Oh, Howard...
For the past week, the Democratic National Committee has been considering former presidential race train-wreck Howard Dean as a possible replacement for their chairman Terry McAuliffe.
I personally see this as an absolute disaster waiting to happen for the DNC.
Is it because he's even further to the left than McAuliffe, meaning he would polarize left and right even worse than they already are today?
Is it because Dean only appeals to the members of the liberal base on the East Coast, meaning he would make the Democrats even less of a national party than they already are?
Or is it because he can make sounds that human beings simply weren't meant to make, meaning that, well, he's a bit scary?
Yes, yes, and yes. But that isn't the real reason I have always hated Howard Dean. Read on.
When campaigning for the Iowa caucus, Dean gave a speech on November 1, 2003 that would live in infamy. The exact words that I will never forget are "I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks. We can't beat George Bush unless we appeal to a broad cross-section of Democrats."
And, with that, here goes... my nine reasons that this quote made me hate Howard Dean.
1) There's a word for a candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks. It's a REPUBLICAN. The Democrats are the socially liberal party; they do everything they can to advance civil rights, not revert America to the days of slavery.
2) It's not that Dean is moving to the right by saying this. In reality, he's just making an empty political statement and not providing any justification for why Southerners would like him.
3) We are currently living in an era of, to quote John Edwards, one of the great political minds of our time, "two Americas." The politicians who actually care about reunifying our society are hard at work, and Howard Dean is discussing a symbol of the most divisive period in our nation's history.
4) Not only does the Confederate flag symbolize division, it also symbolizes TREASON. The South, when it rebelled against the rest of the United States, was fighting to defeat the freedom that Americans stand for. The Civil War was a disgrace to America, and Dean is openly approving of it.
5) Dean was only making this comment to steal the Southern vote from the aforementioned great political mind of our time, and since Edwards is one of my heroes, I am forced to hate Dean for this.
6) When asked to justify his words, Dean said, and I quote... "White folks in the South who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back ought to be voting with us, and not [Republicans], because their kids don't have health insurance either." What a brilliant idea! Dean's idea of pandering to a demographic is being horribly condescending, and assuming his target to be poor white trash.
7) It's painfully obvious that Confederate sympathizers in the South would never support Howard Dean. He supports gay rights and opposes a ban on abortion.
8) Did you catch the word "still" near the beginning of that priceless gem of a quote? That's right, it wasn't the first time Dean made the remark. There were reports in February of 2003 saying that Dean had expressed a similar sentiment at none other than... a DNC meeting. How dense can you be if you don't learn your lesson the FIRST time you make a remark this offensive?
9) I forget what my ninth reason was... I'll just leave you with the fact that Howard Dean is a Yankee fan and I hate him for that too.
I'm sure there are many other reasons that Howard Dean should never have a hand in American politics ever again, but those are the most important to me. Feel free to chime in with a few more!
I personally see this as an absolute disaster waiting to happen for the DNC.
Is it because he's even further to the left than McAuliffe, meaning he would polarize left and right even worse than they already are today?
Is it because Dean only appeals to the members of the liberal base on the East Coast, meaning he would make the Democrats even less of a national party than they already are?
Or is it because he can make sounds that human beings simply weren't meant to make, meaning that, well, he's a bit scary?
Yes, yes, and yes. But that isn't the real reason I have always hated Howard Dean. Read on.
When campaigning for the Iowa caucus, Dean gave a speech on November 1, 2003 that would live in infamy. The exact words that I will never forget are "I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks. We can't beat George Bush unless we appeal to a broad cross-section of Democrats."
And, with that, here goes... my nine reasons that this quote made me hate Howard Dean.
1) There's a word for a candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks. It's a REPUBLICAN. The Democrats are the socially liberal party; they do everything they can to advance civil rights, not revert America to the days of slavery.
2) It's not that Dean is moving to the right by saying this. In reality, he's just making an empty political statement and not providing any justification for why Southerners would like him.
3) We are currently living in an era of, to quote John Edwards, one of the great political minds of our time, "two Americas." The politicians who actually care about reunifying our society are hard at work, and Howard Dean is discussing a symbol of the most divisive period in our nation's history.
4) Not only does the Confederate flag symbolize division, it also symbolizes TREASON. The South, when it rebelled against the rest of the United States, was fighting to defeat the freedom that Americans stand for. The Civil War was a disgrace to America, and Dean is openly approving of it.
5) Dean was only making this comment to steal the Southern vote from the aforementioned great political mind of our time, and since Edwards is one of my heroes, I am forced to hate Dean for this.
6) When asked to justify his words, Dean said, and I quote... "White folks in the South who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back ought to be voting with us, and not [Republicans], because their kids don't have health insurance either." What a brilliant idea! Dean's idea of pandering to a demographic is being horribly condescending, and assuming his target to be poor white trash.
7) It's painfully obvious that Confederate sympathizers in the South would never support Howard Dean. He supports gay rights and opposes a ban on abortion.
8) Did you catch the word "still" near the beginning of that priceless gem of a quote? That's right, it wasn't the first time Dean made the remark. There were reports in February of 2003 saying that Dean had expressed a similar sentiment at none other than... a DNC meeting. How dense can you be if you don't learn your lesson the FIRST time you make a remark this offensive?
9) I forget what my ninth reason was... I'll just leave you with the fact that Howard Dean is a Yankee fan and I hate him for that too.
I'm sure there are many other reasons that Howard Dean should never have a hand in American politics ever again, but those are the most important to me. Feel free to chime in with a few more!
posted by eclinchy at 7:49 PM
2 Comments:
I'm not bashing all Southerners. I'm simply saying that the ones who have the Confederate flag in their pickup trucks are supporting the Civil War... that's what the flag symbolizes.
I'm not blaming the actual troops who fought the war, or their families.
The only man alive who's dumb enough to treat a war THAT way is that guy who was mayor of New York before Bloomberg... what's his name again, Starkie?
I fail to see your point. Are you saying that if the British had won, it would be okay for their politicians to support Thomas Jefferson and Richard Henry Lee for rebelling against them?
It's all a matter of perspective. If Dean were running for the presidency of the Confederacy, of course his comments would make sense. But as it is, he was condoning the support of treason.
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