Howard Dean said it
from his electrifying speech at the California Democratic Convention, which we blogged about here at the time, when it was all so new:
Read these words and ponder their prophetic power. What is today's reality? A nation divided as it was before. A sea of red states, written off. The same partisan approach, relying on GOTV to eke out a bare-majority margin rather than a unifying message that transcends the false dichotomy of red and blue, left and right.
Howard Dean said it.
We’ve had two fine people. United States Senators, Senator Edwards and Senator Kerry, who’ve done a lot for our country and they have served us honorably and if they win the nomination either one of them I am going to support them and do every thing I can to help them win the White House. But, I don’t think we can win The White House if we vote for the President’s unilateral attack on Iraq in Washington and then come to California and say we are against the war. And I don’t think we can win The White House if we support the President’s “No School Board Left Standing Bill” and then come to California and tell every body that we are going to do all kinds of things for education. And I don’t think we can win the White House if we skip the most important abortion vote in the last year and then come to California and talk about pro-choice.
I am not surprised that only 15% of people between the ages of 18 and 25 vote because we have not giving them a reason to vote and we are going to give them a reason to vote now.
[...]
Senator Kerry was reported to have said that he could win without the South. I do not want to win without the South. I want to go to the South and I’m going to say to white guys that drive pick up trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back of their car.
[...]
I want my country back. We want our country back. I am tired of being divided. I don’t want to listen to the fundamentalist preachers anymore. I want America to look like America. Where we are all included, hand in hand, walking down. We have dream. We can only reach the dream if we are all together – black and white, gay and straight, man and woman. America.
Read these words and ponder their prophetic power. What is today's reality? A nation divided as it was before. A sea of red states, written off. The same partisan approach, relying on GOTV to eke out a bare-majority margin rather than a unifying message that transcends the false dichotomy of red and blue, left and right.
Howard Dean said it.
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