Howard Dean: From the Ground Up

[Moses]

From YubaNet.com

Columns
Howard Dean: From The Ground Up

Author: Howard Dean
Published on Jan 24, 2005, 07:28


Over the past 30 years, Republicans have become the majority party in America by building a terrific grassroots organization. If we are to take our country back for ordinary working Americans, Democrats will have to match or exceed the Republicans’ ability to motivate voters.

Grassroots organization really has to be based on two-way communication. In our presidential campaign we started with no money, no base, but a great number of enthusiastic grassroots activists. We ceded decision making power to local folks and let them run things in their areas as they saw fit. This turns out to have been our single most important innovation, and it is the only one that wasn't copied by any of the other campaigns, either Democratic or Republican. Everything else, the small-donor programs, the house parties, the interactive Web sites and organizing was used by others. The reason that the most important piece wasn't copied is because it requires real a change in thinking by people who run for office and their consultants, not just adopting new techniques or technology.

Letting go of central control is what gives voters real power. When I used the phrase "you have the power" during the campaign, I meant that by working together, Americans could overcome the forces of the right wing and reassume their constitutional role in running the country. What I didn't understand was that "you have the power" was more than that. It didn't apply only to people's ability to change America, it also applied concretely to their ability to make everyday decisions about how they would cause that change.

In our campaign, Americans without any previous political experience made decisions about when to leaflet, what to say in the leaflet, where to leaflet and how to organize. They organized and ran hundreds of organizations such as African-Americans for Dean, Latinos for Dean, Punx for Dean, Irish Americans for Dean, etc., which sprang not from a central "outreach" desk in Burlington, but spontaneously all over the country, finding each other on the Web, and creating a national organization from local ones.

The idea of a decentralized campaign terrifies most politicians who have gotten used to putting out ideas and letting others respond. We discovered that the path to power, oddly enough, is to trust others with it.

The true mark of a modern campaign will be to listen to Americans and let them shape campaigns instead of simply allowing them to respond.

Our campaign was far from perfect, and we did not win. But our organization today is almost 600,000 strong that we know of, and there are more people in the organization today than there were on the day I dropped out of the presidential race. People still meet monthly in about 500 locations across America to talk about how to bring reform, and then they act on their plan locally.

I wish I could tell you that this was all because of my leadership and charisma; that is not so. The reform movement lives because it isn't mine. Our people know that they have the power in their own communities, linked across the country, to elect reform-minded people. They did exactly that on six months notice all across the country in places like Utah, Alabama, and Idaho, not just New York and Ohio.

If Democrats use this model, we will effectively leapfrog the Republicans, who despite their discipline and organization, are still a top-down, control and command organization.

Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, is the founder of Democracy for America, a grassroots organization that supports socially progressive and fiscally responsible political candidates. Email Howard Dean.

© Copyright 2005 by YubaNet.com
Send your letters to the editor to [e-mail]

[Moses]

 <br>  Dean wins endorsement of several blacks for Democratic Party chairmanship

By Will Lester
ASSOCIATED PRESS

1:28 p.m. January 25, 2005[/b]

WASHINGTON – Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor whose appeal with minorities was questioned during his presidential race, won support Tuesday from several black Democratic National Committee members for his bid to be DNC chairman.

Dean, one of seven candidates for the chair position, won the support of Yvonne Atkinson Gates, chair of the DNC's black caucus, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois and Minyon Moore, a longtime DNC member and former aide to President Clinton.

Dean stirred controversy during the presidential primary campaign by saying he wants "to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks." Dean later said he had done a poor job of making a legitimate point about the need to expand the party.

On Tuesday, Dean also announced the backing of Bob Farmer, former finance chair for John Kerry's presidential campaign, and Joe Cari, a former finance chair for the DNC. Dean also is getting the backing of former national party chairs David Wilhelm and Steve Grossman, who was a key supporter in his presidential race.

