Reclaiming the Democratic Party - Paging Dr. Dean

Reclaiming the Democratic Party - Paging Dr. Dean

by Salvador Peralta

published by The Progressive Trail

Reclaiming the Democratic Party - Paging Dr. Dean

The Democratic Leadership Council spinmeisters are already hard at work promoting replacements for their (failed) hand-picked DNC chairman, Terry McAuliffe. The names that have been bandied about thus far are a who's who of handlers for campaigns that have helped to turn the Washington wing of the Democratic party into a pack of mushy centerists that triangulate positions to the right or left of Republican candidates based on focus groups rather than traditional Democratic values and good public policy.

In the 12 years since the DLC assumed de facto leadership of the Democratic party, Democrats have lost 59 seats in the U.S. house and 11 seats in the U.S. Senate. The only two victories for the DLC during the 1990's were the elections of Bill Clinton who turned his back on progressives many times during his tenure, on everything from trade (GATT, NAFTA) to civil liberties (Defense of Marriage Act) to welfare reform.

More recently, it was the DLC and the McAuliffe-led DNC that used viscious ads and a media campaign to knock Howard Dean out of the race for President in Iowa, effectively destroying the first populist camapign to emerge from within the ranks of the Democratic party in nearly 40 years in favor of a corporate controlled centrist whose idea of a progressive campaign was to try and out-Republican the Republicans on defense and who refused to defend the values of his core constituencies when the political calculus didn't ad up.

The net result is that the Democrats, under the DLC and McAuliffe squandered the efforts of the most unified and energized Democratic base in the last 40 years, lost seats in both the House and Senate, and failed to defeat a sitting president with a 45 percent approval rating despite raising more money than the Republicans for the first time ever.

Now the DLC wants to anoint a new chairman for the Democratic Party. Some of the names they have circulated include party insiders include longtime party apparatchik and Clinton aide, Harold Ickes, Donna Brazile, who ran Al Gore's cautious, uninspired campaign in 2000, and Jeanne Shaheen, former Governor of New Hampshire and John Kerry's National Campaign Chairwoman. But Ickes is the top choice of the DLC brass.

Not this time.

Read the rest at:
http://progressivetrail.org/articles/041115Peralta.shtml

Couldn't have said it better myself. Time to dump the baggage.

SNIP..."The Progressive Trail joins with Democracy for America, Blue Oregon, and the Progressive Democrats of America in supporting the candidacy of Dr. Howard Dean for DNC Chair. Dean is one of the few people mentioned for the position who does not owe the bulk of his status to party insiders; has demonstrated his ability to raise money on the campaign trail by connecting with voters, and he has it right on fair trade, the war with Iraq, and a host of other issues of concern for the American progressive movement."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2695844

Love the coalition building!

Again I am posting some groups that are working to make our party be more for the people. They are a way to go for the future. Going to the websites today gives me hope that these very large groups are keeping our party alive and may some day be for us again...not just corporations.

When I get depressed like I have been this week about the election, about Fallujah, about the people there who have no one speaking up for them....then I have hope and think someday maybe that will change.

Howard Dean's group supports grassroots candidates thoughout the country, even at local levels. It helps to fund them with our support and targets races which members like us can get involved with. Founded in March of this year and making good financial inroads with some real success stories for so young a group. Dean campaigns with many of the candidates personally.
http://www.democracyforamerica.com /
http://www.blogforamerica.com /

Progressive Democrats of America works at institutionalizing the progressive movement within the party working to create caucuses in each state.
http://www.pdamerica.org/events/display-full.php?id=29

Howard Dean and Tom Hughes of DFA held a joint conference call with PDA and DFA last week. I understand they will be at the PDA event above in January.

Another group works to provide funding and support for progressive candidates. I believe it is also allied or partnered with DFA and PDA. All this is new, and I think I am getting it right for now.
http://www.progressivemajority.org
Note their candidates and members. Excellent group. Here is a link to their advisory committee. Many of these worked closely with Dean throughout the campaign.
http://www.progressivemajority.org/leadership/index.asp

And 3 members of their advisory board.
http://www.progressivemajority.org/leadership/profile.a...

This next group held the Take Back America conference as a side convention this year. It is activist is many areas, and there are places to sign up for updates and emails. I get their mailings in a couple of areas.
http://www.ourfuture.org /

Here are some pics from the conference this year. And some articles about the speakers.
http://www.ourfuture.org/projects/national_conference/2...

If anyone knows of others, please link. I believe at this point that all are working along the same lines, and they may be working more closely soon.

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as the DNC chair, i'm afraid that's it for me. i will not be a part of something so blatantly incompetent and unrepresentative of me. screw it. i put my heart and soul into this election and for what? a patronizing little, "quit your whining, buck up, work with the other side, and we'll get'em next time" drivel?? yea. give me my freaking money back.

political crush.

Oh, I sorta liked Gore way back when, but for me
Howard Dean is it.

I'm so glad it's okay to love him here again.

Who appointed these people and who pays their salaries? I think they should be abolished. They seem to be just a bunch of power-hungry fools who decided that running for office is not for them, but power IS!

I fully support Howard Dean. We need a STRONG voice this time. Somebody who is NOT afraid to offend when offending is necessary.