Reply #48: Show me the evidence [View All]

Please show me where Dean has painted himself as a "leftist" or "liberal." Don't tell me that "he gives that impression" or whatever, show me quotes from his speeches or his web site or his op-ed columns or his interviews where here's attempted to portray himself as the left-wing candidate. I've been watching him for over six months, I've read just about everything he's written and said, and I simply don't see it.

He has some views that are popular with liberals (same-sex unions, against the Iraq invasion). He has some views that are popular with the GOP (gun control a states' issue). I don't see where he has attempted to align himself with any particluar position on the left-right continuum. He says what he believes, take it or leave it.

He has said that he represents "the Democratic wing of the Democratic party," a phrase he borrowed from Wellstone. Now, the fact that Wellstone was definitely a "liberal" in the classical sense has caused some to surmise that Dean is trying to be Wellstone because he's using his phrase. Pooh, say I. It's just a good phrase, that points out the difference between someone like Dean, whose positions reflect time-tested core Democratic ideals, and someone like Gephardt or Lieberman, whose positions reflect the wants and needs of the GOP.

Will Dean be painted as a "liberal whacko" by the vomiting heads of the radical right wing media? Well, DUUUUHHHH!!! They'll paint Lieberman that way too. Get a clue.

And I find it interesting that everyone is so certain about who is "electable." Was it that long ago that Clinton was declared absolutely UNELECTABLE by the puditocracy, or are you guys just too young to remember? He was a long shot, a dark horse, the unknown inexperienced ex-governor of a small, rural backwater state, and a flaming pinko liberal besides. Absolutely unelectable. Well.

To be electable, you have to fire up people to get out and work for your election. People have to be passionate about you as a candidate, because if the Dem base and the swing voters are in a "maybe I'll vote today, or maybe not" kind of mood come November '04, monkey boy will win.

So far, the only guy I see out there who's getting the sort of populist response in terms of money and real grassroots effort that looks anything like "electability" is Howard Dean. Go to his meetups, or to one of his rallies, or talk to his supporters. People are EXCITED that he is running. THAT is electability.