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[Name removed]

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[slinkerwink]

1. of course, I had my doubts through the flag flap incident

but those doubts went away

[demnan]

2. Yes to both

of course I do! All the candidates are human and have human failings. Dean shoots from the hip which is a reason I admire him but also fear the aftermath. I saw what was done to the nearly perfect Gore. We will face this problem. The Republicans will tear apart whomever we put up there.

On the other hand I have to hope because Dean has inspired so many people to get involved in politics and has so many good ideas that I firmly believe he is the best candidate.

[Le Taz Hot]

3. From time to time

but so far, nothing has been deal breaker. And yes, I'm perfectly capable of looking at anyone and anything with a critical perspective -- as are most people here at DU, or were.

You guys are beginning to believe your own propaganda and, as a result, DU is looking more and more irrelavent. If you'd like to see what this place is going to look like in 6 months -- go to any AOL political chatboard and see the future.

[Egnever]

11. Amen

This place is sinking quickly.

Hopefully once the primaries are over it can return to the sanity and thoughtfullness that was once here. Till then i Guess we are stuck with bash and counter bash with no hope of weeding out the freeps cause candidate bashing is A-OK! its sad to see the depths this place has sunk to since the primaries began.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[realFedUp]

18. Don't post words in my mouth

I asked if you were paid...I didn't deserve
all the other stuff. I do think paid consultants
posting in here should reveal that. Don't you?

[bearfartinthewoods]

23. Leave us alone man.....WTF?????

that should work really well in the general election.

leave us alone rove. leave us alone.

[Name removed]

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[bearfartinthewoods]

26. please do! it would be a plesant change from

being told:
what to do
give it up
get over it
get on board
resistance is futile
stop asking questions
yada yada yada.

i AM a cat. i don't herd well.

[Armstead]

5. Sure

I have a mix of doubts and positive thoughts about all of the candidates. It's a matter of which outweighs which.

So yes, I have questions and concerns about Dean. But when weighed against the otehr candidates, he comes out ahead in the overall balance sheet IMO.

And frankly, I think it is destructive for otehr Democratic candidates to be spendinbg so much time planting doubts about Dean themselves. I think most care more about themselves than about helping the Democratic Party at this point.

I think they ought to be selling themselves and theit own vision instead of doing Rove's work for him.

[brainshrub]

6. The only things I fear are the voting machines.

I fear that the paperless ballot machines are setting us up for an electorial-fraud of epic proportions.

In a fair election, Dean will destroy the Bu$h campaign.

[CWebster]

7. No

but I sometimes worry that others, on both sides, for different reasons view him as a threat and seek to create doubt, but damned if he doesn't keep coming back again. It is remarkable.

[HuckleB]

8. Yes and yup.

It would be unnatural not to have doubts about any candidate. I've been around long enough to have learned that much. And I have written to the campaign with constructive riticisms over time. I believe that's part of the process, of improving all candidates.

The flag flap was one, but it taught me (once again) that every campaign is going to have its mishaps. The bad back/Vietnam matter was another, until I looked into it further and realized that the critics were way off base.

How about you in regard to your favored candidate?

[ScreamingMeemie]

9. The only perfect candidate for me would be me. I'm not running

so I will always have doubts on any of the candidates. Then, I do the research, and make the decision for the best, if not perfect, fit.

[Cooley Hurd]

10. I fear that he'll be successfully "Gored" by the mediawhores...

What Howard Dean needs to do is study the tactics of the Clinton war room - Carville and Begala had a system of immediately refuting charges from the Bush campaign through instant press releases. Kinda of a political "whack-a-mole" game. That's the only real fear I have... Other than that, I really believe he'll win decisively next November.

[soleft]

12. No and Yes

I really believe it's going to take something extraordinary, unusual, and exciting to beat the Bush juggernaut. Like Skinner says - Dean is a gamble, but it's going to take a huge roll of the dice to oust the PNAC.

[chaumont58]

13. Politics is the art of the possible

My candidate doesn't have to be perfect. I vote for a candidate, that in toto, will favor positions that I think are good for the country. Its a reason why I was such a Clinton supporter. He did the best he could, IMO, not perfect, but pretty god damn good.
But, in the words of the childhood game of doctor, I'll show you mine, if you show me yours.

[mzmolly]

14. I have doubts about all the candidates. I simply have the 'least' doubts

about Dean. Do you sometimes have doubts?

[Gringo]

15. Of course.

Anyone who doesn't have doubts about his/her candidate at this point is probably not being honest with him/herself.

They're all good candidates. And none of them are perfect.

