Most concise representation yet about what Dean is doing now

[Rose Siding]

The guy doesn't like him much (he says Dean called to "talk about Jesus" but if you read the article, you can see that what he really said was very different. he also takes a shot about the Job comment from way back on the campaign plane. I was reminded of that just today when bush told reporters on the plane one thing about the pope, then came back to use a different word to clarify what he meant.)

But the contentious columnist- in what he says was a SEVEN minute cell phone conversation- actually provides more full quotes than I've seen in any of the other local coverage....

snip>
"I'm going to tell them we're going to run in all 50 states, that the days of running in 18 states are over, and that we're going to help them in all races, down to the state and local level. I'm going to tell them we're going to build machines in their states with their own people, not with imported people. I'm going to tell them Democrats need not shy away from the values debate. I will tell them that the Democratic Party is going to have a national message, and it's not going to come from the top down but from them up. We're going to look at what we have in common, not what divides us. The people of Minnesota and Arkansas see a lot more things the same than they see differently."

He said he would give the state chairmen marching orders: Find out and articulate what the Democratic message is, or ought to be, in your state, and we'll synthesize all 50 and come up with one.

I wanted to go back to how the Democrats shouldn't shy away from the values debate. "We need to talk about Christian values and how they're Democratic values," Dean said. "Jesus taught to help the least among us. He spent his life reaching out to the disenfranchised. The Democratic Party is the party of that value, not the Republican Party."

Dean said that passing on debt to children was a Republican value that Democrats didn't share. He said that it's not a Democratic value to get in new ethics trouble every two or three days, which has been the rate lately for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Here the butt-wipe decides some of his 7 minutes are best spent on the Confederate flag comment...:eyes:

"I'd say that differently now," he told me. "But I do think Democrats need to be the party to get white AND black votes, and I think we will be."

You can call him a cultural liberal if you must, but he calls it an oversimplification and says he gets rather tired of it.

"I was a governor who balanced eight budgets in a row, which is eight more than the Republicans, and I was a governor who was endorsed every year by the National Rifle Association."

Guns, Dean predicted, would never come up - either pro or con - in his 50-state survey of what the Democratic message should be.

"Guns aren't an issue," he said. "If Philadelphia wants gun control, fine. If Alabama doesn't, also fine."

http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2005/04/08/opinion/brummett.html

He has learned SO much about honing his topic- so thrifty with words but they have impact.

If the dem mssg comes from the bottom up, I see a strong populist stance coming over the next year. In listening to the people he met campaigning, he repeatedly said the thing that struck him the hardest was a lack of trust for corporations. Remember?

[madfloridian]

1. But that reporter did end with a statement that showed a respect of sorts.

"So there you have the new Democratic Party, bloodied, but counterpunching. It's a familiar face, but the words are a little different and the inflection is starkly so."

There is a grudging respect there. Same old type of questions though. But like you say, a lot of complete quotes...most unusual.