Why Dean's confederate flag comment was exactly the right thing to say

[Northwind]

Outside the context of the other threads and debates about it.

We'll ignore the fact, for the moment, that he has been saying the same line regarding guys driving pickup trucks with a confederate flag sticker in the window in his standard stump speech for several months, and instead focus on the moment.

First and most obvious, the sentiment expressed by his statement - which is basically "get people who have been voting republican for a ling time to vote democratic" - can only be a good thing. For those who don;t quite grasp how elections work, if Dean gets more voted, he wins the election (BBV and other voting booth fraud notwithstanding). Therefore, getting a bunch of people that might normally vote republican to vote democratic is a Good Thing, end of story.

Beyond that, however, is the issue of precisely how he expressed this sentiment. <any people have rather foolishly stated that while it is good to get those votes, he should have phrased himself differently. Others are simply closed minded haters and will not hear anything other than condemnation of what he said.

Consider this, however.

What have all of you been talking about for the past 3 days? Dean. What have the other dem candidates been issuing statements about for the past 3 days. Dean. How many threads were started about it? So many that the mods stepped in and created "official" threads for it, which, if I recall properly, ended up being 3 very large threads.

Dean has all of you talking about him. His detractors are so thoroughly consumed by this that they have ceased talking about their own favored candidates. And speaking of them, all of the other candidates stopped talking about their own campaigns in order to address something Dean said. Again. Dean is provocative, yes. Very much on purpose. And it is working. At this stage of the campaign, the most important thing is to have people talking about you. If your name is the one on everyone's lips, you ARE the front-runner, period. Dean has all the attention. All the other guys do is react to him. All of the other candidates followers do nothing but react to him.

Dean's statements make you sit up and pay attention despite yourselves. What he said was precisely the right thing to say.

As Kerry so eloquently put it for us, "Dean Dean Dean Dean Dean."

[LuminousX]

1. There is something to be said for this

but yet another thread on this subject?

[Forkboy]

2. please please please

no more :argh:

[w13rd0]

5. Ah, but MSNBC is running it again...

...we need to hold the news orgs feet to the fire and make sure they air Dean's COMPLETE sentence there, about "they don't have health care or a good education for their children either." Get that point OUT THERE dammit...

[NewYorkerfromMass]

9. Good Luck with that and you can thank Dean's mouth

for creating this mess.
If this is the kind of publicity you want for Dean then you're welcome to it.

[meegbear]

3. Stop spinning, I'm getting sick ...

[Forkboy]

10. I feel the same way

about many of your own posts.Your love for Dean has been amply demonstrated.

[quinnox]

4. Is the restriction off for posting threads about this issue?

I have a few thoughts of my own on the subject, that don't fit this post.

[David Zephyr]

6. As A Dean Supporter, I Find His Confederate Flag Statement Sickening.

I have given Dean hundreds of dollars and helped locally here in Southern California.

I'm not giving another penny until this shit is cleared up quickly.

His statement is insulting to just about everyone.

It not only is offensive to minorites, but also dismisses the millions of Southern White Males who do NOT have confederate flags on their vehicles and never would.

Simply pathetic.

[billbuckhead]

12. The only way for this issue to go away is for Dean to withdraw

If this is the way Dean is going to talk about race, I don't think we can stand much more. Just imagine Rove playing this soundbite on urban radio stations in battleground states a few days before the election. This also opens the door for McKinney running as a Green attacking the dems from the left with this callous remark.

[David Zephyr]

15. Rove Won't Play This.

His own candidate has publicly approved the flying of the Confederate Flag over statehouses. And Laura is on record stating that in her eyes the Confederate Flag is "not racist".

[NewYorkerfromMass]

16. David Zephyr gets it

as I'm sure millions of Southern White Males also do.

Dean can now write off the south, which, unfortunately was one of the few things he had going for him with his NRA crap.

[jaysunb]

18. David

what local group do you belong to here in So Cal ? Which meetup do you attend ?
I'd really like to have a chat with you about your statement here. It's hard for me (Black man) to understand where you're coming from. We want a candidate who talks to rednecks and others who have been duped into voting against their and our mutual interest.
FYI.. the AA community here in So. Cal love Howard Dean. And it's these types of forward thinking ideas that make it so.

If you're saying this because you think we are somehow offended, you are waaay off base.

[blm]

7. True. Dean has the media eating up every word. That's why he knocks

out stories like Joe Wilson, can't have the media talking about that anymore. How about the military coffins? No, the press can't hurt Bush...let's keep focused on Dean's every word, especially those that divide the Democrats.

Let's keep on pumping Dean till he wins the primary, then go back to tearing down the Dem's using all the ammo provided by Dean. The corporate masters will be sure to be pleased, not to mention Rove.

[topdog08]

8. By that logic, he should bring the flag with him when he campaigns

That would be pretty provocative and get people talking about him....

Right?

[DrFunkenstein]

11. Actually, I Started Pro-Kerry Threads As Well

And no one disagreed with the sentiment. It was Dean's insensitive way of putting it.

PS - I was bitching about this since he said

"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, we want your vote too, because your kids don’t have health insurance either."

He could have said "gun racks" or "NASCAR Dads," but he didn't. He went there.

[DrFunkenstein]

13. Which Reminds Me - Why Are Dean People Putting This On Kerry?

I've noticed a real effort to peg this on Kerry, as if the rest of the candidates hadn't condemned Dean's ill-thought phrases.

[roughsatori]

14. It is odd that supporters of more centrist Dem nominees

Post the most "outrage" over Dean's statement. This comment has nothing to do with Dean's remark (I support Kucinich), more it pertains to this way of finding everything "outrageous." This feigned outrage started with the O'reallys and right-wing radio personalities so it is not that strange that some of our more "middle of the road" members have picked it up.

That said I think that whenever other candidates have talked about voters who have pick-ups, six-packs or NASCAR insignias--they meant EXACTLY what Dean meant.

I am not saying that to let Dean off the hook, but because I think that there are other Dem nominees on the same hook. (It is up to each of us to decide if that hook is a needed tool to bring in other voters and then we can enlighten them, or if it is just an extension of racism.)

[sandnsea]

19. I agree

My problem is not that he says he wants to talk to these people, it's that he doesn't seem to think we should talk to them about racism and that flag. And it doesn't matter how you describe them, or even what part of the country they're in, racism has still got to be part of the equation. We make absolutely no progress if we push racism to the side in order to 'come together' on jobs, health care and education. It doesn't even make any sense.

[kaitykaity]

17. Locking.

Please discuss here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=636191&mesg_id=636191

[NewYorkerfromMass]

20. We need a new thread on Dean losing WHITE votes because of this

Please don't lock it if someone starts it. Because as is stated above that is DEFINITELY going to be a result of this. There is no doubt that SOME southern whites WERE indeed insulted by Dean's stereotype.