Reply #54: That's what happens [View All]

when you stand in the Rose Garden with the "president", and/or you vote to give him unprecedent powers, or when you are too intimidated to speak out, even though you are a leader in the democratic party.

Look, I still like and would vote for any of those guys that I myself have called bush-lite (BEFORE Dean did, BTW). I don't blame them for being doormats; it's the atmosphere this administration has created where anyone who dares question the emperor gets flamed. But as leaders in party it was up to them to speak out forcefully against shrub -- it was not the job of a former governor of a small New England state. The fact that Dean has consistently called shrub on a number of issues (the economy, Iraq, the patriot act) BEFORE it was fashionable is what drew me initially to his campaign, and it's his constant risk-taking that keeps me there.