In another development, MoveOn.org, a liberal advocacy group, announced plans to get involved in the race for DNC chair. The involvement of the group, which mounted an active Internet and grassroots effort during the presidential campaign, initially would seem to help Dean – with the organization calling for election of a chair who will express "strong opposition to Republican extremism" – though it also could help build opposition from the moderate wing of the party.

Other candidates for the DNC post have been collecting endorsements from committee members and past party leaders, though no one else has been announcing support at the same pace as Dean. Former Texas Rep. Martin Frost on Tuesday announced the backing of more than a dozen DNC members, most of them from Texas.

Opponents say Dean can get to a third or half of the DNC votes needed to win, but will have trouble winning a clear majority of DNC members.

Other candidates to be chair are Frost, New Democrat Network founder Simon Rosenberg, former Indiana Congressman Tim Roemer, former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, Democratic strategist Donnie Fowler and former Ohio Democratic chair David Leland.

  <br>
On the Net:

Democratic National Committee: www.dnc.org


 <br> <br>
 <br>Find this article at:
www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20050125-1328-democrats-chair.html
 <br>
 <br> <br> <br>

[Moses]

Newsweek’s Howard Fineman is claiming that an “Anyone but Dean” movement is underway among inside-the-Beltway Democrats. As evidence, Fineman cites a recent Georgetown Party attended by top party insiders: “There was a ton of positive energy at the house,” a guest said later, “except for the fear and loathing of Dean.” Meanwhile, Dean’s “fiery appeals” seemed to dominate the Western Democratic Party convention on Saturday in Sacramento, where party loyalists came to see all seven candidates running for DNC chair, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The election will take place on February 12.

---

www.pej.org/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1630&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

[Moses]

The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com

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Playing 'whack-a-mole'
By Douglas MacKinnon
Published January 24, 2005

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     <br>    ....the media itself has been running from a potentially more damaging story to its reputation -- a story that clearly shows that, instead of covering the Democratic primaries last year, the media altered their very outcome, and in the process, made John Kerry the Democratic nominee.

    How? By systematically destroying the Dean campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire. How the press did in Mr. Dean is not the least bit complicated. Why and by what means is something it refuses to talk about.

    There was basically a three-pronged attack to the media destruction of the Deancampaign.First, thereweregeneric"Howard Dean is dropping and John Kerry is rising in the Iowa polls" stories. These became popular in December 2003, when Mr. Dean was up nearly 30 percent and Mr. Kerry was, by all accounts, "dead in the water." Each story then createdaself-fulfilling prophecy. Next, and most damaging, was the salvo fired by NBC News on Jan. 8, 2004, just 11 days before the Iowa Caucus. It was on that night that NBC aired the "unearthed" clips of Mr. Dean from a Canadian news show titled "The Editors." From 1996 until 2002, Mr. Dean had made some 90 appearances on a program that also aired regularly on PBS stations here in the United States.
    Just by coincidence, of course, NBC happened to show a clip of Mr. Dean criticizing the Iowa caucuses four years earlier. In part, Mr. Dean said, "If you look at the caucuses system, they are dominated by the special interests in both parties." Not shocking, but NBC knew full well that by airing that particular comment just days before the Iowa Caucus, they were going to affect the race. And affect it they did. To be expected, Mr. Kerry, Richard Gephardt and John Edwards all went after Mr. Dean hammer-and-tong for his "insult" to the good voters of Iowa. Next, the talking heads in the Iowa media played "whack-a-mole" with Mr. Dean. So much so that just a few days later, the 11-point lead Mr. Dean had enjoyed over Mr. Kerry had become a one-point Kerry lead.

    The third prong in the media onslaught against Mr. Dean was the most memorable, and, by far, the most destructive. It was the tape of Mr. Dean's understandably dazed "I have a scream" speech on Iowa caucus night. With the critical New Hampshire primary just one week away -- in a state that in late 2003, neighboring Sen. Kerry had been only polling in the single digits -- the national and local media decided to finish off Mr. Dean's campaign. They did so by playing Mr. Dean's "I have a scream" remarks more than 600 times during that one-week span in New Hampshire. Mr. Dean was done, and the voters of New Hampshire settled on the recently exhumed Mr. Kerry.

