moderate Dems in Congress say they could like Dean

[villager]

WASHINGTON TODAY: Some moderate Dems in Congress say they could find something to like in Dean

NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
Friday, July 11, 2003


(07-11) 07:24 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

He's known as the anti-war candidate whose appeal is to the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, and some Republicans say if Howard Dean gets the nomination, President Bush will be a sure bet to win a second term.

Not so fast, say some moderate congressional Democrats who would be affected if Dean is at the top of the ticket. He also supports gun rights, the death penalty and a balanced budget.

Republicans and even some moderate Democrats have portrayed Dean as the next George McGovern, who won the 1972 Democratic nomination by appealing to anti-war liberals only to get trounced by a sitting Republican president, Richard Nixon. But behind Dean's liberal image is his record as Vermont governor of reforming welfare, slashing state spending and cutting taxes for businesses.

Moderate Democratic Rep. Cal Dooley of California says Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman is the best Democrat to take on Bush next year. He says Democrats in moderate districts wouldn't want to see Dean on the top of the ticket right now, but that could change if Dean changes his rhetoric and starts talking about his record.

"He's not nearly as liberal people perceive him," Dooley said.

<snip>

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/07/11/national0315EDT0454.DTL

[jos]

1. Cal Dooley

and Joe Lieberman. Perfect together. Dooley is probably the most conservative Democrat in the House who doesn't reside in one of the states of the old confederacy.

[goobergunch]

7. Dooley voted FOR *'s OT rules (n/t)

[CMT]

2. they will change their tunes if Dean begins winning

and if he draws near Bush in the polls. Then these guys will be running over one another to get on the bandwagon.

[The_Counsel]

3. Ayup...

"They will change their tunes if Dean begins winning and if he draws near Bush in the polls. Then these guys will be running over one another to get on the bandwagon."

Actually, Dean IS winning in my book. Recent polls have been telling me he's getting 15-20% (which is pretty damn good in a pool of NINE). Should he get the nomination, the gap between him and Bush should close in a hurry. Dean would have to be a truly inept campaigner on the level of Michael Dukakis for that not to happen.

Remember: for all his perceived flaws, Al Gore made up a 17-point deficit between March and November 2000.

[Dover]

4. It's not his political positioning that bothers them. It's Dean's

"outsider" status that has them worried. And he may not be a waterboy for the corporations. But even beyond that...what REALLY scares them....is that he is the PEOPLE'S choice as is Kucinich, Sharpton, etc. It's a living, breathing democracy that scares them.

[The_Counsel]

5. -- sigh. --

I'll never understand this logic...

"Republicans and even some moderate Democrats have portrayed Dean as the next George McGovern, who won the 1972 Democratic nomination by appealing to anti-war liberals only to get trounced by a sitting Republican president, Richard Nixon."

First of all, this assumes that McGovern lost BECAUSE of his anti-war stance. In reality, there were SEVERAL things that cost him the election. I'll even dare suggest that his war stance wasn't one of them.

Second, are we SURE it was just the LIBERALS that didn't like the war? Remember, this was 1972. The war had been going on for, what, EIGHT YEARS by then? This was four years after the Tet Offensive, which showed many Americans of all walks that war against the Vietnamese was a bad idea. By 1972, there were VETERANS of this war who were protesting against it. And now the conservatives are saying getting out of 'Nam was strictly a liberal idea? No, it was a SANE idea, and even some conservatives and moderates saw it that way...

Third, lest we forget: there was the matter of Nixon Administration shadiness that helped aid what turned out to be an electoral landslide in his favor. It was the reason why Nixon would assuredly have been impeached in '74 had he not (wisely) chosen to resign.

So let's not put McGovern's '72 loss all on him. He had help. Lots of it. And it's not like he didn't have an uphill battle to begin with. Dean does, too, but I think he has the wits about him to fight that battle successfully. All he needs now is SUPPORT (are you listening, DLC-ers?)...

[Cocoa]

8. Ignore the McGovern stuff

they don't even mean it. What they mean is to scare people away from Dean. He's closer to Clinton than to McGovern. I wonder if he's modeling his campaign after Clinton's?

[damnraddem]

6. All this 'liberal' nonsense.

Dean is a moderate who has been saying what has needed to be said about Iraq, about the economy, and so on. This is not the same situation as Vietnam -- and the more it gets like Vietnam, the less popular Dubya will be, and the more important it will be for Dems to be anti-that-war. It's not that Dean is liberal, it's that he has shown evidence of having a spine.

[jpgray]

9. The more Dean succeeds, the more they'll like him

That's jsut the way it goes. The fundraising thing catapulted him to more national recognition and acceptance, so will any strong showing in the early primaries.

[VolcanoJen]

10. Dupe... locking

Please continue discussion by posting in the original thread on this topic, which can be found here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=8076&mesg_id=8076&page=

Thanks,
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator