Dean vs. Reid?

[neverevergivein]

I'm not trying to be devisive, but I'm a Dean fan, not so much for Reid. There is NO WAY Alito is even an issue if Dean were in charge of our Senators. I guarantee we could beat both a cloture vote and stop a nuclear option. That being said, is this accurate?

Without mentioning Reid by name, Dean replied, "That's a big problem. And those Democrats are in trouble. And they should be in trouble."]

I did not see it so I may have missed the context. But I'll continue to stand by this statement: Without Harry Reid, the Dems would increase in numbers, power, and money. Without Howard Dean, we have nothing worth saving.

And in case you're wondering, I love Kerry (especially now), love Dean, and love Kennedy. Reid, Clinton, and Biden - hurt more then help. Just my opinion. I welcome yours.

[rucky]

1. Progressives look for sincerity in their leaders.

we're not interested in "playing politics", we want our leaders to act on the courage of their convictions. That's where I see the lines being drawn within the party right now. We can smell insincerity a mile away.

[neverevergivein]

3. What you ask for

doesn't SEEM like much. Really, it doesn't. Apparently, it is. Give me 41 Kerrys to 51 DLc types, I'll kick ass in the Senate everytime. Seriously.

[wryter2000]

2. Not so sure

I guarantee we could beat both a cloture vote and stop a nuclear option.

I think the first is true, but I'm not at all sure of the second.

IMHO, the DLC is the problem, not Reid. I don't know if Reid is DLC or not, but he's for sure not the worst of the dems and he's been very effective in some things.

[Cocoa]

4. no

he was talking about the Fox News guy's hypothetical dem who might get found to have done a quid pro quo with Abramoff. Harry Reid has not been accused of such.

[madfloridian]

5. Listen to Politically Direct replay in the archives from AAR...

or Ben, or whoever covers it. Howard Dean covered the whole Abramoff thing, including the tribal issues, very clearly. I think the right wing is looking for trouble here.

It replayed at 10 last night on AAR, and I don't know if there is a replay or what tonight. Well well worth the listen.

I will see if I can transcribe that part from my tape...they were talking back and forth so much hard to get quotes.

[shance]

6. The quote you are mentioning was with regards to any Dems if

hypothetically they were found to be connected like Republicans, to Abramoff by granting favors, etc.

He was say that would be a problem if that were the case.

But what we know is thats not the case.

[mzmolly]

7. Dean and Reid are working together.

I'm a Dean supporter from way back, and I think Reid is doing a great job as well.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

8. Total, complete, and utter bullshit.

The ONLY way we'd have success is with more Senators that aren't from states where Bush won by double digits. This is reflects your lack of political knowledge in a big way.

Note: I love both Dean AND Reid equally and think they're both fantastic.

[Clarkie1]

9. Dean would not be able to stop Alito if he were "in charge" of the senate.

I'm sorry, but lay off the kool-aid.

[rpannier]

10. Have to disagree

Landreiu, Nelson (NE) and the rest would still vote for cloture no matter who the minority leader was. Reid has done an outstanding job as Minority leader. He has kept the Democrats unified and on message for most of the time (Nelson (NE) being the exception).
Dean has been excellent as Party Chair and has done a great job at raising funds, but being Minority leader is not as easy as you may think. These Senators have constituencies to answer to and they will not easily be swayed by being strong-armed.
If you think differently, go to Nebraska, South Dakota, Arkansas, etc and try and sell the idea of immediate pull out of Iraq, opposition to Alito and the like. I don't think you'll find the majority very receptive to that position. It's not that these are stupid people in these states. It's that they see the world differently then we do.

[wisteria]

16. Maybe so, but he let this one go for one reason or another and

Kerry had to pick up the ball. I want to know why Reid threw this one to the Repubs. Especially since Alito is going to be so damaging on the court.

[NYCGirl]

11. If you were indeed a Dean fan, you'd know that he and Reid work very

closely together. Harry Reid is the best thing that's happened to our party in a long time. He's a fighter, but no one can work miracles. Would you rather have Daschle back?

[madfloridian]

12. I just watched the Fox segment, just now. I call BS on this.

The video is up at Bradblog, the transcript is up at Fox.

This is a bunch of baloney.

[FreedomAngel82]

13. Reid for the most part has been a good leader

In some ways I do see where he is coming from this stance but I wish he would work harder to get the other democrats to jump on this issue. If he helped with them we'd have enough votes. I didn't get to know Daschle but from what I understand so far Reid has been a much better leader.

[saltpoint]

14. Reid seems a little more feisty than Tom Daschle, although I have no

idea if that's the case behind the scenes. I'd rather have Dick Durbin as the Democrats' leader in the U.S. Senate, or Barbara Boxer, but so far no one's calld to solicit my view, so I guess Harry is the ball-carrier for now.

I'm a John Kerry fan since his anti-Viet Nam speeches and activities long ago. Voted for John & John against Dubya and Dick in 2004 and feel they were cheated by the Republicans. Ohio was a Kerry vote in my view, not a GOP vote.

I get sick of Democrats like Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu voting with the Republicans, although i also realize they don' need my approval for representing their more conservative constituencies. I blame the narrow-mindedness of their states' voters perhaps more than the individual senators.

[wisteria]

15. I'll take their help, but Biden especially, after his piss poor

committee performance being so upbeat and positive. He is one of the reasons we are where we are.