March 15, 2007
Dem Leader Reaches Out, At Home And Abroad
Party Chairman Howard Dean Meeting With World Leaders, Evangelicals In Preparation For '08
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Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean says preparations during 2007 will determine which party will win the presidency in 2008. (AP)
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"A strong national defense depends on having well-trained troops and good weapons systems, but it also depends on having the moral high ground, and this president has given up the moral high ground around the world, and that's a disaster for the country's defense," Dean said.
On the pending battle between the two parties on immigration reform, Dean said: "I think the Republicans have decided they don't want to do anything about immigration because they are scared. The best kind of immigration reform is a much better working relationship with Mexico. We will never solve immigration problems in this country without improving the Mexican economy dramatically."
Dean is very concerned about world affairs and believes that after the November election in 2008, the president-elect should take a month off and travel the world to bolster America's image.
"During the Cold War, we certainly had people who didn't like us, but they respected us," Dean said. "Now, unfortunately, they don't like us and they don't respect us. And that needs to be fixed. And I consider one of my informal jobs to help fix it with like-minded world leaders so we do have some relationships."
Dean also said that the Bush administration's failure to cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was a turning point for the country.
"It destroyed George Bush's presidency," Dean said. "Permanently. The one thing that Americans and everybody else in the world have always believed, whether you like America or not, whether you like the government or not, is that the most organized, best managers in the world are the Americans. And if anything really, really awful happens, send in the Americans. And we all saw on television around the whole world, that this just wasn't true of this president and this government. It was just ludicrous. It's still ludicrous to this day."
In his famous speech to the winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee in 2003, Dean, then a presidential candidate, upbraided the party for too much timidity and too much coziness with Republicans.
"That's why Democrats didn't win for a long time," Dean said Tuesday. "Harry Truman said if you run a Republican against a Democrat who behaves like a Republican, the real Republican wins every time."
Confrontation is not what Dean is looking for when it comes to the Christian right, however.
"I think you're going to see in the Democratic progressive community and in the evangelical community a spirit that says we don't have to compromise our beliefs but we can work with others when we find common ground," Dean said. "We got 29 percent of the evangelical vote in the 2006 election and that's up 10 points from 2004. Now, I don't think that necessarily means we're going to get it in 2008, but we shouldn't be afraid to try to reach evangelicals."
And what is the common ground that Democrats and evangelicals can reach?
"We both think the culture is too material and not spiritual enough," Dean said. "Our solutions and our language about those problems may be different, but the concern is the same."
I asked Dean if he agreed with some in his party who say that things look so good for the Democrats in 2008, they virtually can't lose.
"That is what I call magical thinking, and Democrats have been very guilty of it for a long time," Dean said. "I don't admire much about Republicans, but one thing I do admire is that they don't engage in magical thinking."
Dean said that the Democratic Party is busy raising money and organizing in every state and that "we have a turnout operation that we think is better than the Republicans' now."
"But winning is going to be hard work," Dean said. "This race is going to be won in 2007, not 2008. It is all going to be about how well you prepare."
By Roger Simon
TM & © 2007 The Politico & Politico.com, a division of Allbritton Communications Company.
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See all 52 CommentsIf there is one fact, one truth, one solid irrefutable bit of gold panned out of the muck we Americans have slogged through for the past 6 years; it is that every member of this administration, from the very top down to the lowest assistant is incapable of telling the truth. This aversion to truth appears to be deep in the DNA of this crowd. It is a knee jerk, unconscious reaction to any question. And why should it be that way?
Because these men went after the offices they now occupy with a specific plan that had nothing to do with the duties of their office. Those duties specifically were to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and to promote the fulfillment of its Preamble.
And what did they do? They schemed and plotted to enrich themselves and their backers. They lied us into a self serving war they and their friends could profit from. They spied on us out of fear we would find them out. They scared us into giving them the powers of a police state. The subverted our courts to protect themselves and persecute their enemies.
And all based on lie after lie after lie. Over and over again to cover their collective @ss. To hide their true purpose: the unbridled accumulation of power and wealth over the rights and freedoms and even the bodies and blood of those they swore to serve and protect.
Prison cells are too good for these criminals
Go Dean!!!!
Keep up the good work!!
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See all 52 Comments