Dean to seek chairmanship of Democrats

A bit <but not too much> off the beat of this thread, but I was wondering what W will be thinking in 3 years when his "legacy" as a politician is coming to an end. Over a toasting PopTart, he might mumble to Laura some morning that, "Gee, I hope Dad thinks I did a swell job as President." While all around him, thoughtful people of all political persuasions might likewise be thinking, "here was a guy who went from indolent preppy at Yale to absentee national guard service to adoid fighting in Vietnam to failed Texas oil baron to losing Congressional race to getting a primo investor spot for the Texas Rangers to passing on Sammy Sosa to <in his 1st act of familial political revenge> dumping Ann Richards as Texas Governor to throwing the death penalty switch more times than any other governor to saying 'what the heck, I'll run for President' to finding himself into the Oval Office thanks to a marginal majority on the US Supreme Court and his baby brother Jeb to presiding over a historical disaster in between grade school reading lessons and Nintendo sessions on 9-11-01 to spearheading a massive tax cut (before 9-11, btw) to waging war (both literal and figurative) on virtually the rest of the world to basically doing nothing, I mean nothing, positive in area of our national, moral, welfare during his entire worthless 8-year term of office. How we wound up with this empty suit as the leader of the free world is a mark of shame on this generation.

Hmmmmm... Obviously the No Child Left Behind program isn't working as well as it should.

I assume McGentrix is a "against all evidence to the contrary" Bush defender, given the nature of his response <which is to execute a not particularly pithy low blow to the person, rather than the ideas, of a Bush critic>.

Allan, please don't hold back ... tell us how you really feel about Bush.

Well, I noticed your bait, examined it, toyed with it, but found it wanting.

H.L. Mencken foretelling the election of George W. Bush as president:

When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental -- men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack, or count himself lost. His one aim is to disarm suspicion, to arouse confidence in his orthodoxy, to avoid challenge. If he is a man of convictions, of enthusiasm, or self-respect, it is cruelly hard…

The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even a mob with him by the force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second or third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically the most devious and mediocre -- the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.

The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

--H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920

And if memory serves, the next president elected after Mencken's article was Warren G. Harding, who is usually rated one of (if not THE) worst presidents ever....then fast forward 80 years later and who did we get?

AllanSwann, you are right on the mark. Anyone who is not as angry as you are is missing something vital.

Someone's missing something, alright.

Lessee here - all told, from the beginning of his political career, how many elections have Democrats won against Bush? How many House and Senate seats have the Democrats gained since the 2000 election? How many more governorships, or State Legislature representatives have the Democrats gained since 2000? Just how much more power and influence does the Democratic Party have today, nationwide, not just in Washington D.C., than was the case a decade ago?


No hurry - I can be patient while the complex calculations are carried out. Take all the time you need.

I guess he didn't say anything the rightwing American media could freak out about.

http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/06/dean_to_partici.php

This is funny.

ehBeth keeps bringing anything she can find that shows Dean has the ability to speak without making national news because he deeply insulted some large group of people.

Yes, ehBeth. He's spoken three times in the last year without pissing a bunch of people off.

Kudos. LOL!!

This is getting tiresome.

Every time someone argues Bush is a bad politician, Timber trots out how often he + his have won.

And? Does popularity prove quality? Of course, to the same standard, Bill Clinton was a great politician: kept defeating any Republican who stood against him, after all. So whenever someone next says Clinton was a bad guy, I'm sure Timber will come and smirk about how that person "sure is missing something". Not.

Please show me where in the constitution it says that the President must "seek the advice of senators from both parties before making a nomination".

The Constitution gives the President,and ONLY the President,the authority to nominate judges for the Supreme Court.
Congress has no say in the matter,all they do is vote on the nominee.

Not at all, nimh - Politics is all about popularity, not quality. Good person or bad, an unpopular person doesn't get elected. I've never said Slick Willie wasn't a great politician, in fact, I've said he's a great politician - I've said that's his - and his wife's - entire subsrtance. And, no he didn't have an unbroken string of victories; he lost his bid for re-election to the Arkansas Governorship, and had the polotical skills and shrewdness to engineer a comeback - from which launched his successful national campaign, and the nation elected him president - twice. Then he was impeached, and his political skills and allies managed to prevent his removal from office, if not his disbarrment and other civil sanctions threough a plea agreement (the conditions of which he appears to be violating, BTW - but nemmind). The Clintons, as a pair, certainly demonstrate good personal qualities and popularity have nothing to do with one another in politics. As do the likes of Richard Nixon or Marion Berry. Politicians don't have to be good people to succeed, they have to be good politicians. They can be both, but they need not be.

I happen to think, however, that Bush the Greater not only is an exceptionally able politician, but is as well a moral, ethical, principled person. Now, that point of view is not shared by The Opposition, but that's to be expected. I don't really have a problem with that, and, in fact, I really don't have much problem with The Opposition's tactics - their efforts vs The Republican Agenda in general so far have put the Democratic Party in the position it finds itself today. They've earned it.

Oh, and BTW, ehBeth, nowhere in The Constitution is there provision for the fillibuster; it is a legislative tradition, not a matter of consitutional law. The constitution provides that The Senate shall vote on the Presidential Nominees, not that the minority party may block that vote if it figures the vote will not accommodate their preference. The minority party is precisely that; the minority party. They have minority staus - their legislative influence determined by The Electorate, which body is by The Constitution endowed with the power to endorse or reject a given party's candidates, policies, and, by extension, appointees. If The Electorate wanted The Democratic Party to have control over legislation and Presidential Appointees, the Democratic Party would not be the minority party, and would not find itself so not just in Washington DC, but nation wide, in state and local politics as well.

