Dean to seek chairmanship of Democrats

Quote:

You see the similarities.

You honestly didn't see any ridicule in that column there, JW?

And she's no more popular among women than among men.

The cocaine issue will not influence the African American community nor most of the other demographics. It will be a target of sliming, but if not that, something else would be manufactured in any case. Bush managed to get past this problem (even though he didn't have the requisite character to fess up).

Quote:

You see the similarities.

You honestly didn't see any ridicule in that column there, JW?

Lash wrote:

That's "The Dems Can No Longer Count on Our huge block vote, like women, and Hispanics, and increasingly blacks..."

Didnt we already have this discussion? Ad nauseam? Our finding was that the Democrats can pretty much still count on the black vote as much as ever ... what, having gotten practically the same share of black vote in 2004 as in 2000, which is a larger share than in previous elections?

I think at the end of that particular discussion, Lash ended saying that when she asserts the Republicans are "making progress" with blacks she is not talking about the numbers - not talking about the block of votes - but about quality improvement and such. Yet here it is again, that assertion that the Dems can "increasingly" no longer count on the black vote. Any kind of substantiation for that, or is it just still wishful thinking / predictive speculation at this point in time?

Tell me,did Clinton listen to the repub senators when he appointed SC justices?
Did he even ask for their opinion?
If you say no to either question,then you are admitting that he violated the constitution if he MUST get Senate advice first.
So tell me,did he violate the constitution?

In 1993, with the resignation of Justice Byron White, (President Clinton) had the first opportunity for a Democrat (sic) president in twenty-six years to nominate someone to the Supreme Court.

At the time, I was Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and would play a significant role in the confirmation process. Consequently, it was not a surprise when the President called to talk about the appointment and what he was thinking of doing.

President Clinton indicated he was leaning toward nominating Bruce Babbitt, his Secretary of the Interior, a name that had been bouncing around in the press. … Clinton asked for my reaction.

I told him that confirmation would not be easy. At least one Democrat would probably vote against Bruce, and there would be a great deal of resistance from the Republican side. … Our conversation moved to other potential candidates. I asked whether he had considered Judge Stephen Breyer of the First Circuit Court of Appeals or Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. President Clinton indicated that he had heard Breyer's name but had not thought about Judge Ginsberg.

I indicated I thought they would be confirmed easily.

This time, I am saying we got more of the black vote in 2004 than we did in 2000. That's pretty cut and dried. More = increasing...<ly>

MORE than that, I am saying the Unions are rebuffing the Dems as their only choice. You sure did dodge THAT point for the tiny sliver of an argument that you thought you could make with the statement about blacks. <HEH, guess I'd do the same thing if I were in your....position politically.>

OUTSIDE OF THE MONEY QUOTES THAT GET themselves endlessly repeated, Dean's speeches now are not that different from the ones he was giving, virtually unnoticed, in Iowa three years ago, when what he was saying had the pundits admiring his sensible approach. In the speech that included his shot at the Republicans not having "made an honest living in their lives," and in front of a liberal audience starving for similar red meat, Dean spoke long and earnestly about pension reform. In the rally in Boston, he attempted to frame the administration's efforts to change Social Security as an attack on the American idea of community, and he did so almost mildly.

The applause and the rimshots have been left in the ballroom, and he's talking earnestly now about the task ahead of him and the formidable opposition. "For us to get 48 percent in the last election, even though we were out-organized by the Republicans, is a good sign," Howard Dean says. "I still think it's a Democratic country with a big D, as long as we're centrist Democrats. There's a difference between being a centrist Democrat and being a Republican, and I really want to make sure the country knows that there is."

He likely will have one chance, and that will be in 2006. There is an unpopular lame duck president whose allies are nervous, and there are the congressional gains that are customary to the opposition party. Watch what happens in Nebraska. Watch what happens in Montana. If what he's trying to do out in the country works, Dean will keep his job. If not, there will be a powerful push to bring in a more conventional national chairman in advance of the 2008 presidential election. After all, Hillary Clinton is forming up a wagon train, and Biden, no fan of Dean's at the best of times, already has declared his intention to run. Howard Dean will have a year. No more than that. The lonely road to Ottumwa runs both ways.