MyDD :: Republican Leader Warns the GOP About Dean

Republican Leader Warns the GOP About Dean

by descrates, Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 07:57:18 PM EST

From the diaries - Jerome

The Seattle Times has a op-ed by Reed Davis, an associate professor of political science at Seattle Pacific University. He ran for the GOP nomination to the U.S. Senate last year, and is a former chairman of the King County Republican Party. Reed argues that, despite the foolish congratualations the party is giving itself over Dean's nomination, the new DNC Chair has the potential to be very dangerous to them.

Republicans may think that the nomination of Dean is hysterically funny -- a scream, in fact, as George Will recently put it -- but they are deluding themselves if they think Dean is nothing more than a wild-eyed ideologue with a temper and a cult following.

Dean brings three talents to the chairmanship that can potentially sink not just a GOP presidential candidate in 2008 but the Republican-controlled House and maybe even the Senate well before then.

First, he's a fund-raiser par excellence. Lest we Republicans forget, not only did Howard Dean set records for fund raising, he set them in one of the most imaginative, difficult and unorthodox ways imaginable -- namely, through the Internet. And remember, he set those records not by initially tapping the big-money crowd but by combing through the grass roots for nickels and dimes.

Second, and more important, Dean knows not only how to raise money but what to do with it once he gets it. He has repeatedly declared that he's going to rebuild the Democratic Party from the bottom up, blade by blade, volunteer by volunteer, state by state, because he understands that face-to-face get-out-the-vote programs, not slick advertising or direct-mail merchandizing, are what win elections.

Not only does he have a mountain of scholarly evidence confirming this -- Yale, of all places, has a group of scholars insisting that the only get-out-the-vote effort that works at all is face-to-face contact -- but he also has the elections of 2004 to go on. After all, virtually every commentator and analyst in politics is claiming that the Bush victory is owed largely to its monumental grass-roots get-out-the-vote effort. And if Dean stands for anything, it's the importance of grass-roots politics.

This is by far Dean's most important attribute. He has the ability to motivate the activists to action both with their time and money. Bowers has spent some time talking about how far behind we are on our GOTV. I'm not sure I fully agree that we were really beat by the Republican GOTV, but it didn't help. Reed makes the point that if anyone can make this happen for the Dems it is Dean.

Third, he is charismatic. And this is where Republicans make their biggest mistake in judging him. They believe his allegedly vegan, bohemian liberalism will appeal only to lefties from New England and Seattle.

Well, maybe so, but that's not the secret to Dean's charisma or his recent DNC election. Dean's appeal doesn't lie primarily in the fact that he's a great speaker (although he is) but in the fact that he's a great listener.

Grass-roots activists in both parties have been so starved for attention and support during the past 20 years that they will flock to the first person who promises to listen and do what he can to support them.

And that, more than anything else, was the message that Dean took to the party faithful in his campaign for the party chairmanship: He's there for them, not for the insiders, not for the professionals, and certainly not for the consultants. Dean will be there for the hardworking activists who make up the rank and file.

Contrast this to the state of the Republican base right now. No less a figure than Rush Limbaugh is warning the president that he faces a mutiny if he and the Republican Congress don't control spending and protect the borders, the two top concerns of the GOP rank and file.

In fact, if Republican leadership fails here, the GOP will have bigger problems than Howard Dean.

Now more than ever, the Republican Party needs to toss its heavy-handed, top-down management style overboard and rejuvenate its grass-roots parties. Howard Dean already has.

One of the things that I admire about Rove as a strategist came out in his recent speech urging the GOP not to become complacent. Rove has little interest in talking about how terrible the Democrats are doing right now--he's far too smart for that. He knows full well that the president's 51% margin in no way signifies a long term shift for the GOP. The Republicans are in hot water in a wide variety of ways: with their reelection of Bush they can expect to historically be held solely responsible for the Iraq Debacle; they are dangerously out of step with the priorities of most Americans on an issue by issue basis; and the unity that 9/11, the Iraq War, and the election provided them is quickly being sapped away.

The Democrats will be positioned well in the coming years if they can continue to build their organization up and finally settle some long fought ideological issues. And Dean may be the one man who can get it all done.

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This move is good for Howard in that (none / 0)

the scream they're trying to permanently afix to his name becomes diluted and diminished by more recent Howard appearances

In other words, he is now able to live down the image they
tried to kill him off with.

It will be interesting to see how he takes on the first major
challenge - social security.

by synthia on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 02:51:22 PM EST

Interesting ending (none / 0)

Hubris of Rove aside, the Republicans know how they hold their majority balance by a slim margin, and I don't see how they are going to get around to pleasing Limbaugh either.

by Jerome Armstrong on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 08:00:47 PM EST

Dean's challenge (2.00 / 3)

Dean's challenge is not to articulate Democratic policy positions - we have many articulate Senators and Representatives who can do that, and who will do it no matter what Dean says. Dean's challenge is to get moving with energizing and organizing local Democratic organizations. He needs to build their loyalty to the Democratic Party, not to him, and get them primed to volunteer to help with GOTV for the 2006 election, as well as to promoting our party from now on. Every week that effort is not jump started is a wasted week.

