Reply #16: Hardly

[K-W]

They dont like Dean because he has run his campaign as an opposition candidate to the democratic establishment. The DLC people believe that they know the best way to approach the election. So do you, I imagine. They are neither clearly right or clearly wrong, but I certainly wont begrudge them thier opinion.

If the DLC's only concern was retaining power, why wouldnt they just embrace Dean? If Dean wins the primary and the DLC alienates themselves from him, they will lose alot of thier political clout. Just as clinton's election led them to power. I wouldnt expect them to take such a risk if their only motivation was retaining power. I would however expect that move if they earnestly felt that Dean was dangerous to the party. An opinion that may not be correct, but is certainly understandable.

The only other option is that Dean has flat out told them that he will never let the DLC near him and they feel that defeating dean is thier only way to survival, but that doesnt really sound like something Dean would do, and if he did it would reflect rather poorly on him, not the DLC.

Howard Dean is not a knight in shining armor. He is a politician that, believe it or not, some people dont think is the best choice.