On Dean not being DNC Chairman....

[berni_mccoy]

He's hammering the Baucus bill as he should be.

If he were the Chair of the DNC, would he be able to do that? If he were chair of the DNC would he have been able to twist Baucus' arm into not making such a terrible bill?

I'm asking because I really like having Dean out there smashing that bill to pieces and can't make up my mind if he would have been more effective as the DNC Chair or as he is now.

[thunder rising]

1. There has also been a pathetic effort by the DNC to further the base. It looks like they are going

to "ride" on Deans base. Of course with Baucus' bill I'm not sure anybody could get a dime.

The real downside is that if they pass a poor healthcare reform bill and the base ceases to fund them ... they will be force to get funds from the Corps and this episode of people power is officially ended.

[dflprincess]

2. The amount of money the base contributes has never equaled what they get

in bribes, er, contributions from the corporate interests.

The only thing we can hurt them with is withholding our votes and they don't believe we'll do that because where else can we go?

We can only hope that enough of them will have primary challenges that they may figure out that money isn't everything.

[janx]

3. Howard Dean has been a great advocate for American government,

as a presidential candidate, chair of the DNC, and founder of Democracy for America. He has experience as a Vermont doctor, and his wife, Judy, still practices there. Your question is a good one, and I think he's more valuable now than ever. :hi:

[Davis_X_Machina]

4. The Baucus bill is irrelevant.

Finance has to report out something, for complicated procedural reasons involving possible use of the reconciliation process.

The game is elsewhere. People keep acting like the bill Obama signs will be the Baucus draft -- it's not out of his own committee yet, fer chrissakes....

As DNC chair, Dean, like Reid in the Senate, and Pelosi in the House, would have to carefully determine the existing center of the actual Party, and work from that point. He would not be able to run around roasting barons in his own party -- you will notice, if you go back and look at the 2005-07 time frame, that's exactly what he did not do.