No one wins elections on anger alone. I saw a Dean statement that he made to an AP reporter in 1995. The 1994 election saw the loss of the house and senate seats to the Republicans. The democrats also lost governorships as well as state legislatures in 1994. The Democratic governors were angry with Clinton so Bill called a meeting with the Democrat governors to have them advise him on what to do. Dean was a Democratic Governor in attendance.
After that closed meeting Dean was approched by an AP reporter who asked what transpired. Dean replied, "Well no one urged him (Clinton) to move to the left."
Note what Dean said. It shows skill. Dean did not say they urged Clinton to move to the right although that is the clear inference. If he hads said that the reporter would have asked who urged Clinton to tac to the right. If Dean had then refused to name names the reporters story would have said Dean refused to say who urged Clinton to the right. The reporter could have used what Dean said as a lever on the other governors to gain more information. Instead Dean phrased it as a negative. That did not leave the reporter anywhere to go. That shows some skill.
I think that Dean may be pragmatic. He needs the nomination. He may also think he can move to the right if he wins it. But you can bet that in the 2004 debates a candidate Dean would get his own words thrown back at him. With all he has said, video of Dean saying x followed by video of Dean saying y would be enough to defeat him.
I think at this point, Dean is saying I must do what I must do to get the nomination. Once I get it, I will worry about defeating Bush.
I don't think Dean really believes he can win. But no one thought Clinton could win... but he did. So Dean is gambling hoping for Clinton's luck.
I still think that Gephardt will get the nomination. He has the backing of 11 major unions. And the word is he has most of the 20 percent of the appointed delegates to the convention sewen up. If that is the case, Gephardt needs to only win 30 percent more of the delegates. The other candidates will have to win 50 percent. What I hear is that Gephardt is 40 percent of the way to the Delegate goal, before a single primary is held.
Thanks for the response. Dean is saying what he has to say to get the nomination, and does intend to move right in a General. That's classic Nixon. Unfortunately for Dean, as you suggest, that's where Karl Rove's AudioVisual crew will get him.
In my lifetime, the two guys who didn't try to do that were Goldwater and McGovern. Look what happened to them.
It's not that Dean is not malleable; he is. But he's trying to get the base vote over to him by making them angrier than they need to be. This will hurt him in the long run.
BTW, I didn't know Gephardt had that many delegates locked up. Bob Dole redux?
Oh, btw, would you mind if I linked your "Weekly Commentary" page to my blog. Your stuff is absolutely superb.
Be Seeing You,
Chris