Ok DU, explain to me why Dean was silent on the Downing Street Memo!

[Windy]

Is there something with this memo that we don't know about? Otherwise, why wouldn't Dean bring it up or possibly turn the tables on Russert and ask him why he hasn't covered it!!

A great opportunity to get it out in the mainstream passed by by one of our own....

[Radical Activist]

1. For the same reason he doesn't call for a quick withdrawal

I would presume. :shrug:

[LoZoccolo]

2. Because he's a neocon shill and part of the conspiracy.

Now that I've said what you want, we can let this thread sink.

[Windy]

5. What is your problem? I never said that nor do I believe that

I thought he did a great job on MTP with the exception of silence on the Blair memo. Channel your hostility elsewhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[derby378]

3. Because Tim Russert made sure the conversation never went there

That's my guess - some folks in DC are scared shitless by the memo.

[bklyncowgirl]

4. My guess too it's not only Republicans

Alot of Democrats voted for that war on the same sort of faulty information. They knew damn well what was going on. Now, even though he personally opposed the war, as party chairman, Dean has to protect his own team from the sort of scrutiny that the issues raised by this memo bring about.

[mike_c]

16. despite their protestations, I find it incomprehensible...

...that anyone in congress was really fooled by "faulty information." I believe they-- and I include democrats who voted in favor of the IWR-- did the political calculus and simply came to the wrong conclusion. They thought the invasion would be quick and painless, at least for the U.S., and that a lovely little war would rally the voters to a patriotic frenzy of political support. What's a few lies among friends, when everyone profits in the end? A wink and a nod and we're off to smite the paper tiger in Baghdad, and all of it on international television. Remember, the media coverage was carefully orchestrated as PART of the invasion, as much a marketing campaign as legitimate journalism. The politicians who voted for the IWR were sold on THAT campaign-- that and the oil, and the chance to raid the U.S. Treasury for war revenue-- why else would they give a bloody damn about a tin pot dictator with less real capacity for mischief than the average Wall Street CEO?

So back to the OP-- notwithstanding the minority opposition, the Democratic Party was an enthusiastic participant in this charade. The Downing Street memo exposes it for the lie it was, and that leaves a number of senior democrats caught with either their credibility or their motives pulled down around their ankles. I predict that Dean and the party apparatus will keep silent UNLESS the focus of public anger attaches firmly onto the Bush administration and the REPUBLICAN congressional leadership first. Only after that will the party pile on officially-- when it looks like it's safe to raise the issue without catching any democratic tits in the same wringer.

[GreenArrow]

22. exactly so.

The vast majority of those who voted for it did so, knowing that it was bullshit. They helped sell it.

[KG]

24. bingo.

mike c knows what time it is. :thumbsup:

[FreedomAngel82]

25. Possibly

I think now though we should be making it an issue that Bush mislead Congress and the Senate and lied to us all and should talk about the memo and us getting the hell out of Iraq. Kerry did talk about how Bush mislead us into war and how he's not doing a very good job and we need someone who can give us a timeplan and everything.

[omega minimo]

38. "democratic tits"

:puke:

edit for :puke:

[Zhade]

41. They weren't. If they say otherwise, they're either liars or fools.

I don't understand why they won't even fake it and say "The president lied" over and over again.

[Roxy66]

6. I dont think he's up to the task ! I questioned it on DU before his

election and was demonized. There was a very clear and forcful article on the front page of the Washington Post this morning...a clear opening to talk about the Memo....and he just bumbled around. O.K....all the Dean worshipers can attack me now for having an unpopular opinion of Dean

[Windy]

8. It was a missed opportunity... no question

And the Washington Post article was excellent by the way. Everyone should read it!

[Roxy66]

9. It was one of the best Ive read in a while...

[derby378]

11. I'm not going to

You raise a valid point. The Downing Street memo blindsided just about everyone in Ameica, and I'm sue there's lots of powerful folks on both sides of the aisle who are doing everything to muffle this story's presence in American media. They're probably not very happy with Keith Olbermann for shining light on the memo and its implications.

[Al-CIAda]

13. Blindsided? lol, the memo has been circulating for over a MONTH!

More like a conspiracy of silence -for whatever reason.

[patricia92243]

7. Dean has not learned to be IN CHARGE of a conversation. He wastes time

answering TR's silly questions. He needs to FIRMLY - rudely if that's what is necessary - brush them off and turn the conversation to what HE wants it to be about. He is TOO polite.

Actually this goes for all Democrats.

No self-respecting Republican would let a Democrat determine what they were going to talk about - unless it were something they wanted to talk about in the first place.

[Al-CIAda]

10. Yes. n/t

[candy331]

15. He should have studied Galloway's technique before he went on.

Just watch when the repub chair comes on TR in June, Timmy will hit the soft balls and the repub will drive the conversation. I think Dean is hampered because he has to be so careful in what he says(criticism by Barney Frank is an example)that he really can not hand red meat like the repubs because he will be grilled by his own. I still believe Dean should have remained on the outside where he could have had a stronger voice.

[Roxy66]

18. You mean..."should have"

[XemaSab]

35. Like the interview with pat robertson (?)

where he called the callers fags. His handlers said he could answer however he wanted and talk about whatever he wanted.

Russet wasted too much time trying to trick dean with out of context quotes and putting dean on the defensive.

