White Knight Shows Tarnish in Iowa

I'm a former Dean supporter who acknowledges that the Dean campaign has made some mistakes. But this analysis is slanted, if not downright disingenuous. Declaring the Dean campaign guilty of "deck stacking" on the basis of the earlier "spying" episode (in which there is no evidence the spies acted on the instructions of the Dean campaign) is a specious argument. The analysis also conveniently quotes Gov. Dean out-of-context: his "I can't stand there and listen..." comment was his representation of a typical Iowan's perspective, not Dean's own perspective. In sum, this is just more Republican spin.

i understand most of what you say, but i would agree with dean about iowa caucuses being a waste of time that take attention away from the real problems of this country. the rest of us wish you guys would stop whining so much. though i guess its inevitable for the 15 minutes that anyone mentions iowa every 4 years... oh well.

Thank you for exposing the Hypocrisy of Dean and the Democratic Party.

Aren't these the same people that claim the GOP cheats and steals elections?

The fact that the DEM front runner does it to their own is simply sickening and demonstrates the real type of people they are.

George

Out of state Dean staffers and volunteers have no intention of attending the caucuses, or trying to misrepresent themselves as Iowans. As Joe Trippi said yesterday, it's pretty hard to believe that in close-knit Iowa communities, anyone would even think that could work.

Every one of the people I've spoken with who are going wouldn't even bother making the trip for a campaign that asked them to fake being Iowans. This is a ridiculous accusation, on par with Dubya's 2000 primary push-polls implying that John McCain had fathered a half-black child out of wedlock.

You know what's sanctimonious? Accusing a few thousand people you don't know anything about of what would be extremely undemocratic behavior.

Again, Dean's comments are taken out of context by his opponents and used to bludgon him over the head. His comments on the caucuses are true- seniors, labor unions and other special interests dominate the process. does anyone really disagree with that? and taking his comments about being a 'waste of time', etc... in which he was characterizing a VOTERS perspective, not his own, and smearing him with them, is cheap, obvious and of course, politics as usual.
as for the 'spying and dirty tricks', one stupid move by two young kids working on a campaign is nothing new. gephardt and kerry are guilty of smearing dean again (about the massive volunteer 'sneak' operation) with little more evidence then some apparent whispers in a dark room. what bullshit, and how typical. I'm sticking with Dean, not based on yesterday's news, but on tomorrow's promise.

I think it's pretty obvious that the reporters are trying to once again smear Dr. Dean. If all these accusations were true do you really think Sen. Harkin would endorse him. (As has been just announced )

This is disingenuous crap, designed to spread FUD among caucus members. I wonder if eric and Brian took notes from Karl Rove or simply copied "The Message of the Day" from the White House political office.
First - there were no dirty tricks-- this is a fairly dsperate ploy. Many months ago, Dean and Trippi laid down the law to all the kiddies in his campign- no sophomoric stunts. Do anythng stupid and you're out. It's been hard because there are so many free-lancers and enthusiasts floating around he campaign, but they have done a remarkably good job. So a few kids show up a a Kerry campaign event wearing Dean buttons. Big deal. That's hardly a dirty trick. Let's be serious. Even so, that type of behavior will get you in trouble with the campaign if any of the volunteer coordinators or field organizers find out about it. Considering the youth of so many of the Dean workers, it's surprising how little of this kind of silliness has gone on.

There is no indication -- NONE that Dean's people have suggested that out of state activists attend caucus events. That's a flat out lie, and these two know it, especially Mr McCabe. Come on, Brian, i know you think you're doing good party owrk on behalf of the GOP, but this is nonsense and you know that.

Third: Deans' comments on a talk show in Canada many years ago are not unfortunate-- they are - or were -- ACCURATE. It is a fact of political life, that in past years, the Iowa caucuses have reflected only the most activist members of each party. Only a few percent of potential voters show up. As a result narrow interest groups have dominated these sessions. Labor and environmental interests are not bad people, but they tend to be massively over-represented in Democratic caucuses. Likewise Christian coalition types are over-represented in the Republican caucuses. Does anyone seriously deny that? One objective of the Dean campaign is to win the votes of those power centers while involving more people from every walk of life in the campaign, and to encourage regular folks to show up at these caucuses.

The bottom line is, Woolson and McCabe are attacking Dean because of his honesty. What a new concept in American politics. No wonder the Republicans find it so threatening. One reason Dean is supported by so many people is because HE TELLS THE TRUTH-- UNVARNISHED AND HONESTLY. Thank God for Howard Dean - I just wish there were more people like him in public life.

I don't know about any spying but I guess the republicans would know about it....does Dick Nixon ring a bell???? As far as stupid quotes go, the current president has had so many "bushisms" it isn't even funny any more. Here's just a few...."I think we ought to raise the age at which juveniles can have a gun."..."I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions. I can't answer your question."..."Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness."..."We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile."..."It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."..."If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign." You glass house dwellers had better put down the stones. We'd be better off with a monkey in a suit for a president than W Bush...no wait, that would be exactly the same.

f you're interested in the real version of what Dean said on the Canadian show:

What NBC Ran

A quote from Dean as if he were talking about himself.

VOICE-OVER: Dean even suggested the caucuses were a waste of time for ordinary people
DEAN: I can’t stand there and listen to everyone else's opinion for eight hours about how to fix the world.
VO: Now, as a candidate . . . [Cut to image of Dean at pancake breakfast event.]
DEAN: This is for the news. Ready?
VO: Dean seems to appreciate the value of Iowa's caucuses. [NBC Nightly News, 1/8/04]

What NBC Left Out

Dean explicitly put himself in the place of a hypothetical overworked Iowan.

DEAN: Here's what happens: Say I'm a guy who's got to work for a living and I've got kids and so forth. On a Saturday, is it easy for me to go cast a ballot and spend 15 minutes doing it, or do I have to sit in a caucus for 8 hours?
GUEST: This is a good thing, though.
DEAN: I don't think so. I don't have the time to do it. It doesn't get people involved. It drives people out of the process, and leaves the people who are left in the process -- the professional people who get paid to be there.
GUEST: Let the people in the neighborhoods convince you, say...
DEAN: They can't convince me. I've got my kid's soccer game. I've got my second job. I've got all these other reasons that I can't do these things.
GUEST: If that's the case, the 15 minutes you're going to devote to politics in your year is a pretty perfunctory involvement in politics.
DEAN: Not necessarily. I read the papers, maybe I watch television. I form my opinions, I get to go exercise my opinion. But I can't stand there and listen to everyone else's opinion for eight hours about how to fix the world.

Dean had time to visit all 99 counties in Iowa, and to stump New Hampshire so many times that, all told, it adds up to months and months of his life. To suggest he doesn't have the time to listen to ordinary people is a pretty shocking misrepresentation, and it ought to stop here.

see also http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/003038.html

Not to mention, the American Research Group reported that several older independents in NH told them they had been telephoned by someone saying they were ineligible to vote because they hadn't "switched" parties in time.

When one of them mentioned she had planned to vote for Dean, the caller said "never mind" and told her to go ahead and vote.

Now who stands to benefit the most from independent voters staying home on primary day in NH? That would be Howard Dean--the guy who gets the least amount of support from independents.

Dean is so much like Bush it's scary. If he can't win the election, he'll steal it.

DEAN IS THE MOST PATHETIC LIEING LOSER THERE IS, AND THE FACT THAT THERE IS A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF AMERICANS (<20%) THAT STRONGLY SUPPORT HIM, PROVES THAT IDIOTS DO EXIST IN OUR SOCIETY TODAY.

FRED