Reply #96: While I agree with [View All]

[H2O Man]

a good deal of what you are saying, and have a different opinion on some issues, I want to point out that you are on shakey ground when you ascribe specific motivations to groups of people who are strongly anti-war and who are offended by what they see as Dean's support for the Bush war in Iraq. I think we have to take people at their word in this case. Being familiar with some of the people that you are debating, I am confident that they are honest, sincere, and loyal democrats. While I do not pretend to speak for them, I think it seems clear they believe that one cannot compromise on the truth of the war being evil. They see Dean as compromising. The democratic party is not going to be injured by grass-roots members who take an uncompromising stance.

That said, I would hope that people could also accept that Dean is honest in his beliefs. Though he may have changed his stance based on information we think is wrong, and we may feel that he is wrong, we should be open to the idea that within the democratic party, there is a variety of views on Iraq.

I'm confident that even among those who today sincerely believe we have reason to stay there, tomorrow they will see that we needed to get out yesterday.