Dean Says Older Dems to Get the Hell Out of the Way

[applegrove]

https://politicalwire.com/2017/12/28/dean-says-older-dems-get-hell-way/

"SNIP..........

Howard Dean told MSNBC that older members of the Democratic Party need “to get the hell out of the way and have somebody who is 50 running the country.”

Said Dean: “I think my generation needs to get the hell out of politics. Start coaching and start moving up this next generation who are more … fiscally sane. Neither Republicans or Democrats can claim they are fiscally responsible anymore.”

He added: “This young generation is going to pay for that if we don’t get the hell out of the way and have somebody who is 50 running the country.”


.............SNIP"

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Amen to that.

[Achilleaze]

3. Amen to your Amen

Time for Boomer Geezers to Rock On (on the porch).

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. Old, young, no matter to me, ALL that matters to me is

Would I rather have younger folks in general, probably , but it depends on whether or not they understand politics, DC, what you have to do to be successful and how NOTHING happens overnight or without incremental progress.

[Hortensis]

23. Democrats of competence and integrity. Age, sex, color

irrelevant.

[onetexan]

40. agree

[bluestarone]

55. agree

[Me.]

74. Yes

let's please get out of the habit of eliminating people willy nilly

[whathehell]

77. Exactly.. n/t.

[Chemisse]

4. Absolutely!

Bring on the fresh faces with new ideas.

[LanternWaste]

5. It takes a simplistic bias to believe a liberal ideology is predicated on age.

It takes a simplistic bias to believe a liberal ideology is predicated on age.

I think Dean is a smart person, despite being over fifty-- but I shouldn't apply that sentiment consistently? Seems irrational.

[SharonClark]

89. Dean didn"t say anything about a liberal ideology

You can be the most liberal person on earth, it has nothing to do with being an effective elective official. Dean was saying that old Dems need to step aside and let the next generation have their chance. Tom Harkin left the Senate and thinks others should, too, but they are seduced by the power and perks.

[Yavin4]

6. Young Democrats are fearless.

Older Dems having lived through the Nixon and Reagan blowout wins, W's stolen election in 2000, and now Trump have too timid in their approach.

[delisen]

37. Fearless and highly susceptible to Russian Propaganda

[Hekate]

7. Coming from the good Dr Dean, that's a prescription we should take...

Many of my favorite political leaders are people I've "known" forever. I'm now 70 -- that makes them at least my age and some a lot older.

Nothing against my age-cohort, but the time has come to let the generation that followed ours to step up, and for coaching and mentoring the next younger generation of leaders. I'm following several younger politicians in my state of California -- several US Congressmen and a US Senator, as well as some holding State office -- and they are excellent ambitious Dems with bright futures.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

8. Does that mean

that he needs to get out of the way too?

[demmiblue]

9. Is he running for office?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. No

but he's apparently still involved in politics and giving advice. I don't agree we need to purge the party based on age either

[demmiblue]

13. Yes, he is still involved as a mentor to our party (and a hugely successful one at that).

No one is talking about a purge, it is about developing and bringing forth the future of our party.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

24. Suppose he could have said that a bit more artfully

other than for party elders (which he is one of) to "get the hell out of the way". I care more about whether somebody is smart and capable than what their age is. It would also be crazy to flush a ton of experience down the drain IMHO. Also, why is attacking Democrats about not being fiscally responsible?

[demmiblue]

30. Meh. I can see that you don't get it. n/t

[demmiblue]

10. For the most part, I agree. n/t

[Tavarious Jackson]

11. He has a point.

It's not ageism it's acknowledgment. It's just a fact that a 40-50 year old can do more than a 84 year old or even mid 70's.

[oberliner]

15. How is that a fact?

What can a 50 year old do as President that a 70 year old can't do?

[doc03]

34. I am 69 believe me I can't do what I did at 50 either physically or

mentally. I think most people my age will back that up.

