A thread in support of Dr. Howard Dean

[MannyGoldstein]

Last edited Wed Oct 22, 2014, 05:40 PM - Edit history (2)

I don't always agree with Dr. Dean, and in particular I'm weirded out by his recent cozying to the First Couple of Wall Street - perhaps he smacked his head hard on the bus's undercarriage, not much clearance down there.

In any case, Dr. Dean was the only DNC Chair in the past several decades to win back both houses of Congress, and had he not been launched from that post (in a most humiliating, unwarranted, and ungrateful fashion) I think that things would be looking much brighter for the looming elections, despite his likely avoidance of fundraising emails yammering about doggie halloween costumes.

I wish you were leading us, Dr. Dean!

(And please read the following thread: Pushing Dean Out And Ending 50 State Strategy Was A BIG Mistake For Democrats.)

[BuelahWitch]

1. Kansas Dems delivered me a ballot in 2006 & 2008

And then came to pick it up. This was nice because I was going to work polls in another district both elections. Maybe not a big deal, but it made me feel they were working to be sure every Democrat voted, even in red Kansas.

[bigwillq]

2. K and R

[onecent]

3. I also wish he were leading us.

[TheMastersNemesis]

4. Agree. My Thread Addresses The Mistake Ending 50 State Strategy.

With Dean we might no have lost in 2010 and I believe like you we would be in better shape now with him.

[grasswire]

5. A kick for Dr. Dean.

I would vote for him, himself!

[hifiguy]

6. Kick and rec.

[calimary]

7. I love the Good Doctor!

After Kerry caved and refused to fight what very likely was another stolen election in 2004 (thank you, kenneth blackwell - the male version of katherine harris - GOD! Do ANYTHING to keep the GOP out of the Secretary-of-State job in EVERY state!!!!!!), I remember taking my "Kerry/Edwards" bumper sticker out of the back window of my car, and replacing it with the "Dean for America" sticker I'd kept even after he wasn't the nominee. And as I did so, I mumbled "I was right the FIRST time."

I STILL love Howard Dean. His "50-State Strategy" was a clear WINNER. And we should have stuck with it as though it was laminated onto every item of clothing we own. He had TWO winning seasons in 2006 and 2008. Then dear darling Debbie took over and sucked it all back in within the damn Beltway, and the teabagger era that began with the 2010 debacle - was on HER watch. HOWARD DEAN was the key. And HOWARD DEAN had the right idea.

I haven't recounted this story in awhile - but back in 2005, the DNC held these "listening events" across the country. They were considering a new DNC Chairperson and wanted our input. Well, actually, they really didn't because they kept getting input from us, the great unwashed, that was severely counter to what they wanted and were expecting to hear. We weren't telling them what they wanted or expected to hear. And we would NOT let up OR compromise. They came to L.A. and held the SoCal event downtown in kind of an old funky area. Many of us came. I remember parking four blocks away because parking around there was for shit - either exorbitantly expensive or non-existent. By the time I got there the event had begun and I was part of a standing-room-only crowd, standing along the wall on one of the aisles - and THAT area was crowded too - we were hip-to-hip. There was no place left to sit. Hundreds and hundreds of people, and those who couldn't find room to stand along the wall had to spill out into the lobby outside the big meeting room. People who had signed up to speak to the board members were given two minutes each, and NOBODY had enough time. And there was probably another hundred people who wanted to speak who couldn't, because time ran out. And time ran out AFTER the board decided to extend the event for an additional hour.

There was a huge crowd of us. And we ALL wanted Howard Dean as chair. I think there were maybe FOUR people out of all those hundreds there who spoke in favor of tim roemer or some such milquetoast board-designated favorite. The VAST majority of us were NOT having it! It was really unmistakable. No way to spin it. No way to fudge the numbers. There were too many of us there and we ALL wanted Howard Dean. The board was a bit nonplussed. They weren't happy with this. And they did let it be known that this was what they were getting pelted with, at event after event, meeting after meeting, wherever they went, all around the country. WE ALL WANTED HOWARD DEAN. The vote was so lopsided as to be comical. HUNDREDS of votes for Howard Dean versus maybe six for somebody else - and not all of those six went to tim roemer, either. It was a rout. And I guess because they were just so overwhelmed by Howard Dean advocates from coast-to-coast, they finally caved, and the Good Doctor was named DNC Chair.

