Dean Was A Triangulator Before Clinton

[DrFunkenstein]

Note: The text has been ribbed for your pleasure. Read the full text here (especially Kucinich fans):

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0826-04.htm

Let's take Howard Dean at his word: "I was a triangulator before Clinton was a triangulator. In my soul, I'm a moderate." Plenty of evidence backs up that comment by the former Vermont governor to the New York Times Magazine a few months ago.

Dean clearly finds grassroots progressives to be quite useful for his purposes. But is he truly useful for ours?

Economic justice has been a much lower priority (than a balanced budget).

Gov. Dean did not mind polarizing with poor people, but he got along better with the corporate sector. "Conservative Vermont business leaders praise Dean's record and his unceasing efforts to balance the budget, even though Vermont is the only state where a balanced budget is not constitutionally required," Business Week reported in its August 11 (2003) edition.

According to Business Week, "those who know him best believe Dean is moving to the left to boost his chances of winning the nomination." A longtime Dean backer named Bill Stenger, a Vermont Republican who's president of Jay Peak Resort, predicted: "If he gets the nomination, he'll run back to the center and be more mainstream."

The magazine added: "Business leaders were especially impressed with the way Dean went to bat for them if they got snarled in the state's stringent environmental regulations."

Howard Dean does deserve some credit as a foe of the war. Yet it would be a mistake to view him as an opponent of militarism. Dean seems to agree. During an August 23 interview with the Washington Post, he said: "I don't even consider myself a dove."

Overall, the problem with puffing up Dean -- or claiming that he represents progressive values -- goes beyond a failure of truth-in-labeling. It also involves an insidious redefinition, in public discourse, of what it means to be progressive in the first place.

I admire the creativity and commitment that many activists have brought to their work for Dean. Yet his campaign for the nomination offers few benefits and major pitfalls. If Dean becomes the Democratic presidential candidate next year, at that point there would be many good reasons to see him as a practical tool for defeating Bush. But in the meantime, progressive energies and support should go elsewhere.

[renie408]

1. There's that word again...

the reason I can't get excited about Dean.

Convenient. His politics are convenient.

[ChompySnack]

2. I don't know about Dean

But all politician's points of view are convenient. They represent the people, not themselves. Their values guide their positions, not cement them into position. Times change and a politician that can't change with them will not be a politician for long.

Everyone on the right thought that Bush was making too many compromises, but look what happens when he gets in. Just does what he wants to. I think that this will be what happens from now on in the White House more than ever before. Say anything to get elected, then do what you want and forget about breaking promises.

[DrFunkenstein]

5. I Would Love A Progressive Version of Bush

Can you imagine what that would look like?

<>

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. Did you like Bill Clinton?

If you did, you will probably like Dean. They are both moderates.

[DrFunkenstein]

6. You Are Glossing Over Some Details

I love Clinton, but I hated his Dick Morris-inspired triangulations. So did Gore.

[diplomats]

9. Gore was against that?

I never heard that before, although I know Morris was despised by practically everyone in the WH (with good reason, it turns out).

[DrFunkenstein]

11. Gore Was Uncomfortable With How Clinton

Compromised everyone around him in his triangulations and "indiscretions." There was definite tension in the White House.

Clinton's "third way" triangulations worked well for him personally, but it helped sink the Party and helped in the 2000 fiasco.

You can thank Clinton for the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and for bringing corporate fundraising into the policy room, among other things.

I am a big fan of Clinton, but with certain reservations.

[KaraokeKarlton]

13. Civil Unions and having to wear a bullet proof vest was "Convenient"?

I think Dean has demonstrated that when push comes to shove he will do the right thing over the convenient thing. It also turns out, that quite frequently doing the right thing with the right attitude can keep things pretty simple and "convenient".

[meegbear]

4. THE BIG DOG ROCKS!!

comparing dean to him is BLASPHEMY!!

[Rose Siding]

7. He balanced the budget?

Bastard!

[DrFunkenstein]

10. Perhaps I Should Have Posted The Whole Quote

After seven years as governor, the Associated Press described Dean as "a clear conservative on fiscal issues" and added: "This is, after all, the governor who has at times tried to cut benefits for the aged, blind and disabled, whose No. 1 priority is a balanced budget."

There is a difference between fiscal responsibility and a balanced budget, which is why most people oppose a Constitutional amendment.

[diplomats]

8. This is why I think the comparisons to McGovern are wrong

According to Business Week, "those who know him best believe Dean is moving to the left to boost his chances of winning the nomination." A longtime Dean backer named Bill Stenger, a Vermont Republican who's president of Jay Peak Resort, predicted: "If he gets the nomination, he'll run back to the center and be more mainstream."
That's what all smart candidates do. It's a no-brainer. I just hope that if he wins the nomination the "liberal" label, even if it's not matched by his record and positions, doesn't sour too many middle-of-the-raod voters. Rove will certainly push it.

[HereSince1628]

12. Rove may be in jail by then for outing a CIA agent.

/

[blm]

14. NO...He's not someone who would just pander to the left.

He ignores polls.

He FIGHTS the DLC and all they stand for.

He has changed his stands because he now believes he was wrong before and is FIGHTING FOR US..