[delisen]

73. If you can't meet the demands of the campaign don't run-

but don't pressure those who can meet the demands to opt put.

[TheFrenchRazor]

22. really? well, might a 70-80 yr old have more wisdom about what exactly should be done? some of

of us think that matters.

[BlueStater]

26. Age actually has very little to do with wisdom, in my experience.

The regressive imbecile currently occupying the White House is the oldest one in history.

[Bradical79]

45. Basically. "Age begets wisdom" is a myth.

Experience (positive and negative) is very useful, but it's not the same as making wise decisions.

[TheFrenchRazor]

92. probably as much of a myth as youth begets wisdom, wouldn't you say? nt

[TheFrenchRazor]

91. so you expect to know less 20 yrs from now than you do now? i hope not. ok, so age and wisdom don't

don't go hand and hand, but apparently youth guarantees a good candidate? i've got an idea, why don't we just judge candidates on their merits, and not on their age.

[BlueStater]

96. I'm saying there are people out there who live long lives yet never learn a goddamn thing.

Trump is 71. He's the same obnoxious asshole now that he was 40 years ago. If anything, he's actually gotten worse with age. It was also mostly people 65 and older who voted for him and thought this idiotic jerk was actually qualified to be president. They watch Fox News, believe in conspiracy theories, and are thoroughly brainwashed. Seems like they didn't gain all that much wisdom from living life.

[oberliner]

14. Ageism seems to be the hip discrimination these days

Kind of frustrating.

[TheFrenchRazor]

21. yep; some "progressives" like to excuse themselves when the ignorance/bigotry is their own. nt

[lunatica]

16. I want to see many more young people in government

I’m 69 so to me people in their 50s are considered young to me.

[StevieM]

17. I disagree. I don't plan on voting for Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden but I expect them both to run.

And they have every right to.

So does Elizabeth Warren, who will be 71. And Jay Inslee, who will be 69. And Tom Steyer, who will be 63.

Those are people who I like a lot, and who I would be happy to vote for. We'll see how many of them run. My guess is that 2 of the 3 will.

[Ken Burch]

31. Here's the thing though: are ANY young people going to run for office as Democrats...

...if we're the party where the Boomer generation NEVER gives way, or doesn't give way until Dems from the next generation are in THEIR Sixties?

There's good reason to resist the "stay the course" mindset.

How can that have any effect other than to drive all of these out of involvement with our party?

We need Warren and Sanders' ideas in this party(and HRC's, though primarily in terms of domestic policy), but at the same time need a generational transition.

[StevieM]

36. I think most of the congressional candidates will be younger. Some will be older.

It will be a mix. That is the way it has always worked.

Older candidates can win, and excite the electorate. Running Jerry Brown in California didn't hurt us in 2010.

I also think that a lot of younger Democrats will run for president. And some older ones. And some who are somewhere in between. That is what happens in almost every election cycle. O'Malley was the younger candidate in 2016, but voter gravitated to Clinton and Sanders. And O'Malley wasn't a nobody--he was talked about as a future president for 15 years, going back to when he was mayor of Baltimore.

Running an older candidate in 2016 didn't prevent us from having the election won, by a decisive margin, until the FBI and Comey intervened to destroy her candidacy and hand the election to Trump. Although, I admit, I don't think it is entirely clear that HRC would have run for a second term had she won.

I can't say whether Sanders or Biden would have won in 2016 because I have absolutely no doubt that the FBI would have targeted them with a bogus investigation as well, and the GOP would have been chanting "lock him up!"

I think that if Bernie runs, and emerges as the front runner, you will quickly get excited for him again.

