Some thoughts on "Democide"

I am a proud Dean supporter. For some time, I was a big Clark fan as well. In fact, I was infatuated with the idea of a party-unifying Dean/Clark ticket. To me it seemed like the perfect way to bridge the base and the more "established" or powerful Democrats in the party apparatus. Dean had shown he could build a more powerful machine than they could. He had given them a wake up call - and in the process brought tens of thousands of new people into the process. He tapped resources no one ever considered tapping. And his message was one of centrism balanced with opposition to Bush's War in Iraq. He called-out Bush appeasers. Dean awoke the party establishment - and showed them it was OK to take the fight to Bush, and reminded them we won the last election by 500,000 votes - we couldn't continue to let them pretend they had a mandate. Dean spoke his mind, and had a particularly refreshing quality to him in modern Democrat... Backbone. Say what you will about the other candidates, and their records, Dean stood out for this very reason.

So what has been the response to Dean from both the GOP and the Democratic Party Establishment? "Unelectable!!!". Dean and his supporters, for all their efforts, have been the target of some of the most vicious, venomous, and detestable statements from the likes of people like James Carville for God's sake. Had Carville been sitting in front of me when he called me, as a Dean supporter a "snot-nosed brat", I might have decked him - and asked him what good he's done for the party since getting Clinton elected. What is James Carville doing attacking Democrats? Well, he must support somebody else if he's making those kinds of statements against his own party.

Thinking about all this I had this sudden sinking feeling.

My thoughts turned to Carville's old boss, the Big Dog. I'd let myself believe, as he has said, that he's been sitting this one out. He will not endorse. He's been giving advice to all of the candidates. When he has spoken, he has said we all need to unite after the primaries produce a nominee. The GOP of course, said he was meddling, but I refused to believe it - because, well, it just seemed too Rovian. If Clinton wanted to endorse someone, he would do it, I figured, rather than lurk in the shadows and play kingmaker. That just wouldn't be right.

I had hopes that perhaps Clinton with his near obvious support of Clark was angling for some sort of grand unifying theory for the Democratic Party. It was going to be beautiful. The two "outsider" candidates complimented each other perfectly in my opinion - one with a stellar economic record ("it's the economy, stupid"), a remarkable fresh-faced leader who had never lost an election, and the other, a stellar War-Hero 4-star General, new to the party, but able with his very presense to negate the "Democrats are soft on Defense" argument from Republicans. I didn't know much about Clark, other than that he was a remarkably bright man and, like Bill Clinton, a Rhoades Scholar from Arkansas. I craved the idea of combining Dean and Clark's obvious assets to simply crush the Republican opposition with an innovative, balanced, grassroots-powered, unified ticket.

Reality.

It is not so. And I've accepted that now. The Big Dog is playing kingmaker. Now that Clark has made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that he's not gonna be Dean's "Dick Cheney" (yes, Clark is saying Dean is Bush-Lite, in case you missed it) - I've resigned myself to the sad truth... not only do the insiders want to defeat Dean, they don't seem to care what happens to his supporters. You know, the snot-nosed-brats whom have raised over 40 million dollars. There is no out-reach - only insults and attacks. They are doing their best to destroy what Dean has built, attempting to co-opt it, and pretend it is their own.

Watching and getting sucked into the Dean/Clark threads here on DU has been very depressing for me - as I see what could have been - trounced by folks trying to out-bile each other. And then, I read a Clark supporter post just a little while ago - using a civil war analogy to describe Clark's forces crushing Dean's army on the road to ultimate victory. What glorious militarism. The word that popped in my head was "Democide", the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent Democrats.

And that pretty much took the cake for me. I know of course, the primaries are bloody. I know we are expected to fall "in-line" once the nominee is chosen. I am perfectly 100% absolutely fine with that. Bush must go, period. But there is something about this anti-Dean movement that is making me angry beyond the simple support of my candidate, and furious at the Big Dog himself.

I am here, now, to call out Bill Clinton. Mr. Clinton, why don't you have the balls to publically endorse Wesley Clark?

Clark has most of your old staffers advising him. Clark is using you in a commercial. We all know you want it to be Clark, why not say it. Why hide in the shadows and pretend you do not? Why, when Al Gore, Bill Bradley, and Hundreds of Thousands of others have stood up publically and proudly for Howard Dean - do you insist on pretending impartiality? A majority of Clark supporters even assume that he has your blessing. What is it you are afraid of? You are supposedly the Leader of our Party - and you are playing politics in the shadows. If you think Wesley Clark is the only person who can beat Bush, why not just say it?