    Don't believe me? How about Diane Sawyer, CNN and FOX News? After the saturation of the "I have a scream" speech, Miss Sawyer reported that she called the heads of the other networks for on-the-record quotes responding to the question if the networks had overplayed the Dean gaffe. She then reported back, "With the exception of NBC (which started the destruction), they all said collectively the media did overplay it. CNN said 'If we had to do it again, we'd pull ourselves back.' And the chairman of Fox News? 'We overplayed it a bit and the public clearly thought so, too."

    The media, not the voters, chose the winner of the 2004 Democratic primaries. Not only was this action unprofessional and completely unethical, but it had a direct impact on the general election.

    Sadly, while the media is quick to go after others for mistakes, it erects a wall of "No Comment" when it comes to its ethical lapses. ....

    Hence my support of Mr. Dean for head of the DNC. Since the media stole his nomination, the least his party can do is throw him a bone and give him the chairmanship.Whoknows, maybe then at least he will make an issue out of this journalistic disgrace.
     <br>    Douglas MacKinnon served as press secretary to former Sen. Bob Dole. He is also a former White House and Pentagon official.
     <br>     <br>     <br>     <br>    <br>Copyright © 2005 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

[Moses]

www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2005/01/24/dean/print.html


Why Dean should take charge[/size]
With his passion and populist appeal, Howard Dean is exactly the leader the Democratic Party needs right now.

---

By Mark Hertsgaard



Jan. 24, 2005  |  Florida Democrats' decision to unanimously back Howard Dean as the new chairman of the DNC (Democratic National Committee) shows two things: first, there are still some Democrats out there -- including in the supposedly hopeless South -- who have brains and guts and aren't afraid to think for themselves; and second, Dean now has a real shot at winning the DNC job and launching a much-needed makeover of the Democratic Party.

Political and media elites in Washington are at once horrified and dismissive of Dean's quest. They insist that Democrats would be crazy to pick a raving liberal like Dean as their next party chairman. But as is so often the case, this inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom is based on dubious "facts" and assumptions about how ordinary Americans relate to politics. Dean is exactly the leader Democrats need to become relevant again.

The Florida Democratic chairman's statement to the New York Times reveals just how out of touch the Washington establishment is: "I'm a gun-owning pickup-truck driver and I have a bulldog named Lockjaw," said Scott Maddox. "I am a Southern chairman of a Southern state, and I am perfectly comfortable with Howard Dean as DNC chair."

And the reason Florida Democrats like Dean?

"What our party needs right now is energy, enthusiasm and a willingness to do things differently," Maddox added. "I think Howard Dean brings all three of those things to the party."

Maddox isn't the only prominent Southern Democrat backing Dean. On Tuesday, the state chairman from Mississippi and the vice chairmen from Oklahoma and Utah announced that they too were endorsing the former Vermont governor, leading ABC News' influential The Note to declare that Dean "is now emphatically the front-runner" for the DNC job.

A year ago, Dean was jeered off the national stage by television's nonstop coverage of his "scream" speech. And it must be admitted that he showed some undeniable weaknesses as a presidential candidate in 2004, including a tendency to speak first and think later. But Dean is running for party chairman now, not president. The chairman's job is to rally and organize the party faithful to do the unglamorous but vital grass-roots work that will expand the Democratic base, reach out to new and uncommitted voters, and win future elections. As Maddox said, Dean fits that job description perfectly. He inspires grass-roots enthusiasm and his time as governor of Vermont grants him the necessary executive and administrative skills.

What's more, in the wake of the Democrats' loss to President Bush in November, Dean's political message, and especially the way he delivers it, looks better and better.

