely the case that Dean was not actively lying, (that would just be too stupid) but simply had no recollection of his earlier statement.

(There is no Nexis evidence that he ever used the phrase again to describe his position).

But it doesn’t matter.

Furthermore, if he lets this gaffe stand, he won’t be able to make his argument that we need international labor and enviro standards to minimize US job loss, without having others dredge all this up repeatedly.

Dean also said on This Week this past Sunday:

…when I make a mistake, I'm going to own up to it.

This is clearly a mistake. To not own up to it will invite more media skepticism and poison his future coverage on other matters.

The sooner Dean corrects this, the better.

(original emphasis removed, current emphasis mine). The political press corps is not neutral.

Gabriel earlier posted that the media should not be nit-picking and that Bush's own misstatements are actually egregious, deliberate, and harmful to the country compared to Dean's minor mis-step. He's absolutely right. But it's also irrelevant. This is the wrong election cycle to start expecting fair treatment in the media - as nominee, Dean is going to get Gored. This is the pragmatic truth. The campaign must accept this as reality and actively counter it rather than try to "rise above the fray" as Gore did and end up sinking like a stone.

The campaign has been showing dangerous tendencies recently, regarding their attitude towards critique. It's essential that they treat developing media memes with as much seriousness as they do frontal attacks by the other candidates.

UPDATE: I mis-quoted Gabriel. His point was that the feigned outrage over Dean's supposed mis-statements is hypocritical. He wants more nit-picking, of Bush, rather than explicitly decrying nit-picking on Dean. And again, I absolutely agree. But I think that given the media's submissive posture towards Bush, it's unlikely. These are the "facts on the ground".

Continue reading/discuss Dean must clarify NAFTA ...

No, it isn't official yet, but it will be tomorrow. Clark will make his announcement in Little Rock on Wednesday. It's being reported by most sources as "Clark will enter the race" but until he gets up there and actually says so, hold your breath.

Intriguingly, the spin on this from the conservative wingnuts is that Clark is Clinton's proxy against Dean:

Dean is too shrewd a pol to think that he could win in '04 with "hate Bush" as his only claim to office. That's why he is pushing the former NATO commander to run for president. In Dean's mind, Clark would be a perfect balance to him as a #2 on the Dean ticket. But Dean should know where the General's loyalties lie, and they're not with him. Clark is, above all else, a member in good standing of Team Clinton. Which means Dean is toast if Clark can have any say in it. And he will.
...
Clark wants the presidential nomination and the Clinton team -- who never act without clear orders from Billy and Hilly -- are lining up to get it for him, or at least use him to deny it to Dean. According to U.S. News & World Report's "Washington Whispers" by Paul Bedard, "Many of Clark's team in waiting are Clintonistas, like the former president's handyman Bruce Lindsey, scandal spokesman Mark Fabiani, and maybe even ex-Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, who's close to New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton." With a team like that behind him, Clark isn't aiming to play second banana. (Unless Hillary runs in '04, which is pretty unlikely. A Clinton-Clark ticket? I wonder how many ashtrays the general has had tossed at his head?)

As I said a couple of weeks ago, the Clintons are fighting against the Dean candidacy because they recognize that if Dean is nominated -- and goes down like McGovern did -- it will take a decade or more for America to again take the Dems seriously. That would mean Hillary would never make it back to Pennsylvania Avenue. Clark's job is to keep the Dems from following Dean off the McGovernik cliff. But how will he do that, given his positions?
...
Clark won't want to run as anyone's Number Two Boy, far less any likely loser such as Dean. But that's the catch. After gaining credibility in a primary run, Clark would be established as a national political figure in a way he will never be otherwise. Simply to keep his prominence, he might take a #2 slot at the Demo convention, especially if they make a big publicity splash drafting him. And if he is someone's #2, and they lose, it leaves him in competition with Miz Hillary in '08.

it's amazing how it always comes back to Hillary.

Continue reading/discuss Clark to announce tomorrow ...

Yeah, right. If Dean is truly the "desired" Dem nominee, why such a tempest in a teapot? Dean National Jared Medina sent us this great analysis of the K Street flap as it's being reported by FAUX News. Some of you may not watch FAUX, but they have been running a version of this story on constant rotation since Saturday. It's important to note that the biggest piece of "meat" in the story -- that the campaign said Dean's remarks were "off-the-cuff" -- is not being reported by CNN or MSNBC even as a FAUX citation. Hmmm, maybe they don't trust their reporting...I wonder why. As if George Bush or Joh