I submit, as just some guy from Austin Texas who is sick and tired of our party losing, that you are afraid, like so many others in the party. You have seen your fundraising skills outperformed. You have seen a man come from the tiny state of Vermont and outperform the party apparatus you built. You have seen your vice President, and so many others come out for the other guy. You have sensed the base of your party is tired of losing, and is quite impatient. In a nutshell - and I say this as a man who loves you, and your remarkable skills and accomplishments - you are afraid of taking direct responsibility for the failures of the Democratic Party under your watchful eye.

Of course, taking responsibility has never been your forte. And your pride has gotten our party in trouble before.

All we want is to take the country back from a terrible President. You don't have to agree with us, or even endorse us. Just stop fighting against us in the shadows.

Against God, mom and apple pie!

Al Gore threw down the gauntlet, with his premature, unseemly endorsement of Dean. Don't try to turn that into a slam against Clinton.

Do you realize the dynamic? Over and over again. Anyone who does not worship at the feet of Howard Brush Dean is a traitor. Any position that Dean does not support is ludicrous - until Dean flip-flops - then it's genius.

Is EVERYBODY else wrong - except Dean and his supporters?

and I'm sorry you got the wrong impression.

Quit blaming Clinton. It's so...well, you know.

That's the issue: will one support a Democrat in the general election. I don't know that there are the nefarious plans suggested. I hope not. I hope that this isn't like the McGovern campaign, when much of the Democratic Party did abandon the Dem candidate. If Dean wins, we should all get behind him; if Clark wins, we should all get behind him; if Kerry wins, ditto; if Kucinich could somehow win, ditto. (I don't say that for Lieberman -- I just hope that he can't win.)

My fear is I won't be able to.

Dean is my hope.

Clark is my fear.

to endorse before the convention. He would be condemned as a meddler, a would be king-maker. He would lose stature that could never be regained.

Clark would also be ridiculed for Clinton's support-he'd be called a lapdog by both the left and the right.

I still have some hopes that these two men can rise above their divisions. A lot can happen in the next 7 months before the convention.

who he supports. Which is my whole point.

like for example: the Democratic Party.

That is some powerful statement. I am speechless! First Cheswick's stunning revelation and now your insight.. Times such as these move the spirit to some truly moving inspiration and, you know, it brings me hope.

Very powerful statement. I understand what you are saying. I can only hope that when the primaries are over we have knocked some people off of their ivory towers so that they can again become citizen servants rather than big money power brokers.

n/t

That is a beautiful thought about citizen servants. if only...

The Dean approach appears to "circumvent" the need for big media...the people that like Dean understand and like his message...and with time - the grass roots support will be a "force" for shrub.

Dean knows the media is evil...he already said as much with tweety. Gore and others may see "the approach" as really the only way to beat the "big media controlled repug system".

So even a Clinton endorsement doesn't guarantee anything...and he certainly is not stupid.

The attacks are simply the "system fighting back"...grass roots against all others.

I do hope that whoever is nominated we can agree on one thing -- ABB.

a few tens of thousands of us who don't support Gov Dean, at present, also want to take the country back from a terrible President. I concur fully with your objective but it isn't a unique one to Dean supporters. I've donated money, time, written letters, made phone calls, etc. for a different candidate. That's a valid choice. I'm not some shadowy, mythical DLC operative looking to gum up your good works.

If there is some sort of Clintonista conspiracy, it's either pretty well hidden or very mild. Ex-Clinton staffers are working for most of the candidates and Gov Dean is doing well garnering establishment super-delegate endorsements.

I truly don't think the 'Big Dog' is interfering overly in this campaign. If he has any ox to gore, I suspect it's with Al Gore and not Howard Dean.

To Dean supporters, you have a fight on your hands for the nomination though you stand in a pretty good position. I'm sure any of the other candidates would love to be in your shoes right now SO stop looking for some conspiracy aimed at derailing your efforts -- compete and win or lose. Every campaign gets ugly. Every ardent supporter believes their candidate is the answer to the nation's prayers and that the opposition in intriguing in some cabalistic fashion to 'stop them.' But these beliefs don't make it true.

You've got a good candidate, a nice solid advantage, time on the clock and a hard campaign team. Things look pretty good for Dean to me and I'd prefer that not to be true at the moment.



Wes Clark. He will make an extraordinary American President.

because we LOVE and believe in its longheld principles. Just because Dean is now posing as a populist savior doesn't mean the majority will be fooled.

Unfortunately enough love his schtick and believe it and he may end up representing ALL of us. That's a truly sickening thought.

nt

why I am NBD.