Dean gets my vote

Based on this [link|http://truthout.org/docs_03/052203A.shtml|interview], it would take something pretty compelling for me to support any of the other Democratic hopefuls.
Excerpt-

PITT: Are you going to be willing to take political risks in going after the administration and leveling criticisms?

DEAN: Don't you think I already have? (laughter) Look, the only way we're going to beat George Bush is to stand up to him. Inside the Beltway, you get trained differently. None of the people I am running against are bad people. Believe me, if one of them gets the nomination, I'm going to vote for them. But inside the Beltway you get trained to minimize the risk, maximize your appeal to every interest group at the same time, and consequently you vote on both sides of every issue. There was an amendment by Fritz Hollings, who is a deficit hawk as I am, that would zero out the Bush tax cuts. John McCain voted for it, Hollings voted for it, Kennedy voted for it, Harkin voted for it, Dick Durbin voted for it. I think there were twelve or thirteen Senators. Senators Kerry, Edwards and Lieberman all voted 'No,' and then the voted for the $350 billion tax cut amendment, and then they voted 'No' on the final bill.

That's the kind of positioning the American people just don't understand. They think, what is this? Why are you voting every which way? We're not going to win elections like that. People in my party fundamentally misunderstand why this President is popular. The reason he is popular has absolutely nothing to do with the issues. It has to do with the fact that people think he is a leader. The way to deal with a leader is to be another leader, and to be strong in your views and present the American people with a choice. Not to take half of his policies and vote for them, and then say, "Well, I voted for half of the policies, but I thought he was a little wrong on this one." That's not going to win us this election.

Post #103,128 by Silverlock 5/22/03 1:52:32 PM Reply	Dean gets my vote Based on this [link\|http://truthout.org/docs_03/052203A.shtml\|interview], it would take something pretty compelling for me to support any of the other Democratic hopefuls. Excerpt- PITT: Are you going to be willing to take political risks in going after the administration and leveling criticisms? DEAN: Don't you think I already have? (laughter) Look, the only way we're going to beat George Bush is to stand up to him. Inside the Beltway, you get trained differently. None of the people I am running against are bad people. Believe me, if one of them gets the nomination, I'm going to vote for them. But inside the Beltway you get trained to minimize the risk, maximize your appeal to every interest group at the same time, and consequently you vote on both sides of every issue. There was an amendment by Fritz Hollings, who is a deficit hawk as I am, that would zero out the Bush tax cuts. John McCain voted for it, Hollings voted for it, Kennedy voted for it, Harkin voted for it, Dick Durbin voted for it. I think there were twelve or thirteen Senators. Senators Kerry, Edwards and Lieberman all voted 'No,' and then the voted for the $350 billion tax cut amendment, and then they voted 'No' on the final bill. That's the kind of positioning the American people just don't understand. They think, what is this? Why are you voting every which way? We're not going to win elections like that. People in my party fundamentally misunderstand why this President is popular. The reason he is popular has absolutely nothing to do with the issues. It has to do with the fact that people think he is a leader. The way to deal with a leader is to be another leader, and to be strong in your views and present the American people with a choice. Not to take half of his policies and vote for them, and then say, "Well, I voted for half of the policies, but I thought he was a little wrong on this one." That's not going to win us this election. ----------------------------------------- [link\|http://www.talion.com/questionw.html\|?W]
Post #103,132 by jb4 5/22/03 1:58:54 PM Reply	A compelling POV. Let's see if he (continues to) follow through. If so, I'm there with ya! jb4 "We continue to live in a world where all our know-how is locked into binary files in an unknown format. If our documents are our corporate memory, Microsoft still has us all condemned to Alzheimer's." Simon Phipps, SUN Microsystems
Post #103,166 by tjsinclair 5/22/03 5:23:30 PM 5/22/03 5:29:55 PM Reply	Good Dean Link [link\|http://www.c-span.org/videoarchives.asp?Cat=Series&Code=RWH\|http://www.c-span.or...t=Series&Code=RWH] Scroll to the May 18th link. This is a Real stream of a Dean Q & A with the (I believe) Iowa Democratic Caucus. (NOTE: the full presentation is about 90 minutes long) This was my first exposure to the man and I have to admit that I like both his ideas and his passion. [edited to change .sig] Tom Sinclair And, while it was regarded as pretty good evidence of criminality to be living in a slum, for some reason owning a whole street of them merely got you invited to the very best social occasions. -- (Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay) Edited by tjsinclair May 22, 2003, 05:29:55 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #103,185 by cwbrenn 5/22/03 8:12:49 PM Reply	AOL! That is to say, me too. This will be the first time in my voting life I've ever voted Democrat, btw. It's usually Libertarian down the line for me. But Dean seems a lot like McCain in that he sticks to his guns, and damn the consequences. I can respect that, even if I don't always agree with the position (McCain) and it looks like I might actually agree with, oh, at least %50 of Dean's ideas, which is a pretty damn good statistic from where I'm standing. "We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?" - Edward Young

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