Sigh! Money entices Dean to take a walk on the dark side

[placton]

Howard Dean has long cultivated an image as the plainspoken doctor who speaks for the left wing of the Democratic Party, a role he still plays as a pugnacious pundit on TV. But since his term as chairman of the Democratic National Committee ended in January 2009, Dr. Dean has taken on a less-noticed role: paid advocate for interest groups that would find few fans among the progressive voters once energized by Dean's 2004 presidential bid.

Dean may not be the worst of the "buckrakers," those prototypical capital characters who exploit their name and connections without regard for principle. But his recent political forays seem to have diverged from his trailblazing left-liberal past.


http://www.salon.com/news/politics/howard_dean/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/09/01/howard_dean_paid_advocate

[FSogol]

1. Unrec. Throwing Dean under the bus now?

:shrug:

[Greybnk48]

2. Not gonna happen. n/t

[dionysus]

3. Dean never was the super liberal people claim he was. he was a centrist with a brass pair.

i still wish he had beaten kerry in 03.

[Erose999]

7. I'm fine with centrists as long as they stand for the "center". Most "centrists" are DLC types who

want to push the center farther right.

[Le Taz Hot]

4. It breaks my heart to do this but K & R

Anyone on DU can tell you I was one of the first Dean supporters and THE first in California to start a chapter of DFA. But I can't ignore the facts and I've been questioning his pronouncements now for a couple of years. I'm afraid my beloved Dr. Dean has been lured by the DC big bucks and I'm truly, truly sorry to have to acknowledge it.

Now, onward and upward in search of Progressives throughout the country who WILL fight for the rights of We The People and if they won't, fuck 'em.

[dkf]

5. I trust his judgment.

Sounds like he believes in his causes.

[Shagbark Hickory]

6. Not a Dean fan any longer. He's a sellout.

Can't listen to a word he says anymore.

[Davis_X_Machina]

8. He never wasn't a sellout.

People have extrapolated from a few positions of his and created a Dean who never existed.

[Shagbark Hickory]

10. Perhaps. n/t

[pipi_k]

11. Actually I think that's pretty common

People "creating" someone based on what they want to believe, I mean.

Politics. Romantic attachments. Here on DU.


We "see" the politicians we want to see.

We put our prospective lovers on a pedestal, of sorts, and when they fall off, we're devastated.

And here on DU, a number of people judge other DUers' motives based on a few things they read on a discussion forum.


People see what they want to see... :shrug:

[Le Taz Hot]

12. The two biggest attractions for Dean in 2003 and 2004

was a) his support for Civil Unions and b) his anti-war stance. The frontrunners all voted for the war and none of them would even get close to Civil Unions much less marriage equality. Dean brought a true populist base and pioneered internet fundraising. I disagree that "he was never a sellout." As a staunch supporter I NEVER thought he was a liberal, just more liberal and maybe more honest than the frontrunners.

[Larkspur]

9. Regarding MEK, Dean has always been hawkish for Israel

and many neoliberals and neoconservatives think MEK will benefit Israel.