Sadly, I just wrote an email to Dr. Dean--

[MoJoWorkin]

I have been one of his most ardent supporters, and I just wrote him at the DNC to beg him to get on board in a public way with Conyers and the DSM. I am hoping there is a strategy at work, but I saw no reference at all to DSM on the DNC website.
I told him I never thought I would be writing him, begging him as I had to do before-- when I worked in the local office for the then Sen. Jean Carnahan, and literally begged her NOT to vote for the Iraq War Resolution, to no avail. We know who was right on that one.
I also said I had donated to his campaign and had since donated to the DNC, after he became chair, but that I would NEVER donate or support him again, if he didn't make the DSM his top priority, as there was an obvious chink in the armor--public opinion for the war at an all time low, and a window of opportunity on this issue wouldn't be open for long, without everyone piling on as much as possible to get the truth out there.
I told him all the things he was doing were important, but that the DSM WAS BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT AT THIS TIME.
I wonder if we would all take the time to write Dean and the DNC a similar letter, if it would do any good? I can only hope.:banghead: :shrug:

[Boredtodeath]

1. But, but, but...

Last week electronic voting was THE ISSUE OF OUR LIFETIME.

Could someone please decide what the agenda is supposed to be so we can ALL get on the right page?

Sheesh!

[MoJoWorkin]

2. I agree that BBV is important

But we need to hammer the DSM, as it is an opportunity given to us at this time. I was just trying to show the NEED to do it NOW.

[For PaisAn]

3. Well, IMO,

Electronic Voting is THE most important issue for our country. And DSM is an issue of utmost importance that, if addressed, would have the greatest immediate impact. I think the DNC can and should get on board with both issues. I'm sure they can handle 2 issues at once, don't you?

[MoJoWorkin]

5. yes, they can handle more than 2 issues, but I don't see the

support for the DSM yet, and there needs to be SOLID DEM support

[For PaisAn]

17. You're right

They should be supporting both. I don't see efforts from them to suppport and promote either issue.

[Diamonique]

4. Dean is Doing His Job

Leave him alone. He's the Chairman of the DNC... not a Congressman or Senator. He's raising funds and setting up a nationwide strategy to help us win elections, and that strategy includes getting our messed up voting procedures straightened out. We can't expect him to jump on the issue du jour every time some new WH outrage surfaces.

[MoJoWorkin]

7. Sorry, but this is not just an issue du jour

If you can't see the fact that finally the 'Mericun public is coming around to the fact that the Iraq war was wrong for us to engage in, and that this is a golden opportunity to awaken the sleeping giant and to do damage to W and the neocons, then I am sorry.
As I have said, I wanted Dean to be Pres from the beginning. If there is a strategy to NOT be vocal in support, then I would like to know why. I have defended Dean at every turn, and said "let him do his job"--but I think that support of Conyers and DSM IS HIS JOB, OK?

[NYCGirl]

9. Because you think it's his job, that doesn't alter the fact that it isn't.

NT

[MoJoWorkin]

16. I disagree

I think that it is his job to continue to speak to the issue that brought him to his current position, and basically created his following. I agree he has been doing a good job, without, sad to say, backing from fellow Dems, and I am not criticizing that part of his Chairmanship at all, but that I am baffled at why he is not speaking out on this-- one of his central issues in his presidential bid. I think he is doing a great job at re-organization; but it wouldn't take much to mention support of DSM Conyers inquiry, would it? It has as much place on the DNC website as Tom DeLay, I think.

[For PaisAn]

18. What?

Of course it's the DNC's job. They should be actively assisting efforts to expose Bush & Co. for the lying murderers that they are.

[ldf]

22. american people have the right to arrive at their own stupid decisions

afterall, that is the american way.

but americans do not take kindly to be taken as chumps, being manipulated into making a stupid decision.

now is the time to prove that point, and now is the time all those who can should jump on it.

electronic voting is, overall, the issue that must be dealt with if we are ever to have another free election.

however, the issue of the moment, the one that will expose to the american populace that they have been schtupped, with no lube (and i mean that in a BAD way), is the DSM.

it should be an "all hands on deck" issue, voices united, persistant and unrelenting.

[ElectroPrincess]

6. Dean is part of, what we used to say in the 60's, THE ESTABLISHMENT NOW!

Perhaps he will speak out on the DSM, probably not.