Dean, after all, was right about the central issue of the 2004 election -- the Iraq war. Nowadays, a majority of the American public believes that attacking Iraq was a bad idea. Dean was saying this -- and being criticized for it -- in the fall of 2003.

Dean was also right when he said Democrats should be the party not only of urban liberals but of "guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks," another comment he was derided for. But in view of how many centrist voters chose President Bush over John Kerry, even though Kerry's economic policies would have benefited them more, Dean's call to reach out to culturally conservative voters was prescient.

Above all, Dean was right that Democrats would win only if they told voters exactly what they stood for and why. Kerry never did that, especially on Iraq, where his reluctance to call the war (and not just its prosecution) a mistake let the president off the hook on his most vulnerable issue.

By contrast, Bush never shrank from saying what he believed. Like Dean, he understood a basic fact of American politics: voters value plain-spokenness in a politician much more than agreement on specific issues. Bush was even clever enough to steal one of Dean's signature lines: "You may not always agree with me, but you'll always know where I stand."

All of the news stories reporting Dean's decision to seek the DNC chairmanship repeated the standard rap against him: He's too liberal. But that charge doesn't reflect reality so much as it reflects the Washington establishment's version of reality. Dean was labeled a liberal by the media essentially because he opposed the Iraq war. Never mind that he was also a deficit hawk who opposed gun control, gay marriage and universal healthcare, or that many conservatives later embraced his criticism of the war. In the post-Sept. 11 mood of false patriotism, the media assumed that anyone who criticized an apparently successful war had to be a liberal, and that was that.

This mischaracterization has led observers to miss the real source of Dean's appeal to a jaded electorate: He knows what he believes and he's not afraid to say it plainly enough for ordinary people to understand. His vision for Democrats is not about moving the party to the left; it's about Democrats standing for something that resonates with ordinary Americans -- a task that current party leaders have manifestly failed to achieve.

Dean believes the Democratic Party's allegiance to big donors and cautious incrementalism has alienated many of its logical voters. Alone among prominent Democrats, he recognizes that the party has little future if it cannot connect in an authentic way with the extraordinary grass-roots energy that propelled his own presidential campaign (and that later nearly got Kerry elected, despite the Kerry campaign's many shortcomings).

In 2004, Dean rewrote the rules of presidential campaigns by using the Internet and local "meet-ups" to raise small donor money. But Dean's real secret was to give supporters real influence within his campaign and thus hook them on continued political participation. The idea of meet-ups, for example, came from the grass roots, not from campaign headquarters.

The Bush campaign tapped into similar grass-roots energy among conservatives and thereby expanded Republican turnout enough to gain the president a second term. Democrats must do more of the same in the years to come, and Dean is the leader who best understands that imperative. Dean, after all, is a populist. And his populism is not the brand espoused by President Bush -- a millionaire who shills for billionaires while talking like the common man. Dean's is the real thing. Which is why Republicans privately fear him.

Another part of the media consensus on Dean is that he only wants the DNC job to grease his run for president in 2008. For his part, Dean has declared he won't run if he gets the DNC job. Of course, he could change his mind. But it's worth remembering that presidential candidate Dean always said that Democrats must first reform their party and its approach to politics if they want to win the White House.

Dean is now traveling around the country telling his supporters that remaking the Democratic Party is a long-term project that could take 20 years. His first hurdle comes on Feb. 12, when 447 largely unknown party officials from around the country will vote for the next DNC chairman. The Florida and other Southern Democrats' decision to back him will, of course, be enormously helpful to Dean's prospects, but it also figures to call forth still more "anyone but Dean" efforts from the party establishment.

Everyone agrees the Democrats have to remake themselves; they just lost to perhaps the most vulnerable incumbent in history. The DNC vote will give the first hint of how they plan to proceed. At a time when America has never needed an effective opposition party more, let us pray Democrats can rise to the challenge.

