Column that shows concern that Dean and grassroots are warned off issues.

[madfloridian]

I see a lot I like in this article. There does need to be major clarification of stances, and there does need to be an effort to include the chair and the people who came to the party because of him.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/215430_dean11.html

SNIP.."Dean offers new ideas to Democrats

By ARI MELBER
GUEST COLUMNIST

Howard Dean has officially taken charge of the Democratic Party but it's not clear where he plans to take it. Many observers want to see if he will pull the party left while congressional Democrats keep repeating that the party chairman has no effect on policy. Sen. Joe Biden announced that Dean would have absolutely no "policy role." Dean has told reporters "most of the policy pronouncements" will come from Democratic leaders in Congress.

This approach is a mistake -- and it misses a unique opportunity for the party to cultivate new ideas and better define its policy goals."

SNIP.."Instead of stiff-arming Dean away from policy debates, congressional Democrats should leverage his durable popularity with the base to rally support for the Democratic agenda. Meanwhile, Dean must acknowledge the ideological uncertainty within the party. In a letter to supporters, he claimed "there is no crisis of ideology in the Democratic Party, only a crisis of confidence." But the "crisis" of self-doubt stems from enduring questions about where the party stands...."

"Both established Democratic leaders and grassroots supporters should have input on the new platform. Innovative ideas could be considered without the typical campaign pressures stifling any audacity or creativity. Dean's credibility and empowering style might even bridge the gap between the party's base and its Washington leadership.

There is little doubt that when the next elections roll around, Dean will have raised enough money and Democrats will have fulfilled their role as the opposition party. But if they don't work together now to outline a specific and unified Democratic agenda, they may remain the opposition party for a long time...."

[caligirl]

1. I got a call from the DNC in Washington DC tonight asking

me to sign up for the grassroots funding plan, I guess thats a good description. I had to listen through the ladies description of me as a committed , active democrat. And she wanted me to sign up for monthly $$ contributions through next year.

[Melodybe]

2. I give when I can and when I can't give money I give time.

We are working hard in MS.

[madfloridian]

4. Did you see the pictures I posted in the DFA forum from MS?

They looked like they really loved him there. There is one of a "staffer" sitting at the table. Is that Laura Gross? I think so, the hair looks like it. Man, he was surrounded.

[msongs]

3. better to give yer $$ to candidates............my CA experience is:

riverside county dems committee sent $100,000+ to outside the county candidates because the dem committee said the local dem candidates had no chance to win, so why waste money on them. this is money raised in the county from county dems.

I will NEVER give the county dems org any $$ again. IMO the local dems candidates could have used more $$ to develop a presence for the next election.....and to help counter the influence of the austrian bully.

Msongs

read our paper ballot proposal for CA
www.msongs.com/vvpb.htm

[madfloridian]

5. We have done a lot of that...but I want Dean to succeed....so...

We are donating to the party as well. We also have DFA, so it is getting expensive.

[caligirl]

6. You know about the Mar 17 meeting on the vballot in Sac right? The la

county registrar is trying to undo Shelly's work on the verifiable ballot I think. Info was posted earlier today here.

[QC]

22. Tell her you're trying to pay off all your debts right now

so that you don't end up becoming an indentured servant and thus can no longer afford to donate to the party. ;-)

[madfloridian]

7. Biden: Dean will have no "policy role."

I just read that again, and I resent it. When he and the others say Dean will have no policy role, they are really saying that the party members will have no role.

[Voltaire]

8. That's EXACTLY what they are saying

I believe that their thinking is that its GOOD that Dean brings along Progressives with his election as Chairman but bad that those same Progressives actually want a say in policy. I applaud Dr. Dean being in that position, but it does not relieve us of our responsibility to still work our tails off to get rid of the dead weight in our own party. And I know a lot of folks here are doing that, but we need a lot more. At the next meeting of the Marion County Democrats here in Indiana, I will be there and I'm going to try to help get things done from inside the belly of the beast.

To MadFloridian and everyone else in the trenches, I quote a great newsman. . .

COURAGE!

