This will give you some context:
We need to be the party of election reform. We ought to do everything we can to make it easier for more Americans to vote. The Republicans are all about suppressing votes; two voting machines if you live in a black district, 10 voting machines if you live in a white district. I think every single American ought to be able to vote! (Cheers, applause.) I used to say in the campaign -- I meant this sincerely -- I would rather have you go out and vote, even if you vote Republican, than stay home. I really would.
If we're going to have a democracy -- and Lord knows this administration is beginning to erode the core of our democracy -- the great genius of American democracy -- there are a lot of democracies in the world. The treat genius of American democracy is that if 48 percent of you vote one way, you still have some say about the government. Now they're trying to eliminate that. The protection of the minority is an important principle in America. For those 48 percent that didn't vote for President Bush -- (applause) -- the Constitution says we still have some say. Well, they don't think so. Dr. Frist, of videotape diagnosis fame, doesn't seem to think -- (laughter, applause) -- Dr. Frist doesn't seem to think that the minority of us have any say. We don't have any say in the House. We certainly don't have any say in the White House. We don't have much left in the courts -- although the courts are still too liberal for Tom DeLay. He wants to impeach them because they didn't agree with him a hundred percent. I always thought an independent judiciary was important for a strong democracy. And you know what? When the Democrats take over, it will be important again. It will be important again. (Applause.)
(a couple of paragraphs were redacted b/c of limit where he basically said that the one of the most important issues was to get people to the polls, no matter whom they voted for, because, that is democracy)
You -- (applause continues) -- you know, the idea that you have to wait on line for eight hours to cast your ballot in Florida -- there's something the matter with that. You think people can work all day and then pick up their kids at child care or wherever, and get home and then have a -- still manage to sandwich in an eight-hour vote? Well, Republicans, I guess, can do that, because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives. (Light applause.) But for ordinary working people, who have to work eight hours a day, they have kids, they got to get home to those kids, the idea of making them stand for eight hours to cast their ballot for democracy is wrong. We ought to make voting easier to do. Mail -- Oregon has got it right. (Applause.) I was in the audience at the Take Back America Conference and I thought Dean was talking about people like Bush -- trust fund babies.
You can see all the conference's plenary speeches and get the transcripts in either PDF or Word at
http://www.ourfuture.org/projects/national_conference/2005/speeches_archive.cfmA friend in D.C. told us that Hannity had gone off on Dean for half an hour the morning after it was delivered on the radio. He also said that the GOP is really scared of Dean because he is appealing to a broader coalition than any previous DNC chair. Not only that but Dean is trying to get a focus on issues that people really care about rather than cow-towing to the agenda the GOP wants.
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