HoDee or Bust!

As interesting a choice as Simon Rosenberg might be to head the DNC, the rumblings out of the Democratic Governors' Conference calling for yet more "moderation", which as we all know is code for "becoming even MORE like the right wing kooks in power" make me believe more firmly than ever that nothing short of a complete retrenchment of the Democratic Party will bring me back into the fold.



It's really starting to look like Dean or Nobody to me.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean gave an animated, hour-long speech to about 1,700 students at an ASSU Speakers Bureau event at Memorial Auditorium Monday night, where he talked about the future of the Democratic Party, moral values, globalization, public service and that scream.



[snip]



While Dean praised Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry for running a clean campaign, he criticized the Democrats for mimicking the Republican Party.



“We don’t need two Republican Parties in this country,” Dean said. “Truman once said, ‘If you run a Republican against a Democrat who acts like a Republican, the real Republican wins every time.’”



Dean urged the Democratic Party leadership to present “an opposition model, a real difference” to the Republican platform. “If you ever want to win again, then stand for something, stand for what you believe in,” he said.



Democrats are “bad at messaging” their moral values, which Dean said are rooted in “a sense of obligation to each other.” He advocated speaking about charged issues on Democratic terms.



“Instead of fighting about gay marriage, what we ought to be fighting about is that every single American has the same rights as every other American,” he said. “We don’t have to debate on their terms, let’s debate them on our terms.”



Dean also talked about the impact of globalization on the world community.



“Globalization is neither good nor bad, it’s how you do it,” he said. “All we’ve done is globalized the rights of corporations.”



“The role of government in a capitalist society is to make sure we don’t have 12-year-olds working 12-hour days in cotton mills, either in this country or in Malaysia where they’re putting together Nike shoes,” Dean said.



“Let’s globalize worker protections and environmental protections and level the playing field,” he added.



Dean also said that young people have a unique stake in the future of the world due to new information and communication technologies like the Internet.



“Yours is the first generation in America to see the whole world as your community.”



Dean and his former campaign manager Joe Trippi have been credited with revolutionizing political campaigns by using the Internet as a powerful tool for fundraising and organizing supports.



“You really do have the power,” Dean said. “But you get a ‘D’ for voting - it’s the bare minimum for your democracy to thrive.”



Dean encouraged the audience to make change happen by running for office, even if it’s just within their communities. “You can’t win if you don’t run,” he said.



In one of the many humorous moments of the night, Dean poked fun at his impassioned campaign speech after the Iowa primaries almost a year ago, which was replayed by the news media countless times.



“First of all, let me just get this out of the way: YEEAWW!” Dean yelled, inciting a thunderous wave of applause and laughter. “Was that so terrifying?” he asked.

Exactly. What was so terrifying? Because a bunch of media pundits thought that turning down the ambient noise in order to turn Dean into their own private pinata seemed like fun?



Dean UNDERSTANDS what the rest of the party doesn't -- that it's not the ideology, it's the message. Passive pussy-ass Democrats have allowed Republicans to define them, because either they have forgotten what they used to stand for, or they are owned by the same people. Doesn't matter. They've lost ground steadily over my entire life, Clinton notwithstanding.



People really do have progressive values. They believe in hard work being rewarded as opposed to the accident of birth determining where you end up. They believe in helping their neighbors. They believe in equal rights. Democrats have allowed Republicans to distort this into something bad. It's time to take back the agenda. And only Dean is equipped to do that.