But you could tell, the board members up on that stage were not too happy. They were uncomfortable hearing again and again from speaker after speaker how we would NOT have anyone else but Howard Dean. This was definitely NOT what they wanted. They wanted another quisling or flaccid release for chair, somebody who'd cave and didn't have any other plans or alternative approaches to building the party and winning more votes AND voters.

It was kinda fun to see! You could see a few of the board members frowning, growing visibly impatient, fidgeting in their chairs, and so forth. They weren't liking this. But they'd committed to it and asked us for our input and MAN-OH-MAN did we deliver it. And for two consecutive election cycles - we proved how spot-on we were. Well, three, counting 2010. Because when Howard Dean was NOT there and NOT able to direct the strategy and lead, it was proven yet again that HE had the right idea and that HIS approach was the correct approach.

I STILL love "Hollerin' Howard"!

[PassingFair]

30. +10000

Thanks for the memories...

It was the same here in Detroit.

Mark Brewer, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party and Chair of the Association of State Democratic Chairs insisted
on putting the spot up for a party-wide vote. Brewer also upheld the Democratic party rules when HRC tried to subvert them
here and in Florida.

I wrote my party officials and attended every meeting.

The party here ran Mark out on a rail last cycle, and I have stopped attending meetings entirely.

We can probably look for more shenanigans from our Michigan DLC leadership in the next POTUS election.

[hedda_foil]

54. Same here in Chicago.

95% insisted on Dean!

[Mister Nightowl]

8. 50-state strategy in '08, baby!

[roguevalley]

9. he's my hero

[Paper Roses]

10. Would love to see him on the national stage again.

All the furor about the 'scream' was foolish. He has a great mind and is willing to fight for us.

[adirondacker]

11. Coming from Vermont, Heees Tooooo Faaaar Leffffffft.

And Please, think of the kittens first!

[Chathamization]

12. Democracy for America is still working on it. Have you signed up with them? They’re a decent network

of progressive organizers and support good candidates (this is the group that came out of Dean’s presidential run, for those who don’t know).

[Tommy_Carcetti]

13. He botched the way the party responded to Florida's primary issue in 2008.

I lost a lot of respect for him in that process. Sorry.

[PassingFair]

32. He upheld party rules.

If you call that "botching" something.

I'm from Michigan, so I was affected too.

I felt that the rules needed to be followed at the time, and I still do.

If he hadn't, we'd probably be holding primaries NOW.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

70. He could have easily sanction state party officials without stripping the delegate vote...

....effectively rendering my vote meaningless and disenfranchising me.

He botched the situation horribly. My opinion on him has been soured since.

[PassingFair]

73. Your state, and mine...

Should have waited their turn. The candidates originally agreed, with all but one pledging not to run in the rogue states. When Clinton saw that she needed those votes she fought to have them counted. I've soured on HER since.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

77. I personally had nothing to do with changing the date. Yet it was my vote that was disenfranchised..

....as well as the votes of millions of other good Democrats.

I'm sorry that your fandom for Dean has blinded you so much at the expense of even your own vote.

He seriously mismanaged the situation.

[PassingFair]

80. Perhaps Florida and Michigan will follow the schedule this time!

So your state party won't disenfranchise you again.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

81. Perhaps the DNC will act more wisely than it did in 2008....

....and not punish innocent voters.

Seriously, look away from the Dean avatar for a moment and listen to yourself.

[PassingFair]

82. The voters in Michigan wanted to stay with the original primary

...schedule. I remember it distinctly. Not through some haze. And I resent your personal attacks in this thread.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

83. So why did the DNC under Dean choose to punish them and Florida's Democrats as well?

It made no sense.

I don't dislike Howard Dean, mind you, but I was greatly disappointed in his lack of leadership on this matter.

