Want to WIN again? Simple Solution: Put THIS GUY Back In Charge of the DNC!

[TrollBuster9090]

Remind me again, what did the Democratic Party Establishment have against Howard Dean? That he was TOO VOCAL in his defense of liberalism, and Democratic Party principles? And they were afraid that being too vocal in defense of Democratic Party principles would lead to election LOSSES? Yeah, I think that was it.

Seriously, I can't believe that we, as a Party, allowed a moment of Democratic Party PASSION to become his downfall. Let's turn the "Dean Scream" into a RALLYING CRY.

[Phlem]

1. You know it.

[BillZBubb]

2. Yep, didn't want him scaring off the big donors...

[TrollBuster9090]

3. Screw the big donors. It's time we started worrying about the big VOTERS.

And if big donors were scared off by "crazy" passion, they wouldn't have been donating truckloads of money to the GOP all these years while they were screeching about impeachments and government shutdowns. (And actually DOING those things.)

Yeah, I think it's time we stopped worrying about cultivating a donor-class, and started worrying about cultivating a faithful voter-class. And furthermore, disavowing ourselves from all big money donors altogether would give us ammunition to throw at the Republicans about their crazy corporate donors. That's not something we can attack them on when we're doing the same thing.

[calimary]

8. YES, dammit. Screw the big donors. We need Howard back!

Pretty desperately, too, if you ask me. When he wins for us again the big donors will come back.

[HatTrick]

4. Totally agree

You got it!

I used to like Debbie Wasserman Schultz when her and the other young Democrats would be on the house floor after hours responding to lies the last time the republicans controlled both houses. She's been a disaster as DNC chairman. She seemed to dust off the Terry McAuliffe playbook on how to lose election after election.

[TrollBuster9090]

5. Yeah, I forgot about McAuliffe. (Or tried to, at least)

If we're interested in winning, how about we go to people who have a HISTORY of winning? Dean is at the top of my list for that.

Maybe the silver lining to this cloud is that the "Republican Lite" strategy was tried BIG TIME in this election and it FAILED. If we're smart, we'll point out that this loss was a repudiation of that strategy. If we're dumb, we'll just blame it on "historically, this always happens," or blame it on "well, Obama was just too unpopular..."

[calimary]

9. Hah! I remember that too.

There was a mom at our kids' elementary school who knew him socially and was a Dem supporter and she just gushed! "Oh he's SUCH a good FUNDRAISER!" Well, it doesn't make one damn bit of difference how frickin' much fundraising you do IF YOU DON'T WIN!!!!!

Howard Dean. Period. That Is ALL!!!

So how do we proceed?

[WaitWut]

6. I think putting him in the right spot is

the most important decision that can be made right now.

Move him to DNC chair and then we can return to 50 state strategy. With or without money he fired up more volunteers than DWS has done in six years.

Money is going to follow power, it can't afford not to.

[calimary]

10. Totally and Absolutely.

So how do we proceed???? We NEED to do this!!! Without delay!!!!

[ffr]

7. YEAHHHHHHH! I with you. I love Dean's passion, as I do my own.

YEAHHHHHHH!

YEAHHHHHHH!

YEAHHHHHHH!

YEAHHHHHHH!

YEAHHHHHHH!

YEAHHHHHHH!

YEAHHHHHHH!

YEAHHHHHHH!

YEAHHHHHHH!

YEAHHHHHHH!

YEAHHHHHHH!

YEAHHHHHHH!

[Maineman]

11. Absolutely agree!!

[smile777]

12. Totally agree!

We desperately need his energy, his vision, his honesty and passion for democratic ideas. How do we go about getting him back as DNC chairman? Write in???

[villager]

13. If you have sustained, multi-year Democratic majorities, then the myth that your "hands are tied"

...in terms of delivering progressive change, and legislation, is shattered.

And that would probably be bad for fundraising.

[Hulk]

14. This is the man the country NEEDS NOW!

Actually, we could have used him in an active role this past election cycle. What a discouraging campaign and final results the democratic party experienced this past week. Pathetic is the only word that comes to mind. "Put your tails between your legs and crawl behind the couch."

