Slate: Dean's a "blowhard", but he's "gotten better at behaving himself"

[madfloridian]

What a left-handed compliment...dealt by John Dickerson of Slate. He is so obvious about it.

Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus - Cite This Source
Main Entry: left-handed compliment
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: damning with faint praise
Synonyms: aspersion, back-handed compliment, home truth, insult, no compliment, slap in the face, slight, snub, uncomplimentary remark

He makes it clear Howard Dean won't be fired. In fact he says the Carville attacks strengthened his stance with the grassroots, and he linked to a post at MyDD in this article. Then he just has to get that dig in.

http://www.slate.com/id/2154259/

They even put a picture of well-behaved Dean. (Yes, you do detect a note of sarcasm there.)


The better case against Dean is that he's a blowhard who says the wrong thing repeatedly in front of cameras. We know that's true, but Dean has gotten better at behaving himself—his mild response to Carville being a case in point Even his detractors point out that while Republicans tried hard to make Dean an issue, they couldn't. This time, it was John Kerry who provided the late-in-the-election radioactive gaffe. Dean has been so disciplined that most people don't even know he's there. In a recent Pew poll that asked people to name the leader of the Democratic Party, only 3 percent named Dean. More people named Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi as Democratic leader. Sixty percent of respondents don't think the party has one.

Please notice he insults Kerry head on here, doesn't even try for left-handed. Then he actually misrepresented the Pew Poll about who are the leaders in the party. Please note that the majority got it right...they said nobody is or don't know.

That is correct...there is no one leader right now. There really is no good way to get a correct answer on this. Most Democrats know there is not one actually.

From the Pew Poll:
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=296

There is little party divide over perceptions of the Democratic leadership ­ Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi are mentioned most frequently by Republicans, Democrats and independents. But within the Democratic Party, liberals and conservatives take a somewhat different view. Among liberal Democrats, 14% cite Howard Dean as the party's leader, on par with the percentage who cite Clinton (14%) and Pelosi (13%). But just 2% of moderate and conservative Democrats name Dean, while 14% name Clinton and 9% name Pelosi. No other leader stands out in the minds of moderate and conservative Democrats; most are unable to name anyone as the party's leader these days.

Another left-handed compliment. I am not sure how many more there will be. And another ugly slap at Kerry. I fear it will get worse.

[blm]

1. They are all on marching orders from establishment - Clinton 2 needs to be in place

to coverup for Bush2 the same way Clinton 1 covered up for Bush1.

Anti-corruption, open government Democrats better get out of their way.

Take it as a compliment, mf, if those two didn't bother the establishment so much, they wouldn't be constantly targeted the way they are.

[madfloridian]

2. Isn't it amazing how they got both of them at once?

I have not been paying attention to who else is their target.

Totally amazing.

[blm]

3. Except we've been noticing it for over a year now, mf. They just got more blatant

this past month.

[jaysunb]

4. In the words of Don Rummy

" It's just a few " dead enders " in their last throes.....
:hi:

[madfloridian]

5. And to add a little more insult....

"But those who attack Dean also use Harold Ford's senatorial race in Tennessee to make their case. Spend time and money finding ideologically diverse candidates like Harold Ford, and the ground organization will form around them. You build a party by winning races, not by hiring party staffers and opening offices."

That statement alone shows Dickerson has no clue about the party operates. You can have a wonderful candidate but no one there for him.

Well, I don't know about how well the TN Dem Party was organized. I have no clue. But I do know that Mr. Harold Ford did not want Dean down there messing around in TN...he said so on Imus to the whole viewing audience. He even said he might ask Dean to step down. Dickerson knows this most likely...so it is not wise to use this as an issue.

And I do know there is a tremendous DFA organization there which much admires Howard Dean and is contintuing his on the ground efforts in spite of Ford's opposition.

I feel sorry for Dean and for Kerry right now. They are obviously the ones in the line of fire.

