I support Howard Dean returning as DNC chair

[scheming daemons]

Dr. Dean's 50-straight strategy is why we swept into control of both houses in 2006 and a big part of why we won in 2008.


Howard Dean knows how to run the DNC. He won't be a part-timer to the position.


If Keith Ellison gives up his house seat, then I'll support him. But this job canNOT be held by someone who is doing it part-time.

[revbones]

1. Given his transition to virtual lobbyist I do not.

Also, it's been done by elected officials in office before, no reason it can't be now.

[scheming daemons]

2. EVERYBODY in politics is a lobbyist. Everybody.

If you are advocating for any position to anybody in DC, you are a lobbyist.

This is a silly complaint about Howard Dean. Nobody who could take the position would be a non-lobbyist.

[revbones]

8. That's an awfully broad brush to paint with

and wholly incorrrect. You're also saying "Hey, it's ok if we have a lobbyist in charge fo the party. Corruption doesn't exist."

[FarPoint]

9. Exactly...

we just need to evaluate their focus and involvement...Howard Dean is the only one I believe who can get us back into the game..

THIS IS A FULL TIME JOB......no more congressional part timers!

[kenfrequed]

18. "everybody's doing it"

That is not an argument. Unless your argument is "Why people with ridiculous amounts of cash should be able to by regulations."

Or maybe you can just try to hashtag it


#notalllobbyists

[msongs]

12. bernie sold out to lockheed but he is still considered to ok with dems nt

[revbones]

13. Really? You're just going to drop something out there like that

and not back it up with facts?

[bullimiami]

3. 100% DFA.

[calguy]

4. I agree

Dean is a hard worker who knows how to get things done. His point that Ellison will be too stretched to do the DNC job and be a congressman is valid.
Whichever one gets the job, I hope they both can use their incredible talents to work together for the good of the country.

[SharonAnn]

10. Yes. Need full-time person with successful track record.

When he left the position, it lost its focus and wasn't strong enough to keep the House and Senate, or the Presidency.

[MelissaB]

5. Oh, please not.

Dean did a fantastic job before, but has since outted himself as a corporate stooge.

[Cobalt Violet]

6. No lobbyist should be in control of the DNC!

It's time to rid ourselves of our corporate overlords.

[Paladin]

7. I'm with you.

Dr. Dean did a commendable job, last time. And the last thing we need now is a part-time DNC chair.

[Me.]

11. I'm For HD Doing The Job

He'll be a full timer who knows what needs to be done. I would prefer not to have a part-time member of congress and I bet his constituents would prefer a rep whose attention is wholly on them.

[GumboYaYa]

14. I have always been a big fan of HD

I ran his ground operation in my area when he ran for President and I have met him several times. A campaign I was helping run was one of the Dean Dozen in 2006.

But I think we need new blood running the party now.

[Tarc]

15. Sorry, but "old, white, male" is not the vision we need for the party right now

Someone who has 1 of those would be fine, maybe 2 in a pinch, but no Triple Crowns please.

We need to go beyond running the campaign that we just lost.

[physioex]

17. As the saying goes...

With friends like that...

[scheming daemons]

21. We need to put the most talented people in the right places...

...and Dr. Dean is the best for this job.

[DinahMoeHum]

31. Agreed. DWS ended up serving two masters. . .

. . .the DNC job plus her job as a House rep serving her constituents. . .and she ended up doing neither one well.

At least now, she can go back to being a House rep full time and serve her constituency.

Sorry, I don't give a fat fig about the words "corporate" "lobbyist" "sellout" etc. being bandied about Howard Dean. The bottom line is, he was a winner as head of the DNC and treated it as the full-time political strategy job it now is.

His "50-state strategy" worked for us in 2006 and 2008. Why this was ever dropped in the first place baffles me.

[Ken Burch]

16. Dean is the past.

He lost himself when he joined the status quo wing of the party. Ellison probably will give up his House seat if elected(although i don't recall you ever calling on DWS to do the same), but he is in touch with the new voters and Dean isn't anymore.