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About the writer
Mark Hertsgaard is the author, most recently, of "The Eagle's Shadow: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World," and "Earth Odyssey: Around the World in Search of Our Environmental Future."

[Moses]

Democracy for America to continue:

Since we launched our campaign for Chair of the Democratic National Committee many of you have asked about the future of Democracy for America -- what will happen if we win? Will DFA still exist? What will happen to everything we have built together?

My answer is simple: DFA will continue to fight for fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates everywhere. And it will continue to be a place where ordinary people can be part of our political process and fight for real change.


....Democracy for America has accomplished more and grown faster than I ever imagined. You raised millions of dollars for good candidates, helped shape the national debate, and started hundreds of strong grassroots groups all over the country.

Most importantly, you have created a new model for political action. You have shown that ordinary people organizing locally have the power to make a real impact nationally. People have noticed -- now other organizations look to the success of our model as a blueprint for building a lasting Democratic majority.

But the work has just begun. DFA must continue to lead and be the example, and it can't happen without your support:

www.democracyforamerica.com/contribute

My personal involvement will be limited if I am elected Chair of the Party on Saturday. But you have built a movement bigger than anyone imagined -- and DFA will remain a force for change for many, many years to come.

DFA's long-term future is deeply important to me. From the start we have been building something that will last beyond the next election, that will take root in the local community and cultivate new leaders.



....During the campaign for Chair, supporters like you have been at every listening session, every candidate forum, and every rally. You had a huge impact on the race -- the outpouring of support showed that the desire for reform in our party is real.

But more broadly, what you have accomplished with DFA has shown that our vision is real. You have shown the potential of a bottom-up organization made up of active citizens standing up for what we believe.

If I am elected Chair on Saturday, it will be because of what you have done. My job has been to support and empower. You are the one who has the power to change this country.

And you have.

Thank you for everything you have done, and for everything we will continue to do together.

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

[Moses]

Columns
Howard Dean: Middle Class Hurt by Bush’s Values
Author: Howard Dean
Published on Feb 7, 2005, 06:46


Ever since the purveyors of conventional wisdom pronounced that the last election was about moral values, the beltway pundits have been endlessly engaged in trying to divine What It All Means. After all, President Bush presented himself as the embodiment of compassion and American values, and has told us that the election was his accountability moment – proof positive that the American people support his policy priorities.

The simple truth is, however, that it did not take an election to convince us that the American people are a deeply moral people. When we see children pool their pennies to help tsunami victims, or a community unite to pay for a neighbor’s transplant operation – that is all the evidence of compassion we need.

With the State of the Union address and the annual budget submission, President Bush will have his opportunity to unveil the most tangible statements of his priorities and values. These two documents are a distillation of hundreds of choices made and priorities ordered. It will be interesting to see what he chooses.

Because in the course of making thousands of decisions that impact the real lives of Americans, one decision that the president made has impacted virtually all others, and that was the decision to completely change the structure of our economy by dramatically shifting the tax burden from corporate interests and wealthiest individuals squarely onto the middle class. That decision has put our nation in a financial straightjacket for generations to come.

And now the president suggests that the deficits created by his policies must be reduced by cutting the domestic budget, while his tax policies remain off limits. But make no mistake – it is the middle class that will feel the impact of George Bush’s economic restructuring the most. While corporations have historically been responsible for over 20 percent of the tax burden, today they are paying just over 7 percent. Combined with tax breaks for the wealthy, we are left with an economy in which the middle class is shouldering a staggering load of the burden.

Ironically, rather than funding the services most of us rely on, taxes paid by the middle class are going directly into the pockets of the wealthy in the form of tax breaks. And most working families have much more to contend with than taxes. Many employers can no longer provide health insurance; our parents can no longer depend on nutritious meals delivered to their homes; Head Start cannot accommodate enough deserving children; and students know that the president’s much-touted $100 increase per year in Pell Grants will not put college within their reach.