[LuminousX]

16. All my doubts were washed away when Sen. Paul Simon endorsed him

That is all I needed to know about Howard Dean. Everything else is just pure delightful frosting on this sweet cake.

follow up answer: Yes. Critical evaluation is necessary but at some point in time you have to stop over analyzing and move onto a different problem.

[DinahMoeHum]

19. I'd be lying to myself if I didn't have a little doubt. . .

but it's healthy. It prevents you from having a swelled head.

:kick:

[Le Taz Hot]

20. Do you ever pose the same question to yourself?

If so, what was the answer? And why would you ask just Dean supporters?

[onecitizen]

21. Yes...........

but then I'll see him and listen to him and he calms me right down. I really do believe in this man. I do not think he's at all a wild-eyed liberal. He's very much the centrist. There is a reason why he's causing such a stir. And by the way, people who support him the most where I live aren't exactly Dems. They are people who consider themselves R's or I's or people who have never voted and have no affiliation whatsoever.

The latest so-called blunder about bush's prior knowledge to 911 kind of scared me. But then I thought, he's right and he's only saying what many of us believe to be the truth.

[kaitykaity]

22. No. None.

Dean's a fighter. And he's pissed. Whatever the GOP does,
they can't touch him. He just keeps picking up bats and
bashing them over the heads with them.

He not only has right on his side (like Gore, who was prevented
from taking advantage), but he has the monstrous Bush record to run against.

I absolutely believe "he's going to save us".

[Padraig18]

25. Of course I have doubts.

Contrary to CW here at DU, I've never talked to a fellow Dean supporter who doesn't have or hasn't had some doubts about the Governor; he's a human being, and he's fallible like any other human being. That said, when I look at him as 'the whole package', I see a candidate who gives me hope that the future will be better, and that government of, by and for the people will be restored in this Republic. :)

The answer to your second question is also 'yes'; if something of enormous importance were to occur to convince me that Gov. Dean would be a liability to our effort to retake the WH, I would most certainly not remain 'on board', but would go with the candidate I then believed to have the best chance of accomplishing that goal.

[CWebster]

29. Ahem

Of course, but why dwell on it? Hell, I always talk about him not being perfect. He makes mistakes, he will always make mistakes, some of his stock lines make me cringe. If he wins, he may say and do things I disagree with, but the more I see of him riding this thing out, the less doubt I have about his ability to accomplish what he sets our to do.

[Padraig18]

42. He has SPINE!

I disagree with some things he says and does and, like you, I sometimes wince or cringe at things he says or does; however, the one thing that I so DEEPLY admire about Gov. Dean is his 'pit bull' in-your-face, George!' attitude toward the unelected fraud's administration! He made me realize that there are lots of Democrats with backbones out there. :)

[Name removed]

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[LittleDannySlowhorse]

28. I have doubts all the time

They're the same things that everyone else is concerned about, such as his non-military background and his lack of foreign policy experience. Those are real issues that we Dean supporters would do well to figure out how to address now as opposed to later.

As for the second part of your question, YES, one MUST keep a critical perspective on one's candidate of choice. Everyone has their drawbacks, and it's important to judge them soberly and objectively.

[Dr.Phool]

30. It only gets better

I started out originally for Kucinich, but I just couldn't get past his vote for impeaching Clinton. And the more I learned about Dean, the more I liked him. I thought Clark would be a good VP, still might, but now I'm leaning towards Edwards. And there was a strong push at the Florida convention to put Bob Graham in the #2 slot. Thats not unacceptable, but I think Edwards has more fire and passion.

We need a candidate this year who'll attack Bush all-out. Al Gore's biggest mistake in 2000 was letting them define him, and not calling attention to Bush's record.

I see almost eye to eye with Dean on almost everything.

Howards da man!!!

[LittleDannySlowhorse]

36. Kucinich voted to impeach Clinton?

I did not know that.

Hmmmm. I'm going to have to go away and think about that one.

[Name removed]

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[LittleDannySlowhorse]

39. Indeed

I knew that he used to be anti-abortion, but I feel that was simply out of religious belief. Why he would want to ally himself with one of the more despicable and opportunistic acts in recent memory is beyond me though.

Does Ralph Nader know about this?

[eleanor1]

40. This is not true -- here's a "Slate" link explaining the actual story.

(At the bottom of the page: http://slate.msn.com/id/2088216/ )

*Correction, Sept. 19, 2003: This article originally and incorrectly said that the October 1998 vote cast by Kucinich was to impeach Clinton and force a Senate trial. That vote was not for impeachment and a Senate trial. It was for an unlimited impeachment inquiry in the House. The confusion evidently arose because both votes were for impeachment-related proceedings, and Democrats who voted for the unlimited impeachment inquiry were regarded as defectors. However, the difference in significance is enormous. Slate apologizes to Kucinich and to our readers for this serious error.

