The Vindication of Howard Dean

Watch out, Jay is in the tank for the Daily Kos now!

Thumbs up to Dean. He got the rank-and-file off our butts and built a great system that Obama has made the most of and enhanced. Viva la Vote Builder.

Where's my effin' hat tip?

Even more than the "50 state strategy" as an abstract idea, Markos argues that Dean and the netroots are, quite simply, right on the issues, and don't need to sneak their positions past "Real America" in a fake apple pie. Don't forget that. That is the core of Markos' point, and we don't need to wait a week to see he was right. The precise degree of electoral success it yields does not change the basic truth going forward. Democratic politicians are running on Democratic ideals. Everywhere.

Oh, and I forgot:
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YEARGH!!

jay - It never gets old, does it?

Hey Jay--
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You do need an update. Markos' point, pourmorecoffee's reiteration, is that the reason, the overwhelmingly important reason, that this strategy worked is because it is profoundly centrist. Not Village centrist, but citizen centrist. Not Broder centrist, but voter centrist. That's what this is about.
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Also, you know, a hundred thousand people showing up at a campaign event is a big deal, worthy of some repeated, noisy coverage. A hundred thousand people showing up over and over again at a campaign event is a big deal. Even a bigger deal than Newt's revolution.

...and the repudiation of Carville/DLC.

Nicole Wallace is shocked, SHOCKED I tell you that FoxNews threw her under the bus!
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From Ana Marie Cox's interview with the McCain aide:
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There's obviously an organized campaign to lay blame for things at my feet and I'm not going to engage before the campaign ends. I have a very long relationship with Fox News and the notion that someone would call me a coward on the air and accuse me of putting $150,000 on my credit card without a single person calling and checking with me suggests that something is going on.

I actually love Carville when it comes to being a pundit. He makes people feel about an inch high.

AMC is moonlighting at dailybeast
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-28/a-q-and-a-with-nicolle-wallace/4/

Carville called for Dean to be fired AFTER the Democrats took back the House and, incredibly, the Senate. Advocating for the one Democrat who managed to lose, Harold Ford, to be given the job.
Ford didn't get the job and went to work for Fox News. Great suggestion Jim.

JC -- I guess it has to do with vision, strategy and excuting a plan. Haven't seen that much from the Greedy Old Party or your boy McCain.

As late as October 2006, top Dem strategists and elected officials were bemoaning the way Dean had spread the party's money around instead of concentrating it on targets of immediate opportunity.

October '06? Hell, Carville and Begala tried to push him out in favor of Harold Ford after the election.

And what pourme and JayA said. The center of the country is not the Broder center, halfway between The New Republic and Free Republic (hat tip to Atrios, since I am aware of all internet traditions).

the notion that someone would call me a coward on the air and accuse me of putting $150,000 on my credit card without a single person calling and checking with me suggests that something is going on
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Well, when one associates with those who have carnal knowledge of rats, one should prepare for demonstration of said knowledge.

Oh come on, how is that getting moderated? I was using old timey Bible language!
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Fine, let's try it this way:
the notion that someone would call me a coward on the air and accuse me of putting $150,000 on my credit card without a single person calling and checking with me suggests that something is going on
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Well, when you hang around with rat f---ers you should expect to get rat f---ed.

All right, so "rat f---er" is all right, but an old school Biblical term for sex isn't?

All right, so "rat f---er" is all right, but an old school Biblical term for "relations" isn't?
(I would love to spell it out, but apparently the moderator bot would prefer that I pretend that babies come from storks.)

Great link SG, thanks. Pretty good interview by Ana.

Obama knows it is wiser to co-opt the DLC than to defeat it.

I'm glad about this for a host of reasons, including that Dean has been badly underrated. He's an effective pragmatist. The right, of course, insisted he was far to the left because he opposed the war. But he was and is a champion of good governance.

Cliff: GOP the party of personal responsibility.

What pourmecoffee said.
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From Markos's post:
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Here's what too many people still don't understand -- there's nothing loony about the netroots. This isn't fertile territory for the McKinneys and Kuciniches of our party. This is fertile territory for the Howard Deans of our party -- sensible, pragmatic progressives who aren't afraid to be Democrats. Why? Because we're the nation. We're not clustered in DC and NYC, we're spread out over all 50 states, and we know better than anyone what it takes to win in our own backyards.
We didn't rally around Webb, Tester, Schweitzer, Trauner, Brown, Massa, Burner and so many other moderate Democrats because they were little Kucinich clones, but because they were perfectly suited for the states and districts they seek to represent. It's that simple.
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I'm quite embarrassed, now, that I took the MSM and TNR's word for it, and regarded Daily Kos and Atrios, et al, as a bunch of out-there wackos until about 5 years ago. They've been proven right about everything.

"Nicole Wallace is shocked, SHOCKED I tell you that FoxNews threw her under the bus!"

Hey Nicole, you can always secretly vote for Obama and get back at them all!!!!!

Welcome Paul,
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I didn't know about the Carville trying to get Dean fired thing. But he has had some classic moment PWNING the like of Michele Backman, Sean Hannity and Castellanos on cable news. I laughed my ar se off when he told Gov Richardson to his face that not only did he call him Judas, but that he meant it and that it had the effect he intended. He is CRAZY!