Dean on Saturday went where no one goes...he mentioned the 2000 court decision.

madfloridian

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Mon Jun-02-08 12:50 AM
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Dean on Saturday went where no one goes...he mentioned the 2000 court decision.

Right out in the open on C-Span. He was visibly upset at what had been done to Al Gore. There was great applause when he said that which is never talked about in public.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, in remarks opening the much-anticipated rules committee meeting, invoked the name of Al Gore, the party's nominee eight years ago. And in doing so, he asserted that the presidency had been "snatched from" Gore by "five intellectually bankrupt justices."

Howard Dean replays the 2000 election's legal fight

So much for the recent recommendation from Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia -- one of those who was part of the 5-4 ruling that led to George W. Bush becoming president -- that folks "get over" what happened and that the debate about it is "so old now."

Dean brought up Gore's name in telling an anecdote about his own disillusionment, as a presidential candidate in 2004, with the party he now hopes will unite after dealing with the Florida/Michigan mess and, at some point, settling on a nominee for this year.

Dean told of angrily pacing in a hotel room one night in Wisconsin -- where an impending primary loss would extinguish what had once been his front-running candidacy -- and talking with Gore on the telephone. For undisclosed reasons, he was venting, wondering why he should stay a Democrat and asking what the party had done for him.

Gore, according to Dean, finally cooled him down by saying, "This is not about you, it's about your country."

Who knows, more stories like this one -- and continued squabbling ...

... between the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama camps -- might give new life to that long-since-abandoned "Draft Al Gore" movement.

He also mentioned that not even his wife could have convinced him that night, but that Gore could understand.

Dean had repeated this sentiment that he first expressed in his book, You Have the Power, at a NH event recently. He also received an ovation for that.

Calling for party unity.

The most important jobs of the next President, Dean said, will be to "heal our nation" and "restore the moral authority of the United States in the rest of the world."

Dean recalled some gentle chiding he got from Al Gore at the end of Dean's own unsuccessful Presidential bid in 2004. "This is not about you. This is about your country," Gore reminded him.

And, Dean told the delegates, "This is not about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, either. This is about our country. This is not about George Bush and John McCain; it's about our country. We live in the greatest country on the face of the earth, and it's time we started acting like that again."

The crowd, which party officials said was the largest for a state party convention in more than 30 years, rose to its feet, cheering.

We had two bright shining candidates when this started. It was our year to be winners. Our decision to support Obama was made on the day she claimed the delegates here. We saw how it would be used, as a vehicle to hurt the party.

I am glad he brought up the 2000 court decision. Not one other media I can find has mentioned it. I have not heard it on TV at all. Gore's name was not mentioned in summaries given.

Here is the video if you missed it, under DNC Rules and Bylaws, Oral arguments.

Look under recent programs, and then the program.

http://c-span.org/