Ho Ho Ho.. It's the Foot in Mouth Grinch
According to this story Howard Dean has now called the moderate Democrats who make up the DLC the Republican Wing of the Democratic Party. This comes just a week after Dean clearly repudiated Clinton in a major policy speech.
The DLC's New Dem Daily had this to say--
Our differences with Gov. Dean's campaign are substantive, not personal. His name-calling yesterday echoes the age-old tactic of some on the Democratic Left who don't want to come to grips with the substance of what New Democrats are telling the party. We think it's critically important that Democrats are credible on national security issues; open and inclusive on cultural issues; imaginative on ways to implement progressive values through new ideas; persuasive to voters who care about real-life results rather than partisan invective; rational as well as energized. Those Democrats who disagree with these views should make counter-arguments instead of adopting the brain-dead tactic of suggesting they are the only "real Democrats."
Of course, Dean's comment will undoubtedly fuel the fires of his die-hard, Kool Aid drinking Deaniacs. But what does this sort of remark say to those of us who would like to support the Democratic nominee, even if it is Dean? Why should I support someone who is openly disdainful of my values and my politics and my contribution to the Party?
Further, what does it say to the vast majority of Americans who consider themselves moderate? Dean and his followers are doing their darnedest to turn off all but the most loyal of the Democratic Left. It is interesting to note that anytime this is brought up the DFA folks trot out their non-Left supporters. But the reality is that the core group of Deaniacs are not only left of center in the general population, but left of the center of the Democratic universe. Virulent anti-Bushism only takes a candidate so far and Dean must realize that at some point he has to reach out to the middle. But, if he cannot even reach out to the moderates of his own party, how can he ever reach out to moderates in general?
The DLC's New Dem Daily had this to say--
Our differences with Gov. Dean's campaign are substantive, not personal. His name-calling yesterday echoes the age-old tactic of some on the Democratic Left who don't want to come to grips with the substance of what New Democrats are telling the party. We think it's critically important that Democrats are credible on national security issues; open and inclusive on cultural issues; imaginative on ways to implement progressive values through new ideas; persuasive to voters who care about real-life results rather than partisan invective; rational as well as energized. Those Democrats who disagree with these views should make counter-arguments instead of adopting the brain-dead tactic of suggesting they are the only "real Democrats."
Of course, Dean's comment will undoubtedly fuel the fires of his die-hard, Kool Aid drinking Deaniacs. But what does this sort of remark say to those of us who would like to support the Democratic nominee, even if it is Dean? Why should I support someone who is openly disdainful of my values and my politics and my contribution to the Party?
Further, what does it say to the vast majority of Americans who consider themselves moderate? Dean and his followers are doing their darnedest to turn off all but the most loyal of the Democratic Left. It is interesting to note that anytime this is brought up the DFA folks trot out their non-Left supporters. But the reality is that the core group of Deaniacs are not only left of center in the general population, but left of the center of the Democratic universe. Virulent anti-Bushism only takes a candidate so far and Dean must realize that at some point he has to reach out to the middle. But, if he cannot even reach out to the moderates of his own party, how can he ever reach out to moderates in general?
posted by Anonymous at 1:41 PM
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