(On Edit: in case some don't get it...this guy is blaming Dean for Harold Ford's loss.)

[Cleita]

6. I used to like Slate but I haven't read it in a long time, now I know

why, their headlines stopped inspiring me to read their articles.

[madfloridian]

7. When did our so-called media on our side start being so insulting?

When did our strategists start attacking party leaders? When did they start comparing the party chairman to Rumsfeld when we just won a huge victory.

Whenever did candidates tell party chairman they were not welcome in their state?

Oh, nevermind, those are just silly questions.

Slate has become pretty well tied up with the Third Way DLC group. Bruce Reed has his blog there, and they have a history of not liking grassroots.

[bklyncowgirl]

8. Not surprising. DC Dems not fond of Howard Dean

If it's true that he cut back on money to pay for these strategists and put it into the state parties then there's no surprise that they can't stand him.

On the other hand, nothing succeeds like success and the last election was clearly a success. Howard Dean isn't leaving town any time soon and the DC Dems are just going to have to deal with it.

Incidently, I think that Dean keeping a low profile was actually a very smart thing. When a high profile politician takes a spot like DNC Chairman, you would naturally expect the guy to be using his position for self promotion. Dean's done just the opposite. He goes on TV when it will be helpful, campeigns with candidates who want him to appear with them and doesn't force himself on those who don't but helps them behind the scene.

That makes sense.

[bonzotex]

9. Slate is a waste of electrons, but it's gotten better at....

unmmmm, uhhhhh

I mean they do a great job of.... uhhh

I read Slate for the, unmm, well ahh, ...

Does anyone read Slate anymore except to re-comfirm out how ridiculous they it has become?

[madfloridian]

10. John Dickerson has had a lot of criticism on Media Matters...

Maybe he is not the right person to be calling Howard Dean a blowhard.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200602100005

"Franken grills Dickerson on Time-Rove scandal: "Why can't you just say they're big liars?"
Summary: Former Time magazine correspondent John Dickerson answered questions raised by a Media Matters item during an appearance on The Al Franken Show. His answers indicated that he is familiar with the Media Matters item, yet Dickerson did not deny the central point of the item -- that he and his colleagues participated in the publication of misleading articles that contained statements they knew to be false. Nor did Dickerson offer a single relevant explanation or justification for the knowing publication, without rebuttal, of a false statement by White House press secretary Scott McClellan."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200611030015

"NPR's Liasson, Slate's Dickerson, Time's Cox all downplayed Haggard's significance
Summary: Although Rev. Ted Haggard was the pastor of a 14,000-member church and president of "the largest evangelical group in America," as well as a regular member of weekly conference calls with the Bush administration, National Public Radio's Mara Liasson, Slate's John Dickerson, and Time's Ana Marie Cox all downplayed the political impact of recent allegations that he solicited sex and drugs from a male prostitute."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200610310016

"Slate's Dickerson claimed both Democrats and Republicans are using deceptive push-polling, but provided only GOP example
In an October 30 article documenting Republican "push-polling," in which political campaigns make phone calls purporting to conduct surveys but in fact push a particular viewpoint and often smear an adversary, Slate.com chief political correspondent John Dickerson baselessly suggested that Democrats are "no doubt using the same tactics but haven't been caught doing it as flagrantly yet." In his article, Dickerson provided no examples or reports of Democrats using push-polling, while providing the transcript and audio link for an automated push-poll phone call on behalf of Tennessee Republican Senate candidate Bob Corker. As Media Matters for America has documented, ABC News and NBC News have similarly suggested that both Democrats and Republicans have engaged in "mudslinging" and "dirty tricks," respectively, while providing only Republican examples of such behavior."

[Cha]

11. "john dickerson" is the blowhard.

Dean was never a "blowhard". Anyone can see with all the republicon scandals being exposed that Dean had excellent reasons for fighting to get our Country BACK.

What's this guy done for our Country?