How Howard Dean can be a hero

[bluestateguy]

I realize that he already is a hero to many of his supporters, but that is not my concern here. If Howard Dean actively campaigns for the Democratic nominee (likely Kerry) and courts Nader sympathizers in key, but Green heavy states like Oregon, Iowa, Maine, etc. he will be a hero to the Democratic Party. Naderities will listen to Dean much more carefully than they willl to Kerry. Dean would be able to say that he delivered the White House to Kerry in 2004 because he convinced the Naderities to vote Democratic. Surely that would not be forgotten, and of course he would only be 64 in 2012.

[slinkerwink]

1. if Kerry fucks up his first term badly, then it's Dean in '08!

[bluestateguy]

2. Yes, I suppose that's an option too

He could be the watchdog on the Left flank, ensuring that Kerry stays true to Democratic principles. I trust Dean to do that much more than I do Ralph Nader.

[mydawgmax]

21. Maybe the populist flank but not the left flank.

I know this has been said a thousand times Dean is no lefty. Dean may well be a good watch dog, and push a populist agenda, but he won't be guarding the left flank becuase he is not of it. A lot of lefty democrats supported other candidates becuase Dean was too centrist.

[Eloriel]

3. I'm sure he'll be

just so fucking eager to follow your advice on what he should do.

Why don't you go work on your candidate instead?

[bluestateguy]

6. Now aren't we being a sore loser

I'm glad Bill Bradley didn't take that approach. My candidate, Wes Clark, was not nominated, but we fought the good fight and now it's time to support the team. Clark, Dean and the other 7 candidates will be supporting the nominee. They are urging you to do the same.

[Scott Lee]

10. Nope - if I wanted to support a loser, I'd be for Kerry

[bluestateguy]

12. So you can vote for Nader, who will lose 50 states.

Makes sense to me.

[maxanne]

24. I must have missed something

where did Scott say he was supporting Nader?

[maxanne]

14. good

then why not go tell Clark what he ought to be doing, instead of wasting your time on Howard the Unelectable? Funny, ya'll dissed him big time for the last 6 months, and now everyone is demanding he campaign for another candidate. Aren't you afraid he might get out there and SCREAM, or something???



Bwaaaahahahahaha

[bluestateguy]

17. Clark has campaigned for Kerry

He did so in Wisconsin. That is not my concern. I have yet to hear a Clark supporter here talk about picking up their marbles and voting for a fringe third party candidate. Nor am I worried about Sharpton supporters. For a candidate to just slap the winner of the party nomination in the face is actually a very elitist anti-democratic thing to do. It shows disrespect to the people who voted for him by convincing margins in 16 out of 18 states.

[maxanne]

22. what you fail to recognize

is that Howard Dean doesn't owe Kerry anything. His campaign workers sabotaged the Dean campaign here in NH. So, Kerry's organization fucks Dean over, and now Dean's supposed to be all kissy about it?

Right.

[Eloriel]

25. When he does that, bluestateguy, I may agree with you. He hasn't

So kwitcherbitchin. You're talking to Dean supporters, and only a handful at that.

Further, I haven't seen that many Dean supporters say they'll be backing Nader. Maybe I've just missed it. Or maye you're imaginging it.

[jonnyblitz]

20. I agree

Cuban Liberal had a good thread on this earlier about people that did nothing but snarled and hiss at Dean and his supporters that now want him to do this and that, denounce whomever etc. Fuck them. they can eat shit.

[ProudToBeLiberal]

4. Howard Dean has done enough for the Party

I mean he is preserving his grassroots organization to help out democrats in local elections.

[MurikanDemocrat]

5. I wouldn't be surprised if he did just that.

Regardless of what a few bitter sourpusses here would have us think.

[DannyRed]

7. More importantly

Dean could proved both a face and a vehicle to achieve what many Nader voters wanted in 2000 - reform of the Democratic Party and a shift of that party back to its natural and historical constituents.

In 2000, and in many other elections past, one of the reasons why many progressives and greens went third party was as a message, an attempt to make their voices heard in the Democratic councils and centers of power - their message? "DON'T TAKE US FOR GRANTED"

Perhaps Dean can be the way to BOTH incorporate and engage that group AND as a means for that group to achieve its aims without further weakening what is (for now and unfortunately) the only viable alternative to the scumbag shitstains on the right.

[janx]

8. I don't think you understand.

Howard Dean and his supporters are not into the race to please Kerry. His point all along was the appeal to the real democracy afforded us by the Constitution.

I am a literary fiction writer and I hate politics now. I hate Democratic politics.

[Droopy]

9. Why would the Greens listen to Dean?

Dean is a centrist who has very little in common with the Greens. The role you are speaking of would more correctly fit Kucinich. But I don't expect any Dems to go and specifically try to court Greens. If anything they'll just be stumping for whoever is the nominee and speaking to whoever will listen.

[bluestateguy]

11. Let me clarify

There are some Greens who would never vote for a Democrat. They are so far Left they have left the country. The hard core of the Green/Naderitie coaltion is not a constituency of the Democratic Party and never will be. They never would have voted for Gore, and never voted for Bill Clinton either. I'm talking about the liberal Democrat who voted for Nader in 2000 and is on the fence in this election.

[KFC]

19. Damn Right

No need to court the losers.

Reality escapes them.

[Sly Kal]

15. There are a lot of Greens at my meet-up for Dean

I guess they didn't get the memo.

[Rationality]

13. That would be difficult for Dean to do, I would imagine

Too much blood has been spilled between the two. Not to mention, Dean has been urging his supporters to continue fighting for some change here. Kerry's going to have to prove to us that he can connect to the populist artery of the Democrat party, and even if he can convince Dean supporters, I think Dean himself would not be Kerry's best friend as we approach November.

[tedoll78]

16. I'm a Deanie in my heart and mind..

but we need to beat Bush, and Kerry & Edwards are both far, far superior that no-longer-smug chimp.

I'll be emailing Dr Dean several times a week pleading with him to help shore-up the left flank for our party. If my fellow Dean supporters have so much faith in him, surely they'd listen to his reasoning, right?

[maxanne]

23. did your heart

and mind fail to communicate your Dean support to the rest of your parts?

[IndianaGreen]

18. Dean owes nothing to Kerry, or to the DNC, or the DLC

If Kerry is so bloody "electable," he won't need Dean's help.

If Kerry's "electability" is so threatened by Nader's fringe candidacy, then he should not be the nominee.

[Nashyra]

26. Any of the Dem candidates would need each others help after the primary

I could just imagine the howling here if the Kerry supporters were taking their marbles and going home instead of supporting Dean if he were the nominee. Frankly I would think that Dean would prefer not to have some here at DU as his supporters, Deans a fighter, not a sore loser. He wants his supporters to eventually support the nominee and not go to a 3rd party. I'm sure that Dean will be out there supporting and campaigning for the eventual candidate and for local races because he knows the big picture is getting rid of Bush. And he knows that the only way for change to occur is for Bush to be out of the WH.