We've heard that enough now. Now it's time to do something constructive. We know why we lost. Now we need to put that knowledge into a force that will recapture the Congress from the party of the wealthy and corporations and give it back to the middle class and struggling Americans. We need to keep the White House with the BIGGEST landslide victory in history. We CAN do it. But we need strong leaders like Howard Dean to get us there. We can't let the teabaggin' repuKKKes dictate the message any longer. It's time to crawl out from under the couch.

Howard Dean.....WHERE ARE YOU???

[paleotn]

15. Yes! (nt)

[Old Nick]

16. BOOM!

[panfluteman]

17. So That Was All It Was???

That's what got him kicked off the campaign trail??? I was out of the loop, traveling abroad, I believe, when the whole thing happened. Before I left, Howard Dean was the big mover and shaker, the up and coming juggernaut in the primaries, and when I got back, he was history. For God's sake, that was just a little passion - he wasn't going totally berserk. I'm sure that there were other forces at work besides Dean's Hoo-Hahs that derailed his campaign, which otherwise looked unstoppable. Like back room deals in smoke filled rooms, between political godfathers operating in the shadows, or something like that. Anybody know the real story?

[PADemD]

18. Wolf Blitzer played the Dean Scream tape ad nauseam.

IMO, Wolf Blitzer and CNN derailed the Dean campaign.

[90-percent]

20. The Dean scream propaganda blitzer

That was a magnificently propagandized, slanted, distorted, airbrushed, photoshopped, cosmetic surgeried sound bite that was run repeatedly on the republican propaganda networks.

The editing and the sound was highly modified to make Dean appear to be a screaming lunatic. He was in a crowded noisy room and he was trying to cheer lead the crowd into enthusiastic victory. What they played was the feed directly off his mic, which took away all the other sounds behind Howard.

If this was recorded 10 feet away from Howard and showed the context of the event more accurately, he would not have been so viciously brought down.

"YOU CAN'T WIN IF YOU DON'T STAND FOR ANYTHING" Our core Democratic principles are based on fairness, opportunity, Democracy and A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD. To put it another way, our principals are mostly about the economic fairness and prosperity we enjoyed post WW2 until perhaps the mid 70's. Fairness doctrine, progressive taxation, and so much other FDR era laws designed to solve the problems of the depression have been completely dismantled over the last 35 years. THIRTY FIVE YEARS

One profound example of being ashamed to be a Democrat was When Allison Grimes in Ky. could not even admit that she voted for Obama! Dems must really suck if you can't even admit you voted for our two term democratic President, who seems to have done a magnificent job in spite of the infuriating Republican obstruction, which has seemed to work out quite well for them!

Why are we all so ashamed to be Dems when our core principals are rooted in the basic principals of Democracy? Why do we loose to politicians that openly support the wealthy Oligarchs that have turned America into one of the most economically unjust countries on the planet?

Do we want democracy and winning elections or wealthy donors and losing elections?

-90% Jimmy

[IronLionZion]

19. That dude elected a lot of moderates to red states

which greatly expanded the size and geographic coverage of our big tent. It was satisfying to see the maps coverd in blue in 2006 and 2008.

We can either have a 50 state strategy or the purged strategy, but not both. Many on here are blaming those red state dems for their problems for some reason, without really thinking through the fact that many of them have now been replaced by tea party extremists.

Liberals are concentrated in small geographic areas like cities. Conservatives have a much larger geographic advantage in more congressional districts and state legislatures, plus the koch money and recent disastrous supreme court rulings on campaign financing.

[HenryWallace]

21. …… Déjà vu

Why would Dean do this?

Against conventional wisdom, he ran muscular campaigns that benefited all Democratic candidates and promoted progressive ideals.

As his reward, he was purposely kicked to the curb by the Party establishment. Forced to sojourn in the wilderness for six years; no role in governance, no voice in the Party he had a hand in building.

There is no doubt he would be perfect for this job; he knows what it takes awaken the sleeping giant!

What Governor Dean really needs is a Party establishment worth his efforts.