A very interesting take on the Carville/Dean dispute from Salon letters.---
Carville should know better. The south was not long ago Democratic and they have long memories, particularly of the War of Northern Aggression. Nixon and people like Rove exploited the Dem's move to liberalism to pursue a Southern Strategy designed to appeal to the racist populism the post construction and Dixie Democrats were known for.
Time has passed. The racism is fading faster than a Bourbon Street woman's virtues on a Mardi Gras night. Well, maybe not that fast, but faster than one's memory of what happened the following morning. The populism is still their and quite vibrant. For reasons I, a former Texan, now a Vermonter have not quite figured out yet, Dean understood this.
Go back to tapes of the Dem debates of 2004, remember his comment of bringing back the ones with Confederate Flags on their cars? Ok, he's a Vermonter. He should have said, "Bring back those with the Number 3 sticker on their cars." But he knew what he was onto. Get back to our populist roots while applying the common centrist sense of a party that answers to and serves those who work and toil.
The latest tea leaves today say Karl Rove's "Get out the Base" strategy backfired. The base got out, but a large number of them pulled the lever for Democrats. They would not have done that had Howard Dean not worked these past two years giving them a populast roots oriented candidate, and a small sack of seed money, to provide these people an alternative.Salon
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