(545 Recs @ DailyKos) Howard Dean vs. Rahm Emanuel by Cenk Uygur

[ihavenobias]

Howard Dean vs. Rahm Emanuel
By Cenk Uygur

It has always been thus. Now comes round two.

In the first round, Rahm Emanuel and Howard Dean butted heads on what strategy was best in regaining House seats in 2006 (also to some degree in 2008). Emanuel was chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Howard Dean was chair of the Democratic National Committee. Dean's path was the famous 50 state strategy. Emanuel thought that was foolish and that the Democratic Party would be much better served spending more money in traditional political ads in more "realistic" districts.

As it turned out, Emanuel was wrong and Dean was right. The Democrats won everywhere, including districts previously thought unimaginable. Dean's efforts to reach out to all the states paid off huge dividends as the Democrats became competitive in districts no one had thought possible.

Now, we're in the second round.

This time it's the health care debate. Rahm Emanuel has been pushing for a weaker version of reform from the beginning. In his defense, he believes he is focusing on what is doable (nearly the same thing he said during the previous House elections). Emanuel has argued for a trigger from the beginning of the debate and seems to think that a public option is not realistic in this political environment.

Howard Dean has instead argued for a stronger version of health care reform. He believes the country is persuadable (the same position he had in the House elections) and is largely on the side of bolder reform already. He believes the Democratic politicians need to have the courage of their convictions and they can make a real difference.

Once again, Howard Dean is right and Rahm Emanuel is wrong. The voters didn't vote for a little bit of change. They gave the Democrats the White House and overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate. They voted for real change. The kind of change that Dean always pushes for (and often accomplishes) and the kind of change that Emanuel doesn't ever find "realistic"...

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[alstephenson]

1. Kicked for Dr. Dean

[jannyk]

2. k&r for the good Doctor!

[20score]

3. Dean rocks. K&R.

[OhioChick]

4. K&R n/t

[Wetzelbill]

5. K & R

[bemildred]

6. Dean rules. nt

[jgraz]

7. Excellent read. K&R

[pleah]

8. K&R

[CherylK]

9. K & R!!!

[fadedrose]

10. K & R

[autorank]

11. k*r Howard by a TKO in the fourth

Rahm is a pesky fighter and he never gives up but Dean's power and actual commitment to principles
will carry him to a resounding victory. Rahm goes down! Rahm goes down!')

[ihavenobias]

46. No question about the fighter.

Unfortunately that's ALL he's good for.

[Turborama]

12. K&R&Sub'd

Real change is what the country wants. Real change is what the country needs.

Obama should replace Emanuel with Grayson.

Thanks for posting.

[ihavenobias]

19. And after that

he should replace Summers and Geithner.

[ihavenobias]

31. Wait

I just realized you wrote "sub'd" and I don't know what that means. I'll probably have a "oh duh" moment when you tell me.

[Turborama]

34. LOL

My home made abbreviation of Subscribed.

[katkat]

13. Howard, thank you.

Instead of a thousand points of light, we have midnight darkness with a few brave bonfires.

[yellerpup]

14. We voted for Change.

We still want it, especially in health care reform. It doesn't need tweaking, it needs to be broken down and put back together so that it works again. I'm all for Dr. Dean staying on top of and pointing out traditional political shortcomings. K&R!

[bjobotts]

41. Rahm thinks corporate money will flow to defeat dems if too much HC ins reform

[bjobotts]

42. But dems could get all that campaign money by making deals with them.

[bjobotts]

43. To a certain extent Obama already made secret deals with big Pharma

[bjobotts]

44. and pushed single payer off the table.A weak PO will prove he's listening to Rahm, not Dean

By weak I mean a PO that will not be allowed to cover anyone except those refused ins. due to poor health and the poor who can't afford ins. Which means it will fail as the cost is not spread out enough and it will be heavily subsidized by tax dollars meaning private ins gains it all by having ins mandatory. The public option should be open to all who want to be covered by it (making it closer to Medicare for all than anything else). Medicare for all is the answer so I wish these bought and paid for senators would qit screwing around and let us have what we want and need.

Polls show that most Americans would even agree to higher taxes to pay for it but my God, reduced premiums and co-pays would make tax increases the cheaper way to go.

[mod mom]

15. I was worried when Rahm was named CoS and again when Gov Dean was ignored for HHS.

As always, I stand with Howard Dean!

[matthewf]

16. k&r

[Iwillnevergiveup]

17. No contest

Howard Dean v. Rahm Emanuel? That's an easy one, and I hope Rahm is OUT in the not-too-distant future.

K&R

[WillyT]

18. Big K & R !!!

[libodem]

20. Good to see you around, ihavenobias

and nice article.

[FiveGoodMen]

21. Too bad that more of these jobs aren't up for public votes.

I'm pretty sure Dean would have beaten Emanuel in any contest that was up to us.

[JohnWxy]

22. Dean was right???? The "Blue Dogs" are Democrats in name only. They are worthless.

Dean's strategy delivered sham victories.

[SharonAnn]

36. The "Blue Dogs" are the ones promoted by Rahm Emmanuel. He nixed progressives.

[TheEuclideanOne]

49. I will take Sham Victories over definitive losses

And you?

So... what do you think.... it would be better to have solid wins of 35% of the population? They would not be Sham wins, as you call them, they would be real victories. The only problem is that we would have only 35% of them.

[dpbrown]

23. Emanuel... wrong again. Imagine that.

DLC toad.

[provis99]

24. DLC dopes like Emanuel are the Democratic equivalent of neo-cons.

Consistently wrong, consistently bad for the party and country, and consistently sellouts to big corporations.

[ihavenobias]

25. Amen. n/t

[ejbr]

26. kicked n/t

[Dangerously Amused]

27. Love Dr. Dean! As always, he is right from every perspective.

[MedfordTim]

28. k

[Tutankhamun]

29. Corporate tools like Emanuel and Geithner need to be mocked at every opportunity.

Progressives in the media need to mock them, poke fun at them, ridicule their transparent corporatism. He world needs to see what a joke they truly are.

[ihavenobias]

32. The only problem is

there are so few progressives in the media. The internet (the future of media) is another story though.

[zoff]

30. Dean and Grayson = good ...

... Emanuel and Nelson = crap

[OhioChick]

33. Kick n/t

[ihavenobias]

38. Thanks

[midnight]

35. The good Dr. is always right......

[ihavenobias]

40. And yet he wasn't offered any positions in the administration.

Interesting how that works...

[CherylK]

37. Bump!

[Seldona]

39. Kick. nt

[MedfordTim]

45. Kicked

go Howie!

[ihavenobias]

48. Howie?

I'm not sure that's allowed.

[izquierdista]

47. Rahm is a modest man with modest expectations

He has a lot to be modest about.

[fadedrose]

50. K