The president has made his choices, and no matter how drastic the change in circumstance – be it war or recession or his proclaimed “crisis” in Social Security – he refuses to revisit those decisions. Yet – as need permeates the middle class and not just the destitute – it is hard to believe that the American people favor more corporate handouts and endless tax cuts. And whether they live in red states or blue states, whether they worship in churches or temples or not at all, Americans do not want to see their neighbors bankrupted by emergency medical care or watch military families barely scrape by on meager salaries augmented by food stamps. Fairness, after all, is a cornerstone American value.

So over the coming days, all Americans should be watching what the president does, not just what he says. Will we have more of the same – eloquent words masking a distorted economic system – or will the president at long last put his money where his mouth is? The stakes couldn’t be higher.

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Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, is the founder of Democracy for America, a grassroots organization that supports socially progressive and fiscally responsible political candidates. Email Howard Dean.

© Copyright 2005 by YubaNet.com
Send your letters to the editor to [e-mail]

[Moses]

Sunday, 13 February 2005
Dean's DNC Acceptance Speech

Remarks by Governor Howard Dean Accepting the Chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee

I. INTRODUCTION/ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

If you told me one year ago that I'd be standing here today, as your choice for Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, I wouldn't have believed you. And neither would have a lot of other people.

But let me say that standing here with the opportunity to lead this Party, is a great honor.

I am thankful.

I am humbled.

And I'm ready to get to work.

This was the first race for DNC chairman truly driven by the grassroots of this Party. And so, I want you to know this is not my chairmanship, this is our chairmanship.

You have given me an enormous responsibility. But it is a responsibility we share.

We can change this Party… but only by working together and competing in all 50 states. We can change this Party… but only by working together and becoming a national party again. We can change this Party… but only by working together at thelocal level.

If we want to win nationally, we have to win locally.

With your help, I am certain that today will not mark the end of the process of selecting a DNC chair. Today will be the beginning of the reemergence of the Democratic Party.

We have a lot of work to do.

But we have a bright future… exemplified by the other candidates who joined me in this race. They are all great Democrats.

I want to thank Terry McAuliffe. He has given this party so much. Not to mention every waking day of the past four years as our Chairman.

He has also given us something else — a Party in strong financial shape, with the infrastructure to meet the challenges of the future. That is no small gift. Thank you, Terry McAuliffe.

I also want to thank my family. I wouldn't be here without their support, or their belief in a more fair and just America.

I especially want to thank my wife, Judy, for her patience and her love. She's here with me today.

We all know that we're the party of the big tent and new ideas.

We know that we're the party for young Americans looking for a government that speaks to them… we know that we're the party for working Americans desperate for a government that looks out for them… and we know that we're the party for older Americans and veterans and members of the Armed Services expecting and deserving a government that honors them.

And we know that no matter where you live or who you are, what you look like or how you worship, ours is the diverse party that welcomes you.

But right now, as important as all of that is… it is not enough. We have to move forward. We cannot win if all we are is against the current President.

Republicans wandered around in the political wilderness for 40 years before they took back Congress. But the reason we lost control is that we forgot why we were entrusted with control to begin with.

The American people can't afford to wait for 40 years for us to put Washington back to work for them.

It can't take us that long.

And it won't take us that long… not if we stand up for what we believe in… organize at the local level… and recognize that this Party's strength doesn't come from the consultants down, it comes from grassroots up.

II. STANDING UP FOR WHAT WE BELIEVE IN

The first thing we have to do is stand up for what we believe in.

This week, the Republicans introduced a $2.5 trillion budget that deliberately conceals the cost of their fiscal recklessness.

Their budget doesn't account for the cost of the war in Iraq, or privatizing Social Security. It cuts education, children's health, veterans benefits, and community policing.

As far as I'm concerned, this budget does only two things:

It brings Enron-style accounting to our nation's capital.

And it demonstrates what Americans are beginning to see: Republicans cannot be trusted with your money.

The Republicans know the America they want… and they are not afraid to use any means to get there.

