The Seduction of Howard Dean (Salon)

[Recursion]

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/09/01/howard_dean_paid_advocate/index.html

Howard Dean has long cultivated an image as the plainspoken doctor who speaks for the left wing of the Democratic Party, a role he still plays as a pugnacious pundit on TV. But since his term as chairman of the Democratic National Committee ended in January 2009, Dr. Dean has taken on a less-noticed role: paid advocate for interest groups that would find few fans among the progressive voters once energized by Dean's 2004 presidential bid.

Dean may not be the worst of the "buckrakers," those prototypical capital characters who exploit their name and connections without regard for principle. But his recent political forays seem to have diverged from his trailblazing left-liberal past.

As senior strategic advisor at McKenna Long & Aldridge, a heavyweight Washington lobbying firm, Dean played a prominent role representing the biotech industry during the healthcare bill debate, staking out a position on biopharmaceutical drugs that was decried by consumer groups.

"Gov. Dean was very helpful to us," biotech CEO Jim Greenwood told a trade publication "As a physician clearly focused on healthcare, a Democrat leader and clearly to left of center, his efforts were impactful." Greenwood is the head of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), a trade group that lobbies for the industry in Washington.

Also goes into H1-B doctors, Mujahedin-e Khalq, and a few pharma things.

*shrug* I never understood how he pulled off the "I'm a huge leftist" trick in the first place, given his record as governor.

[snagglepuss]

1. .

[Davis_X_Machina]

2. He made Democrats on the internet..

...feel like they were 'the base' -- a delusion under which they still labor.

And he was against the war. And he signed civil union legislation.

I was a Dean delegate to my state nominating convention -- but up here in northern New England, where we knew him from of old, no one confused him with Eugene V. Debs.

[Recursion]

3. I guess the war was the big one

Hell, we have DUers who still like Ron Paul because of that.

[TwilightGardener]

4. RE Paul: War and pot.

[NashVegas]

5. "since his term as chairman of the Democratic National Committee ended in January 2009" ...

When the Democratic party demonstrated to Dean and everyone else that the sort of "little d" democracy (which is NOT to be confused with leftism) he was pushing up until then was not wanted, I see no reason to criticize him for getting a buck any way he can.

[Recursion]

8. Eh? They seem to have adopted his reforms pretty solidly

That was one of the foundations of OFA.

[Davis_X_Machina]

11. We're still getting the walk-lists..

...and such from the databases the DNC made available to the states when Dean was chair. Nothing so good had ever been seen at the local level before. He's gone, but this initiative is still alive & well.

[frazzled]

13. Walk lists are generated from state political voter rolls

And you have to buy them. Maybe he helped with money, but that's always how canvassing and call lists are obtained: from information about who voted in the last election, and whether they were registered Dems at the time.

I've been canvassing for many years and working in campaign offices.

[Davis_X_Machina]

14. The money's still there...

...state house candidates get them for pocket change. Before they were non-existent at that level. Only vanity candidates had that kind of money.

[joeybee12]

6. Al Gore invades Iraq, Dean is a corporate shill...Stick a fork in Salon

It's done.

[Davis_X_Machina]

7. One of those two claims is demonstrably true...

...so it's not all Salon's fault.

[joeybee12]

9. Right...Al Gore DID invade Iraq...thanks for clearing that up...nt

[Davis_X_Machina]

10. No, but Dean *is* just another lobbyist....

[joeybee12]

12. No, he isn't...he's not pure, and I don't expect people to be pure...

Just another hit job by the coproate powers that be.