A little walk down memory lane to the DNC winter meeting 2 years ago.

[madfloridian]

Here is the transcript from Howard Dean's speech to the winter meeting in 2003. It was a speech with many cheers and ovations. It was in front of the party he will assume leadership of tomorrow. It has been a long way from there to here. Lots of it painful, and still some twinges. Good luck, Howard. We've got your back.

http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/dnc0203/dean022103spt.html
SNIP.."What I want to know is why in the world the Democratic party leadership is supporting the president's unilateral attack on Iraq. .

What I want to know is why are Democratic party leaders supporting tax cuts. The question is not how big the tax cut should be, the question should be can we afford a tax cut at all with the largest deficit in the history of this country. .

What I want to know is why we're fighting in Congress about the Patient's Bill of Rights when the Democratic party ought to be standing up for health care for every single American man, woman, and child in this country. .

What I want to know is why our folks are voting for the president's No Child Left Behind bill that leaves every child behind, every teacher behind, every school board behind, and every property tax payer behind. . ....."

And the conclusion:
SNIP..." I need your help. I need your help. We're going to change this party and then we're going to change this country, and we're going to take back the White House, and we're going to balance the budget, and we're going to have health care for everybody, and we're going to have an America with its best institutions right up to the cabinet that looks once again like America.

We're going to bring hope to America, jobs to America, peace to America; we're going to bring pride to the Democratic party. I need your help. Let's go get it; let's go do it. Let's win the White House in January of 2004. Thank you very much. . END SNIP

[Eloriel]

1. Where was the "I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK" ??

Wasn't that in that same speech? I'm confused.

BUT, look at this -- I've been telling people that Dean had been making that Confederate Flag remark for many months before Sharpton and Edwards ganged up on him in that debate and made it a racist problem:

I intend to talk about race during this election in the South, because the Republicans have been talking about it since 1968 in order to divide us, and I'm going to bring us together, because you know what, you know what? White folks in the South who drive pick ups with Confederate flag decals on the back ought to be voting with us and not them because their kids don't have health insurance and their kids need better schools too. .

CHEERS, APPLAUSE. People understood what he meant, and believe me, there were plenty of African Americans in that audience cheering and applauding.

And btw, when he DID come South -- I saw him in August of 2003 in Atlanta, and he'd been to AL before that and who knows where before that -- he most certainly DID talk about race. He spoke about it in such a way that brought tears to my eyes. It was very moving, and very profound. I wish I could hear him give that part of his speech again. Perhaps I will some day.

[SharonAnn]

2. I think it was at the California convention where I first heard it.

I'd love to hear it again!

[Eloriel]

6. You're absolutely right -- I was just coming back to

edit my post, but I'll leave it. I was about to close that window and NOTED this:

Democratic National Committee Winter Meeting
Washington, DC, February 21, 2003

And I know that I Want My Country Back speech was in S.F. in March. Duh!

Thanks!!

[madfloridian]

7. Just posted the link to the March speech below.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

3. Dean in Feb. a year later..."I Still Want to Know."

This is poignant, as it was just before he dropped out of the race. There were no answers then, and few now. The difference is that I sense a spirit in the party now, a feeling that things are going to change. Maybe we will never know why, as long as the change occurs.

http://www.blogforamerica.com/archives/003545.html

SNIP..."Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Governor Dean: What I still want to know
Governor Dean made a defining speech in Seattle this morning -- here are some excerpts:

Almost exactly a year ago, when few people knew our campaign existed, I spoke before the Democratic Party leadership in Washington. I asked some fundamental questions.

I wanted to know why Democratic leaders were supporting tax giveaways for the wealthiest people and big corporations, creating enormous deficits that mortgage our children's future.

I wanted to know why Congress was talking with this President about half-hearted health care measures when the Democratic Party ought to be standing up for real health care for every man, woman and child in America.

I wanted to know why Democrats were voting for the President's No Child Left Behind bill that leaves every child behind, every teacher behind, every school board behind and every property tax payer behind? We can do better than this.

And I wanted to know why the top Democratic leadership, including many of my opponents, were giving George Bush a blank check for his unilateral, preemptive, wrongheaded war in Iraq.

I am still waiting for the answers.

Over the course of this campaign, our Party seems to have found its voice again. And our soul again. Our will to fight - to raise these difficult issues directly with the people.

Change is the biggest winner to date in the Democratic Party. Even the other Democrats in the race - the very Democrats who weren't standing up to the President a year or two years ago - are beginning to adopt the message of change...."END SNIP

[KissMeKate]

4. "what I want to know" Classic Howard giving em hell

I fell in love with this guy, and I think its gonna cost me quite a bit of money now that hes the chair of the Democratic Party!

[madfloridian]

5. March 15, 2003: "I want my country back."

http://www.crocuta.net/Dean/Transcript_of_Dean_Sacramento_Speech_15March2003.htm

Conclusion of the speech.
SNIP...."We are not going to beat George Bush by voting with the President 85 percent of the time. The only way that we're going to beat George Bush is to say what we mean, to stand up for who we are, to lift up a Democratic agenda against the Republican agenda because if you do that, the Democratic agenda wins every time.

I want my country back! We want our country back! I am tired of being divided! I don't want to listen to the fundamentalist preachers anymore! I want America to look like America, where we are all included, hand in hand. We have dream. We can only reach the dream if we are all together - black and white, gay and straight, man and woman. America! The Democratic Party! We are going to win in 2004! Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Stand up for America, Stand up for America, Stand up for America!!"END SNIP

[Eloriel]

8. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I LOVE that speech -- wow. Still has the very same effect on me.

And here, btw, is that same old Confederate Flag comment:

Senator Kerry was reported to have said that he could win without the South. I don't want to win without the South. I want to go to the South, and I'm going to say to white guys that drive pick-up trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back of their car, "We want your vote too, because your kids don't have health insurance either."

[madfloridian]

9. I noticed that.

Very interesting, how after many many months...it suddenly mattered after he got cheers at the party for saying it.

I am happy for him, but I worry....