so is Dean a made man now?

[progressiveright]

I was reading New York Times article today, front page, that says it's basically over, one of the main challengers to Dean just dropped out, and the rest of party leaders are uniting behind Dean.

I think he will do a lot better as a party leader as opposed to presidential candidate, after a little while people will get used to the idea that the leader of DNC can actually be a partisan.

[Joe the Revelator]

1. Don't Jinx it nt

[progressiveright]

3. too late, it has been jinxed

Dean Emerging as Likely Chief for Democrats

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/02/politics/02dean.html?oref=login

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 - Howard Dean emerged Tuesday as the almost assured new leader of the Democratic National Committee, as one of his main rivals quit the race and Democrats streamed to announce their support of a man whose presidential campaign collapsed one year ago.

Dr. Dean's dominance was secured after Martin Frost, a former representative from Texas, whom many Democrats viewed as the institutional counterpart to Dr. Dean, dropped out after failing - in what had become an increasingly long-shot effort - to win support from national labor unions. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. announced instead that it would remain neutral, freeing its affiliate members to do what they wanted, which proved in many cases to be boarding the Dean train.

"It's a fait accompli, it's over: Dean's going to be it," said Gerald McEntee, head of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, who runs the umbrella political organization for all the unions in the A.F.L.-C.I.O.

[alittlelark]

2. Dean has never been a 'made man'

He has created that which he can claim.

[progressiveright]

4. you can be a made man

even if you basically take over the organization that is making you a 'made man'. His efforts for democrats did have to get some kind of an ending, so after he has been an unofficial leader of many democrats, now he is finally becoming the official one. He didn't start a third party, did he?


Howard Dean, at George Washington University in December.

[alittlelark]

5. You are mincing definitions..... You are not making an honorable debate.

It sounds Rovian.

[progressiveright]

6. humpty dumpty

you can't have a real debate if you use same words to define concepts in a radically different way, in which case it ceases to be a debate and becomes a failure to communicate.

[alittlelark]

7. "What we have here is a failure to communicate"

To thinking people.

[progressiveright]

9. true

http://www.frontiernet.net/~vegorov/pics/failure.wav

[alittlelark]

8. Going, going, GONE...

in time.;-)

[roguevalley]

10. as far as I'm concerned on this issue he's The Man.

[PurityOfEssence]

11. It would be nice, wouldn't it?

Talk about a shot across the bow. Remember, though: the guy's a lot more conservative than people think. Hopefully, this will overcome the vilification he's bound to get should he be chosen.

I still stand by previous statements about his public mistakes and tactics against opponents, but this is a great billet for him, and he's a very valuable person. I'd also add that even with those missteps, he's a very GOOD person, and a lightning rod for change.

It would also be a fine shot across the bow to the unswervatives, and lest we forget, the Democratic Party is in much better shape than many think: take into account the Texas redistricting thievery, and we gained seats in the House this last election. Yeah, we lost southern Senators, but that was going to happen anyway; sorry for all you decent folk living under occupation south of the Mason-Dixon line, but you're subjects of xenophobic theocracy, and it's only going to get worse in the near term.

The Party has money, a burgeoning network of think tanks and advocacy groups, and the savvy gained from getting chumped a few times running. More than anything, it has the power of outrage against the hubristic overreaching of the economic monarchs. If we can't make hay out of Social Security Privatization, we don't deserve to survive.

If nothing else, with him at the helm--regardless of his inherent centrism--there will be less of a malaise of appeasement and less crap about moving to the right. It's somewhat ironic that it takes a true moderate-to-conservative to take the party back to the left where it belongs, but that may very well be the case.

Good luck, HBD!

[progressiveright]

12. centrism

his economic policies are not centrism, it's just common sense. government collects that much money in taxes, and then we choose how to spend it while balancing a budged each year and without borrowing. that means every time you want to initiate or expand a government program/agency, you will have to cancel something else as a result. it was called pay-as-you-go during the clinton's years.

[RealDems]

13. It's over...

I was a Dean fan in the primaries, and like all Dean fans, I promised I would NEVER think an election was over before the votes were cast.

That said, it's over.

[Dr Fate]

14. I hope so- I think he is fantastic for this.

Go Mean Dean!