Howard Dean: Weapon of Self Destruction
The Republicans couldn’t ask for a better man to head the DNC. Here’s a rundown of his latest words of wisdom and also the effect they are having on the Democratic party:
“I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for, but I admire their discipline and their organization,” the failed presidential hopeful told the crowd at the Roosevelt Hotel, where he and six other candidates spoke at the final DNC forum before the Feb. 12 vote for chairman. –January 30, 2005
——————————————-“We’re going to use Terri Schiavo later on … This is going to be an issue in 2006, and it’s going to be an issue in 2008 because we’re going to have an ad with a picture of Tom DeLay saying, ‘Do you want this guy to decide whether you die or not? Or is that going to be up to your loved ones?’ ” –April 15, 2005 at a gay rights group’s breakfast in West Hollywood.
———————————-But he did draw howls of laughter by mimicking a drug-snorting Rush Limbaugh. “I’m not very dignified,” he said. “But I’m not running for president anymore.” In fact, as part of his commitment to lead the party for the next four years, he has sworn not to seek any office until after 2008. I’m not running for president anymore.” –April 20, 2005 (Star Tribune link no longer works, so I’m providing an alternate source) at a benefit for the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota
——————————————Dean’s 25-minute speech to the Campaign for America’s Future annual gathering was interrupted frequently by applause, but his line about Republican work habits also produced an undertow of ”oohs” and ”aahs.” Asserting that some Florida voters stood in line for eight hours in November, Dean said that was a hardship for people who ”work all day and then pick up their kids at child care.” But, he said, Republicans could stand in eight-hour lines ”because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives.” –June 2, 2005, in a 25-minute speech to the Campaign for America’s Future in Washington, DC
——————————————Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) distanced themselves over the weekend from remarks by Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who is facing criticism for the pace of the party’s fundraising. ….. Asked whether Dean is doing the party any good, Biden said, “Not with that kind of rhetoric. He doesn’t speak for me with that kind of rhetoric. And I don’t think he speaks for the majority of Democrats. . . . I wish that rhetoric would change.”
Edwards, the party’s vice presidential nominee last year, said at an annual party fundraising dinner Saturday in Nashville that he disagreed with Dean’s comment. “The chairman of the DNC is not the spokesman for the party,” Edwards said, according to the Associated Press. “He’s a voice. I don’t agree with it.” – June4 & 5, 2005
——————————————–One hundred days into his tenure as the high-energy, higher-decibel chairman of the Democratic Party, Howard Dean is in trouble with party moneybags. The former Vermont governor seems to be doing a better job flaying the Republicans than bridging the cash chasm between the parties. Given Dean’s 2004 run as a populist crusader, moderates were never wild about his takeover of the Democratic National Committee. So some big donors are sitting on their wallets.
Dean wowed the faithful in ’04 with his Web-based fund-raising magic. But major business donors still count, and in his new role as party honcho, the feisty doctor seems to be struggling to connect. After achieving money parity with the GOP in 2004, Democrats have fallen far behind. According to the Federal Election Commission, the DNC raised $14.1 million in the first quarter of 2005, vs. the Republican National Committee’s $32.3 million. Dean drew about 20,000 new donors, while his rivals picked up 68,200. The bottom line: Republicans have $26.2 million in the bank vs. $7.2 million for the Dems. – June 6, 2005, Business Week Online
—————————————Three top fundraisers at the Democratic National Committee have resigned at a time when its chairman, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, has come under fire from fellow Democrats for controversial comments and his Republican counterpart has raised more than twice as much money. – June 6, 2005
——————————————–Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, unapologetic in the face of recent criticism that he has been too tough on his political opposition, said in San Francisco this week that Republicans are “a pretty monolithic party. They all behave the same. They all look the same. It’s pretty much a white Christian party. …. “We have to be rough on the Republicans. Republicans don’t represent ordinary Americans and they don’t have any understanding of what it is to go out and try and make ends meet.” –June 6, 2005
Any questions?