I would prefer that he disband DFA completely, pleading with its members to work with the local Democratic Party, through Democratic Party meetups, and clubs. We need to dispel the image of DFA as a cult group.

by Sacramentohop on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 08:27:17 PM EST

Re: Dean's challenge (3.00 / 1)

Where are our articulate Senators and Reps. hiding and when will their terminal laryngitus be cured? Dems absolutely need Dean to be a national spokesman, not to set policy, but as a voice of the fundamental values of the party, as an articulate voice to counter the RW Noise Machine. How does Dean or anybody else promote our party with a muzzle one?

With every intent to be rude, if you want to disband DFA Meet Ups, you are either a troll or have never been to a Meet Up and know absolutely nothing about them. I could care less about the "image" of the DFA. They are ideally positioned to supplement the Democratic party and from my experience and information, they do inter-act with the local party apparatus.

Where did you get the bizarre idea of disbanding DFA Meet Ups?

by Gary Boatwright on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 08:52:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Dean's challenge - disband DFA completely??!! (none / 0)

First of all DFA is a community as much as it is a political movement. Disbanding DFA is a BAD BAD idea.

As a matter of fact I wish the DNC webmasters and bloggers would go look at DFA and try to make the DNC website and blog at least as warm and friendly. Just because Howard Dean is DNC Chair the DNC still is NOT going to get away with treating the grassroots as an ATM, while providing us a community feeling.

by mandyky on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 09:16:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

No way that will happen. (none / 0)

That is a very strange comment, and it shows your lack of understanding about DFA and its goals. Many of us are members of DFA and DNC, and we fully intend to stay that way.

We will donate to both, and to candidates we like as well. It may get expensive, but this is our country...we need to get it back.

Take a look at the real grassroots activity going on at the DFA blog. I hope the DNC site soon reflects that enthusiasm. NY just organized as a statewide group, and next week-end, DC, VA, and MD will meet to coordinate.

As Howard Dean said, DFA will remain as a strong and viable group. It is set up to do things the DNC is not yet ready to take on at local levels.

That was a strange remark.

by concerned democrat on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 10:31:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Depends a lot on where you are (none / 0)

Take Massachusetts as an example. There's almost no chance that it will go Republican in a Presidential election (even if Mitt is the nominee), and I don't think that we're about to get a bunch of Republican representatives.

That doesn't mean that we don't need reform. One part of reform is making sure that the right people win in the primaries, and the Democratic party, as a party, can't do that. Groups like DFA can work on behalf of specific candidates in a primary.

by Abby on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 01:30:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

HAH! (none / 0)

Davis is a convert!! He's a closeted Deaniac!!

Quick, send that man a link to the closest DFA Meetup!

[And pshaw on disbandment; if the Dems can't be swayed by the DFAr's who've already infiltrated and pollinated their ranks, there will remain a crying need for an organization whose values are fiscal responsibility and social progressivism. The kind of organization by which a closeted Deaniac independent, Republican or Green will be welcomed with open arms!]

by RayneToday on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 08:50:33 PM EST

Limbaugh is wrong (none / 0)

There will be no mutiny on spending because most Republicans love the spending, especially Republican voters. Hard-core conservatives hate it, and they may make up enough of the GOP base to affect races, but the country as a whole, and the majority of GOP voters, do not want spending cut. In fact, popular support for "small government" virtually disintegrated after the Welfare Reform Act. Most people who wanted small government thought all their taxes were going to lazy black people. Once Welfare Reform passed the grass-roots push for spending cuts plummeted. Republicans were smart enough to recognize this and have pushed for tax cut-and-spend governance instead. As of now the GOP has no real ideological basis anymore - just power. Fortunately for us, power leads to hubris, and hubris leads to humiliation.

by elrod on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 09:00:31 PM EST

Re: Limbaugh is wrong (none / 0)

That's an interesting take on welfare reform. I'll have to think about that a little. Do you have any supporting evidence?

by descrates on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 10:17:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Republicans, Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid (3.00 / 1)

Not only is Dean going to rebuild the Democratic Party, but DFA is going to continue to grow and to support progressive candidates and causes.

We won't back down.

by donna in evanston on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 09:21:19 PM EST

Good comments about Rove (none / 0)

Really, when you ponder the conditions, the GOP should have made 2004 a bloodletting. It should have been the equal of the Dems' turn in 1932.

Think: the WTC attacks, the Global War on Terror, the Iraq War, a faltering but stable economy, the peaking of the moral right with the anti-gay movement . . .

