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Monday, December 27, 2004

Dean or Die
Posted by Jill | 4:36 PM

Steve Gilliard:

What everyone in DC is fearing, but what is increasing clear, is that it's Howard Dean's job to lose. If there was a vote, he'd win in a landslide. DFA and other groups are already praising his name to the skies. Simon Rosenberg is probably the compromise candidate, but either way, Dean brings cards unheard of into the DNC chair debate, namely massive popular support. Now, the Dems can ignore him or shove him aside, but they risk triggering a real civil war. They still want to have business as usual when it is clear that will no longer suffice.

People who think Dean should wait until '08 are living in a fantasy world. He will no more have a chance in 08 than he did in 04 if the same people run the party. They will preclude a Dean candidacy as sure as rain falls from the sky. The only way for Dean's principles to dominate the party is for him to run it. He cannot do it from outside, and all this talk about moving to the Greens is a joke. They can't shit and wipe their asses at the same time. The Greens are infighters like it was a college English department. That's not ever going to be a serious vehicle for change. Nader? He says the right things, but takes money from Grover and friends.

The threat I would take seriously is the threat to withhold funds. The DNC was able to raise money in the streets, unprecidented. If they push a loser like Roemer, someone who's also pro-gutting Social Security, as head of the party, then why would I or anyone else raise a dime for them? What would they stand for?


Gilliard is one of the smartest people in Blogistan, but he sees Kerry/Edwards as the ticket again in 2008, once again on the "electable" meme. God, I hope he's wrong. Yet there just doesn't seem to be anyone else in the pipeline who's even remotely tolerable. I will NOT support some misogynistic hack who thinks he can sell out a woman's reproductive system for a couple of fundie wingnut votes, nor one who thinks he can sell out the environment for a few fundie wingnut votes, or who thinks he can sell out on prayer in school for a few fundie wingnut votes. And there are hundreds of thousands just like me out there -- progressives who were good soldiers this time, but won't be fooled again. Kerry Just Plain Didn't Want It That Badly. He conceded before the votes were even counted; why on earth should he get another chance?

If the Democratic Party is going to survive, it's going to have to do what the hapless New York Mets SHOULD be doing if they weren't owned by the hopelessly inept Wilpon family -- building a farm team. You don't trade for washed-up sluggers. You trade washed-up players for young pitchers. You grow your own team. The fact of the matter is that the Democratic Party doesn't even have washed-up sluggers; they have overpaid washed-up journeyman ballplayers that no one wants (Kerry), overhyped prospects (Evan Bayh), an attractive kid who hits great during the season and then chokes in the playoffs (Edwards) and the team owner's nephew (Hillary Clinton). So this is going to take time. You have to scout these players in the town halls and state houses across the country. We have one of them in Barack Obama, but let's not turn him into Darryl Strawberry circa 1983. We can't ask him to carry an entire team. Give people candidates at the local, county, and state levels, and candidates for Congressional seats who will STAND for something.

This is what Dean can do. You don't rebuild this party from the top down, any more than you build the Green party by running candidates for president and nothing else. You build from the bottom up. This is what Howard Dean is uniquely equipped to do.

Stay tuned.
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