Ambassador Braun to withdraw; will throw support to Dean: 1/15

[Padraig18]

Breaking....CNN... 4:04 a.m.

Former Ambassador carol Moseley-Braun will withdraw from the race for the Democratic nomination later today and will throw her support to Gov. Howard Dean, CNN says...

:)

[WealthAndDemocracy]

1. That's OLD news. It broke last night

[Padraig18]

3. I was asleep last night.

Didn't see anything here, so I posted it. :hi:

[Hep]

19. Wow. Last night is old news, but four years ago is still fresh for some

Interesting. Not implying anything about you. It's just odd how widely the height of the bar differs for different people.

[namaste]

2. I'm not really surprised..

after watching the last debate that she would support the Governor. I will miss her, though. I think she is a class act, and a very smart lady.

[Lexingtonian]

4. That was reported as confirmed at 11:30 PM EST around here

But what abyssmal timing, and to do it to endorse a candidate whose campaign is also on a slide for reasons similar to hers- decreasing relevance in the eyes of the voters. Not a master stroke.

[Padraig18]

6. That's a rather jaded and baised interpretation.

:eyes:

[Lexingtonian]

10. Which part of it is wrong?

:eyes:u

[Padraig18]

12. this part:

The 'decreasing relevance'. :eyes:

[Lexingtonian]

15. Oh,

I guess that downward trend in the polls is a mere accident?

Let's see how Iowa and then New Hampshire actually turn out. Last I heard Iowa is "fluid" and at parity for all candidates, and here in MA the word out of NH is that Dean support is getting increasingly soft- beyond the drop in polling. You may not want to order that champagne just yet. Frankly, I'd be worried for him.

[Hep]

21. The word out of NH?

That's great! Rumor mongering is SO 2003.

[Hep]

20. A slide?

Can you describe this slide in detail so I can understand what you mean?

I will not for you that other candidates doing better is not the same as one candidate's slide.

[9119495]

13. Same reasons? Yeah, CMB

is being crushed by all those concerted attacks from Lieberman, Kerry, and Gephardt. Why won't they just leave her alone?

(end sarcastic portion of response)

Now for the serious part: How is Dean's candidacy losing legitamacy? The media has savaged him and he is still leading nationally. He's even maintained a lead in Iowa and New Hampshire in spite of all the attacks and Clark being the sole campaigner there.

You don't like Dean? Fine, but you shouldn't post inaccurate information.

[FubarFly]

5. This will hopefully settle the issue that Al Sharpton

was politically grandstanding when he attacked Dean. I like Al, but his attempts to gain influence by racebaiting are deplorable. I believe he is a good man and is sincere about civil rights, I just wished his methods were less divisive.

[slinkerwink]

7. same here too---he seems to be trying to usurp Jesse Jackson's role

as the leader of the black Democrats by running in this presidential race.

[beaconess]

28. There is NO leader of black democrats any more than white Democrats

have a leader. Black Democrats will have a leader when white Democrats get one - and that will be the nominee.

Please leave the stereotypes behind.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. I am not necessarily a Dean supporter, and have liked what Sharpton

has had to say, but his recent remarks were out of line. I have lived in Vermont and Governor Dean would have been very hard-pressed to hire Black people in his cabinet, since so few of them live in Vermont. Period. This certainly doesn't mean that he is prejudiced. I just don't understand why anyone else hasn't said this and ended this controversy once and for all.:shrug:

[beaconess]

27. Al Sharpton didn't call Howard Dean prejudiced, a racist, a bigot or

anything of the like.

He pointed out that he has a poor record on diversity and that, despite his claims that he has a better record on civil rights than his opponents, his actual record leaves a lot to be desired. Pointing this out does NOT equate to calling him prejudiced.

Check this out:

BLITZER: You caused a stir by getting Governor Dean to acknowledge he had no African-Americans or minorities in his cabinet while he served as governor. What was the point you were trying to make, what, that he's a racist?

SHARPTON: No, I think that Governor Dean has continually said that he wanted to be the candidate that will discuss race to America and teach Americans about race. I think if you put yourself in that position, then you open up a fair examination of how you've dealt with race and diversity in your past.

Every debate he talks about what he's done in Vermont for health care, education or other matters. It was then fair for me to say tell us what you did in Vermont around diversity at the highest levels? We were in a state that had the exact percentage of blacks than he has in Vermont. 1.5 percent. Iowa. Those in that black and brown caucus had a right to know how he would govern a similar matter in their states as he was similarly situated.

To my surprise, he had to concede he had not put one in the cabinet. Doesn't make him a bad guy but it certainly doesn't make him in a position to lecture others about race when he's not had diversity at the level of government that he's been in charge.

BLITZER: The Reverend Jesse Jackson seems to suggest, though, that given the tiny percentage of African-Americans, minorities in Vermont, it's perhaps understandable.

SHARPTON: Again, I think that the black and brown caucus members there in America, on the ones that applauded, that didn't think it was understandable, I don't see how we can have inclusion as part of the civil rights agenda and qualify it when it may be someone we like.

