Holmes: Ganging up on Dean

[Rose Siding]

snip>
We knew this campaign was going to be ugly. Republican and Democrat operatives left off the last battle at each other's throats amid the chaos of the Florida recount. The Republicans have already struck the first blow at the patriotism of the Democrats running for president, airing a commercial that charges - falsely - that the Democrats are "attacking the president for attacking terrorists."

The media will be nasty as well. That much was clear when Al Gore dared raise his head two weeks ago to endorse Dean. Pundits of all stripes pulled out lazy caricatures of Gore as wooden and prone to reinventing himself. People who should know better repeated the lie that Gore had claimed he invented the Internet.
snip>

The Democrats' attacks on Dean are likely to escalate in the next few weeks. He's the frontrunner and eight other candidates would like to chip into his lead. But it's not just his opponents Dean has to worry about. His campaign is a rebuke to the Washington Democrats -- the Tom Daschles and Dick Gephardts who rolled over through most of Bush's first term. His pledge to represent "the Democratic wing of the Democratic party" is a slam at the DLC centrists who think success comes from sounding a lot like Republicans. The success of Dean's Internet-based small donor fund-raising undermines Democratic National Chairman Terry McAuliffe and others like him who rose to power by tapping the fat wallets of selfish interests.

Sure, there are differences on policy matters, but that's not what's going on here. The Washington Democrats -- incumbents, fund-raisers and the consultants who feed off them -- don't like Dean mostly because he doesn't need them.

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/columnists/collholmes12292003.htm

edit (in case mods consider this source too conservative)

Dean critics from these quarters will not hurt him. His support has grown because he stood up to Bush policy when the Dem leadership gave us, instead, the slack jawed posture of "please sir, I want some more". Many of the formerly timid have come around because they've seen that support for opposition and for fighting back is strong and deep. Those numbers will grow.

[Padraig18]

1. Woo hoo! A hard-hitting piece!

Gotta LOVE it, when someone calls a spade a spade! :thumbsup::bounce:

[polpilot]

33. Dean returns the edge to the democratic party. Without Dean the '04

race would be pathetic. Without Dean there would have been no questioning of Shrub or bombing the sheperds. (Kucinich excepted).

Dean '04...

[NewYorkerfromMass]

2. This is from a conservative paper

FYI

[Cheswick2.0]

11. not really the point is it?

Just thought I would mention that fact.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

23. Ahem... the point is it is an attack on ALL Democrats

Just thought I would mention that fact.

[Rose Siding]

24. The quailifiers are pretty clear

-the ones that are attacking Dean, characterized as the those who rolled over for bush or are wedded to "fat wallets of selfish interests".

[NewYorkerfromMass]

29. Dean is being used to divide us (Dems)

and Dean certainly has done his part too.

[Scott Lee]

34. Divide WHO?

Statist, elitist, Entitled Democrats from the pink tutu old school, who vote for war to appease a war criminal?

Guess what - I WANT to be divided from THEM. Far, far away.



Dean's gonna get your country back, whether you want him to or not.

[Rose Siding]

21. I edited to add my own observations

thanks :hi:

[sandnsea]

3. Dean stood with those DLC centrists

For the last decade. If people can't see through this born again Democratic bullshit, that's up to them. I'm betting there's a whole lot more lifelong Democrats who see straight through it and we'll show him who has the power.

Rally around a candidate before a vote is cast indeed.

[Rose Siding]

4. When they wouldn't fight back, he did.

When we needed them to fight, they failed.

[jmaier]

18. He coincidentally decided to fight

back ONLY after he initiated his run for the Presidency. You didn't hear a lot of angry Dean until 2002. He found a angle with his early attacks and jumped on it. Good for him but it doesn't make him some sort of uniquely anti-Bush voice in the Dem party.

[Rose Siding]

20. Coincidentally after we lost in 2002

and it became obvious that the assault was needed.

[dreissig]

6. Kerry Voted for the War

More than just a tactic, Kerry's vote was a statement of values. The Yes vote turned out to be way out of the Democratic mainstream, leaving Kerry in an untenable position. As Bill Bradley once said about George Bush Sr.: he wiggled, he waffled and he wavered ....

[isbister]

35. Kerry NEVER Voted for the War

The only candidate for President with a vote for the war was bush and he did so.

[dkf]

9. Dean may have been with the DLC when they were sane but

the DLCers who vote with Bush now are damaging the fiscal health of our country.

[Cheswick2.0]

14. ummmm no

not exactly. Lots of people were DLC back in the day. Now anyone with sense is leaving that pack of blood sucking self designated party "leaders". That Kerry chose to hang witht the DLC hoping for some crumbs of support is the problem for his supporters to wish away.

[Jerseycoa]

30. "Dean stood with those DLC centrists...born again"

It certainly is a puzzlement, I agree. :toast:

[otohara]

5. Glad to Read 2 Unions Pulled

their money from those Osama ads.