But there is something that this Administration and the Republican Party are very afraid of. It is that we may actually begin fighting for what we believe &8212; the fiscally responsible, socially progressive values for which Democrats have always stood and fought.

Because we are what we believe.

We Democrats believe in fiscal responsibility and we're the only ones who have delivered it.

The first time our nation balanced its budget, it was Andrew Jackson, father of the Democratic Party, who did it. The last time our nation balanced its budget, it was Bill Clinton who did it. Democratic governors do it every single year.

Not one Republican President has balanced the budget in almost 40 years. Borrow and spend. Borrow and spend. Borrow and spend. Americans cannot trust the Republicans with their money.

Americans want a strong and smart national security.

It was Democrats who pushed to create a Department of Homeland Security. It was Democrats who pushed to make our airlinessafer. It is Democrats who are now working to make sure we close the remaining gaps in our security. It was Democrats who demanded reform of the intelligence community.

And it is Democrats who are pushing for a foreign policy that honestly deals with the threats of today, and the threats of tomorrow — like securing the nuclear materials around the world.

Republicans had to be dragged kicking and screaming to our side on all of these issues. There is no reason for Democrats to be defensive on national defense.

We believe that a good job is the foundation of a strong family, a strong community, and a strong country. We're going towork to create good high-paying jobs here in America, and we're going to keep good high paying jobs here in America.

And there is no reason for us to apologize for being willing to stand up for our belief that Americans who get up and go to work everyday have the right to join a union.

We believe every American should have access to affordable health care. It is wrong that we remain the only industrialized nation in the world that does not assure health care for all of its citizens, particularly our children

We believe the path to a better future goes directly through our public schools.

We believe that every single American has a voice and that it should be heard in the halls of power every day. And most importantly, it ought to be heard by guaranteeing an open and fair vote on Election Day.

And finally, we believe that a lifetime of work earns you a retirement of dignity. We won't let that be put at risk by leaders who continually invent false crises to justify policies that don't work… in this case, borrowing from our children and shredding our country's social safety net in the process.

The President's plan for Social Security does nothing to guarantee Social Security's future. But it will cut benefits andcost an estimated 2 trillion dollars. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, we will have to borrow 4.5 trillion dollars to finance the privatization of Social Security in the first 20 years alone.

Let me give you a sense of how much money that is. There are 118 million people under the age of 30 in America today. That means borrowing nearly $45,000 in each of their names.

That's a legacy of debt our children don't deserve.

Social Security is one of the proudest achievements of the Democratic Party, and we don't intend to let it fall victim toa dishonest scheme that only serves to heap greater debt on America's young people.

We need to set the agenda. And we're going to work with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and our Democratic governors and local elected officials to do just that.

I met with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid this past week, and we are looking forward to standing together in the battles ahead.

We're all going to need to be united. And we're going to need to be organized.

Really organized.

[Moses]

III. ORGANIZE

That means we frame the issues; Republicans will not tell America what our agenda is. We will do that.

Organizing means raising money not only from big donors but small contributors, not only through dinners and telephone solicitations and direct mail, but also through the Internet and person-to-person outreach.

Organizing means transforming us into a Party that can communicate with its supporters and with all Americans.

Politics is at its best when we create and inspire a sense of community. The tools that were in part pioneered in my campaign &8212; like blogs and Meetups and most importantly, community building &8212; are just a start.

We are going to use all of the power and potential of technology as part of an aggressive outreach to meet and include voters, to work with your state parties, and to get our message out.

We cannot run 18 state presidential campaigns and expect to win.

You all know we have a strategy for every state and territory. It's very simple. Show up.

People will vote for Democratic candidates in Texas, and Utah, and West Virginia if we knock on their door, introduce ourselves and tell them what we believe. That's what organization allows us to do.

IV. GRASSROOTS

But all of the ideas and organization in the world won't matter if people don't see our ideas as relevant to them, or thepolitical process as connected to them.

