Unleash Howard Dean....

[liberalitch]

He's right the rest of us need to admit it.....
Even president has never done an honest dat's work.


MOST Rethugs make their way taking candy from babies....

[izzie]

1. Let Dean go for it. Nice to hear some one say what is true.

The GOP are just taking this country apart and handing it over to the rich and big business. And I am a capitalist.But workers have to be equal with the owners.

[blm]

2. Dean was saying that Republicans in POWER have no consideration

for the working class, but the media allowed the RNC storyline to become a Dean attack on ALL Republicans.

[w13rd0]

4. Of course...

...but that's because the media has become, oh, what's the word I'm looking for...

They are hurting America, and they don't care as long as their profit margin is fat. I have a hard time understanding WHY they bend over backwards to protect Bush and belittle Democrats, but they do. And they do it to anyone that speaks up. Swift boats get endless airplay, as does Shiavo. Attacks against any democrat, played up or even fabricated from whole cloth (like the recent Edwards vs Dean media fabrication). Anything harmful to Bush, even if it's RIGHT IN FRONT OF ALL OUR FACES, history is rewritten real-time. We're looking at what seems to be a fairly coordinated effort to turn the United States into something it should not be, a wholly owned and operated corporate subsidiary. And the citizens of this nation made into fat, lazy, incurious consumers.

[blm]

5. The DSM silence for 6 weeks should have been the clincher for those who

still believed that the media will follow any story as long as it's good.

The way they worked to keep the story down is proof positive that they are actively working to keep Bush protected and in power to further the fascist agenda of their corporate masters.

They sure as hell aren't interested in good and honest governance.

[flpoljunkie]

6. Dean wisely took the opportunity to clarify his statement with Blitzer

--removing his broad brush criticism of "a lot of" Republicans and limiting it to the Republican "leadership." Dean is doing a great job raising money in an off year, and, with a little discipline, he can learn to avoid these kind of unintentional verbal gaffes. He has tremendous energy and commitment, and brings a high profile to the chairmanship of the DNC--which ain't all bad.

I do wish, though, he would take on fixing the recently passed bankruptcy bill--a one-sided giveway to the banks and credit card companies and a raw deal for ordinary Americans. It would be a great opportunity for us to distinguish our party from the Republicans.

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/004560.php#more

This USA Today piece gathers some of Dean's latest and previous "controversial" comments. The one that is making the waves now is his statement from last week's Take Back America conference:

Dean's comment came as he recalled conditions at crowded Ohio polling stations last fall. He wondered who could expect voters to work all day and then stand in line for eight hours to vote. "Well, Republicans, I guess, can do that because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives," he said, drawing some surprised "oohs" from his audience.

[BrainRants]

3. Here! Here! Take off the muzzle!

Howard is feared by the right because he energizes people in the middle and on the left.

The more he speaks truth to power, the more people listen. The more people listening, the better we're able to control the dialog.

As a minority party, any press is good press.

Give 'em hell Howard!

[pstans]

7. I agree

I wish that more Democrats would say things like Howard Dean. The only thing Republicans hate more than liberals is the truth. Dean speaks the truth and he speaks for me.

[Sooner75]

8. parenting/politics

The other day I was watching our local PBS station and they had this program about parenting strategies. In a nutshell, they said that approaching challenges from children on an EMOTIONAL level....yelling, threatening, spanking, etc. would lead a child to see the parent as the problem and not the behavior. The better way is to engage the kids into THINKING rational about their behavior. By focusing on getting kids to think about their behavior, the behavior is recognized as the problem and NOT the parent.

Now, it seems to me that political influence works in much the same way. I think we'll gain A LOT more by focusing on making a strong rational case that the Republicans have made a mess of things. We have lots of data to support that conclusion. We have to make our case, keep our cool (for the most part), and let the GOP get away with nothing....respond to everything.

By ranting and raving and simply calling them evil, we don't gain very much, and we start to look like a big part of the problem. GOP mouthpieces like Rush and Hannity will gleefully point and criticize, and some people will buy into the idea that WE'RE the problem.

There's a fine line here. Let's be rational and say things that are supported by facts. Let's show some emotion, but let it be passion about getting public policies that serve the greater good not about simply shouting back at the chowderheads on the Right. Let's focus our passion on addressing poverty, education, the environment, etc. Let's turn our emotion AWAY from Bush, Cheney, Rush, etc. They're the symptoms, not the disease. The real disease is the indifference, the self-serving and blind grasping for more power and money.

DU is a GREAT place to vent, but, out in the larger world, let's stay focused on convincing the electorate that we've got a better plan for America's future. Let's stand up for it persistently and rationally.

[theboss]

9. If the fourth place finisher in the primaires can't win back the country..

Who can?

I'm sorry. I still just don't get Dean's appeal.