Reply #74: DEAN used it as a pejorative, which he did often.

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No matter how you spin it, Dean is the one who bought into the GOP hype of that word, not me. I NEVER in my life used that term pejoratively, as I have been a proud liberal since I was a schoolgirl.

Clinton would NEVER use it in the way Dean did. Dean couldn't just be a centrist, he had to take his shots at the left, too.

>>>>>>>>
Dean kept his distance from his party's liberals during his governorship.

''He seemed to take glee in attacking us at every opportunity and using us as a way to form alliances with more conservative elements,'' said former state Sen. Cheryl Rivers, a leader of the state Democrats' liberal wing and former chairwoman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee.

. . .

Dean trimmed spending or held down increases in areas held dear by the liberals. More than once, Dean went to battle over whether individual welfare benefits should rise under automatic cost of living adjustments. Liberals were particularly incensed when he tried that tactic on a program serving the blind, disabled and elderly, which he did several times.

. . .