It's insane to think how many things were going Rove's way.

In large part, the line held because Americans know the GOP. Their majority is largely based on moderates who will not support the Bush agenda. This Congress will be the worst do-nothing Congress in history.

You take away the five moderate Senators who voted against the Clinton impeachment, and take away the emerging, surprising conservative progressives such as Lindsey Graham, and you really don't have a GOP majority on most major issues.

The GOP coalition is too tenuous to risk the way Bush wants to risk it.

But, I think Karl Rove is not a party man like Tom Delay. While Delay is screaming bloody murder to end this SocSec thing, Rove is upping the ante.

The problem with Bush-Rove has always been that the bastards are good at getting elected, and not good at a single damned thing else.

by jcjcjc on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 09:40:11 PM EST

Single most important point for Democrats (none / 0)

Single most important point for Democrats: STOP TALKING ABOUT "POVERTY" and "THE POOR."

That stuff is a turn-off for general election voters. They hear it as "Raise my taxes/give the money away with no accountability."

Issues like healthcare, Social Security, the Iraq War, national security (see Krugman's column today) are good Democratic issues and are not "poverty" issues.

by Rowena on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 12:51:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Social Security (none / 0)

Is a poverty issue. Go back to see why it was enacted in the first place.

"You say the world has lost it's love I say embrace what it's made of" -Dar Williams

by Valatan on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 03:02:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Republican Fear (none / 0)

You always can tell whom the Republicans fear. Back during the Iowa Primary, the only Democrat the Republican Noise Machine attacked was Dean. Dean was the only Candidate they ran TV ads against. Why? They knew he had the best chance to beat George Bush. They knew they had to reframe Dean from the Candidate of the people into a wild man. Every time the Republicans warm us Democrats not to embrace some one or an organization like DFA, Moveon, Michael Moore, or Dean, they are scare. Do you really think Republican's advice is for our benefit or an attempt to benefit themselves?

by SRconbio on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 09:48:52 PM EST

STOP navel gazing... (none / 0)

and just do what is necessary. Stop worrying about what the opposition suggest.

by kfractal on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 09:55:31 PM EST

Re: STOP navel gazing... (none / 0)

kfractal, I usually get annoyed too, not so much by Republicans who worry about Dean, but by Democrats who base their whole strategy on trying to outsmart Karl Rove. We were having a discussion about the DNC Chair election over at AmericaBlog and one reader kept telling us how the intra-mural fight was Karl Rove's wet dream. I was so fed up with this bullshit that I just blurted out: I DON'T CARE! And boy did it feel good. I'm not saying we should take Rove for granted. But even if "Gannon" reveals that he fucked Karl Rove up his ass in the Lincoln Bedroom (wouldn't that be ironic in so many ways?), he will still be with us until the day he dies, and so will millions of smart Republican consultants and propagandists. We have our own smart people. Rove isn't omnipresent or omnipotent.

by Gabriel on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 10:46:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Underestimating Dean (none / 0)

I think it's a good thing that the Rs appear to be underestimating Dean -- I hope they really are, because I think Dean's liable to clean their clocks and I'd love for them not to see it coming. Saw part of his recent debate with Richard Perle who, though he is pure evil, is a brilliant guy. Dean stood toe to toe and acquited himself very, very well. I wish I'd seen the whole debate -- I missed the part where Perle got a shoe thrown at him. Would loved to have seen that.

For once I see a glimmer of hope.

by erasmus on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 10:06:40 PM EST

This much I know (none / 0)

People will follow charismatic and enthusiastic leaders.

Dean is one of those.
Now, we just need a presidential candidate with those qualities.

Bayh, Warner, Feingold, Kerry...all have a SERIOUS deficit in these categories.

Edwards and Clark to some extent have it.
Clinton does when she wants to.

by Sam Loomis on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 10:16:22 PM EST

We NEED Charismatic Candidates (none / 0)

Our candidate needs to be articulate, courageous, bold, and innovative -- but most of all, they must be Charismatic.

My choice in 2003, and maybe now; The Senior Senator from Illinois . . .

Dick Durbin

But whoever it is, fight like Hell -- starting NOW.

by ck on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 12:38:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: We NEED Charismatic Candidates (none / 0)

I hear that Durbin has pretty much ruled out a presidential run. But if you like him, I suggest you try Russ Feingold.

by craverguy on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 01:31:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: This much I know (none / 0)

Kerry I'd count out, but not necessarily the others, lets see how they do with large crowds. Anyone who know Dean pre-2002, would have had him in your group.

by Jerome Armstrong on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 08:00:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Be Careful What You Wish For (none / 0)

In case you haven't read the op-ed yet, that is the basic summary.