[Ken Burch]

52. For a second Bernie candidacy to be viable, these things would have to happen, I think

(and I don't at this point see signs that they are going to happen)

1) His relationship with and communications skills towards voters of color, that portion of female and LGBTQ voters who were hostile to his campaign, and other parts of the Democratic base needs to vastly improve. Contrary to popular myth, NONE of those groups were intrinsically hostile to his call for economic justice; they just wanted to make sure-and rightly so-that the fight against social oppression was not put to the side in the name of "economic justice". He was never able to earn the trust of those groups, and that's the main reason he wasn't nominated. In order to address this, I think he's going to have to rid himself of any of the advisors who told him to focus his speeches and ads primarily on economic justice and to take a reductivist "it's ALL about class" approach rather than to be intersectional. And he needs to never make another speech remotely similar to the "identity politics" speech. It wasn't wrong to point out that identity isn't the only thing that matters(identity and class matter equally and condition each other), but he sounded FAR too much like a grumpy old guy lashing out at people for not preferring him to HRC-and it's never a good fit for anybody seeking the Dem nomination to chew out the voters you have to win over to win that nomination;

2) He needs to change the way he and some of his supporters talk about this party. We DO need to change a lot of things in the ol' Democracy, but he needs to find a way to present his call for such changes as a renewal narrative, rather than always getting all Cotton Mather/Jonathan Edwards about it. He can't be nominated or win the party over to his ideas as a scourge; he may be able to do so as a voice of tough optimism;

3) He needs to release any remaining tax materials, or the "release the returns" cowd will NEVER let up on him. The man is clearly not a crook and it was probably a record-keeping issue more than anything else, but unless he addresses it this will always be used as a bludgeon by those who oppose him;

4) He should find some way to emphathize with those who still pine for the HRC presidency that wasn't. Bernie did a lot to help her win, but he never sounded as though he understood the pain HRC supporters, particularly women, continue to feel. We need to focus on the future more than on the past, but that needs to be done in a way that acknowledges the sense of grief a lot of people still feel regarding '16.

5) He would probably need to commit to having a much younger running mate-Kamala Harris or Tammy Baldwin would be a good fit for that, or possibly Beto O'Rourke if he beats Ted Cruz for the Senate seat in Texas);

What do you think of that list, Stevie?

[NurseJackie]

66. Oh good god! The "release-the-returns crowd" ??? Seriously? I believe that honest...

3) He needs to release any remaining tax materials, or the "release the returns" cowd will NEVER let up on him.

Oh good god! The "release-the-returns crowd" ??? Seriously? As if those who think transparency and honesty are some "fringe" group? Something like this should be a universal concern for everyone.

I believe that honest politicians should be transparent because they WANT TO be transparent, and because they BELIEVE they should be transparent and keep their promises. I'd have a difficult time trusting a politician who feels hounded into being honest and transparent (or because they fear being "bludgeoned" for not doing the right thing.)

I'm just saying that honesty should come naturally... it should be 2nd nature... it should be done without thinking or without being showy or making a big deal out of it. Politicians should be eager and willing to be transparent and honest, right? Politicians shouldn't feel FORCED or COERCED or "BLUDGEONED" into being honest. I think we can all agree on that.

Any politician or public servant (from the local mayor to the President) who deflects or delays or makes lame excuses for not returning their tax returns is NOT worthy of my vote.

[StevieM]

69. I think it is a good list, especially #1. I don't agree with #5.

If he could resonate more with minorities he would have a good chance of winning. He still won't get my vote, but he would dramatically improve his chances.

Of course, without HRC as an opponent he will have a harder time winning over more conservative voters who gave him their support in 2016. Hillary had these voters in 2008 and then lost them eight years later. The same could happen to Bernie.

He also has to be able to take some hard hits. Hillary took Obama's advice and went pretty easy on him. Obama's advice was correct IMO--we saw in 2008 how easy it was to portray her as being vicious for anything critical she said. Other Democrats, however, may not treat him so kindly. He will have to have a good answer when asked about being a socialist. It didn't come up too much last time.

