Dean predicts backers may stay home if he doesn't win the nomination

[MariaS]

What's this about. Aren't Dean Supports ABB too?

Howard Dean said Sunday that the hundreds of thousands of people drawn to politics by his campaign may stay home if he doesn't win the Democratic presidential nomination, dooming the Democratic Party in the fall campaign against President Bush.

"If I don't win the nomination, where do you think those million and a half people, half a million on the Internet, where do you think they're going to go?" he said during a meeting with reporters. "I don't know where they're going to go. They're certainly not going to vote for a conventional Washington politician."


http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/12/28/politics1550EST0504.DTL

[aquart]

1. That's really wrong of him, if he said it.

[DemBones DemBones]

4. He did say it. Here's a link to another source:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=2043&e=4&u=/ap/20031228/ap_on_el_pr/dean

[Democrats unite]

2. Hate to disappoint you this is a dupe.

eom

[MariaS]

5. Sorry Still Learning

DU Speak. Does dupe mean duplicate post? If so I apologize.

[DemBones DemBones]

22. That's OK, the other thread's nearing 200 posts, so it's

past time for another one.

That's my opinion, but I'd hope that the mods would agree. A year or more ago, it was common for someone to start a new thread when a thread got over 50 posts. I'd like it if we started doing that again.

The rule is to avoid starting duplicate threads in a forum, so you should scan the first page of a forum before you post. Mods lock dupes.

[ThirdWheelLegend]

Is this real?

If so, arrogant are we?

TWL

[Gloria]

3. Another "uniter, not a divider".---

The man reminds me of Bush in so many ways....this is a new one.

[DemBones DemBones]

12. Have you seen the NYTimes feature on Dean today?

It discusses the similarities between Bush's upbringing and Dean's upbringing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/28/politics/campaigns/28DEAN.html?pagewanted=3&hp

His mother's a hoot, though she doesn't mean to be. Talking about her boys' "modest" upbringing (in a 3 BR apartment on Park Avenue, which I suspect is one of those NYC apts with HUGE rooms, the sort you see in movies), she tells how, when each boy was born, she had to put the baby and his nurse in the dining room. Such squalid overcrowding!

She also says they "never treated the servants like servants." What do you bet the servants didn't eat with the family?

[Demobrat]

6. He's right, as usual.

He also said this:
\
\Dean repeatedly has said he would endorse the eventual Democratic nominee and urge his supporters to do the same. But he said there are limits to the practical impact of his endorsement.

"That's not transferable. That's why endorsements are great but they don't guarantee anything," Dean said.
\
He is just pointing out the obvious. Endorsements don't guarantee a thing. Not even his.

[ima_sinnic]

7. so all of you can guarantee that your candidate's supporters

will transfer their allegiance to someone else?
we here at DU are for the most part ABB but nobody can say that any candidate's supporters are 100% ABB.
the man is just stating a fact. OMG--a politician who says something true.

[DemBones DemBones]

14. OMG, a Democrat who gives his supporters a public hint not to vote Dem

unless he's the nominee.

If you belong to a party, you encourage loyalty to the party. Otherwise, you're a traitor to the party.

If he won't strongly support someone else as nominee, he should quit calling himself a Dem and run as an Independent!

[deminflorida]

8. Just another reason, he's going to lose the nomination.

Americans love drama, the look on his face when he loses the nomination will cause the ratings to be better than Joe Millionare, or Survival.

Sooner or latter he's going to kill his chances with his mouth. The media is going to be all over this one just for ratings.

[mouse7]

18. You need to do some re-thinking?

Whether or not Dean gets the nomination, Howard Dean's emergence as a national leader has been a massive boon to the Democratic Party as a whole. He stood up to Bush when nobody would. He's taught the party a brand new method of raising funds and connecting with new supporters. He added energy and interest to the 2004 election for 10s of millions who weren't remotely interested in participating in the process.

Dems owe Howard Dean a lot. A little bit of appreciation and a little less naked distain for someone who might have saved the party's chances of winning in 2004 would be appreciated.

[mikehiggins]

23. Here! Here! I concur, Mouse. Absolutely. He definitely broke new

ground, and if things were different I could easily support him. Hopefully he'll continue to be a force in Democratic circles. How about a run for Senate?

[mopinko]

9. aren't dean's opponents abb?

geez. are dean supporters robots? he can push a button and they vote like he says? i wholeheartedly agree that is dean is defeated through dirty tricks and the old circular firing squad, the disaffected voters that are coming out for him will be sickened. fratricide is a disgusting thing to watch.

[Deesh]

10. I wonder if Dean supporters...

...would just give up and stay home... I doubt it. They seem pretty motivated to me. Dean has energized them -- ok -- but they probably want Bush gone pretty badly.

My guess is that Dean voters will show up to send Bush back to Crawford, whether Dean leads the ticket or not.

[SayitAintSo]

11. This is a dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=34904&mesg_id=34904

[arewethereyet]

13. what class...

his prior threat goes nowhere so he tries to up the ante.

And he decides to break his no personal details thing to be Christian as he dips below the Mason-Dixon line.

this is just so pathetic for a supposed frontrunner.

[farmbo]

15. Try reading the WHOLE article, please

<snip>
Dean repeatedly has said he would endorse the eventual Democratic nominee and urge his supporters to do the same. But he said there are limits to the practical impact of his endorsement.
<snip>

Even if it doesn't support your premise.

[arewethereyet]

17. pray tell what the value of pointing out...

how his endorsement is of no significance to his supporters is not to be construed as a threat ?

It would seem to signify that he would not make much of an effort to lead them back into the rank and file.

And what does that say about the man ?

I have read the articles and thats why I'm worried.

[TeacherCreature]

16. folks get over it

He didn't say they should stay home. He is stating a truth. A proportion of his supporters may not support the other candidates. That is true of any of the candidates. It just happens to be more true of some Dean supporters because there are more of them who are new to this whole process. This is a good thing, be encouraged. He is bringing in all the new voters we need to win.

[meti57b]

19. I hope he doesn't mean that. Those aren't the words of a team player.

[arewethereyet]

20. a study in understatement.

but as this is the second coming of this strategy I'd have to believe that he does mean it. And since its more strongly worded this time it can only be seen as a threat.

[liberalmuse]

21. Well...

he's right. How are Dean bashers any better than Bush supporters? I'm so burned out and disillusioned with the Democratic party that frankly, I just don't care anymore. The most exciting Democratic candidate to emerge in decades is being sabotaged by members of his own party, who then procliam, 'ABB!'. Sure.

If Dean is sunk by the Democrats before he even has a chance to run against Bush, I am planning to tune out. A person can only take so much of the self-defeating Democratic Party, so in that respect, Dean is absolutely right. I was ABB, but not since the line has been blurred between Bush's evil administration, and liberals who operate just like Rove.

Lately, I've seen there isn't that much difference between the Bush-enabling Democratic Party and the Republicans, and it's getting hard to tell the differenct between a Dean basher from a freeper.

4 more years of Bush? Heinous beyond imagining, yes, but at least the evil is all out in the open, unlike the subversion of democracy that has been going on for decades under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

Anyway, I am obviously at rock bottom, and should probably stay away from DU, since my optimism has sunk in direct proportion to the time spent on these forums.

[Zomby Woof]

24. McGovern said in an interview recently

He said that some of his devoted supporters committed suicide in the wake of his landslide loss to Nixon.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of Dean's more overzealous supporters meet the same fate.

None of his DU supporters, of course, who are far too reasonable for such extreme behavior.

[Moderator]

25. Dupe

Please continue here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=34904&mesg_id=34904

Thanks
DU Moderator