I am of the opinion that Howard's going to do what he planned to do and that Republicans can either give him the repsect he wants or not. The mistake would be to force Dean to show all his cards on the table. He's has plenty of time to raise money for 2006, and while Virginia's governor's race will be an interesting sideshow remember how 2001 led to 2002. Warner and McGreevey both won...but the Dems were still trampled nationally in the midterms.

Secondly, Harry Reid has already ensured that the Republicans aren't getting a whole lot done as of late. Given that Bush is sending back some of his most controversial nominees, this is playing to his strength along with Nancy Pelosi.

by risenmessiah on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 11:01:45 PM EST

Re: He Knows this Roller-Coaster Well (none / 0)

Perhaps... if only he (we) didn't have to constantly fight against his own party to do so. I'm concerned about his effectiveness as chair given the two articles from the American Spectator... (I hope these aren't true)

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=7786

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=7781

NANCY'S BOY
New DNC Chairman Howie Dean has been warned by his staffers to keep an eye on new vice-chairman Rep. Mike Honda. The California Democrat was one of Rep. Nancy Pelosi's handpicked candidates for the DNC job, and the House minority leader has made it clear that Honda is her man at the Democratic National Committee.

Honda, for his part, has said all the right things about his new responsibilities, noting he wants to be a bridge between House Democrats and the national party. But Dean's team isn't buying it.
"The only bridge he's serving as is the one Nancy Pelosi can walk all over," says a former Dean staffer, who may join his transition team.

Dean is steaming at the continued minimizing of his role that Pelosi, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, and, most recently, former Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards have been undertaking. Over the weekend, Edwards told reporters that he did not consider the chairman of the DNC the party spokesman.

by dayspring on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 11:23:57 PM EST

Re: He Knows this Roller-Coaster Well (none / 0)

Bear in mind that the American Spectator is the same website publishing the now-infamous "AARP is anti-military and pro-gay marriage" ad. I would give those two articles about the same weight as I would give their ad.

by dwbh on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 07:57:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: He Knows this Roller-Coaster Well (none / 0)

Yea, American Spectator just flat out lies to create dissention among Democrats.

by Jerome Armstrong on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 07:59:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: He Knows this Roller-Coaster Well (none / 0)

I agree. Yesterday, there was a Kos diary about the story in your first link--about Terry McA. giving "Demzilla" to Pelosi & Reid--that has since been deleted. I suspect someone tipped the diarist off that TAS isn't a reliable source.

by KimPossible on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 09:16:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: He Knows this Roller-Coaster Well (none / 0)

John Edwards is kind of a snake, IMO. He was a big Iraq War supporter and wrote a famous OpEd piece about it that was wrong about everything, every bit as wrong as Bush and Perle and the whole "cakewalk" crowd. Didn't he vote for all of Bush's tax cuts, too? Then he did that "Two Americas" baloney in the primaries and the Des Moines Register endorsed him for the caucus based on his "Two Americas" presentation that had nothing to do with his actual record in the Senate. Personally, I wouldn't trust John Edwards as far as I could pick him up and throw him and he did absolutely nothing to help Kerry in the general election.

by Rowena on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 12:42:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: He Knows this Roller-Coaster Well (none / 0)

Keep in mind that, until he decided to run for President (and later Veep), he was probably looking toward re-election as a N. Carolina Senator. That would explain his conservative voting record: he missed most votes once he decided to go for the big chair.

I kind of look at Edwards the way I look at Hillary Clinton (and, to a lesser extent, John Kerry); I won't worry too much about where they've been as long as I approve of where I think they are now. All three were wrong on the war when it counted, but if any of them sees the light (as Kerry began to during the campaign), so much the better.

Of course, now that he's out of office, we can't know for sure whether Edwards's conversion to economic populism was genuine. But I'm still inclined to let him at least make his case.

If you're always playing the fear card, it's a pretty good sign you're not playing with a full deck!

by Mathwiz on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 06:26:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Descartes - (none / 0)

Don't take this personally, I enjoy your writing, but I've seen you post similar diaries on Kos and I think its counter-productive to seek validation (positive or negative) from right-wing sources.

One of the reasons they control the media spin is that we tend to listen too much. We should not base our decisions or evaluations on what they say because they of course do not have our best interests at heart. At best, they will just try to fuck with us, and at worst, we will take (or give ourselves) bad advice based on what they say.

In short, ignore them. When any right-winger says is good or bad for democrats should be completely irrelevant to us. Evanluate the situation with your own superior and reality-based intellectual and strategic capabilities.

by daunte on Mon Feb 21, 2005 at 11:39:23 PM EST

Re: Descartes - (none / 0)

That's an interesting take. I'll think about that.

But I'm really just trying--in my own little way--to undermine that the GOP attacks coming on Dean. Besides, its one thing for his fans to talk about his potential for the party. Its another for his enemies.

by descrates on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 10:23:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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