E. J. Dionne: "The House that Dean Built"

[madfloridian]

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=17315

SNIP..."WASHINGTON -- Howard Dean says out loud what other politicians might think but never, ever put on the record.
And so, as Democrats prepare for their convention next week, Dean is unambiguous in declaring that despite all the praise he has received for starting a movement and changing the Democratic Party, there is one thing he'd like even better. And he's refreshingly frank about his ambition.

"Barry Goldwater said 'I'd rather be right than president,"' Dean said jovially during an interview over the weekend. "Barry Goldwater didn't know what he was talking about. I'd still rather be president."

"None of this is sour grapes. On the contrary, Dean loyally heaps praise on John Kerry and even entered the lion's den by debating Ralph Nader earlier this month."

SNIP..."Dean is also amused that given his moderate record as a governor, he was somehow seen as a radical. "I've balanced budgets, I've supported the death penalty in some instances, I got an A from the NRA -- and I'm the most left-wing Democrat?" Dean laughs. The labeling, he says, is a mark of how the nation's political discussion has been pulled to the right. "What passes now for 'moderate,"' he says, "used to be called 'conservative."

[mandyky]

1. Thank YOU, EJ

and madfloridian!

[madfloridian]

9. You're welcome, and this part I just noticed.

I can just hear him saying "nice try."

SNIP..."Yet if Dean is still outspoken, there are certain questions he won't answer because he doesn't want the press to discern a millimeter of difference between himself and the man who will accept the Democratic nomination in Boston next week. Ask Dean four or five different ways how Kerry should deal with the Iraq issue in the campaign, and the former Vermont governor demurs every time. "Nice try," he says on a last, rather convoluted attempt. His advice to Kerry is private, Dean says, and it will stay that way."

[mandyky]

2. I love the final paragraph!

So next week's convention will belong to John Kerry and John Edwards. But it will be held in the political house largely built by Howard Dean.

[Cha]

3. EJ Dionne has some very nice things to say about

our favorite candidate, madfloridian.

"His rivals for the Democratic nomination roundly denounced him when he said last December that "the capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America safer." Yet seven months later, polls suggest that a majority of Americans now doubt that the war in Iraq made the country safer. In politics, timing is everything.

I especially like the above..


Everyone has their way in this election to help us win and Dean has been consistently valuble.

We need them all.

[madfloridian]

11. That statement took courage, and he got hit hard.

I am glad he said it though. And I am glad he never apologized.

[w13rd0]

4. Yeah, it's pretty funny.

But then again, look at who was calling him a wild-eyed librul...the corpowhores, and their allies (in both parties). Sal good. I too am hoping that given the choices, Kerry or Bush, that we swear in a President Kerry in 2005. And I'm ok with that... ;)

[depakid]

5. A fair piece on Dean

any surprise that it wasn't published in the Washington Post?

[Cha]

7. Way too hot for the washedoutpost...they're too

busy spreading more bushlies.

[Pastiche423]

6. "I'd still rather be president."

Me too, Gov Dean. Me too.

[madfloridian]

12. Me, too.

I know just what you mean.

[madfloridian]

8. It did make the WP with another name. "What Dean Did"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63064-2004Jul19.html

I like the other title better.

[rumguy]

10. great, great piece

It's Dean's house, the rest of us just live in it.

[Larkspur]

13. This is an excellent article

Without Dean's courage, Kerry would never have opted out of FEC matching funds and he would have be drowning in the polls because of Bush's financial advantage sponsoring a deluge of anti-Kerry ads.

Without Dean's bashing Bush and the Bush-lite Dems, Democratic rank and file would be demoralized against a well funded Repuke machine. Dean gave Democrats hope and the courage to battle the fascists supporting Bush and many in the Dem leadership circles. Kerry may be benefiting from progressive unity at this point, but he'll be in hell, should he be elected Prez, when he goes against progressives in favor of the corporate sponsors of his campaign.

[NYCGirl]

14. Without Dean's courage,

Lieberman might very well be the Democratic candidate!
;-)

[Larkspur]

15. This thread needs to come to the top again

:kick:

[TeacherCreature]

16. Gee, where are the usual suspects?

Not enough oportunity for Dean bashing I guess.

[DFLforever]

17. Lest we Democrats forget :

"Above all, Dean's rise in 2003 was a symptom of the Democratic rank and file's intense desire to turn themselves into a fighting force. The higher Dean went in the polls, the sharper his rivals became in their criticisms of Bush. "I don't mind that people took the message," Dean says. "I really think that was good for the Democratic Party, and that it is essential to beating George Bush."