Restore the Roar--Why Howard Dean Must Run Again

[station agent]

Joe Trippi did a great job leading Howard Dean's 2004 campaign. He recognized the fund raising potential of the internet, a critical discovery that could eventually lead to significant campaign finance reform.

Currently Trippi is backing an underdog for Katherine Harris's seat in the House of Representatives. She is off-the-reservation Democrat named Jan Schneider. This woman simply can not be bought. As she told Steven Colbert on The Colbert Report, she only accepts contributions from the citizens, despite the fact that she has to run at huge financial disadvantages. This is exactly what the Democratic Party should be all about.

Yet, Trippi says that no one can compete with Hillary Clinton.

If anyone proved that established, big money politicians can be competed with, it's Trippi. And a bloated, over-funded, special interest-hugging-Democrat is just as bad as a a bloated, over-funded, special-interest-hugging Republican.

I remember what Howard Dean was talking about in the days before the media whacked him. He was talking about regulation and reform. Real reform. He told Chris Matthews on Hardball that a Dean administration would break up monopolies.

Matthews asked which monopolies.

Dean balked.

Matthews started naming monopolies, starting with the one he works for. "G.E.?" he asked.

Dean told Matthews something to the effect that naming the monopolies he would deregulate in the middle of a campaign would be political suicide.

And that was it! Dean was finished right then.

Within a week the endless repetition of his audio-altered scream was all over the networks and cable.

That scream should be the battle cry of the battered, abused American people.

We need to get Howard Dean out from behind that desk at the DNC and back on the trail. We need an assurance that when the next President walks into the White House, that he or she will ask one of the most obvious question in American history.

A specific question that no one has answered: "Why does a military contractor want to own a television network?"

[babylonsister]

1. It's not going to happen with Dr. Dean chairing the DNC, but...

do you REALLY live in Antarctica? :scared: < - - that's really appropriate if you do! :hi: And welcome to DU!

[Peace Patriot]

3. There are a lot things that we may keep from happening by saying, "it's

not going to happen."

We should be thinking creatively--"outside the box," as they say, in these very unusual and dangerous circumstances. My contribution is this: Gore/Kerry in '08. The Poetic Justice ticket. The two men whom the American people actually elected (Gore, provably; Kerry, by overwhelming inference of the available data, in non-transparent conditions). This is also the only ticket that can beat the Bushite voting machines. People will rally in a very big way to the idea of justice. Add "poetic" to it, and you've really got a winner. My prediction: 20% margin of victory, at least.

Howard Dean is better than either of them on policy, in my view. But I'm setting my view aside, for several reasons. I do like what Gore has been saying about Bush, the war, torture and other critically important constitutional and ethical issues--and the way he is saying it (with great conviction and passion). But that is not the point. The point is to restore DEMOCRACY; to obey and implement the will of the American people. Gore has eight years of experience as V-P--a heartbeat away from the presidency. He won first. He should head the ticket. Kerry has a lot to learn, but I am convinced that he was in fact elected.

Anyway, I think it's a very creative idea. It hits home. It has that "lightbulb" effect. Yes, or course! That's it! That's THE ticket! They should run again--together!

The "shout" scandal burned me to the core. And I would VERY MUCH like to see "poetic justice" on that one, too. If Dean decided to run, I would support him, no question about it. But I do think Gore/Kerry is a better idea, as to restoring order and restoring democracy in this country. It would be a lightning rod. It would immediately re-channel the country's energy in a positive direction. It would immediately rally the nation. It would blow the pre-programmed Diebold/ES&S advantage to Bushites all to hell. And it would lead to the end of rigged elections. Dean would have a harder time of it--a slower coalescing of the country's true majority. I agree with the analysis above that it was his remarks on monopolies that did it. But I think he could overcome that easily by "shouting" AGAIN--literally--and laughing about it. He has a genuineness that could do that. And he is so-o-o-o-o right about monopolies, news and otherwise. Charles Schumer today called for busting up the oil companies! It's an idea whose time has come!

I wouldn't rule out a Dean candidacy with "It's not going to happen." Let's not dampen or squelch interesting ideas with easy put-down's, and consider instead what our strategies should be for overthrowing this fascist junta.

[station agent]

5. The poetic justice ticket

I like that a lot. I want Dean at least to be a big part of the next Democratic administration. I really think it's all about regulation now--campaign finance, lobbying reform, media consolidation, oil cartels, so on. Gore, Feingold and Dean have to run things for a long time if anything's getting fixed.

[station agent]

7. Just a joke

The Antarctica business is just shtick for my blog. Check it out.

[JeffR]

2. Welcome to DU, station agent

But I respectfully disagree. The Democratic Party needs Dr. Dean precisely where he is. He is fulfilling his mandate better than anyone could have hoped, and the work he is doing now is one of the few things keeping the party off life-support.

[station agent]

6. I do think he's doing an excellent job

I just know what he means for ending American fascism.

[acmejack]

4. The Network was a bonus, I believe.

The prize was RCA Consumer electronics, which was then bundled with GE consumer electronics and traded to Thomson CE of France for their Medical Electronics UNit, and the rest, as they say, is history. At the same time the Military Contractor absorbed it's biggest competing Military Contractor in several segments (see RCA Services for details).

Edited for coherency

[yurbud]

8. great for the last line alone

[madfloridian]

9. Here's the transcript....from December 2003

"Where we're at right now in this cycle is that we need somebody to mitigate the power of corporations. Corporations are not bad things. They're neither good nor bad. But the problem is, they're a bad influence on society if they get too much power, because their basic interest is the bottom line. And they forget that human being have-- human beings have souls. We're not meant to be simply cogs in a machine.

And right now, we're at that cycle where we are cogs in a machine. When I first went to Iowa, the lesson I learned from about 20 ordinary people was, we don't trust our employers anymore because they don't value us, because they'll move our jobs anyplace, including offshore.

MATTHEWS: How do we reregulate America? Is that what you want to do, put-- enforce more public policy?

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: I want accountability. What I really want is accountability. I don't think it's OK for ordinary people to invest in mutual funds and then find out that you've been cheated in the stock market.

I don't think it's OK for Enron to steal ordinary working people's pensions. If the CEOs goes broke, so be it. They took a lot of risks. They made a lot of money. There are a lot of ordinary people who have nothing to retire on because of what happened at Enron. And its Tyco and its Global Crossing, and again and again. And this administration is permitting it and winking at it. And I've had enough of that."

Then Matthews leads in to the media, and how Dean would regulate it. The interview was quite good, but it marked a turning point in media coverage. Yes, he would call for some re-regulation of media ownership.

http://www.crocuta.net/Dean/Transcript_of_Hardball_Interview_Dec1_2003.htm

[station agent]

10. Thanks for that transcript

Good research. This is a crucial moment in my opinion.