Howard Dean on fire...

[phantom power]

(from interview on MTP: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14273400/page/6/ )

MR. GREGORY: Let me ask you about the big political news of the week, that of course related to Senator Joe Lieberman. Six years ago he was the vice presidential choice for your party. What happened?

MR. DEAN: I think he embraced George Bush’s policies, and the American people are tired of George Bush’s policies. They want a new direction in this country, and, and the voters have spoken.

MR. GREGORY: Should he get out of the race now?

MR. DEAN: I think so. Look, I know how hard this is for Joe, and he’s a good, good person. But the truth is I, I lost one of these races, and I got right behind my party’s nominee, and I think that’s what you have to do if you want to help the country. The way to help this country is to limit Republican power. They have failed in, in the budget, they’ve failed in Iraq, they’ve failed at—with Katrina. I just got back from North Dakota; there’s not—more than a war on terror going on in this country, there’s a war on the middle class going on. There—you know, those folks need help, and we need help domestically. We need a change in this country. We need a new direction, and I think Ned Lamont will give us that new direction.

MR. GREGORY: Senator Lieberman led the charge against the new face of the party after his defeat, saying, in effect, it had been taken over by the liberal wing. This is what he had to say the day after his defeat on NBC’s “Today” show.

(Videotape, Wednesday):

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN: I am committed to this campaign, to a different kind of politics, to bringing the Democratic Party back from Ned Lamont, Maxine Waters, to the mainstream.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY: “Back from the extreme.” Has the Democratic Party that, that you represent been taken over by the extreme?

MR. DEAN: You know, I think that was an unfortunate statement that Joe made.

That’s exactly the same line that Ken Mehlman and, and Dick Cheney are using. The truth is, Ned Lamont is a moderate. Ned Lamont earned his own living. He made a lot of money—and good for him—in, in this American system. He wants a balanced budget, he wants a sane defense policy, he wants health care for all Americans. That is what the Democratic Party believes in. The truth is, most Democrat—most people in this country, let alone Democrats, most Americans, by a large majority, agree with Led—Ned Lamont and not George Bush and, and Joe Lieberman.

[napi21]

1. I watched it yesterday! Dean keeps getting better and better

in dealing with the media! I only wish his capabilities would rub off on a lot of Dems currently in office!

[WatchWhatISay]

2. Thanks Dr. Dean

We have to fight back when they call us extremists. This party has lost a lot of support in the last 10 years because too many stood silent while they falsely defined us.

[Kurovski]

3. K&R.

"...most Americans, by a large majority, agree with Ned..."

They agree with the Democratic party as represented by Howard Dean. That's just the plain truth we see unfolding before us.

(You might want to change "Led" to "Ned" in the last sentence...but no biggie.) :-)

[ninkasi]

4. Good for Dean

My sense is that voters are tired of seeing special interest groups catered to, and laws passed that benefit corporate profits at the expense of American jobs. Every piece of legislation that has come out of Republican controlled Congress is blatantly tilted to help either corporate profits, at enabling the wealthy to shirk their share of the cost of running government, or something appeasing to the religious right.

When ordinary Americans, who are having a harder and harder time making ends meet look at what Congress has done, they can see clearly that they have been shut out of any consideration. Regarding Bush's war in Iraq, we can see our children coming home in flag draped coffins, we can read about the astronomical sums of taxpayer money being spent, and going mostly to wealthy cronies of Bush/Cheney, and we can see every program designed to ease a little of the burden of being old, living in poverty, or suffering from job loss, and see that those programs are slashed, while multi-millionaires get even more tax cuts.

Then, when voters look at Joe Lieberman, they see him smooching the president, and attacking members of his own party, while siding with Bush on a war that Americans now see as a mistake. It's simple. He no longer represents the interests of the ones who sent him to the Senate three times. Now, we can see an egotistical Holy Joe quivering in indignation because voters have DARED to vote for a man who shares their own feelings about the war, and domestic policies. Ironic, but why on earth should he expect to be elected by people who feel that he doesn't represent them?

[kwolf68]

5. Neds a moderate..

We still haven't been able to effectively rebutt calls of extreme, left-wing, Liberal...

No one complains that two right-wing Conservatives from two of the most right-wing states in the nation become Prez and VicePrez...where are the questions about the Republicans being taken over by extremists?

Turn the tables on these people...Dean coming out saying ned's a moderate in some people's mind presupposes that being less Liberal is still a good thing.

[madfloridian]

6. No, it does not.

Ned Lamont is a moderate, and Dean was correct to say so.

[kwolf68]

7. Moderate???

He is against the war and he wants to get the military out of there....what is the Liberal position?

[Vincardog]

8. Bring the troops from Iraq and use them to frog march W and CO to their

TRIALS.

W = War Wimp Whiner

Boo Ho I fell off my tricycle

[glitch]

9. I am a Liberal and I support this position. nt

[tavalon]

10. That is just one position, one issue, albeit an important one

His overeall political persuasion is moderate Democrat.

[wiley]

11. Who was there before him?

Go Dean!