[Zorra]

12. Did any Dem Senators even mention this memo? What is up with this?

Harry Reid? John Kerry? Anyone? Hello?
:wtf:

[emulatorloo]

14. An Explanation - maybe memo isn't the smoking gun we want it to be

too much wiggle room for admin, too many potential holes

It is meeting notes, It is somebody's report on what somebody else says is white house policy.

white house just has to say "oh they were wrong'

Apparently though there is more to come in the British memo department. We need to keep pushing it, and pushing the press to dig. . .there is more here. . .

[Roxy66]

17. Did you even read the Washington Post article???? Here you go....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/21/AR2005052100474.html?sub=AR

[emulatorloo]

31. Of course!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<snip>

The question of prewar intelligence has been thrust back into the public eye with the disclosure of a secret British memo showing that, eight months before the March 2003 start of the war, a senior British intelligence official reported to Prime Minister Tony Blair that U.S. intelligence was being shaped to support a policy of invading Iraq.

<snip>

And of course I believe the British intelligence official. But that does not make this memo the airtight evidence that we want it to be. There is too much wiggle room for the White House:

"It was just his opinion! He was wrong!" etc etc etc.

(and BTW, Dems pushed first hand accounts of Bush meetings like O'Neill and Richard Clarke and Joe Wilson.)

Now again, I understand there is more to come on the British front. More explosive stuff.

I think we should keep push it, and push the press to keep digging. But on its own Downing Street Memo is not the airtight evidence we would like it to be.

[bpilgrim]

21. lame - they simply want to MOVE ON - it's up to US to STOP THEM

the logic on the hill is we broke it, we own it :puke:

the leaders are DESPERATELY trying to keep the facade together because they know the rising tide is getting ready to blow the lid off the whole place, and i don't mean Iraq. BET!

peace

[rigel99]

32. BINGO...

the entire house of cards is falling...

everyone watch COINGATE on election fraud..

personally watching this VERY VERY Closely...

all we need is one thing..

THE STRAW THAT BROKE THE CAMEL'S BACK....
it's coming folks.. if we could find it before war in syria that would be a bonus deal....

[KittyWampus]

19. Dean Explained The Import Of Staying On Message. Social Security

and the related filibuster issues are prime at the moment.

Attacking Bush (who won't be running in 08) would just distract.

I support Dean and his judgement calls and will continue to do so unconditionally until after 06 when I might reconsider.

But I doubt I'll be disappointed.

[Pryderi]

28. ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK!!!! Dems are always on the defensive

and it sucks!!!! The Downing Street Memo is the perfect opportunity to put the Bush Admin and the neocons on the defensive!!

It would derail some of their initiatives!

[GreenArrow]

20. because "there was a right way and a wrong way" to invade Iraq

kill its people, steal its resources, destroy its culture, pollute its environment, destabilize its politics, terrorize and traumatize its children and so on. Bush chose the wrong way, but fundamentally, Dean, with most other Dems, doesn't have a problem with the ultimate goals in Iraq, only the means Bush chose to use to achieve them.

We're there. We have interests there. We're staying there.

[KG]

26. bingo.

greenarrow knows what time it is. :thumbsup:

[Pryderi]

29. Then you are neocons or I'm backing the wrong party.

I need someone to represent me, not corporate interests.

[rigel99]

33. PRYDERI knows the time that their clock shows

is broken to all hell and back..

I have a fucking Dean bat, something you only get when you raise assloads of money..

I watched Dean give my hard earned money to Trippi who put it in his ever loving greedy ass pocket.

Dean is coming to Atlanta and he will get an Earful.

His silence is despicable.. he was more vocal running for president than in a cushy can't be fired job... what's his fucking ass problem.

I'm tired of dean...

his old girlfriend got sick of him...

he's a sellout and a kiss ass suck up.

it's time for him to find his backbone again...

we need leadership and we paid for him to sit in his DNC chair..
he represents our voice or nothing at all...

Pryderi knows that time is of the essence but the clocks everyone else is looking at are broken....

[mike_c]

30. I think you're exactly correct....

Dems who support the invasion and occupation of Iraq-- even in the guise of patriotic "support for the troops," and most especially support from behind the smokescreen of "we can do a better job of it than the Bush administration has done"-- are carrying water for the PNAC and the neo-con objectives of exporting imperialism and maintaining a locked down security state domestically. Dean was once a strong opponent of this policy, but now his duty is to the party, and the party leadership is largely complicit.

[realFedUp]

23. He made a lot of points

between Russert's trying to discredit Dean
for what he said, not how the parties differ.
I thought he did a good job. The Downing
St. Memo would have been a bombshell to bring
up since few in the media have actually covered
it. I wouldn't mind Dean talking about Bush Inc.'s
complicity in 9/11, but that isn't going to
happen until the media in this country covers
it.

[Pryderi]

27. I have no clue, unless it's an '06 timing issue

It's crazy! I don't know why Dems aren't on all the talk shows making the DSM an issue!

[sandnsea]

34. JOHN BOLTON

We have actual evidence of what John Bolton did. That's what we need to prove, that there really were people in our own government manipulating intelligence. That's an actual live activity. Much more important. I was very glad he chose to point to real activities, John Bolton, rather than inuendo in that memo. The memo is very very important, John Bolton is the name to prove what the memo says.

[Just Me]

36. Windy,...who are you?

:shrug:

[Windy]

37. Why do you ask?

I'm just another democrat!!!

[bobthedrummer]

39. Yep. Good question. Vaguest of answers imo. eom

[lonestarnot]

40. Probably threatened before the show by repuke Russert that if he did

he'd be shut down.