I feel that if we defeat Bush we have Dean and his supports to thank

[Mountainman]

I never was a Dean fan though I heard this yesterday and this morning in the media and I agree. The two big things that Dean and his supporters have done for us is to show that it is OK to attack Bush and how to raise money via the INTERNET. Now every one will follow his lead and though he is not the nominee, we probably could not have won with out him.

[onebigbadwulf]

1. Dont forget that Dean was Anti-war

and brought together the people who felt betrayed by the Bush regime

[WiseMen]

2. That could become TRUE. If these great troops got on board and back into

the fight to take back our country.

[Dookus]

3. I suspect Dean didn't invent the idea

of attacking the incumbent in an election. He was just the first to do it in THIS race because he was the first one to start running.

[damnraddem]

6. Most Dem politicos had taken a dive.

Dean started by criticizing the Invasion before it happened, while Kerry and others voted for what Dubya demanded. Dean criticized Dubya while most Dem pols kept their heads down. Dean started running because most Dems were running scared. (And, yes, Kucinich was a brilliant exception to the generality of Dem pols -- but Dean got the headlines first.)

[boxster]

4. In part, we'll have Bush and his administration to thank.

Their problem-handling skills are terrible. Let's hope it stays that way.

[damnraddem]

5. I agree, but there's more:

1) re-involving the grassroots, in major ways;
2) using MeetUp to organize locally, and involve the grassroots;
3) reinvigorate many former Dem Party activists; and
4) oppose the invasion of Iraq, when most Dem politicians were rolling over for Dubya;
5) raise numbers of other issues that needed to be aired.

No, on most of those, Dean's campaign was not the first, nor on some of them the only voice (Kucinich comes to mind on the war and other issues). But Dean did get the Dems into MeetUp; and there are now Democratic Party MeetUps -- it holds promise for more grassroots involvement.

And Dean says he'll continue with the grassroots aspects, so I'll continue to go to his MeetUps.

[JackRiddler]

7. However, if we lose to Bush

many will be blaming the Dean supporters then.

[diamondsoul]

10. That's because nobody likes to admit being wrong.

:eyes: Pathetic, I know, but true. It's all Nader's fault we have Bush.

Yeah, ok, nevermind that there were about 10 other factors that played into that selection farce it's ALL because of Nader.

[Cuban_Liberal]

8. This party owes a HUGE debt to Dr. Dean.

Back when we were all sackcloth and ashes after the November 2002 fiasco, it was Dr. Dean who showed some spine and said "Hey! The Emperor has no clothes!". he did a lot of heavy lifting and both he and Rep. Kucinich made me believe that we COULD defeat Bush this coming November!

I salute you, Dr. Dean! :toast:

[leyton]

9. Ditto.

Without guys like Dean, we wouldn't have had the fire, the passion, and the faith in ourselves.

[diamondsoul]

11. Agreed.

Dean folks, you have set a bar for every other campaign to try to reach and done it well.

I hope you can all forgive me for my early snarkiness about Governor Dean. It took me a while to warm to him but I can honestly say I have warmed to him now.(actually about a month or so ago)

[eissa]

12. Jesse Jackson said it best on Hardball last night

"If Democrats win, over that inauguration will be the halo of Howard Dean."

[chyjo]

13. this is true

the backbone transplant was a success