Reply #146: You read those things correctly [View All]

[Tinoire]

I wanted to be clear about the fact that Dean isn't my candidate from the get-go and not mis-represent myself.

I understand how you see this as Dean just caring about the children of the proud CF flag wavers but can you tell me which candidate up there doesn't? If anything, you could say that Braun, Sharpton and Kucinich care more because their plan covers 100% of those children as well as 100% of their parents. Unlike Dean, their plans cover every reptilian bipod in this country regardless of their political affiliation or ideological beliefs. Now if you want to talk about love- that is love!

It is not ok with me that the children of those bigots continue to suffer in poverty and that's the beauty of everything the Democrats have accomplished over the decades- we have never restricted social programs based on political affiliation so unless Dean knows something shocking about a move afoot to do so his comment didn't mean that at all. He did not say "I want every American child to have health care" which is what almost all the other candidates are saying, he said to every single racist in the South: "I want to be your candidate". He pandered Drfemoe. He pandered to a particularly hateful group of people that still believes Blacks and Whites should be using separate drinking fountains in order to get their vote.

I co-sponsor a soup kitchen in my town. The program is run just like social security- everyone is entitled regardless of political affiliation or ideology. Just show up and we feed you. But I assure you, when we solicit support and funds, we don't solicit support from right-wing haters like Mike Savage or advertise on his program. 1. We know full well he won't give us a dime and 2. we do not want the entanglements that could bring.

There is a big difference between saying "Vote for me, I will provide health-care to all children in America" and "I want to be your candidate".

It was a reckless comment that had less to do with offering healthcare (because again Dean is not the only one offering this ahd his program is tied for 4th place on the list of best healthcare program) and more to do with offending a loyal block of voters in the hopes of getting what? A few thousand swing votes?

We have, one one hane, a candidate fighting this symbol tooth and nail

Her visibility was enhanced a year later by her vigorous opposition to a proposal by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., for a design patent for the United Daughters of the Confederacy insignia that included a Confederate flag. Braun threatened to filibuster the measure, declaring that what the flag symbolized had "no place in this society." The Senate gave her a victory by rejecting the Helms proposal 75-25.

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/7713984p-8616707c.html

and on the other hand, we have a Northerner from a White state who obviously doesn't understand race relations in this country (because if the did, there is NO way he would have made that comment) courting racists saying "I want to be your candidate. It was a reckless comment and if there was any pre-thought in it, a reckless, offensive gambit that will not pay off for either Dean or the Democratic party because you can't be everything for everyone. If you try to, in the end you stand for nothing and for no one. That is an even more dangerous message and incidents like this only reinforce the perception that the Democratic party is standing for less and less. How logical is it that Cynthia McKinney was crucified by some of the very posters defending that flag for not having told Farrakhan not to stump for her and Dean is excused for actively courting a racist bloc? That makes no sense and indicates that too many aren't examining this in an un-biased manner.

All human suffering is important and needs to be addressed but that's not what Dean did. He courted those people and told them he could be their candidate. You can not be anyone's candidate unless you represent them on issues more important to them. Those for whom this issue is most important have already switched with no prompting from anyone in the Democratic Party. You can care about everyone's quality of life and actively work to improve it without courting their vote. Do you want to turn around one day and find yourself standing next to the Aryan Brotherhood or the Neo-Nazis? Would you not wonder "What kind of party is this?"? This discussion is less over health-care for all than it is over actively courting a segment of the population clinging to a racist symbol as if that symbol were ok.

This is really no skin off my nose because Dean isn't my preferred candidate (his lack of thought and recklessness before speaking is one reason) but it's a crying shame that people Dean should easily have been able to count on are offended and too few Dean supporters are willing to acknowledge this could be a serious problem and why. He's your candidate (I think), help him out. Dean is the only one who stands to lose votes over this and I know that's not what you want.

Check this out. Just read it today...

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Dean is not very well-spoken—not, at least, in terms of classical rhetoric—or particularly thoughtful, for that matter. He makes no bones about it. "When people get in my face, I tend to get in theirs," he told the New York Times last week. "I tend to be reflective rather later than sooner." This is not a very presidential quality. Last June, Dean told me that he understood he would have to grow as a candidate in order to succeed, that it was time to move his campaign beyond attacks and anger, to take a run at the vision thing. That lasted about a week. "It's hard to do vision in a crowded field where everyone's attacking you," campaign manager Joe Trippi told me last week. "But we're going to try to address the larger themes of this campaign with a series of speeches starting in a few weeks."

But one wonders about the quality of those speeches. I pressed Dean last week about his proposal for a national dialogue about race. He had talked about the need for white people to understand the impact of racism on African Americans. But what did black people need to understand? Did he plan to go into the inner cities and talk about the self-destructive culture of poverty, as Bill Clinton had? He bristled, of course: "The African-American community doesn't need any lectures from me. That's not my style." Oh, yes, it is—and Dean's future may depend on his ability to slow down, stop hectoring and lay out a vision that shows some deeper understanding of the cultural and substantive differences confronting the nation.


http://www.time.com/time/election2004/columnist/klein/article/0,18471,538907,00.html