Electing Dean is a vote to "stay the course". Staying the course means never winning again.

[scheming daemons]

22. DWS was a disaster as DNC head.

And we should never have a sitting office holder have the position again.

[Ken Burch]

39. OK...so Keith should resign if he gets the job.

I'm pretty sure he will.

My issue with Dean is that he is part of the status quo now and incapable of change.

[DFW]

19. I concur

Howard himself had high praise for Ellison, but also pointed out that the job is a full-time job, and being a member of the House is, too. Ellison can't do both effectively. No one can.

To those who toss the "sell-out lobbyist has-been" label out there, I would point out the following: Howard told me point blank in 2009 that if he were not picked for Obama's cabinet (and Rahm successfully squashed that), he would lend his name to some law firm and spend most of his time "raising hell for causes he believed in."

Was anyone here with him when he organized the foot march from Bangkok to the Burmese border to raise awareness of human trafficking? Was anyone with him while he traveled around the world helping organize liberal parties in England, Italy and elsewhere? Howard is always on the go somewhere, and most of his time is spent doing EXACTLY what he said he would be doing: raising hell for causes he cares about. Sure, he did SOME work for his law firm. I know some wonderful people who work for Marriott hotels, too. It doesn't mean they are Republican Mormons.

Not only has Howard been there, more importantly, he has DONE THAT. No one else in recent history has accomplished what he did: flipping both houses of Congress in two years and the White House in four.

That is a track record I am willing to back, if he wants the job. I'm fine with Ellison, too, but only as a full-time job, and I'd HATE to lose his voice in the House.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

37. Thank you for taking the time to post that. Good info.

[DFW]

50. So many seem to have a need to attack with the usual labels

It sometimes sounds like something from Fox Noise. Instead of "Libbrul" it's "Corporate" or "Lobbyist" but the tactic is always the same. Even when he takes the train from Washington to New York, Howard still rides coach. The K Street crowd does not. Nor do they march on foot from Bangkok to Burma to draw attention to human trafficking. But no, all some have the time to do is yell "corporate!" and "lobbyist!" Trump is our enemy. Pence is our enemy. McConnell is our enemy. Howard is not our enemy. Howard is not just our ally, he is our friend. If some people have a compelling need to shoot someone in the foot, I wish they would start with their own.

[ericson00]

20. so do I: he lacks the mortal baggage of Keith Ellison

fact is Ellison sets us up for 1972 all over again in 2020. Trump is a brilliant politician and we cannot ever underestimate him again.

[Ken Burch]

41. Keith has no mortal baggage.

Last edited Wed Nov 16, 2016, 09:02 PM - Edit history (1)

(did you mean "moral baggage", Keith has none of that...or do you mean it's a strike against him that at some point, like everybody else, Keith will die?)

There are no votes to be gained by moving to the right on anything. And people whose care more about demonizing and excluding Muslims than anything else have no wish to see the country be progressive on anything.

A tiny minority of people who happen to identify as Muslim are terrorists. We can't treat every Muslim on the planet as officially suspicious as a result of them. Doing that will only increase support for extremist whackjobs.

What was done to Japanese Americans was known to be unnecessary by those who did it at the time...and that gives us an obligation never to do anything remotely like that again.

[spooky3]

23. I thought he did a great job as DNC chair.

Unless someone with better qualifications and ideas emerges, I agree with you.

[Auggie]

24. No! No more of the same ...

I want new blood who has command of the new media, millennials and marketing.

[scheming daemons]

25. Dr. Dean isn't "more of the same"... he's a return to a winning formula and message

He won big in 2006 and 2008.

Then with him gone, we lost big in 2010 and 2014, and struggled to tread water in 2012. And lost in 2016.


Dr. Dean knows how to win. And is the best person for the job.

[Auggie]

44. I like Dean and appreciate his past efforts but we need someone NEW and FRESH

[JonLP24]

27. 1000

[SharonAnn]

55. Hmm, that's what the GOP wanted. Someone untainted and proficient with mew media and marketing.

Not sure about millenials.

