The Reality of Dean's Comments

A quick preface, this *excludes* all of you here (and there are many) who will answer this question out of mere spite and jealousy of Dean even if you know that his comments were harmless - you know who you are, and you can imagine what I and others here think of you. It ain't pretty.


But those here who are more balanced (both mentally and ideologically) do you NOT agree with Dean that the Democrats have ceded the South and southern whites to the Republicans? And moreover, that whether we like, and or agree with, "guys who drive pickup trucks with rebel flags" that we need their votes too? How is he off base? How in GOD's name is he OFF BASE? Moreover, how is specifically saying "white men who drive pick up trucks with confederate flags" a representation of all southerners? Did you think of all southerners when he said that? Because I certainly didn't. When he said that, you know what I thought of? I thought of white southern men who drive pickup trucks with the rebel flag stickers. That's who I thought of. *Gasp* And yes, while I certainly don't agree with their sticker choice, I most certainly would urge them to vote Democratic and NOT Republican, because guess what, THEIR children don't have health insurance either. They're losing their jobs, too. Their sons and daughters are being slaughtered in Iraq, too. What has voting Republican for 30 years done for them?

So again, tell me and others here, how Dean was even SLIGHTLY off base? Please, I really wanna hear what you come up with. Humor me.

To those of you here (mentioned at the top) who are having a field day with this virtual gang bang (call it a flag flog) on Dean merely because you support another candidate and hope that this will be the one thing that brings Dean down (makes him "implode" as Kerry would mutter), I say two things to you: 1) you AND your candidate of choice are pathetic for having to rely on such a frivolous comment of DEAN'S to boost YOUR candidate and 2) you are DEAD wrong if you think this will have a negative impact on Dean's candidacy. Watch his numbers soar from this extended publicity. Just watch.


And know this: Voters don't like bullies. Voters don't like opportunists. Voters don't like sleezy political games. Voters don't like personal attacks.


Oh, and yes, one last thing: Dean WILL still get the SEIU endorsement. Afterall, isn't that what this is all about?


You bet it is!

It sickens me to see the OTHER Dems attack Dean for what they know is a statement of truth -- we need that guy with the sticker, and lots of other Southerners -- to start voting their real interests, not the spun and manufactured 'interests' presented to them by the repubs. All Dem candidates should have seen the opportunity to AGREE with Dean, and strengthen their own positions as well as that of the general position of the Dem Party. But no! We had to watch them all try to be King Shit on Turd Mountain!

You've already posted this elsewhere.

I'm locking.

Because I, too, want to address the reality of Dean's comments.

For those attacking Dean, I really hope you are being honest with yourselves. If you are attacking him for political reasons, at least don't delude yourself that he is a racist. I have noted a subtle shift over the past day that people are now saying they KNOW he isn't racist, he is just arrogant. Again, please be aware of the damage you are doing. I don't condemn people for the campaigning, for the efforts to knock the other guy out. That is what this is all about. I just don't want people to be doing this kind of damage to the party unintentionally.

If you are attacking Dean because you honestly, truthfully feel in your heart that what he did was plain wrong, then God bless you and keep fighting the good fight. At the end of the day, you only are as good as the causes you fight for. Which means, if you are pushing a lie for political gain, it will come back to haunt you.

We do it year after year after year.

They're called Republican wedge issues (a.k.a. "values" issues). Stuff like guns, confederate flag, the ten commandments, and the pledge of allegiance. We allow the Republicans to define us by these "issues."

So we try to counter that by running someone "next door to you." Sometimes it works (Bill Clinton), and sometimes it doesn't (Al Gore). But we never get to the root cause of the problem. We never call the Republicans on this stuff. Until now.

Many voters make their decisions on these "issues" because they want to identify with their leaders. (How many times have you heard voters say stuff like, "I trust him," or "He looks funny"?) A lot of voting, particularly presential voting, is by gut and emotion.

Bill Clinton did, to some extent, break through this noise. He was a draft-dodging, pot-smoking-but-not-inhaling, adulterous candidate (and president). But he took away enough wedge issues to stay in office. ("Triangulation" it was called back then. I think it's just good politics.)

I'm glad Dean is starting this debate within our party. If we're going to have a bunch of fanatics running around getting offended because we don't speak in magic code words just for them, we are going to lose. It's that simple.

Bush is attractive to many voters because they like him and think he's honest. (Issue after issue, they disagree, but there's residual support that's otherwise inexplicable.) We need to understand that, learn from it, and go reach out to as many voters as we can. We don't compromise our values. (When have you seen Bush do that?) But of course we reach out.