Here's another link, explaining what happened in more detail:

Rep. Dennis Kucinich took one of the more contrarian stances in the battle. In October 1998, Kucinich was one of just 31 House Democrats - out of more than 200 - to break ranks and vote for the unlimited impeachment hearing sought by Republicans. At the time, Kucinich described his vote as providing Clinton a chance to defend himself publicly against the accusations.

"There will be no accountability without an open hearing. There will be no closure for this country or its people or our president without an open hearing," Kucinich said. ". . . Let the president make his case. Give him a chance to clear his name and get back to the job."

...Two months later, Kucinich voted with the majority of Democrats against all four articles of impeachment against Clinton.

http://www.cmonitor.com/stories/front2003/103003impeachment_2003.shtml

[LittleDannySlowhorse]

45. That makes infinitely more sense

Thank you for clearing that up --- it was literally making my brain hurt.

[amazing grace]

46. Kucinich did NOT vote to impeach

He voted against all four Articles of Impeachment.

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1998/index.asp

[dkf]

31. I often think he could do this or that better if that is what you mean

but once I picked him I've never ever thought I could support someone else.

[CMT]

32. yes, we have doubts

from time to time. But why do you feel you must ask us? This is the kind of thing that really irritates, imo, Dean supporters the way we are treated like we don't know what we are doing by supporting Dean. He must be doing something right because he has gone from nowhere to front runner.

So doubts, yes after the Meet the Press interview I had more than a few doubts, but then I was reassured by the way he just comes back and doesn't take it lying down. I guess I had a few doubts about the flag flap but I understood that he was talking from his heart and that he truly wants to bring people together.

[Name removed]

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[BurtWorm]

33. Yes. No candidate is perfect.

Dean included. I concede that there are some qualities about both Kerry and Clark that make them seem less vulnerable to an attack against their characters, which is, of course, going to be the main assault launched by the Bushists against Dean. Why do I not ditch Dean if I have this fear? Because I'm impressed with the way Dean has been handling attacks against him. He just keeps plowing ahead like a bulldog. (One other fear I have: does he have the stamina to maintain his own level of attack through November?)

[Polemonium]

34. Sure

but despite the doubts I am filled with more hope than I have ever felt regarding a presidential candidate. The chance of taking our country back, our government, it is something worth fighting for.

He is listening to us and inspiring us, an incredible combination.

He is not as progressive as I would like, but he is a huge step in the right direction.

[depakid]

38. More thinly veiled flamebait

the deptph to which people go be disingenuous never fails to surprises me. No womder dems have consistently been such over the past 10 years.... loosers

[Patriot_Spear]

41. No. But I'm starting to doubt some of the other candidates integrity

I guess if you suck up to republicans long enough you'll begin to behave like one.

[Hep]

43. Nope no doubts

Having doubts and maintaining a critical perspective are not related.

I don't entertain doubts because they detract from the cause. I go where I go and do what I do. If I waste a minute thinking about his chances, I've lost that minute forever. I believe in his policies, I believe in his campaign, and I work my ass off.

But I do keep a critical perspective. I know what about his campaign and his policies I don't like as much. But I've made my choice, and I work my ass off.

I have no doubt that we can win the primary and that we can win the general. Doesn't mean I think it's 100%.

[Jonte_1979]

44. I have plenty of doubts

But whenever I see the man on TV, I am instantly reassured that he is "the one".

[RandomKoolzip]

47. You will never find the ideal candidate.

I'm a Dean supporter, and I'd be lying if I said that sometimes, he doesn't makes me uneasy. But since I dwell in reality, I realize that MY personal ideal candidate would never win (too liberal.) Everybody's got flaws. And I also realize that compromise is essential to getting your way. I accept Dean's flaws like I accept the flaws in members of my own family.

I just believe that Dean has the most to offer right now. I like the other candidates (especially Kucinich *sigh*) just fine, but Dean is the one I think I'll see as the nominee.

I'll support WHOEVER gets the nomination against BUsh, and I'll even contribute money to any Republican challenger's campaign. ABB! ABB! ABB!

[Scott Lee]

48. What kind of a question is that?

You show me a supporter of any given candidate that is in 100% agreement with them all the time, and I'll show you either a liar or a fool.

Peter, honestly, why must you keep up these ridiculous passive agressive threads at trying to take Dean down? What's the purpose? Do you truly feel that with each one you post, Dean's support is dented?

Please.