If Howard Dean was President, we'd be down to 17 Republican Senators come January!

[MannyGoldstein]

Well, maybe not 17, but that's how many Republican Senators remained after the 1934 mid-term elections. After 2 years of FDR, the Republicans were hard against the ropes, and a more-or-less continuous Democratic majority was maintained in Congress for 60 years, until 1994 when the DLC ran their first election.

Unabashed Democratic action wins elections.

[Pirate Smile]

1. That's idiotic.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. I love you too

Do you dislike the strong application of Democratic ideals?

[Pirate Smile]

12. I guess you were using hyperbole but, come on. I love Howard. I caucused for him in 2004 but let's

stop imagining things wouldn't still be EXTREMELY difficult to change if we just had a different person in charge. That's not true. Plus, you have to have the ability to win the nomination and the Presidency or it's just fantasy. It is just as likely that he would have been able to get very LITTLE done because drawing lines in the sand with Congress usually ends up not working at all - just ask Bill Clinton. Obama accomplished something no other President has been able to do but you still act like people who couldn't even win the nomination, let alone the Presidency would have just got anything they wanted. I think that is a bunch of baloney.

I actually like you just fine :). I should have been more tactful. Sorry. :hi:

[MannyGoldstein]

13. Howard is pragmatic - his 50-State Strategy won Congress in 2006

Like FDR, he's no dummy. And like FDR, he's an unabashed Democrat.

[JamesA1102]

15. So Dean is responsible for all the Blue Dogs? nt

[Pirate Smile]

16. Howard would have either made a lot of compromises to get things accomplished - and he

would have had to deal with Lieberman, Lincoln, Nelson, Landrieu, etc. just like Obama did. He, like Obama, would have had to decide if he was willing to take getting 75% of what he wanted or let it blow up and get 0.

Drawing lines in the sand works great politically but not legislatively.

[JamesA1102]

29. Very well said! nt

[inna]

4. uncalled for

[RetroLounge]

7. Nice rebuttal

if you're a 2 yr old.

RL

[Pirate Smile]

14. Was your first reaction to the idea that we would be down to 17 Republican Senators if Howard was

Prez - well, that's realistic and probable? I doubt it. I already responded above that I should have been more tactful in my initial response. :)

[HughMoran]

19. Said perfectly

That was my first thought as well.

[derby378]

2. Love the visual! (n/t)

[mitchtv]

5. K&R

Thanks Manny < Howard's great

[Ter]

6. It's a different time now, more divided

No party will ever hold more than 65 seats ever again, and no one will ever win 45+ states again.

[CakeGrrl]

8. Which is why he's President now, right?

[ScreamingMeemie]

9. How awesome would that be?

Too awesome to contemplate. People Powered Howard will always speak for me. :hi:

[derby378]

10. Ask the DLC

They had a big hand in marginalizing Dean's 2004 bid.

[Mimosa]

11. That's the truth

I remember Democrats on the attack, making out that Howard dean was crazy. I didn't know much about him. Imagine how the media attacks from Dems influenced those who didn't know anything about him. I do recall he was the first candidate I knew of who was exploiting the power of internet communication.

[bluestateguy]

17. The media would have eaten Dean alive if he was president

Just like they ate him alive during the campaign.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

18. Love Dr. Dean, but America doesn't reflect Dr. Dean's point of view.

Let's be realistic here. You see what the Corporate Media did to him.

Love him, but sadly it'll take awhile before America catches up.

I simply do not have that much confidence in the intelligence of the American Mind.

Sorry....

[democracy1st]

20. All it takes is a democratic party willing to fight back!

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

22. Get rid of the Blue Dogs and the milquetoast Democrats and you'll have the party you want...

until then, we need to deal with the realities of the day.

How we get more progressives in office? It's going to take more time.

Remember: Dr. Dean did employ the 50 state strategy, which inevitably meant that we get Blue Dogs and DLCers. That's just how it is until we can change the American mind. Until then, we got what we got.

Let's work to change it...

[jgraz]

23. The American people are actually to the left of Howard Dean

It's just the corporate plutocrats, their media and their lackeys in D.C. who don't agree with him.

[Radical Activist]

21. One of the reasons Dean lost Iowa

is that he was already moving back to the middle in December. Like the interviews where he called himself a centrist and a fiscal conservative. Iowans saw the constant shifting back and forth. They don't like those sort of candidates.
I can only imagine how disillusioned you would have been with a President Dean who went back to being the moderate he always was as Governor.

[jobycom]

24. Unabashed Democratic action couldn't even win Dean a primary.

:shrug:

[Radical Activist]

25. ow!

[Maru Kitteh]

26. And Rush Limbaugh would fart rainbows and and and and I would be 16! WHEEE!

[saltpoint]

27. Dean's a peach, but he doesn't own the orchard.

Progressive Democrats have usually had to fight for support in districts where the landscape is not as progressive or nowhere near as progressive as they are.

I'd like for it not to be that way but it is that way.

[Toucano]

28. I never saw Dr. Gov. Chrmn. Dean on a ballot.

Kind of a useless and unproductive hypothetical, don't you think?

It's always easy to idealize the losing candidates. Don't you think if Dean were in the White House, someone would be saying the same thing about Obama? Or Hillary?

[apocalypsehow]

30. LOL. UnRec. n/t.

[frustrated_lefty]

31. Dean as president would have been a good thing.

American politics has been a pretty much non-stop kick in the gut since '04.