I wrote the following comment in response to the included quote regarding Gephardt v. Dean.
I'm not saying that Dean would be an ineffective leader but pointing up that Washington experience is not a bad thing and will be something that is desperately needed when we win the White House in 2004.
"do yu really think the country will embrace him as an alternative after his long tenure as a Washignton leader. If Bush is to go, don't you think it is a sign the country wants real change."
Let me tell y'all a story about the son of a Texas State Rep who grew up in poverty in the Hill Country: LBJ. After Kennedy's assassination in 1963 he rises to the Presidency and shepards civil rights and voter rights legislation through both Houses of Congress despite widespread hostility from Republicans and the Southern wing of his own party. He was able to do what no one else could have because of his immense experience in both the House and the Senate (30 years). He would have gotten all of the Great Society (again above incredible hostility in both Houses) programs through had the Treasury not run out of money due to Vietnam.
Now let me tell y'all another story about a Preacher's son and governor from Georgia who got elected to the in 1976: Jimmy Carter. While very experienced in Georgia politics and a Democrat when Democrats held both houses he still couldn't get a single thing done.
Flash foward to 2004...
Let me tell y'all another story: the United States is in shambles. An administration that stole the election to begin with and without a mandate, seeks to overturn all the things that TR, FDR, Truman, LBJ, Nixon (barring his paranoia and Watergate, an honorary Democrat)and Bill Clinton had worked so hard to build. In truth he nearly succeeds: he ruins the lives of millions of hard-working Americans, overturns law after law, uses the mighty American military as his own personal bull whip on the rest of the world, and in the process gives the spoils to the people who need it least. The country is in shambles and governmental action, real leadership, and legislative know-how is needed to fix things in Washington... TO WHOM DO YOU TURN?