The Austrailian: Democrats fear Dean flipside is flop

[La_Serpiente]

Democrats fear Dean flipside is flop

Nobody in Washington has a nastier sneer than former Clinton political adviser James Carville, whose ire is normally directed at Republicans. But Carville appears to have a new target these days: Democratic presidential frontrunner Howard Dean.

"Convince me that I'm wrong," he challenged Democrat party chairman Terry McAuliffe on CNN this week.

"I'm just scared to death that this guy gets out there and says things and would be a weak candidate against Bush. Tell me something to make me feel better, because I really want to feel like I can get behind it. My gut just can't get me there right now."

Many Democrats have got the jitters. With just over a week to go before Iowans cast the first votes for the Democrats lining up to take on George W. Bush, the biggest fear is that the man who has most effectively energised the party will be a disaster at November's general election.

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Democrats fear Dean flipside is flop

[tedoll78]

1. haha!

Just one year ago, I remember Carville singing a different tune.

I'm paraphrasing here: "If he had money, he'd be dangerous."

Well, well.. looks like he's dangerous, eh?

[bearfartinthewoods]

2. the tune is the same. i totally agree with and share carville's fear

solling with dean in this campaign will be like moving nitro over a bumpy road.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[farmbo]

7. Welcome to DU...Please re-post your photoshop dealie on Free Republic...

Where it belongs.

[tedoll78]

4. oooohh..

"Boogie boogie! Mondale Mondale! Boo!"

So you've scared me into supporting Clark. Better?

hehe..

[nightperson]

5. My gut also can't get me there right now.

Maybe Carville is just spinning away, but he perfectly expresses how I have felt all along about everyone except Kerry. I could be wrong. I do feel "scared to death". I have been hoping for a long time that someone would "Tell me something to make me feel better". Maybe I'm ignorant, maybe my gut is misleading me, but why for so long? I'm ABB, and Kerry's been slammed by so many for so long that many times I really have wanted to "feel like I can get behind it" with both the Clark and Dean campaigns, but neither has really excited me, and I wonder how that bodes for picking up any non-Democrats? Maybe I'm unusual or really out of touch. Could be. I think "the gut", "intuition", "instinct", "common sense", whatever you want to call it is important in my everyday life. It doesn't seem to get me into that much trouble, and my gut still tells me that over the long haul Kerry's opponents will be so much tougher to sell. I don't think it is "freeperish" to remind people that Bush is still ahead after all this time. Everything is not going swimmingly. It looks like it is going to be a long hard slog at best. Right now, as usual, we're not winning. We don't exactly have Congress in the palm of our hands, either. We should be brainstorming and asking what we're doing wrong, not making wild assumptions about Carol Moseley Braun being capable of an 85% sweep (I'm exaggerating, but most of you probably know the kind of mindless cheerleader comments we see here sometimes!) We should be damn careful about who we choose as the candidate, and also as V.P. (Kerry comes to mind as an obvious choice). O.K., I'll shut up and hope I see something from the other campaigns that calms my gut.

[tedoll78]

6. That was a really good post.

Thoughtful!

I often wonder what we've been doing wrong for the past few years too. Honestly, it's demoralizing to see the charts of congress where the red seats are increasingly taking over. Especially in the Senate. God, was that heartbreaking! No matter whom we nominate, I think it's going to be as close as 2000 was. The blue states are returning to their natural tendencies, as the red states are doing likewise, while the purple states are still as close as ever. The campaign will be dirty. We'll be called weak on defense, anti-American, commies, etc. They'll have Rush and Hannity on the radio every day, attempting to take-down anyone we put-up.

Whenever I feel down about this kind of thing, I remind myself of USSC Justice John Paul Stevens. He's in his 80's. He could kick at any minute (sorry to sound crass). And Bush could tip the scales with a Scalia clone. It scares the bejeesus out of me, and it makes me willing to fight like hell for anyone we nominate - eagerly.

If it's of any comfort, we had the same fears in 1992. Once the nominee is decided, you can bet that he/she will appear with all of the other candidates as a powerful show of unity. Then, we'll quickly be reminded of our main primary.. the ridding of the White House of that insipid Chimp. Best wishes!