[cynatnite]

26. Dean's got a record of success. n/t

[B Calm]

28. This is not the change 50% of the party was looking for.

[scheming daemons]

29. Actually, it was. Dr. Dean's message (and effort) in 2006 and 2008 won big for Democrats.

We need to return to a 50-state strategy.

[Ken Burch]

43. Dean as chair means the party moves to the right.

His hatred of the Sanders movement means he will always be an enemy of progressive ideas from now on. And yes, everyone in D.C. lobbies in a way, but it's different when you lobby for corporations.

[DFW]

53. "Hatred of the Sanders movement" doesn't quite sound accurate

There definitely was some bad blood between them personally, but that goes back decades. When Bernie was mayor of Burlington, he wanted to let some developers build up part of a (park? walkway? I don't know its official designation at the time), and Howard opposed it. Howard won out, and the two didn't speak to each other for four years.

However, this was before either of them became prominent in national politics. Things have changed, and so have their situations. I still have a hard time swallowing that line that Howard is too old (he is 68 today) to do this, but Bernie at 75 is not.

[Auggie]

46. Pfft ... eight years ago. I want someone inspiring and powerful like Van Jones.

[OrwellwasRight]

47. Are you saying Ellison is not capable of running a 50 state strategy?

It's a good strategy. But it's possible for other people to execute it.

[scheming daemons]

49. Not while actively serving in congress

This is a full time job.

[Alittleliberal]

51. Being a congressman isn't even a full time job

Shultz being in congress had nothing to do with the failure of the DNC post Obama. It has everything to do with DNC funds. Wing funneled into Obamas 2 campaigns and his campaign debt being slapped on the DNC. The DNCs problems have nothing to do with the head also being in congress.

[Auggie]

56. Many in congress spend 30 hours or more a week on the phone just fundraising. Plus ...

considering the daunting job ahead, it really would require a someone who could commit to 40 - 50 hours as week as leader.

[Auntie Bush]

30. I give him my vote too.

He was the best DNC chairman we haven ever had. And he'll work his heart out!

[BREMPRO]

32. Dean was the best with a winning 50 state strategy...

but we need to consider how things have changed since 2006, both in the country, demographics, politics and with Dean himself. I'd like to know more about what he's been up to (sounds like corporate shilling) and about Bernie's endorsement of Ellison. I'm not the familiar with Ellison's record/character and only know that he is known because he's of the Muslim faith.

[scheming daemons]

33. There's nothing wrong with Ellison.... but as DWS showed, this cannot be a part-time job.

I want somebody who is able to devote his entire time to the job.

[DFW]

52. Ellison is definitely part of the progressive wing. If you want to know what Howard has been up to

See my post #19 on this thread. Since February, 2009, he has been doing exactly what he said he would do--as he always has.

[Ligyron]

34. Dean is the best pick for the job

lobbyist? All pols are "lobbyists" on some level.

50 state strategy baby.

[OrwellwasRight]

48. No, not all "pols" are lobbyists.

Politicians are elected to represent communities, and many do a very fine job at it, including most of the elected Democrats in the House of Representatives. Some of them will get it wrong, but they are paid by us, the taxpayers to advance the public good.

Lobbyists use their skills to advance the interests of whoever pays them. These interests may or may not be consistent with the public good, and lobbyists are paid not to care.

These are very different things.

Other people are capable of running a 50 state strategy.

[KittyWampus]

35. So do I. It needs a full time person. Someone who isn't in Congress.

[Duckhunter935]

36. Nope to the lobbyist

[Gidney N Cloyd]

38. Minimally, I'd love to see him come in for a couple years and put the core stuff back in order.

[Omaha Steve]

40. DWS did it part time

So did Kaine.

Howard went corporate. NO WAY!

[octoberlib]

42. I like Ellison but Dean has a proven track record

and we need results.

[rwheeler31]

45. I want Howard Dean and Keith Ellison to co chair.

We need to cone together, there is certainly plenty to do, and we could use experience and new ideas.

[flor-de-jasmim]

54. Dean does not have a lock on the 50-state strategy. We need someone new.