[PassingFair]

84. I did not feel "punished"

I felt very angry that state party leadership went against the rank and file and decided to engage in a game of chicken with the DNC and lost.
We obviously have two different viewpoints on this, but I have managed to be courteous to you.

[zeemike]

14. Perhaps they canned him because he did not preform the job they wanted.

Which was divided government...be realistic, you can raise more money from fear than winning.
And the GOP does there part in providing the fear.

[WillyT]

15. K & R !!!

[pscot]

16. K&R

[polichick]

17. Smacking his head on the bus could explain it - I've been wondering why he bothers...

with Third Way assholes.

[Helen Borg]

18. Shoulda been President Howard Dean :)

[BuelahWitch]

21. Damn straight! n/t

[bigwillq]

23. I was very happy to vote for him

in the primary. Things didn't work out the way I had hoped, but at least he fought the good fight.

[Helen Borg]

35. The Dean Scream hitmen killed him, basically...

The establishment did not like him...

[bigwillq]

37. I will agree with that (nt)

[RufusTFirefly]

40. The Dean Scream (sic) was a media fabrication

The scream scene was shown an estimated 633 times by cable and broadcast news networks in just four days following the incident, a number that does not include talk shows and local news broadcasts. However, those who were in the actual audience that day insist that they were not aware of the infamous "scream" until they returned to their hotel rooms and saw it on TV.

633 times.

I'll never completely get over that. Just as I'll never forget how former NSA head Michael Hayden kept repeatedly insisting that the phrase "probable cause" was not in the Fourth Amendment. Those two incidents provide way-too-vivid examples of how the corporate media can take something trivial and turn it into a full-blown scandal and take something truly alarming and make it almost completely disappear.

[mrdmk]

71. A media fabrication is correct. The media loved mr bush jr and his FCC appointments at the time

Dr. Dean was no friend to the media on the issues of how big the media needed to be and stated so. The media wanted consolidation by buying the competition from mr bush jr and got it.

Dr. Dean was also very anti-war, that is another can of worms...

[ballyhoo]

28. Yep. Would have been a totally different situation.

[democrank]

19. There are very few politicians I admire

but Howard Dean is one of them.

[geardaddy]

20. K and R

[Tommymac]

22. A Scream and Rec for Dr. Dean - best DNC chair in a quarter century.

would have made a great Pres. if the MSM and DLC hacks hadn't sandbagged him in 2004. He would have beat Bush.

[KittyWampus]

24. So you use a thread supposedly to support Dean to trash the Clintons? How divisive.

[bettyellen]

25. I do believe trashing Hillary was the whole point here, yup..

but you know- one must rephrase the hatred for Hil every thread or else you'd just be spamming GD, right?

[MannyGoldstein]

26. I'm guessing that you don't believe that Bill Clinton

did more to increase the wealth of Wall Street bankers than any other person in the past 80 or so years?

[ballyhoo]

31. Not a shred of doubt. And Hillary will have a pouch in the

Koch Brothers suit pockets.

[MannyGoldstein]

47. I lovelovelove the image in your sig

May I borrow it?

[ballyhoo]

49. Sure, Manny, but keep up your honest posts

that not everyone understands, so that I know you are still driving on the right side of the road. My buddy Niccolò Machiavelli would have loved you.

[PassingFair]

34. I don't see any mention of the Clintons.... nt

[MADem]

64. Dean supports Hillary Clinton for POTUS. Enthusiastically.

So the little divisive game to stir the pot won't work too well.

Same threads, different day. After a while, no one pays attention, if it's "The sky is falling" or "The wolf is coming."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/19/politics/howard-dean-hillary-clinton-2016/


Howard Dean: I hope Hillary Clinton becomes president

"I am a huge Hillary Clinton fan," Dean told CNN in an interview. "I just am. Not because I hope to get a job. I know her; I've known her for a long time. I think she has an enormous mental capacity to do analysis and let the chips fall where they may."
"If she is president, which I hope she is, I think she is going to be a terrific president," added Dean, who stopped into Clinton's book signing event in the Hamptons last weekend and posed for a picture with the former secretary of state.

