Jonathan Chait is shilling for the GOPee
once again, it is getting to be difficult to tell the extreme right wing Republicans and so-called Democrats. Maybe, he is looking to join the Carville and Begala Muppet Show. In his latest Op-Ed Chait tries to paint Dean with the same brush as Hilliary and Kerry(the real losers).
Let's begin with Howard Dean. Most of us thought that Dean's spectacular defeat in the Iowa caucuses last January meant the end of him and his movement. Instead, it was more like the ending to "Terminator 2," where the evil robot is blasted to smithereens and presumed dead, then the fragments slowly regroup and come to life. As we speak,
Deaniacs are reconstituting in their yoga studios and organic juice bars, plotting -- in their benevolent, cheerful but fundamentally misguided way -- to make Dean the leader of the Democratic Party.
Why would this be such a disaster? Because, remember, the Dean campaign advanced two novel theories about national politics. The first was that Democrats paid too much attention to winning over the center. What they really needed to do was mobilize the base by nominating a candidate like Dean who'd fire up liberals. This turned out to be doubly wrong. Democrats were fired up enough that they didn't need a Howard Dean to inspire them to unprecedented enthusiasm. And a fired-up Democratic base, volunteering and donating at unprecedented levels, was not enough to win.
Second, Dean argued that Democrats didn't really need to engage the cultural issues that Republicans had long used to win white, working-class voters. Instead, Dean argued, it would be better to persuade culturally traditional whites to vote their economic self-interest. But of course, a candidate can't always decide for the voters what issues they should pay attention to. Economics is complicated. Cultural issues are visceral. The presidential election showed pretty decisively that Democrats can't get a hearing on their more popular economic platform if voters don't think their values are in the right place. A secular Yankee like Dean is about the worst possible candidate.
The only reason I want Dean to Chair the DNC is because Clinton is about to sell what is left of his soul to get is wife into the White House...he will get her the nomination (NO MATTER WHAT THE COST) but if the Repubs put up someone like McCain Hilliary will lose BIG. Kerry is just embarrassing himself to even contemplate running again, Kerry ran against the Devil and lost.
The only viable candidate is Howard, but he will not win the primaries because the Clintons will rain hellfire down on him. To see the Dems eating their own once again (the Osama ad by Kerry) will ensure the death of the party because not even the staunchest of us will not doubt the sanity of remaining Democrats.
I still don't think that the Dems have hurt enough...My proof...to still see supporters of Kerry wanting a re-match in 2008 (how pathetic can you get).
The only hope for the party and even for the country is if someone re-builds the party from the ground up. Being pragmatic, THEY are not going to let Dean get the nomination in 2008...here it is not even the inaugration has taken place and the Democratic Establishment is already attacking Dean...
It doesn't matter Dean still has DFA and if he becomes the chair of the DNC at least we could build a cushion to soften the blow of what ever loser ends up as the nominee...because we will lose in 2008 that I am 95% sure of because this leadership has a virulent distain for the Democratic base and this is the second election in a row that the Dem establishment has fucked over the base. Kerry's weak willed fight will not go down well in the coming years.
Dean then should run in 2012 and by then Obama will be well seasoned....