I absolutely agree that Bernie is not a crook and I don't believe he is hiding anything. But, of course, any Democratic candidate will get swift boated, possibly by the Trump-controlled government itself. Imagine if the FBI once again targets the Democrat, and the Republican--Trump or whoever--gets to say: "You said that it was wrong to attack the FBI." I am terrified that this will happen. So we need to give ourselves every advantage and take away as many bogus talking points from the GOP as possible.

And I cannot agree that he needs to commit to a younger running-mate. The same goes for Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden. I simply cannot support allowing age to determine my vote. I don't have a problem voting for a ticket where both the presidential and vice-presidential nominees are in their 70s.

[Ken Burch]

76. Thanks for your response there.

The one thing I'd take issue with was the assertion that Bernie was seen by much of anyone as more conservative than HRC. That simply wasn't the case. In my view, what happened was that there were new voters who came in who saw Bernie as more sympathetic to those who were the victims of the post-1981 transfer of wealth from working-class people of all races to the rich.

Also, I'm not sure why you think HRC or her supporters went easy on Bernie and his supporters in '08. He was accused of not caring about racism, sexism. homophobia or immigrants rights. There were implications made that he was a closet Communist simply because Burlington was in a sister city relationship with a town in the USSR. The ancient, stupid short story he wrote in 1971, forty-five years earlier, was dredged up. As far as I know, we HEARD about all the dirt there was.

And Bernie's supporters were accused of voting AGAINST African-Americans, Latinx people women and LGBTQ people simply because they supported Bernie against Hillary.

Unless there's evidence that they guy is a closet cannibal, kicked puppies, or owned all of Steven Segal's movies on VHS, I don't know of much of anything that was held back.

As to being a democratic socialist(actually, he's a fairly mild social democrat), all he has to do is say "American capitalism can now be summed up in two words: Donald Trump". If he hadn't been capable of making a case for democratic socialism, Bernie would never have won 43% of the primary vote, tied HRC among POC and women under 30, and been able to add large parts of his agenda to the platform-a platform the party largely chose NOT to mention, other than emphasizing the strong pro-choice position HRC and Bernie shared, during the campaign against Trump.

There are some people who are obsessively anti "socialist", but how many of those people agree with US on much of anything OTHER than maybe defending choice?

When I post things like that, some people here assume that means I'm campaigning for the guy. But I'm not. I'm TRULY not. What I'm doing is simply defending the legitimacy of his presence in the last primary season, the decency and anti-oppression commitment of his supporters when that commitment is STILL, for no good reason, put under attack and when those supporters are still treated as the enemy by some in this party, and the validity of the best of his last campaign's message. It's not necessary to pick all of that to bits to argue that he shouldn't run for our nomination again, and we as a party
pieces, and we as a party have nothing to gain by anathemizing Bernie's message OR his supporters.

Here's what it comes down to with me:

I don't WANT Bernie to run again...

The best way to make sure he doesn't not is for the party to acknowledge the basic validity of what he's been saying on economics(while applying intersectionality to that message so that no one in the base, and none of the issues the base centers are sidelined are abandoned), commit to getting the hell out of the Arab/Muslim world militarily-we've been there since 2003 and it's now fourteen years of bloodsoaked disaster for everyone who still has to live in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya-,and make it known to his supporters that, whoever we nominate, they will be heard in this party and that this will be a place where they can work for their ideas, provided that they treat the Democratic base with respect and join that base(as polls show they actually do personally, issue by issue)in the fight against all forms of social oppression.

We could just call it "fighting for a democratic America".

[StevieM]

82. Thank you for you thoughtful reply. You make your points well.

Various things may have been said about Bernie but they didn't strike me as a huge part of the race. Hillary didn't say most of them herself and her supporters didn't get much airtime. We heard all about the Trump and Sanders voters, but Hillary voters were treated like they didn't exist.

My point is that I cannot remember a period of a few days where Bernie was on the defensive and having to answer questions about some accusation against him. Hillary was accused of being in politics for her own personal enrichment. And she was outright said to be not a progressive--even while allowing Obama to be considered one. I think that the hits she took blow away anything Sanders faced. I suspect you will see what I mean in 2020.