There is no constitutional guarantee of the right to obstruct the legislative process, and The Democrats well may find their employment of the tactic winds up depriving them of the one tool they've managed to use to their benefit over the past decade.

I'm trying to keep one thread on topic.

This thread is about Dean - and what he might/can't/does/doesn't do/offer the Democratic party.

I'd asked to have this thread locked some time ago when things started zooming off-topic. Got a "no". So, every now and then I pop over to Google, type in Howard Dean, and see what he's been saying/doing. If it's not offensive to the mainstream right-wing U.S. media, there's not much coverage.

<shrugs>

This is for ehBeth
ehBeth, to help keep this thread on topic---BBB

Governor Howard B. Dean
Biography Career

During a recent tour through Iowa, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean roared to a group of Democrats, "We have to stop being bullied by the right wing in this country and stand up for what we believe in. The right wing doesn't represent America. We represent America." Intriguing and evocative this protestation may be, one can't help but ask, who is "we"? Dean, the self-proclaimed "outsider" and "underdog" in the quest for Democratic nomination for the 2004 Presidential nomination, is virtually unknown outside of his home state. He is perhaps best known as the governor who signed a controversial bill permitting same-sex unions in Vermont. But being unfamiliar and under-funded has not stopped this unusual candidate from traveling to Iowa, South Carolina, and other key primary states this year to make his case about who he is and what he represents. Dean was born into a wealthy New York family in 1948. The oldest of four brothers and the son of a wealthy, conservative stock broker, he grew up in the Hamptons and the Upper-East side where he attended elite private schools. In 1967 he entered Yale University. While at Yale, Dean discovered that he had an innate sympathy for the civil rights movement and the plight of the poor. He steered clear of radical protests and student demonstrations, later saying that he "instinctively distrusted ideologues," but he also came to oppose the escalating Vietnam War.

After graduation Dean did not immediately pursue a career in politics. Though he left Yale with a B.A. in Political Science, he initially set out to follow in his father's footsteps and make his way on Wall Street. He worked as a stock broker for two years before changing his career path and enrolling in the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York.

Dean graduated from medical school in 1978 and went to the University of Vermont Medical Center to do his residency. He subsequently moved to Shelburne, Vermont and established a medical practice with his wife, Judith.

Most elected officials only govern part-time in Vermont and this gave Dean the perfect opportunity to dabble in politics. In 1982, he ran for state legislature and won. He continued to practice medicine while serving n the Vermont House of Representatives. In 1986 he successfully ran for lieutenant governor.

Dean was elected to three consecutive terms as lieutenant governor; on August 14, 1991, Gov. Robert Snelling suffered a fatal heart attack. Dean was treating a patient when he heard the news and rushed to Montpelier to a hasty swearing in ceremony.

Shortly after assuming office in 1991, Dean called the governorship "the greatest job in Vermont." It would, however, also prove to be demanding. When Dean came to the post, he was immediately thrust into a heated fiscal debate. Vermont was muddled in a recession and faced a $60 million deficit. Before his death, Snelling had approved a temporary tax increase, which Democrats wanted extended to expand social spending. Republicans argued that the higher taxes would inhibit economic growth.

Many expected Dean to support the his party's position; however, he surprised everyone by siding with Republicans on the issue. Since that time, Dean has tried to find a third way in Vermont by running a tight fiscal ship and moderate social policies. In his 11 years as governor, Dean has successfully balanced Vermont's budget as governor and paid off much of the state's debt, all while lowering income taxes twice. Under his guidance, Vermont's bond rate has increased to AA+, the highest in New England, and become an attractive, business friendly environment for investor's, which, in turn, has created more than 50,000 jobs. As governor, Dean was partly responsible for the closing of over 70 sub-par landfills. He has supported the protection of undeveloped lands from urban sprawl and led a campaign to reduce Mercury-pollution in the air. He also champions the cause of universal health care. While he has fallen short of that goal, he was responsible for the Dr. Dynasaur (the spelling is correct) program which guarantees virtually every child health care coverage in Vermont. During Dean's tenure, Vermont has achieved one of the lowest uninsured rates in the nation. When Dean became governor in 1991, 12.7 percent of persons living in Vermont were uninsured. As of 2001 the uninsured rate dropped to 9.6 percent

Dean is perhaps best known nationally for being a champion of gay and lesbian rights. In the summer of 2000, he signed a bill that made Vermont the first state to extend the all the rights of marriage to same-sex couples except the title "husband and wife." For some time Dean has been making his designs on the White House clear. As far back as September 2001 he announced that he would not seek a 4th term as Vermont's governor. The following November he created a Leadership PAC, Fund for a Healthy America. But it wasn't until July 27, 2002 at a VIP reception in Florida that he officially declared his candidacy, becoming the first Democrat to do so. Since that time, Dean has spent most of his time outside of Vermont networking and establishing the underpinnings for a bid in 2004. He has criticized President Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut, labeling it as tax break for the wealthy and asserting that Bush's handling of the economy is no more responsible than the Argentinean government's. Opposing the war on Iraq, Dean asserted that the United States should pursue an interventionist policy of "nation-building", rather than military confrontation. And he continues to make the cause of universal health care a corner stone of his agenda.

As an aside,Dean did NOT serve in the military either.
Interesting.
According to the dems on here slamming Bush,that means that Dean is not now nor will he ever be qualified to be President.
I wonder why that was never mentioned.

Every thread in this forum goes off topic at some point.

Some veer back on--some never do.

It's always odd to me when someone complains about it. But, certainly you're free to...