Reply #3: Thanks for posting that. [View All]

[PA Mamma]

I actually wrote this in response to an earlier thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1732378
but this will do...

I read some comments from an article written about this that made his comments seem slightly different.
But I should know better to try and hear it from the horses mouth, and to always consider the source.
Now you should now that I don’t know much about Dean, my wake up call came sometime in October 2004, (boy was I in La-La-Land.) So it was nice to finally hear him talk. So take this a view from fresh eyes, unbiased.
Anyway, all I every saw was the “Scream” which I later learned was fabricated. I liked the Blue Chambray work shirt, and the strong way that he looked. I read his foreword in George LaKoff’s book and thought cool. I knew he was a Senator from Vermont (with a good but really not so Progressive record) who set the Grassroots on fire and so of course he was shut out by the party. That you poor Deaniacs “didn’t even have enough skin left to graph” as someone once told me.

So you Dean supporters should know the sting of being shunned by your party better than anyone. And I think that what’s most upsetting, not having your Rights defended in a very clear and plain way, Strongly !

I read, Going Nowhere - The DLC Sputters to a Halt:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050321&s=berman
And Now He Has the Power:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050307&s=nichols
In the Nation and get all excited.

So imagine my freaking surprise when Bob Casey Jr. is anointed to run for U.S. Senate in PA, in 2006 by the Freaking Party Elite in some back room deal !

And then to have Dean pop up using “their” language and thus Shooting himself in the foot. It really freaked me out.

Look, I got no problem with a politician who is personally opposed to abortion, but also realizes that Women must control their reproductive destinies. And that ain’t Casey.
So I start checking this Casey guy out, HUGE MOVE TO THE RIGHT !

But what really got me was someone saying that Dean said:
"We are going to embrace pro-life Democrats because pro-life Democrats care about kids after they're born, not just before they're born," Dean said recently in Mississippi as he tried to rekindle Democratic fires in the conservative South.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=108&topic_id=120177&mesg_id=120177

And then this:
"Somebody's position on choice can't be a litmus test," Dean said yesterday. "I'm as pro-choice as they come, Bob Casey has been a tremendous friend of working people."

Some abortion-rights supporters in the party have protested the move to anoint Casey, but Dean said that the "progressive community" would quickly realize that Casey has the right positions on health care and other important issues and is a better choice than Santorum.

"It's unlikely, for example, that Bob Casey in the Senate would support these extreme nominees the President has for the courts," Dean said. "It's a qualitative improvement for the community that believes in a woman's right to choose."

more: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pe...

So I think the problem is with the Party Elite not Dean, and newspaper articles misrepresenting his words? Maybe.

And I think he’s on the right track. Hell, I would love to talk to that 27%, but you don’t crap on us to do it.

Brilliant the Tom Delay thing.

But there were a few things that I was not comfortable with in that Speech:

We do not Move to the Right. We Do not Use their Frames or Language.
We activate our base. We do this by loudly and proudly defending their rights.
We do not demonize abortion, and say how tragic and horrible it is.
We point out the TRUTH and say we can work together to make them happen less.
We need to respect those who might not morally approve of abortion personally, but educate them of the facts.

Seeing that video made me feel a little better, but I still feel like there is something fishy going on.

By the way, How was Dean on the War? And how about that perfect NRA rating ( which I feel is something that Dems should be focusing a lot more on instead of the “A” word, when it comes to the South, sometimes I suspect that there’s a lot of talk about the “unborn” but they’re voting from the NRA pamphlet. ) Where’s the reframing on that? But I digress.

Thank for any replies in advance.