[spanone]

27. First Couple of Wall Street?

[madfloridian]

29. They announced the new chair when Dean was in Samoa, unaware of what was happening.

He was there on the last leg of his promise to visit every state and territory during his time as chair.

Naming names. The ones who went behind Dean's back when he was in Samoa.

On January 7, White House political director Patrick Gaspard, a former top labor organizer from New York, called DNC executive director Tom McMahon. Gaspard told McMahon that Obama planned to name Virginia governor Tim Kaine as his new DNC chair and wanted to make the announcement at the DNC the following day. Gaspard asked if Dean would be around. Dean's planning to be in American Samoa, the last U.S. territory he'd yet to visit as DNC chair, McMahon responded. (He'd logged 741,000 miles on the job.) Should he postpone his trip?

If he's already planning the trip, don't tell him to cancel, Gaspard replied. It would be better, in other words, if Dean wasn't there. Administration officials didn't want Obama to face any questions at the press conference about why Dean hadn't received a plum position in the White House. One snub led to another.

Gaspard, ironically, worked on Dean's campaign in 2004, but now served a higher office. "The decision was made by Rahm and Plouffe and (deputy chief of staff) Jim Messina", said the senior transition member. "I was specifically told by a senior administration official, 'It comes from those three guys. They specifically want to do this to Dean.'"

Even the new Camelot wasn't above a little revenge.

It was an ugly rude thing to do.

[Docross]

33. My HERO!

In those dark days with Ashcroft telling us we'd better not 'dare' to be against this war or we would be called un-
American, traitors! And there was this bit of being a little careful on the internet, no kidding.

And then HOWARD DEAN stood up and said "This war is bullshit!"...or in any other words.
He gave us a voice. They had to get rid of him. First one to really use the internet, and want small
donations from the average American... looking for health reform. Wanted to bull-doze Abu Gharaib.
OH yeah.. they had to stop him. Tweaked the speech he gave where he was doing a 'come to arms' cry
and cut out the crowd sounds, which were WAY louder. Disgusting what the media did with it.

But ...he's still around, doing what he can. Always my inspiration.

[Warren DeMontague]

36. K&R

Agreed.

[SoapBox]

38. K & R

[RufusTFirefly]

39. I'd really love to support him, Manny, but he's just too darned angry!

[barbtries]

41. the 50 state strategy

should have been for always.

[Recursion]

44. Why do people keep saying it stopped?

The DNC still funds all state parties, doesn't it?

[MADem]

65. Because it enables a false narrative. nt

[Recursion]

66. How so? (nt)

[MADem]

69. By suggesting that there is no Fifty State strategy the narrative becomes "The mean old PTB are

PREVENTING Democrats from WINNING! Waaah! They have no plan!!!! Waaah, waaah~! They aren't helping viable candidates! They're EEEEEVIL!" All they have to do is go to the Party website, but it's easier to complain and be divisive and create fake internet fights that mean nothing.


http://www.democrats.org/about/fifty_state_strategy

http://asdc.democrats.org/

[Iwillnevergiveup]

42. Howard Dean

inspired me to get into politics like never before. I cherish the poster I have of him which he autographed when he came to L.A. I recall the meet-ups and letter-writing to people in swing states - and the night Al Gore endorsed him for President! Those were the days.

[genwah]

43. Funny you should mention Dr. Dean; his brother called me yesterday.

Unfortunately, I was at a customer site, so I couldn't pick up. But he left a nice thank you voice mail.

[MannyGoldstein]

45. Are you a zombie slayer,

and he was thanking you for returning Zombie Reagan to his grave?

[genwah]

50. No, he was calling with a personal thank you for my work at the DFA Dialer virtual phone bank.

http://act.democracyforamerica.com/survey/gotv2014/

I know that DU isn't particularly interested in the upcoming election because 2016 is so important, and there are cute animal videos to promote. I don't stop here often, just when I am a little lackadaisical. I saw this post and just decided to log in so that I could post a name drop.

Bye now.

P.S. Yes, it was really him, I'd met him at a DFA Training camp years ago, same voice. Nice guy, listens to you and one of the things I suggested wound up as a part of the training camp curricula. Don't know if it's still a section in the training camp, I hope it was merged into whatever they're calling the "Care and Feeding of Volunteers" section.