I definitely don't think that Sanders was seen as being more conservative. What I meant was the that more conservative voters sometimes voted for him because people living in more conservative areas got the first taste of just how bad the swift boating over Benghazi and the fake email scandal were. They were often terrified of what might happen. I would actually argue that they were proven wrong, and we were about to win decisively, but then Comey kept intervening. Nobody could have foreseen that.

I agree that he did a great job of appealing to younger voters who were most affected by Reaganomics. I don't think they understood that Reagan was to blame, though.

[Ken Burch]

85. I'm glad for this civil, thoughtful exchange of posts we've had here.

This is what's going to have to happen if we want to get to real unity.

[crazycatlady]

80. The first federal election of 2018 has a 33 year old Democratic nominee

His name is Conor Lamb and he's running in the open PA-18 seat special election. If elected, he'd be the youngest member of congress.

THere's a Democrat in Iowa in her 20s running for Congress and she has a chance.

[delisen]

39. It was H Clinton who understood the danger

of Putin's Russia and was willing to speak out.

I take that kind of politician any day over the gullible.

[Ken Burch]

54. I wasn't saying anything against or even about HRC in the post your responded to.

And it's way to sweeping to imply that young people as a group are gullible.

[delisen]

71. We have sufficient gullible people of all ages.

[Ken Burch]

78. Not sure who you're aiming that at.

And you're talking to someone who spent the entire post-convention period, when I wasn't doorbelling/canvassing for HRC and the rest of the slate, warning people that it would be a horrible thing if Trump got in.

Rather than bait people about the past, could you finally move on to trying to work WITH people to save the future?

[delisen]

83. I am fully in the present. You are talking about

what you did in the past. Doubtless you did much more than I.

We have a gullibility problem today. Russia is still at work.

I think you are reading things into my posts that are not there.

[Ken Burch]

86. I agree with you that Putin's regime(do we have to say "Russia"?...)

(...the Russian people aren't responsible for what Putin does)

is still doing damage and that we have to be attentive.

My point all through this is that we need to make sure, as a party, that we don't invoke Putin's meddling as an argument for avoiding internal critique and change. I assume you aren't making that argument, but it does get made a lot and it harms us as a party when it is made.

[BlueStater]

18. He's right.

Biden, Sanders, and Warren need to go away. If you're going to turn 80 during your first term as president, then you're too fucking old for the job. Period.

The orange cancer needs to be the last president born in the 1940's. It's time to move on.

[rpannier]

51. While I agree we need to get younger people involved and front and center. I have two words

in opposition to his statement

Jerry Brown

[Tarheel_Dem]

19. What an absurd proposal from someone whose opinions I often respect. n/t

[delisen]

42. Authoritarianism has infected the Democratic Party

We got it: ageism, sexism, and racism. Wisdom needed to acknowledge it.

[TheFrenchRazor]

20. B.S. age is really not the problem; he should know better than that. nt

[Ken Burch]

25. I just turned 57 and agree with Dr. Dean on this one.

It's vital to have someone new be our next nominee.

[malaise]

27. That simple

Obama showed them that it works

[delisen]

44. Obama did may fine things-but did he

fully appreciate the Russian threat during the past decade?

Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton were also young presidents. I think they would have been better presidents if they had more political experience before taking office.

we've got enough prejudice in the republican party-we need to combat it not add to it.

[Binkie The Clown]

28. As a 72 year old Dem I say, damn right! nt

[n2doc]

29. Does he mean Chuck and Nancy need to step down? n/t

[BlueStater]

32. I think people need to be more clear when they say we need younger people.

Someone in their 60s is fine. People like Biden and Sanders who will be pushing 80 by the next presidential election are just too ridiculously old. There's never been anything like that in history.