[w4rma]

9. Biden was one of the *biggest* supporters of the anti-bankruptcy bill.

He is warning us about economic issues. He is very DLC.

[Voltaire]

10. Biden must go

Along with a great many others. And we can do that if we determine that we will. Pick off one of these ninnies and the others will become more responsive, especially when they realize it was us that did it. The GOP does it ALL the time.

[shance]

11. BIden is a fraud. Hes no Democrat and everyone knows it.

n/t

[Mandate My Ass]

12. Didja notice Dean has not said a peep about the bankruptcy

bill? The DNC site has had nothing on it all week. Just SS and the budget. They are muzzling him.

[Voltaire]

13. Dean was put there, among other things

To be a voice for US. So we need to contact the DNC in force every time these things happen.

[Mandate My Ass]

14. Been there & done that

I got no response.

[shance]

16. You're right Voltaire. We can't just throw our hands up and give up.

That would be no help to Dean or to all of us. Democracy is NOT a spectator sport.

When we stop trying and expect the other people to do it is when we become failures. When we stop making our voice heard and we stop trying is when we deserve what we get.

[Sugarbleus]

15. Coming from Biden makes it even more resentful

Once upon a time, I kinda liked Biden, you know just Eh' Not anymore.

With his current votes re Bankruptcy (along with a few other things)now his statement about Dean....I think the guy is AFRAID.

Many of those damnable politicians are so entrenched in Washington--got their little gigs going on--they don't want someone fresh like Dean coming along and threatening their little political aristocracies. God forbid Biden should lose his Shakespearean Stage :eyes:

GO DEAN!

[Eloriel]

17. It's especially annoying coming from someone who is busy

helping the rich get richer and promoting the extinction of the middle class. :grr:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2789-2005Mar2.html

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) -- bowing to pressure from fellow Republicans and to possible retaliation from Democratic Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware -- yesterday said he no longer plans to offer an amendment that threatened to stall bankruptcy legislation being debated in the U.S. Senate.

The amendment would have required corporations to file for bankruptcy protection in the state where their primary business operations are located. Now, companies can file either where they operate or where they are incorporated, which for a majority of corporations is Delaware and New York, states many executives think favor company interests over those of shareholders, creditors and employees.

snip

Delaware gets substantial revenue from bankruptcy filings: 58 percent of Fortune 500 companies and 51 percent of all publicly traded firms are incorporated in the state, according to a spokesman for the state. In recent years, as many as 20 percent of companies that could file in Delaware did so, a Biden spokesman said. Each bankruptcy judge in the state has a caseload five times heavier than the national average, according to federal courts statistics.

Yesterday, word leaked that if Cornyn offered his amendment, Biden would respond by offering one that Cornyn would have trouble supporting, namely a provision to sharply curtail the amount of money wealthy debtors could shield through homeownership. Texas and a handful of other states allow residents filing for bankruptcy to shield millions of dollars through so-called homestead exemptions, and many Texas politicians think influential voters consider that ability sacrosanct.

[tsuki]

23. You are right! Dean speaks for me, not Biden.

[bklyncowgirl]

18. Is it just me or is there a coincidence--

that this article appears in the same week that Dean went to Capital Hill to meet with Democratic leaders and that the Senate voted on the bankruptcy bill.

I wonder if Dean tried to pressure them privately to vote against this bill and this was the answer.

[fujiyama]

19. All I can tell Biden

is that I don't want MBNA setting policy.

[wyldwolf]

20. unfortunately, madfloridian, it's true

Traditionally, the chair has had little or no policy shaping role.

Thread after thread on this. Source after source. Dean's own words even.

But that doesn't mean you have to like it. That doesn't mean he can't guietly insinuate that his grassroots machine would be more likely to support any given candidate if he or she votes or supports any certain position.

[mandyky]

21. Howard Dean will only put up with this for so long, I think

He must be fuming over the bankruptcy bill. I keep remembering when he was running for President, he said he got really mad at something stupid Bush did and decided to run. If the DC Congressional Leadership
continues to do "dumb things" and try tying his hands, well, he won't take that for long. I think he'll threaten to quit the Chairmanship and run for President. And personally I hope he does.