Dean is Doing What We Hired Him To Do; and setting an example spine-challenged elected Democrats should be following
by Rob Kall
So... Howard is making some of the spine-challenged democrats uncomfortable. That's exactly why we wanted him, because the centrist democrats don't have the balls to say what needs to be said. We knew when Dean was given the job, he'd be pushing the envelope. Now he's doing it. The grousing from a handful of democrats is actually a positive sign. If he was not getting some complaints then he would be failing to meet our expectations for speaking out-- truth to power.
There are a lot of elected Democrats who failed to vote against the bankruptcy bill and who allowed the compromise that is putting three of the most offensive judges in history into positions of influence. The outrage and outcry should be about those gutless wonder Democrats, not Dean.
We should use Dean's courage and independence as a kind of litmus test for candidates for office. Will your candidate have the guts to stand up to slimeball right wingers and theofascist right wing fundamentalists, and treat them like the 21st century reincarnations of KKK cretins that they are?
Will your candidate be willing to break loose from the hive mentality of the congress and stand on his own. Will he be willing to speak for you instead of the DCCC or the DSCC and backroom high powered party operatives? If not, find another candidate. Don't settle for less.
Here in Pennsylvania, we have a situation where, the word is, Ed Rendell, for DNC chair and current governor, NY Senator Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid and financial heavy hitter Peter Buttonweiser got together in a back room and worked out a deal to coronate Bob Casey, Jr. whose daddy was a governor of PA, to be "the" candidate to run against Rick Santorum. They persuaded two of the highest probability candidates to withdraw fromt he race, probably promising first dibs on Arlen Spector's senate seat if his Cancer gets the best of him. Casey is the same guy who lost the gubernatorial race that he was ahead 17 points a month before the primary. He's won races that didn't require much public face time. He's a party man and its hard to imagine him not making like a Star Trek Borg, wiring his brain so he becomes another Democratic drone with the hive mentality -- just a blue donkey version of the red elephant hive/ obedience in lockstep mentality the Republicans require on their side of the aisle.
Why would any Pennsylvanian want a guy who is so clearly owing so much to the party? The mantra is that he has good name recognition-- right-- as a daddy's boy and the loser of a gubernatorial election that he had a 17 point lead in. I'm supporting Chuck Pennacchio, who is a real independent who has proven his willingness to speak the truth.
Thank God for Howard Dean and the reminder he provides for us that a strong loud voice will not always be comfortable and cozy, that it WILL make waves and will make the people who have been letting us down with their failure to speak out uncomfortable. We need to hear more of Howard scratching the chalk on the blackboard, calling right wingers names. Each time he stretches the envelope he makes it a little easier for the already elected, spine-challenged democrats to speak out more strongly. Each time he gets flack, he is also cutting through some bruck, opening new trails that the less adventuresome, too comfortable democrats can then, more easily travel.
When you hear someone complain about Howard Dean, straighten him or her out. It takes guts and smarts to break new ground. He's doing it for us. And if it's a right winger mocking Howard, laugh at him or her and let him know you approve, that Howard's truth shouldn't be comfortable for him.
Rob Kall is editor/publisher of OpEdNews.com
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