[delisen]

46. Germans did well with Adenauer- but of course they

also had the wisdom to accept female leadership.

[honest.abe]

33. Totally agree.

The 65+ folks need to play the role of mentor and adviser. Our top leaders need to be in 40-60 age range.

[kstewart33]

35. He has a point.

We need a new generation of leadership.

[Miigwech]

38. 2020 ticket - Michelle Obama for Pres/ Barack Obama for VP

Howard Dean - Chief of Staff
Richard Painter - Office of Management and Budget
Hillary Clinton - Supreme Court
Dr. Rachel Maddow - Dept of Education
Oprah - UN Ambassador
Kamala Harris - Attorney General
Elizabeth Warren - Treasury
Tammy Duckworth - Veterans Affairs

..... This is my dream team so far

[delisen]

48. My dream is a Democratic Party that

focuses on building democracy from the ground up not the top down.

[longship]

72. The Obamas are done with the White House.

And I don't want that foolish idiot Oprah Winfrey anywhere near government. She supports all sorts of kooky stuff, like John of God (look him up!) and the disgraceful Dr. Phil -- I was the worst marriage counselor on the planet -- who Oprah promoted as... you guessed it... fucking marriage counseling! And, of course, then there's that quack, Dr. Oz.

Oprah has an absolutely horrible track record. I wouldn't support her for dog catcher.

The rest of your cabinet I have some sympathy for, as long as we continue to have qualified Democrats in the US Senate.

[crazycatlady]

81. This generation of Obamas is

We don't know if Malia or Sasha aspire to return to the White House (after they're 35).

[longship]

84. Well, I do not generally support White House family dynasties.

I supported Hillary because she was the most qualified, not because she was a former First Lady.

The presidency is not an entitlement of birth or marriage or (horrors!) God.

My best to you.

[left-of-center2012]

41. In 2016, my younger neighbor said ...

He felt the Presidential election was like choosing between grandparents.

Time to pass the torch to a younger generation,
as in Eisenhower to Kennedy.

[delisen]

50. This is prejudice-same as when some men

define woman in the work place as sex partners instead of workers.

The candidates were politicians and not the voter's grandparents.

[disndat]

43. Dean is ridiculous

Does he have an ax to grind. We have to put up the best Democrat who can win regardless of age or gender.

[bathroommonkey76]

67. Howard Dean is the smartest Dem out there today

Have you forgotten about the fifty-state strategy in 2006 and 2008? Dean was head of the DNC back in those days - I'd take his word over all of the leaders in the DNC today.

[thegoose]

47. Hear, hear!

Remember how invigorated we were by the election of Barack? As much as we adore Joe Biden, he'd be 78 in 2020. We've got to get the younger generation motivated to vote again.

Talk about old, though. Not only is Dump a worthless piece of offal, he's also the oldest wretched lying corrupt bastard to be "elected."

[IronLionZion]

49. Dems need to build up a bench of other candidates

the age thing offends people of course. There are better ways to phrase it to make the point. But we do need more candidates on our side.

[Guilded Lilly]

53. We need stronger fighters, more than being ageist about it.

[delisen]

56. Let's get the ageism, sexism, and racism out of the party.

I was not impressed by the ability of younger people to recognize or combat social media propaganda and manipulation.

The Russians won by using our political marketing techniques against us. They became the masters of fractionalizing the electorate and conquering us.

They did a great job of using our patriarchal system and our sexism against us.

This ageism bs plays right into their hands.

[rzemanfl]

59. The difference is age slows down, then, eventually, kills people.

I am seventy and know whereof I speak.

[delisen]

68. You are an individual and I am not willing

to generalize your personal experience to every 70 year old.

Secondly is slowing down necessary a bad thing? I don't think so-it depends upon your personal baseline speed for one thing.

Adenauer may have slowed down -but even at his advanced age he was the right person to rebuild Germany after World War II.

