Howard Dean: Sestak is a Centrist -- "in the mold of Jim Webb"

[berni_mccoy]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/howard-dean-tells-tpmdc-big-night-for-progressives.php?ref=fpa

"This is a big night for people who really want Washington to be a change agent," Dean said, adding the results show a "backlash" against both parties in official Washington. Dean, also former governor of Vermont and a 2004 presidential candidate, said he views Jack Conway as the progressive choice in Kentucky and said Lt. Gov. Bill Halter's forcing of a runoff in Arkansas proves that candidates on the left can prevail.

At the same time, Dean thinks Sestak is a Democrat in the mold of Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) -- a centrist who was elected in 2006 in part thanks to online progressives supporting and funding his candidacy until it attracted national attention. "New progressives are the old centrists. Conway and Sestak will be pretty damn appealing to the middle of the road," Dean said. "Joe is a bit of an iconoclast and that's what you want in a race like this. Joe is a centrist with conviction politics."

Do we really need to start labelling people, fellow DUers, and others as to what kind of Democrat they are?

Specter was no Democrat. He was a converted Republican for the sake of political survival.

Self-proclaimed Progressives here at DU I think would not like to refer to themselves as Progressives if they truly understood where the Progressive movement came from: The CENTER.

[dionysus]

1. right now it's this whole bullshit game of people trying to exclusively claim what is liberal or not

"if you don't agree with me, you're not a Real Liberal(tm)!!1!!11!"

[Tarheel_Dem]

21. Exactly. And some seem arrogantly willing to sacrifice our majorities...

for ideological purity. What happens to the process when there are no longer moderates to reach across, and actually get legislation done? With the rise of blogs and other new media, we've become so polarized and I fear for the future of this country.

We used to be the Big Tent Party, with an appreciation for varying viewpoints. Those days, sadly, have come to an end. If you disagree with the Dennis Kucinich wing of the party, you should be forced to wear a scarlet letter, I guess. It's crazy.

[sabrina 1]

2. I looked at Sestak's voting record and I looked at Arlen Specter's

voting record. I had thought of Sestak as very similar to Webb, but was pleasantly surprised when I actually saw his record. That made it easier for me to support him, not just to beat Specter, but because I liked a lot of his positions on major issues. Not all, but there are very few we are going to agree with completely.

[janx]

3. The problem with these labels is that people use them differently.

People also have varying ideas as to what they mean. For instance, Dean himself is a self-described moderate, but some people think of him as a wild-eyed leftist. :rofl:

[xultar]

13. The people who use the labels fuck them up as well. Like people will take what

Dean is saying about Sestak and make it into a bad thing.

We all know Sestak wasn't a progressive. So deal.

[janx]

15. Exactly!

;-)

[RaleighNCDUer]

22. The DLC, who call themselves centrist, think he's a radical leftist.

The reason many people use the terms differently is to hide their own position.

DLC = right wing corporatists

Dean = moderate centrist

Me = goddam fucking commie

[janx]

23. The DLC is dead. n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

26. With a few minor exceptions on or about Capitol Hill and the WH. nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

25. Oops - clicked wrong 'reply'. nt

[Scurrilous]

4. LOL

:thumbsup:

[madfloridian]

5. "New progressives are the old centrists" That's true.

Dean was that way. He was beloved by the DLC once, and his family was Republican. Now more are moving leftward when the party itself is hurtling rightward.

[WeDidIt]

6. Increments

Everything can only come in increments.

I blame our instant gratification society for the vitriolic attitudes of those on the further sides of the political spectrum.

If people bothered reading the constitution and combined that document with the Rules of the Senate they'd understand that as the deliberative body, the Senate is a conservative body by design. Change can only come slowly within the legislative system we have. Once you accept the reality of our system, you can begin moving the agenda forward.

But demanding instant gratification from both the right and the left only results in rigid gridlock and neither side can form the super majority necessary to overcome the procedural hurdles.

[redqueen]

16. Well said.

Progress, not perfection. The important thing is to keep pushing, and not self-destruct out of frustration.

[Dr Fate]

7. So long as they end the war(s) and stop bowing down to multi-national corporations...

...I dont care what the papers or DUers call them.

Their actions & results will speak for themselves...

I dont really see too many Republicans as "centrist"- I see them as far right.

I always laughed when DUers used to refer to DEMS who agreed with Bush as a "centrist." LOL! News flash folks- Bush & the Republicans are FAR RIGHT. Agreeing with the far right is, well-far right, not centrist.

[grantcart]

8. I don't mind that he is a "centrist" but his use of populist phrases

is really grating. He helps fuel the propoganda war while supporting a centrist agenda.

[zipplewrath]

9. A very old center though

There is a new "center" attempting to rise up. It is the old "rockefeller republicans". That is distinctly different from where the progressives came from.

[RainDog]

10. center/progressive whatever... it would be nice to have someone like Webb

when it comes to issues like prisons and prohibition.

Democrats need some pols that are willing to take on issues of social justice.

[Skidmore]

11. In the NSS category, for

"No s*it, Sherlock."

I don't want to hear another word from the sanctimonious few who keep informing us that the are "progressive" and all others need not touch the liberal mantle. Well, "progressives" put up an alternative to Specter who is only a tick or two to the left. I've commented on this before.

Enough with the labels and the finger pointing. This IS where pragmatism comes in--when labels don't work.

[Donnachaidh]

12. the king of cognitive dissonance drags out the soapbox again.

Yeah yeah -- got a phd in progressivity :rofl: :rofl:

Delusionland..... :rofl: :rofl:

[berni_mccoy]

14. Howard Dean is the "king of cognitive dissonance"? You're really losing it.

You should step back from the keyboard and go for a little walkie.

[bvar22]

17. Sestak may be a "centrist",

but that is a HUGE step in the right direction from the "Republican" the White House was campaigning for.
All we have to do now is keep moving in the right direction.

[stray cat]

18. SO DU will eventually condemn his as well?

[JohnnyBoots]

19. Dean reffering to Sestak as a middle of the road Centrist is to attract R and indepenant voters who

think Twomey is too much of a right wing nutcase. Tactical framing on national TV....

[OHdem10]

20. Webb has Social Justice as a priority--looking out for the middle

and lower income people.

As long as they hold to this principle and not throw
the working class under the bus, I stand with them.

[NJmaverick]

24. K & R!