P.P.S. The "Care and Feeding of Volunteers" is my way of thinking about it, to tell you the truth, I have no idea if DFA ever used that expression.

P.P.P.S. I cannot promote the DFA Campaign Academy enough. I walked my first precinct in 1974, been active ever since, missed way too many elections, but I've learned a lot along the way. However, the Campaign Academy taught me stuff and re-taught me stuff that old, hard line organizers gave me, updated with computers and stuff.

Wherever you are, in the reddest area of your state, where I took the training, request a training! Get local sponsors, or not. If you don't have the money, I'll organize to get you some. These folks will teach you stuff I sweat blood to learn the hard way.And they're playing the Long Game.

Really. http://www.democracyforamerica.com/trainings/campaign_academies











g

[catchnrelease]

46. K & R

A for Howard Dean.

[840high]

48. k/r for Dean.

[MontyPow]

51. Here's a fifty state strategy:

Run Democrats in all national elections in all fifty states. That would be Democrats, not politicians who find the D a convenient shiny object that many democratically leaning voters are so easily distracted by, because, you know, RED STATE!

[brooklynite]

60. ...and when the "Real" Democrats" lose in Idaho, that's okay, right?

[MADem]

68. This thread is more about division than teamwork.

It's unfortunate but it's also expected. I'm more concerned, like I suspect you are, with GOTVing for some of those "real Democrats" -- the ones who got off their asses, made it through the primary process, and will be on the ballot THIS November.

[MontyPow]

76. Since it's never tried we'll never know. However the fake Democrat will support Republican policy.

Or don't you remember Lieberman, and Lincoln, Landrieu, and GrAssly.

[ChiciB1]

52. Just Had To Give This A Kick...

Unfortunately he's had to tamp down some, but by and large he's a good one!

[COLGATE4]

53. K&R. Thanks, Manny. nt

[juajen]

55. Yep, I miss him too.

[cascadiance]

56. Support both Howard and his brother Jim Dean and his DFA organization too...

Both of them have their heads on their shoulders right.... I still think that "screaming" BS from Iowa was an orchestrated PR BS propaganda issue to force Howard out of the race. I have heard from people who were at that rally that feel the same way too.

Vermont produces a lot of decent people and leaders like the Deans, Bernie Sanders, and Patrick Leahy (who I wanted to run for president when he took principled stances against the Telecomm bill, and its "Communications Decency Act", that Clinton shouldn't have signed in to law for many different reasons).

[Enthusiast]

57. I'm with you, Manny. K&R

[DinahMoeHum]

58. Kickety kick-kick. . .kick kick

[cordelia]

59. Kick

[fadedrose]

61. I like him too

Tho I'm disappointed in his presidential preference . .

[woo me with science]

62. K&R

Thank you.

[RiffRandell]

63. I gave him $100 back in 2004 to kick it off

as well as his campaign; he was my first choice. It was a fantastic plan.

He was on MSNBC last Friday discussing Ebola.

I wish he had been part of our current administration.

[libodem]

67. I raise my glass

Clink! (this should be wine)

[blue neen]

72. I love Howard Dean.

I wish there was a sincere thread to thank him for everything that he's done.

The fifty state strategy did work, but you were the very first one to complain about any "Blue Dog" who was elected. They didn't match your purity standards.

So, for you to make a big show about thanking Dr. Dean, complaining all the while about some of the people he helped to elect---well that's about as hypocritical as it gets.

Now, thankfully, I can trash thread.

[raging moderate]

74. Thank you, Dr. Dean, for all that you have done.

Thank you, Dr. Dean, for continuing to defend the Constitution of the United States of America, and for demonstrating unwavering grace under fire.

[rhett o rick]

75. Howard Dean didn't fit with the conservative Pres Obama administration. nm

[Babel_17]

78. I agree that we aren't just a regional party

I agree that we aren't just a regional party. Dean has it right in that our fight has to be expressed as being for everyone.

[elleng]

79. Yes