One thing I know, as much as I've loved and volunteered for the Democratic Party in the past, the DNC is not getting ONE PENNY from me until they start representing THE PEOPLE not the Corporations or Lobbyists in D.C.

Dean's trying to "do it all" now, he must decide, and decide SOON, exactly where his loyalties lie: 1) the ESTABLISHED lap-dog Democrats in the House and Senate; 2) the Corporate Lobbyists and their organizations; or 3) The seemingly ENDLESS masses of people who are crying out for JUSTICE!

I fear that he has already made his choice AND it's not for us. :(

In the past it has NOT EVER been the press or our spineless representatives that have *FORCED THE ISSUE* but the people who demand justice.

We must keep strong ... writing media and our representatives ad nausea. They must KNOW that they will NOT BE re-elected if they continue this "gutless" course.

[NYCGirl]

8. Oh, please. He's doing the job he was elected to do, which is building the

party, and working to get Democrats elected in 06 an 08. That's his job, not to be the party mouthpiece.

And as far as the DNC is concerned, they've earned the large majority of their funds since McAuliffe left from INDIVIDUALS, not CORPORATIONS. Three of the DNC's corporate fundraisers have resigned, because they're no longer the focus.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0615-28.htm

You see, Dean -- unlike his inside-the-Beltway predecessor Terry McAuliffe -- is actually trying to build an alternative to the corporate base of the GOP. Even Newsweek's Howard Fineman, long a reflection of conventional Washington wisdom, recognizes the importance of this shift. "Early in the last 'cycle,' in 2001, the
Republican National Committee outraised the DNC by a 3-1 margin," Fineman writes. "So far this year, that ratio has been cut to 2-1."

"More important," Fineman continues, "is the way it was raised. In the past the party relied on 'soft money' from millionaires. But such donations are now illegal. Officials estimate that $12 million of the $14 million the Dean regime has collected so far this year has come from those who gave less than $250. 'For people who really look hard at the numbers, he's wowing people,' says Elaine Kamarck, a respected DNC member."

In just over a hundred days on the job, Dean has visited 22 states, devolving badly-needed resources and control to the grassroots. On these trips, Dean flies coach, buys his own bus tickets and carries his own bags. Democrats in red states like Nebraska have already received 10 times the amount Terry McAullife provided last year. State party chairs describe Dean's visits as "electric," "ecstatic," and "very excited," Sam Graham-Felsen recently reported on Alternet. Nick Casey, West Virginia's State Democratic Chair, said people were driving "three hours from the south, five hours from the east, just to hear him."

Actual DNC members, rather than unnamed Democratic insiders, know this approach will pay off. "I hope Governor Dean will remember that he didn't get elected to be a wimp," DNC member Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a South Carolina state representative, said after this weekend's DNC executive committee meeting. "We have been waiting a long time for someone to stand up for Democrats."

[ElectroPrincess]

13. What you elaborated on above is EXACTLY what many

democrats said of their representatives during the Vietnam War.

NO, he's not doing his job if he let's the truth get covered up. Hey, I respect Dean but he has to CHOOSE - no half stepping is allowed in a time of crisis such as this: Does Dean fully stand for the people or is he just "doing his job."

Merely doing your job isn't good enough NOW! Kindly WTFU and get with the program. NOT ONE politician, even Clark (although I have great respect for him) will SAVE us UNLESS we light a fire underneath their ASS and DEMAND that they do what's right for THE PEOPLE.

[NYCGirl]

14. Why don't you go after the people who actually vote on issues and make

the laws? Dean is not the only person in Washington, you know. Screaming for one white knight to come along and change everything is going to get you nowhere.

And who the hell is "half-stepping"? Dean is standing for the people in the way he can — getting Democrats elected so we can have some REAL power, not just words.