Individual ability to achieve and perform should not be limited by the performance of others in a group-whether the weakest members or the average members.

Even among the people I know personally who are the same ages there is a wide variation in performance and ability.

If you or anyone personally wand to vote for a younger candidate for whatever reason you are free to do so.

I do not want my choices to be artificially limited by group pressure to add barriers or to becoming a candidate for office.

[rzemanfl]

75. Well said. My point is that ageism, unlike the master narrative and sexism, has more

connection to objective reality. People get old and die. That's a fact. Whoever inherits the post-Drumpf disaster is going to have one hell of a job to do.

[TheFrenchRazor]

94. i don't think the physical aspects of the job are really the important thing; what about FDR?

he was physically limited, but he was a great president, then died suddenly while still quite young. why don't we just judge candidates on their merits?

[rzemanfl]

97. FDR's death was sudden, but he was a very sick man, his systolic blood pressure

was up to 240 in 1945. I am fine with judging candidates on their merits as long as "not likely to die in office" is one of them.

[TheFrenchRazor]

93. word. nt

[rzemanfl]

57. K&R from this 70 year-old man. n/t

[DownriverDem]

58. Just remember

We also need a number of folks who know how the government works. What we see with trump and his minions are folks who are clueless when it comes to our government. All the agencies with clueless folks trying to run them. I say we need a mix of young and old.

[Skidmore]

60. How is his helpful to all of us ? We need people

of all ages and experiences to reclaim this nation. I admire Dr. Dean but dividing us by age is no more worthwhile than saying only one gender or race can exercise their rights to participate as citizens. It is wrongheaded. If you want to participate, step up. Just don't tell an ally to sit down and shut up. We are all in this together.

[milestogo]

61. I am sorry for all the great older Dems we could have had as president

but now is not their time.

Al Gore
John Kerry
Hillary Clinton
Howard Dean

[delisen]

70. Who are you to press us to limit our choices or decide

whose "time" it is?

If we concentrate on building a strong party we will find that we have hundreds, if not thousands, of suitable candidates of a variety of ages who will make excellent presidents.

Our issue is one of teaching for "the one", "the savior" in lieu of building the foundation.

We simply have not been ready for democracy and so we had doomed ourselves to to searching for a Democratic Party version of a Strongman leader.

[geretogo]

62. Age is irrelevant . Noam Chomsky is an old progressive .

[SharonClark]

88. I didn't know he was an elected official.

[TheFrenchRazor]

95. so what? should their be an age limit on holding public office? i guess actual qualifications don't

don't matter, just check the candidates birth dates and vote accordingly. not.

[Loubee]

63. This older Dem is right there with the progressive wing of the Party.

[leanforward]

64. I agree with Dr. Dean

Some of the older Democrats do need to step aside. I, personally, like the 50 state strategy. A 50 state strategy, is similar to the old Chicago neighborhood bosses who got out the vote. Each state is a unique neighborhood. One thing that has struck me is the thoughtlessness of our opposing party for their constituents in rural areas. Don't forget them.

Back to the older folks, I'm one of them. Meet with them, tell your story and/or listen and ask a question if . . .

Another position I take on politics is: pRezident dRumpf needs to go.

[msongs]

65. age groups of people actually vote vs those who dont. nt

[Mike Nelson]

79. He has a point...

...my prediction is that the primary voters will favor a rising star, and the others will fade after name recognition polling wears off. Also, it does not necessarily have to do with age. Bernie Sanders had the "new car smell" although he'd been in politics longer than anyone... so, fresh candidates could be young or old - but someone who hasn't run before.

[obnoxiousdrunk]

87. K&r

The Dr is right.

[eleny]

90. So we're good for our donations but not to lead?

I have a lot of respect for Dean but right now he can stfu about this age thing. I'm not in the mood.

[eleny]

98. Doug Jones is 63. Should he have gotten out of the way?

https://www.google.com/search?q=Doug+Jones&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b