[janx]

7. NICE!

It's reassuring to read this. There's nothing Dean's enemies can do.

[deminflorida]

8. The conservatives are going all out to sell this guy to mainstream

Democrats, and it seemed to work up until recently. Now that people are starting to pay attention to the primaries before they vote, Dean is not helping himself by making polarizing statements, such as We are no safer after the capture of Saddam, etc....But we all knew this would happen, if he loses ground prior to the first votes being cast he has no one to blame but himself. Please note his money machine is slowing down as well...

[Rose Siding]

13. You must have overlooked this part-

snip>
Now the conservative media is going after Dean, painting him as reckless, unpatriotic, angry, out of step and delusional. And the election is still 11 months away.
end snip>

"Delusionsal" isn't usually a big selling point for the mainstream, is it?

And the truth is that we are no safer after The Capture. People aren't stupid. In fact, we could *really* avoid polarization if we agreed with everything the repubs say but that's no fun!

[clarknyc]

16. Can you verify this?

Please note his money machine is slowing down as well...

Got a link? If not, what do you base this on?

[Rose Siding]

19. $20,000 in the last hour

:bounce:

[Cheswick2.0]

22. Dean is collecting 3 times the money that Clark is

Clark should have such a slow down.

[bearfartinthewoods]

10. the problem with dismissing all DC democrats is that some

of them are in congress and the senate and if they are up for re-election in 04 will have to campaign with whoever is at the top of the ticket. this is going to be hard if the top of the ticket is against the war and the congressman or senator wasn't.

so we have people running against, not only a pubbie but the dem prez candidate as well.

no one ever wants to talk about what happens if dean is the dandidate..and we fall even further in the house and senate.

[Rose Siding]

15. Dean's blog recently raised about 60 grand for Boswell

a DLCer with no strings attatched.

I think that's a language the DC dems will understand.

[KittyWampus]

12. "Washington Democrats"? His Supporters Finally Got The Talking Point Right

:D

Dean versus the "Washington Democrats"... give me a BREAK!

First you all tried Dean was an Outsider versus the Insiders
Then Dean was a REAL Democrat versus the DLC'ers

Keep trying to make Dean look like an outsider but it doesn't and won't work.

Dean is a DLC'er and an insider and the latest effort to try and use the "Washington" hook is just weak... as weak as Dean himself who now whines constantly about the Democratic Process.

Mommy, they're actually talking about my record again... make them stop. :cry:
Mommy, they won't just line up behind me because Al Gore sez so...

[Rose Siding]

17. Clearly defined (after the "-")

as the ones who rolled over. Dean IS outside that, you can bank on it.

[rogerashton]

25. What's interesting is

it doesn't stick to Dean. That's how it is with real politicians, who win elections.

[KittyWampus]

28. Doesn't "Stick To Dean"? You Mean Teflon? Like Junior's?

You think Dean has some intrinsic quality that allows all this to roll off him?

That is just not right.

[lurk_no_more]

26. Interesting choice of words

gore as prone to reinventing himself

Isn't that exactly what dean is doing now? Oh that's right, he's not reinventing himself, he's "growing".......into the reinvented presidential candidate dean.


Food for thought from….“JAFO”

[Rose Siding]

27. That was part of the rwing and Kool Kidz attack on Gore

They used all kinds of BS slime against him. Maybe some of it stuck when it shouldn't have because it wasn't countered successfully.

Using weapons from the last conflict isn't a good idea when your opponent is on to them.

[Rose Siding]

31. Washington Ds and the "consultants who feed off them"

Wonder who that would be?

[IndianaGreen]

32. Unless the Democrats destroy themselves....

The nomination of a prowar candidate may just do the trick and resurrect what everyone else expected to be a mere blip over the horizon: Another Nader run for the Presidency.

Published in the January 12, 2004 issue of The Nation
Fleeing the Greens
by John Nichols

Unless the Democrats destroy themselves, either with a fratricidal fight for the nomination or by selecting a pro-war, pro-free trade candidate like Joe Lieberman, 2004 is not shaping up as a particularly good year for breaking the grip of the two major parties. Polls and anecdotal evidence tell the same story: With his pre-emptive wars abroad and pre-emption of civil liberties and civil society at home, Bush has made the choice so stark that voters are unlikely to feel very adventurous come November.

<snip>

So why go independent? Critics (and even former supporters) say this is just the latest evidence that Nader is on an extended ego trip. But that's a simplistic calculation. Nader has an ego, but his presidential ambitions have always been guided by a firm, and hardly irrational, belief that both major parties are corrupted--the Republicans beyond repair and the Democrats not much better. Nader wants to upset the country's politics just as he upset the corporate world with his unsafe-at-any-speed activism of the 1960s. There's little point in questioning his sincerity. There is, however, good reason to question his strategy.

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1226-07.htm