So, third, we are going to recognize that our strength lies at the grassroots.

If we are to take our country back for everyday working Americans, Democrats will have to match or exceed the Republicansability to motivate voters.

You might find this hard to believe… but I'm not much of a zen person. But I've found that the path to power, oddly enough, is to trust others with it. That means putting the power where the voters are.

That is something Republicans will never understand.

But we do.

V. CONCLUSION

Standing up for our beliefs… organizing… and transforming our party into a grassroots organization that can win in all 50 states: That's how we will rebuild the Democratic Party.

We will rebuild our Party because only we are the party of reform. Republicans can stop progress, but only Democrats can start it again.

And we will rebuild our Party because our greatest strength is something the Republicans can and will never match — the diversity represented in this room.

Look around — we look like America. We are America. Republicans stop progress, but only Democrats start it.

It's going to take a lot of work. And I'm going to be asking a lot of all of you. It is not my chairmanship; it is ours.

Election by election… State by state… Precinct by precinct… Door by door… Vote by vote…<br>
We're going to take this country back for the people who built it.

[Moses]

Dean: New York GOP chairman must apologize or resign

www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--minarik-democrats0216feb16,0,1932877.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork


By MARC HUMBERT
AP Political Writer

February 16, 2005, 4:35 PM EST

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Howard Dean, just four days into his job as Democratic National chairman, called Wednesday for New York's state Republican chairman to apologize or resign over remarks linking Democrats to a civil rights lawyer convicted of aiding terrorists.

Calling Stephen Minarik's comments "offensive," the former Vermont governor said, "The American people deserve better than this type of political character assassination."

Far from apologizing, Minarik issued a statement deriding the national chairman's comments as "the latest `Dean Scream."'

"We are confident Howard Dean will continue Terry McAuliffe's rich tradition of raising money, losing races, and staying out of touch with mainstream Americans," Minarik said. "It is not the Republican Party's problem that these far-left activists have made their home in the Democratic party."

Dean's infamous "scream" came after he lost the Iowa caucuses last year, a stumble he never recovered from in losing his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Dean's call for an apology or resignation came one day after Republican Gov. George Pataki had scolded Minarik for the remarks.

Minarik touched off a firestorm on Monday by saying that in electing Dean as national party chairman on Saturday "the Democrats simply have refused to learn the lessons of the past two election cycles, and now they can be accurately called the party of Barbara Boxer, Lynne Stewart and Howard Dean."

Stewart is a New York City lawyer convicted last week of helping terrorists by smuggling messages from one of her imprisoned clients, a radical Egyptian sheik, to his terrorist disciples on the outside. Boxer is a liberal senator from California.

"The Democratic Party doesn't have anything to do with Lynne Stewart," Pataki said Tuesday. "Obviously, she was found guilty of a heinous criminal act and that is not something within the realm of appropriate political discourse in New York state."

"I'm pleased that Governor Pataki publicly rebuked Mr. Minarik for his offensive comments," Dean said in a statement issued by the Democratic National Committee. "I agree with Governor Pataki and my fellow New York Democrats that Mr. Minarik was completely out of line."

"But this is not settled. Mr. Minarik has shown neither regret nor remorse for what he said," Dean added, calling on other New York and national Republican leaders to "follow Governor Pataki's lead and rebuke Minarik."

Minarik's comments drew a sharp response from state Democrats.

"Don't accuse the 5.5 million Democrats in this state of treason if you hope to win our votes," said Howard Wolfson, a Democratic consultant and top adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. "And, if you make that mistake again, you best be prepared to make it to my face, because we love this country much too much to allow you to ever question our patriotism."

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Chairman Minarik is also a partner in a political consulting firm, Impact Communications, LLC, and has the quintessential Republican big fat tub o' lard look.

[stonefruit]

I'm sorry but tell this fvcking corporate imperialist cvnt to go fvck off. DLC vichy democrat in "liberal" clothing.