Most cabinet members are not chosen from the indigenous population anyway. Are we saying Dean only chose his cabinet members from natives of Vermont? I don't think so. And clearly, if Mr. Dean did not have that kind of background, which is understandable given the population, then why is he running around lecturing others who have had diversity in their background about race? He made himself the object of a test on race. Then when someone questioned it, all of a sudden, he has surrogates go out and apologize and explain for him? I don't think that's fair.

BLITZER: Having said that, if he does get the Democratic presidential nomination in Boston, will you support him?

SHARPTON: I will support whoever gets the nomination.

Al Sharpton has never called Dean a racist and has said every which way from Sunday that he doesn't think that Howard Dean is a racist, yet Dean's supporters and others continue to accuse him of saying and thinking just that. So who is doing the racebaiting here?

[Rhiannon12866]

31. WOAH!!!

I never said that Rev. Sharpton called Gov. Dean racist or anything of the kind. Of course he never did that. I was just defending Gov. Dean for not having minorities in his cabinet, which is what Rev. Sharpton called him on, because I have lived there and I know that there would have been no minorities for him to hire in this area of the country, so this was an unfair accusation, that's all. Sheech.

[beaconess]

25. I'm curious

When Howard Dean proclaimed, "I'm the ONLY white politician talking about race to white audiences," did you call him a racebaiter?

When John Edwards, Joe Lieberman, George Stephanopoulus, Dana Milbank and others countered that Dean's proclamation was flat out wrong, did you accuse them of racebaiting?

When Howard Dean accused Bush of using racist code words and trying to undermine affirmative action, did you accuse him of racebaiting?

When John Kerry gave a speech on civil rights and judicial appointments in which he attacked Republicans for failing to live up to their rhetoric on diversity, did you call him a racebaiter?

When John Edwards lit into Bush and reminded him that "leadership on civil rights is more than photo ops with black children," did you accuse him of racebaiting?

I think the answer to all of those questions is probably no. Yet, when Al Sharpton points out - truthfully - Howard Dean's record on diversity, you and many others rise up and accuse him of racebaiting. Interesting, isn't it?

Sounds like "racebaiter" is the modern-day euphemism for "uppity Negro."

[WI_DEM]

9. excellent news

I really like CMB and she really should have gone farther than she has in this race due to her experience.

[RetroLounge]

11. Kick

for good news!

[Le Taz Hot]

14. Happy and Sad News

Though I'm delighted to gain Ambassador Mosely-Braun's support, her class, energy, message and voice of reason will be missed.

[spooky3]

16. yes, that goes for me too.

[Township75]

17. Obviously, this has to be wrong...

afterall, I read here at DU that Dean can't get the support of minorities.

[mmonk]

18. Congratulations

to Dean, my condolences to the CMB campaign.

[slinkerwink]

22. thanks!

:hi:

[mmonk]

23. you're welcome

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

24. that's why she attacked Edwards and Kucinich at the debates

Just as I predicted right after the last televised debates - and again I ask - when did they flip her? What did they offer her?

[Padraig18]

26. She and Gov. Dean are friends in real life.

They didn't have to 'flip her', or offer her anything; she's doing this because she wants to, and out of affection and admiration for Dr. Dean

Jeez, doesn't anyone ever do anything for straight-forward reasons in the real world any more? :eyes:

[diamondsoul]

29. Interesting. Lieberman and Gore were "friends" once, too.

Sorry, Padraig, this isn't personally directed, I'm just a bit disgusted with this development, and no, it's not a slam of Governor Dean, either.

The thing that bothers me is this- their platforms don't mesh except when it comes to Iraq. That tells me Carol isn't the different sort of candidate she made herself out to be, and I find that personally disappointing.

Congrats to you and to Governor Dean, though.

[beaconess]

30. I like CMB a lot, but was really surprised by her attack on Edwards

who hadn't done a thing to her. Even worse, she was flat out wrong.

MOSELEY BRAUN: And finally to John, again, I don't mean to pick on you, and I know Howard Dean can take up for himself. But the fact of the matter is, the Congressional Quarterly says you voted with President Bush 53 percent of the time . . . And yet you stand up here and call Howard a hypocrite.

. . .

EDWARDS: Well, Carol, that was a great speech, but what you just said is not right . . . What just happened -- the Congressional Quarterly, just in the last week, put out its rankings for the 100 members of the United States Senate and who voted with Bush the least and who voted with Bush the most, one through 100.

I was number one in the United States Senate for having voted against George W. Bush the most, and I am proud of that. And I want the people of Iowa who are participating in these caucuses to know that.

And Edwards was absolutely correct. Congressional Quarterly's reported that Edwards voted against Bush 58.7% of the time - more than any other member of the Senate. In fact, none of the other presidential candidates made it into the top ten. http://www.cq.com/graphics/weekly/2004/01/03/wr20040103-01prezlede-scorers.pdf

So, not only did CMB get it wrong - she got it completely wrong! I couldn't imagine where in the hell CMB got her numbers or on what she based her false allegation against Edwards.

Regardless, it made me lose some respect for her, although I still like her quite a bit.