Dean:"if we don’t keep our promise, we may find ourselves the minority again"

[dajoki]

Dean urges Democrats to end war in Iraq
Party chairman notes little progress to stop military involvement
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17152231/

Updated: 4:05 p.m. ET June 9, 2007
WASHINGTON - The high hurdles faced by congressional Democrats in their efforts to end the Iraq war make electing a Democratic president in 2008 the best way to finish the conflict, Democratic party chairman Howard Dean said Saturday.

He noted his party has made little progress toward ending the war, the cause, he said, that returned them to power.

“The American people hired Democrats last November to ensure that we end this war,” Dean said during the weekly Democratic radio address. “So let me be clear, we know that if we don’t keep our promise, we may find ourselves the minority again.”

Dean put the blame for the lack of progress squarely on the White House and congressional Republicans for blocking his party’s attempt at tying war funding to deadlines for troop withdrawals.

“We have to face the reality that Republicans in Congress are standing with President Bush as he stubbornly wields his veto pen,” Dean charged. In response, he proposed that the “one way to truly ensure we end this war” was to elect a Democrat as president in 2008.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. "may"? I think it's a sure thing. :^( Wish more people would listen to the good Doctor's advice.

[Totally Committed]

2. I love that... "may"

Howard's such a kidder.

TC

[AtomicKitten]

3. there's Dean doing that truth-telling thing again

:toast:

[Rydz777]

4. I'm very optimistic about Democratic success in 2008, and

beyond that as well (as the Republican Party implodes into Whigs), but Dean is certainly right in at least one particular. In 2006, the voters expected the Democratic Congress to do something about this disastrous war. So far the Congress seems bogged down in process while our troops are dying and being maimed daily. We should move to get out NOW and not go into 2008 with this war hanging over us. It only takes the political will to use the power of the purse.

[ellisonz]

5. Stream and text.

http://dnc.org/a/2007/06/dean_democratic_1.php

[BlueIris]

6. Okay, seriously? I feel like that Alicia Keys song should be playing.

My feelings about Howard Dean, particularly as Chairman, remain terribly conflicted. But every once in a while, he says something I just HAVE to love and respect.

[Vidar]

7. Thank you for continuing to speak the truth, Howard.

[welshTerrier2]

8. sorry, but i'm very negative about what Dean said

i suppose all the Dean people will jump all over me but I think what Dean said was terrible. And not only was it terrible because of the failure to address the policy correctly but Dean's politics don't seem to make sense either. I hope we can discuss the issues he raised instead of getting into the "Dean's a jerk; Dean is great idiocy."

here are the points he raised that I object to:

1. Bad Policy
“We have to face the reality that Republicans in Congress are standing with President Bush as he stubbornly wields his veto pen,” Dean charged. In response, he proposed that the “one way to truly ensure we end this war” was to elect a Democrat as president in 2008.

I don't think the uproar against the Democratic Party sellout on Iraq is going to be at all assuaged by Dean's suggestion that the "one way" to solve the problem is to wait until 2009 when a Democratic President takes office. Sorry, Dr. Dean but that is total crap. The one way to ensure an end to the damned occupation is to get Democrats to stop paying for it. It's nice that Dean acknowledged that "his party has made little progress toward ending the war" but it is not just because bush has a veto; it's because the Democratic Party caved in to everything bush wanted. The "we didn't have the votes to override bush's veto" did NOT wash and it is NOT ever going to wash.

2. Bad Politics
Dean's politics make no sense either. He correctly recognized that "if we don’t keep our promise, we may find ourselves the minority again." but that minority could come about in 2008 if the Democratic Party has not stopped the war and occupation by then. Dean's "one way" of electing a Democratic President seems to ignore the fact that we'll be electing a Congress while we're voting for that President. Democrats will be judged in the next election on how they handled Iraq. The test will come in 2008 and not in 2010 and beyond. If Dean thinks the only solution is to elect a Democratic President, he's not heeding his own advice that "if we don’t keep our promise, we may find ourselves the minority again." The promise will be voted on next year.

To me, Dean's message seemed totally conflicted and lacked any sort of coherence about what the Democrats should do. Winning the next presidential election is NOT an adequate strategy on how the Party should deal with Iraq.