(fwd) Democratic insiders feel dissed by Dean, launch attacks

[Guest guest]

Excellent inside-the-beltway tale of what's really happening in Democratic

party politics. Dean is a big success, in spite of what you're hearing in the

media and from prominent Democrats. After all, they don't REALLY want the

party returned to the people at all. They want their fat cat donors to contine

to

call the shots and fork over the loot. All that money from " little donors "

comes with unacceptable demands attached, such as actually governing for the

benefit of the people instead of the corporations. Margie

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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/7/21857/23914

Beltway Dem insiders whine, 'Dean stole our Golden Goose!'

by Bob Johnson

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Tue Jun 7th, 2005 at 00:18:57 CST

 

What Golden Goose, you ask?

The Golden Goose that dumped most of the party monies into the pockets of

Clinton-era consultants under Terry McAuliffe. And the same Golden Goose that

bought large donors access to party bigwigs.

 

" Howard isn't playng our game... Let's all rip Howard Dean! "

 

According to a story in the June 7 Salon by David Paul Kuhn, Dean has broken

every record as a fundraiser in his short tenure at the DNC:

 

 

Despite the polemics that were sure to follow Dean's assuming the role of

party chairman, his primary duty is to raise money. Though the Republican

National Committee has raised money at a rate of 2-to-1 on Democrats in the

first

quarter of 2005, Dean himself has been effective. In the first four months,

under

Dean's stewardship, the DNC has raised nearly $19 million -- more than under

any other Democratic chairman in an off-election year.

But guess what? He isn't raising the green from the right people,

apparently...

 

(more)

 

Diaries :: Bob Johnson's diary :: :: Trackback ::

 

You'd have a hard time believing that the DNC set records for an off-year

quarter given the shots Howard Dean has taken of late from insiders and

" anonymous Democratic sources. " (See Dave Weigel's diary highlighting a new

article

from The Hill under the headline, Fundraisers jilt Dean.)

 

And this weekend, Joe Biden and John Edwards fired shots at Dean on the

Sunday morning shows, needless exchanges well-documented here by many including

in

my own diary.

 

What we are witnessing is a coordinated effort by recent Democratic Party

" insiders " to undercut Dean's chairmanship. Yep, the same folks who took

on-the-record and anonymous potshots at Kerry and his campaign are now running

an

organized effort to get Dean dumped from the party chairmanship.

 

How ironic. Biden, Lieberman, Carville and numerous " anonymous party

sources " spent the better part of the general election campaign undercutting

Kerry

and his campaign/campaign staff.

 

Oh, if only these (so-called) fellow Democrats had been as concerned about

beatng Bush as they seem to be about crushing Dean...

 

The Hill article points out that the Clinton-era big donors feel dissed by

Dean. (Thus, Al From's and Carville's endless harangues.) Their complaints are

as whiny as " not getting enough face time. "

 

And one can rest assured that the Beltway consultants and sycophants are not

at all happy that their high-paying clients can't get long audeinces with the

party chairman -- who has been busy meeting with state-level party officials

in an effort to rebuild the party from the ground up.

 

So while the Beltway insiders attempt to take Dean down, his popularity at

the state level continues to rise, according to a June 2 article on AlterNet:

 

 

It's no wonder then that Dean has avoided the national spotlight, with

criticism being launched at him from all sides and media-jealous Democratic

colleagues muttering about his inability to stay " on message. " But perhaps the

main

reason that Dean's been AWOL from the Sunday talk show circuit is that he's been

busy traveling the country, learning about the state of politics at the local

level. Since he began as chair on February 12, Dean's priorities have been

set less on cultivating a perfect, all-encompassing message for the Democratic

Party and more on " showing up. "

In the last three months, Dean has visited 18 states, where he has met with

Democratic officials at the state and local level and promoted his plan to

build the party infrastructure from the bottom up. Unlike McAuliffe, Dean isn't

arriving in limousines; he's flying coach, paying for his own bus tickets, and

carrying his own bags. And if you listen to the people that Dean has spent most

of his tenure thus far speaking to -- people in some of the Reddest states of

the country -- Dean is doing a fantastic job.

 

Dean ran for chair on a platform promising to radically depart from the

previous DNC strategy of targeting specific states during crucial election

cycles.

His plan was to focus on all fifty states, cultivate candidates at all levels

of government, and get paid grassroots organizers on the ground immediately.

" I'm not much of a Zen person, " he remarked upon accepting chairmanship, " But

I've found that the path to power, oddly enough, is to trust others with it.

That means putting the power where the voters are. " Judging from my

conversations with state and county leaders, Dean is doing exactly that.

 

Dean's " Red, White, and Blue " tour through the South was initially met with

trepidation, not only by Democratic insiders, but also state party leaders who

feared Dean's aggressive " northeastern liberal " style wouldn't fly in their

states. When Dean showed up, for the most part, those impressions were

shattered. The Dean they saw was not a firebrand, but a pragmatic leader

determined to

build the nuts and bolts of the party. " I was nervous before Governor Dean

came to town, " said Gabe Holmstrom, Executive Director of the Arkansas

Democratic

Party, " but I found that Dean had a lot of insight into local politics and a

real interest in taking a much more aggressive role in organizing from the

grassroots. His commitment was clear. " Party leaders described crowds at Dean

events in their states as " electric, " " ecstatic, " and " very excited. " Nick

Casey,

West Virginia's State Chair told me people were driving in " three hours from

the south, five hours from the east, just to hear him. "

 

After years of being virtually ignored by the DNC, state party leaders are

extremely enthusiastic about Dean's state partnership program. On April 8, Dean

announced the first round of his investments in the states, half a million

dollars that would be spread among the state parties of Missouri, North

Carolina,

North Dakota, and West Virginia. Since then, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada,

Wyoming, and Kansas have received DNC funding. In Nebraska-which received ten

times the $12,000 they got from Terry McAuliffe last year-the state party is

putting organizers in all 93 of their counties. In West Virginia, Casey is

excited about using the additional funds to recruit teachers to serve as mentors

for Young Democrats clubs at high schools, and energizing long-stagnant groups

like the Federation of Democratic Women. " In 2004, we started campaign after

the May primary, " says Casey. " We just started our coordinating campaign a month

ago for 2008. That makes a hell of a difference. "

 

Finally, I note that Dean's supposed controversial comments have all been

directed at Republicans. Note that his detractors spend more time bashing Dems

than they do bashing the criminals curremtly occupying the Executive branch and

the majority of the Legislative branch.

 

NOTE TO STATE PARTY OFFICIALS: The time to back up Dean is NOW! Don't wait,

don't hesitate. The insiders are seeking to take him down because he

threatens their gravy train.

 

Imagine the audacity of a Democratic Party chairman deciding that the states

are more qualifed to spend party monies than the consultants in Washington.

 

What a bastard.

 

And imagine a party chairmen dissing the heavy-duty corporate donors of the

Clinton era...

 

The nerve!

 

Now the Sunday " Dean rips " by Biden and Edwards have some context. Biden,

the same guy who undercut the Kerry campaighn at every opportunity on the Sunday

morning shows during the run-up to the general, now is training his sights on

Dean.

 

Figures. He kisses Alberto Gonzales' ass but takes swipes at our standard

bearer in the general election and our new party chairman.

 

Oh, if only some on our side was as focused on taking down the real enemy...

 

 

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