Howard Dean, vindicated - SALON - By Joe Conason

[gully]

Only weeks after the Democratic National Committee chose Howard Dean as its chairman last year, the nasty whispers began to circulate around Washington and among longtime party donors and activists in cities from New York to Los Angeles. "He's going to be a disaster," they muttered. "He can't raise any money. He doesn't know what he's doing. And what does he mean by this crazy 50-state strategy?"

Those early days must have been painful for the former Vermont governor -- still smarting back then from his presidential primary defeat and that endlessly looped "scream" video -- and he endured a barrage of snarks and snipes from the Democratic congressional leadership as well. Unfortunately for Dean, he doesn't play the Washington press corps nearly as well as do rivals like Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., who ran the House Democrats' campaign committee, or Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who performed the same role in the Senate.

Despite all the complaints and demands directed at him over the past 18 months, Dean stuck to his principles. He and his supporters in the netroots movement believed that their party needed to rebuild from the ground up in every state, including many where the party existed in name only. These Democrats prefer to think of their party as one of inclusion and unity. They openly disdain the divisive strategies of the Republicans who have so often used racial, regional and cultural differences to polarize voters.

Breaking that advantage would be costly and difficult, as Dean well realized, but it had to be done someday, or the Democrats would fulfill Karl Rove's dream of becoming a permanent minority party -- or fading away altogether. Against the counsel of party professionals, whose long losing streak has done little to diminish their influence, the new chairman began the process of re-creating the Democratic Party in 2005. And contrary to the gossip and subsequent press reports, he succeeded in raising $51 million last year, about 20 percent more than in 2003 and a party record for an off year.

MORE > http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2006/11/10/dean_dems/

This post is dedicated to James Carville, and others who piss on Dean for having the vision necessary to take this party into the future.

On edit, this is a dupe that KPETE posted last night. OOPS. Oh well, cant hurt to keep it going another day.

[lcordero2]

1. The Pheonix that rose back from the ashes

and it did so with a vengeance.

[neoblues]

2. The young tree that burst forth...

surrounded by cowpies... (at least it was good fertilizer; anyway, any insult reserved for the DLC et al.)

...hope it's a redwood!

[Coexist]

3. .

[malaise]

4. So why all these MSM attacks on Howie again

I can't bear this.

[The Count]

6. Mehlman got canned so..."they all do it"

Whenever GOP are in shit (Enron, Abramoff) - "they all do it- both parties"

[malaise]

10. I seriously can't believe the tone on discussion

on MSM after this ass whipping. Anywhere else on the planet you'd have the new party members and their analysts discussing policy plans. Scarborough and Fucker along with Buchanan, Blakeman et al are continuing as though the Democratic whipping is a mere inconvenience.

There is no fairness on MSM.

[gully]

7. He's anti-establishment

and the establishment doesn't like it.

[The Count]

5. Smokin' Joe was on Al Franken's show saying all this as well

He's right as always.

[gully]

8. Good,

glad to hear the word is getting out.

[denverbill]

9. The DLC'ers are afraid of losing their power.

Grassroots power takes power away from them.