Posted on 03/02/2005 6:39:37 AM PST by areafiftyone
This time, Democratic Party chief Howard Dean didn't have to scream to get attention.
The former presidential candidate told party faithful at a Kansas fund-raiser last week that the party's conservative opponents are "evil," according to the Lawrence Journal-World.
"This is a struggle of good and evil," he told the gathered activists, who
paid $100 apiece to hear the new Democratic chairman. "And we're the good."
Republican reaction came fast and furious.
Derrick Sontag, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, was "shocked" by Dean's comments. Said Sontag: "My immediate reaction to that
whole dialogue is it's full of hatred. The Democratic Party has elected a
leader that's full of hatred."
Media weren't allowed at the meeting, where Dean provided hungry donors with plenty of red meat amid the "Dean for America" signs. But Dean spoke over a public address system in the backyard of a private home, making it easy for the Journal-World's reporters to listen in.
At one point, Dean asserted that "moderate Republicans can't stand these
people [conservatives] because they're intolerant. They don't think
tolerance is a virtue." He added, "I'm not going to have these right-wingers
throw away our right to be tolerant."
Borrowing a phrase from former President Bill Clinton, Dean also said the
party must commit to making abortions "safe, legal and rare" while
maintaining a woman's rights to choose.
"The issue is not abortion," Dean told the closed-door crowd. "The issue is
whether women can make up their own mind instead of some right-wing pastor, some right-wing politician telling them what to do."
Kansas Democratic Party executive director Mark Simpson was unavailable to
say how much the party raised at the private home of Lawrence, Kansas,
residents John and Nancy Hiebert. But the appearance, along with a nearby
$5-a-head rally that drew 1,000 party loyalists, provided the state party
with much-needed cash, the paper reported.
Apparently, the Democratic chairman's public rally was more positive than
his private message to party insiders.
"It was wonderful, very energizing, a very positive, powerful message," said
Micheline Burger, who attended the large gathering. "It gives me a hope
there's a good future ahead of us, as opposed to what we've been having the
last four years."
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Well here is a true statement here and now: "Liberals are an evil cancer on America and must be destroyed as a viable political force in order for the Republic to survive."
Hey, I thought only simplistic, nuance-challenged, fundamentalist, right-wing Republicans used terms like "good and evil." Has the world turned upsude down?
He hates conservatives. "Conservative" talkers hate liberals. And the world goes on.
He shot his mouth off over a month ago. See tag line.
Amen, and then Americans must revive an era of self government--the best protection against tyranny.
Uh, because he is not just a lonely loony leftist our there, railing like King Lear against the storm, but the Chairman of the DNC. He is their standard bearer and the standard is emblazoned with the slogan: "Hate the Evil Doers"
That is something new in the world.
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