Posted on 05/22/2005 9:39:40 PM PDT by CHARLITE
“Bernie Sanders votes with the Democrats 98 percent of the time.”- Former Vermont Governor and failed Presidential Candidate Howard Dean, now Chairman of the Democratic National Committee
Most viewers tuning in at the very moment Howard Dean made this comment to Tim Russert on “Meet the Press,” would have said to themselves, “Yeah…so?”
But for those of us who happened to tune in a few minutes earlier to hear Russert ask the question that prompted the reply in the first place, the statement was a stark admission of what the Democratic Party has become.
“In your home state of Vermont,” Russert said, “there’s a vacancy for the United States Senate about to occur. Bernie Sanders, the congressman from Vermont, wants to run for that seat. He is a self-described avowed socialist.”
“Well, that’s what he says,” Dean scoffed. “He’s really a populist.”
“But is there room in the Democratic Party for a socialist?” Russert asked.
“Well, first of all, he’s not a socialist, really,” Dean insisted. “He hasn't said that for a while.”
Russert pressed on: “Oh, he wrote in his book…“I am a Democratic socialist.”
“Well, a Democratic socialist,” Dean equivocated. “All right, we’re talking about words here. And Bernie can call himself anything he wants. He is basically a liberal Democrat… The bottom line is that Bernie Sanders votes with the Democrats 98 percent of the time.”
“So you’d support him?” Russert asked.
Dean: “We may very well end up supporting him.”
Amazing. There was the chairman of the DNC, on national television, admitting that he and his party would support socialist Congressman Bernie Sanders for U.S. Senate because he (Dean) and his party are so far to the left that Bernie Sanders already votes with them 98 percent of the time.
But don’t think that all liberal candidates will be as easy to spot as Bernie Sanders. As I pointed out in my Feb. 22 column, “Misunderestimating Howard Dean,” the DNC Chairman’s plans include pumping financial resources into state and local races over the next four years, plans he reiterated to Russert on “Meet the Press.”
“By the end of this year,” Dean promised, “we have a goal of having a Democrat in every precinct in America — not every county, but every precinct in America — four paid political organizers in every state in America in 2005… We’re also going to try to get elected people running for the state legislature, people running for city council. We’re involved in some mayors’ races right now. We need to do this from top to bottom just as the Republicans did…we’re, frankly, going to adopt a lot of it that works for Democrats.”
Politicians of both parties are skilled at pretending to be something they are not, but Democrats have refined the process to a fine art. This is especially true at the local level. Knowing their unadulterated socialist message does not sell, they mask their agenda in a cloak of respectable moderation, and therein lies the danger to the Republic. Howard Dean is a true believer in the leftist cause. He attracts other true believers to Democrat activism. Combine that attraction with a commitment to elect state and local Democrat officials and you have a potential for Democrat victories in the next few years.
Many Republicans make a huge mistake in misjudging Howard Dean. When he was elected DNC chairman after last year’s elections, for example, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich rhetorically asked if the Democrats had a death wish. Perhaps, but it would seem that the wild-eyed Doctor Dean, who made us laugh with his “ye-ah” on caucus night last year in Iowa, is now in a position to build a farm team consisting of some very dangerous radicals.
Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has served as a speechwriter and policy advisor for federal, state and local candidates, elected officials and public policy organizations. His weekly columns can be read in newspapers across the country. Readers can e-mail him at dpatton@neonramp.com.
Demonrats, marxists, socialists, progressives, communists, etc.
Same sh!t, different name.
Very dangerous radicals ? Who ? And who will vote for them ?
I agree with this. I cannot rejoice in the radicalization of the Democratic Party with the likes of Dean and Michael Moore. I'd rather the opposition were that of Truman and JFK. At least they didn't hate America.
Perhaps he is also thinking of the immense amount of money that George Soros and one or two other super-wealthy socialists are pumping into this new maniacal DNC drive for support............however, as we just saw 6 months ago, Americans can't be bought! I don't care how slick their ad campaigns are. I believe - truly - that a big part of American voters are awakening to the glaring fact that the current Democrat leadership consists of robotic motor mouths, financed by marxist/socialist Soros-type money.
Let's remember that Soros has been a huge "confidante" of Hillary & Billery for years, and if she EVER got into our White House again, Soros would be the 3rd wheel to her wagon. I wonder who her 4th wheel would be?
Char
Sanders ran on a Socialist Party ticket rather than Democrat due to local peculiarities.
He is far from the most extreme socialist in congress.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Dean is God's gift to the GOP. Long may he reign!
"Dean is God's gift to the GOP. Long may he reign!"
Agreed. These nutters are alienating more voters every day. I do not fear a radical left gaining power because I view that possiblity growing more remote everyday. They are so filled with pathological hate it is driving them mad.
Everything they have tried has failed. They have lost..
The white house, congress, the senate, majority of governorships, majority of state legislators, the pool of electable prez canidates is drying up fast (southern governors), population growth is projected to rise faster in the red states then the blue cities.
Yet they keep doing the same things that dont work over and over again.
Isnt that the definition of insanity?
Dean is the the perfect man for the job.
When it comes to insanity, Dean IS the man!!!
they mask their agenda in a cloak of respectable moderation, and therein lies the danger to the Republic.
People see right through them just like you and me, you can spot a wolf in sheeps clothing a mile away.
IMO, I like the Left to be over-confident and to show their true colors at all times. The downside is the noise the Left makes tends to increase the number of RINO's who will in contrast appear as more Conservative and able to hide their spinelessness better.
The ignorant masses will vote for Democrats.
He is far from the most extreme socialist in Congress......
True. And the only one who admits it!
It may have started out a sheer opportunism, but the Communist tradition is deep in the Party.
Truman was a machine politician from the Midwest and JFK was a response to Eisenhower at a time when the Democrat Party was viewed as being in the process of turning Red. It was less a rational heart felt response from the Democrats than a shrewd understanding of the electorate by the media organization of Joe Kennedy in JFKs case. DO not forget that LBJ was his VP.
The Democrats embraced JKK because of media manipulation by Joe, treacly sentimentality and some judicious lubricating of palms by the Kennedy political machine. Had Truman not been in the White house at the time, Wallace would have surely got the nomination. The GOP has never really called them out on this and this is unfortunate. It appears that the only way to bring this to light is through politics as the intellectual domain is controlled almost exclusively by the Democrats.
"The ignorant masses will vote for Democrats."
There are less and less regular democrats left. Extreme liberals control the party. The Dean dream scream team is in power now. We must always big vigilant and keep up our best efforts, but they are helping us in ways I never dreamed.
"Demonrats, marxists, socialists, progressives, communists, etc."
Traitors and members of the Rebel Alliance. Fodder for zot by the Death Star.
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