[MoJoWorkin]

12. I have been an active Dem since I was 15 and worked for JFK--

Kennedy, that is, in the 60's. I am almost at my last straw, however, as I really expected Dean to NOT become part of the DLC, which has subverted what the Democratic party stands for. I am not quite ready to give up on Dean yet. Of course there are a couple of issues on which I did not agree with him, but that happens with all politicians, and I am old enough to realize that there is never going to be 100% agreement with anyone; but I thought we were on on the same page on the Iraq war, as Dean said from the beginning, and was one of the first to say, going to war on Iraq was based on lies. Dean was always a straight shooter on where he stood and was firm--that is what I liked about him. I am hoping that there is a reason (like when the DU'ers here didn't want the Conyers hearing to be held at DNC headquarters, so as to not look super partisan) why Dean is holding back. I know only Reps are signing on to the Conyers letter, as that is procedure, but that doesn't prevent Dean and the DNC from speaking out about it and putting it on website.
I will be watching and hoping, as I cannot give up hope

[koopie57]

10. How long has Dean been head of the DNC?

And now many times has he spoke out only to be slapped down by other democrats? He is one man doing something ... he is not the whole damn party.

[preciousdove]

11. For maxi MSM effect we have to have folks coming to this issue over time

Its not a "political issue" but a truth issue if not all Dems are not on it at the same time.

On issues that effect the political middle you often have the White House and the Congress on different sides only to have it go their way in the end. When in Rome....

Another DUer just wrote that the Dems were bad at politics. It seems to me they are starting to get it right now.

When we get back in power we can change the tone in Washington back.

[ElectroPrincess]

15. No more kidd gloves, we fought the Democrats as much as the

Republicans to put an end to the lie that was The Vietnam War.

Make your choice. Either you're with the "stay the course" Democrats. OR You're with the "bring them home now" people.

There's no half way with the above. The democrats who think we should stay (Dean and Kerry, et. al.) are WRONG. If they do not change and call for an immediate pull-out they are MY (and many others in the Anti-Occupation movement) POLITICAL ENEMY.

The Few Republicans who discover that the Occupation in Iraq is not worth any more lives and want complete withdraw have MY FULL support over the WARMONGERING Democrats like Dean and Kerry.

So let me get this right? Speaking out against A WAR that was started on A LIE, is not part of Dean's job? Bull Shit! :P
The CLEANEST way out is to "leave now" and they all know that, especially John Kerry.

[preciousdove]

20. My post was only discussing timing

"So let me get this right? Speaking out against A WAR that was started on A LIE, is not part of Dean's job? Bull Shit! "

Please reread my message I never said that.

[stickdog]

19. Thanks. I'd like to see Dean make a statement soon as well.

And Kerry. And Gore. And Clark. And 40 other senators.

[saracat]

23. Kerry and Kennedy HAVE made statements!

[stickdog]

24. Kennedy has and I cheered. Kerry merely said he would.

I hope all of leaders come through for us here, but I'm not counting on it.

Imperial chickenshits.

[bonzotex]

21. The DSM is not a silver bullet and you are being a sunshine Dem

The DSMs are just one piece of the public records that will hang the Republicans out to dry. Don't think that if public figures would harp on the DSMs louder suddenly the Republicans would run away and Bush would be impeached. Conyers is doing a great job, but Dean and the DNC can only do so much. In case you forgot, Dean is not an popularly elected representative.

Nobody has worked harder or been more consistent in their opposition than Howard Dean. I saw him in Austin yesterday. He's doing exactly what he should. I support him as much if not more than ever. He's in the perfect place and is rebuilding the Party organization. It's not his job to get out in front on every changing issue but rather build the core foundations of our party. Get pissed at the Congress and Senate if you want more attention to any one issue.

JESUSFUCKINGCHRIST people, if Dean and the DNC was getting wrapped up in every issue of the day instead of thinking long term you'd be bitching about that instead. As Democrats, we can't make our support conditional on one or two pet issues. This is a war not a battle, it will take years not weeks.

[ClarkUSA]

25. It's great when the DNC Chairman hears from the grassroots

I hope Dean answers your and all of our hopes. Dean brings attention to any issue he wants to focus on because of his tremendous media appeal. Democrats need to stay on message and Conyers' cause could use the attention.

Election reform, specifically verifiable voting, is my top concern but I'd love to hear him call out the Republicans on the DSM also when he feels the time is right.

[Rainscents]

26. I'm sure, Dean is talking about it in fund raising, however, MSM is not

reporting his speach... I wouldn't criticize him just yet. We all know, what MSM does to his speech.

[election_2004]

27. Question for you...

This is out of sheer curiosity, but when you were a staffer for Jean Carnahan, did you beg Senator Carnahan IN PERSON not to vote for IWR?

And if so, what was her response/reaction?