Bob Tyrrell stands by his view that Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean "is not a nut" but merely plays one on TV:
He is a skilled politician talking to his party's activists, and this "raw meat" is just what his activists want. . . . The activists are by nature excitable and actually in need of excitement. Dr. Dean understands them. . . .
The paranoiacs in the Democratic Party are those who talk of a "vast right-wing conspiracy," to a general audience of American television watchers. They are the Democratic leaders who accuse journalists of playing "into the service of the right wing," as Democratic minority leader Richard Durbin recently did when he chastised the press for reporting Dr. Dean's outbursts. Mr. Durbin went on, "I think we understand what's happening with you all [the journalists]. The right wing has got the agenda moving. . . . You've bought into it. You can't let up on it. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves."
Now that is another example of what in American history is called the paranoid style. It seems to afflict many leaders of the Democratic Party, first the Clintons, now Mr. Durbin. By comparison with them, Dr. Dean is a perfectly sensible chairman of his party.
Tyrrell may be on to something. Check out this DemocraticUnderground.com post from someone using the handle DemocracyInaction (quoting verbatim):
I've been a Dem since the 1960's and it wasn't until like four years ago that I started to get these "dark" thoughts. For some reason it was the attack lately on Dean (who wasn't my candidate in '04)that brought it all back to me.
I believe that there is a large group of our politicians who want us to remain in the minority and who do not want to see us again in the White House. I believe the Republican majority and presidency provides them "cover". I think they no more give a rat's ass about "the people" than the repukes do and want the nation's wealth and power to be handed wholesale over to the wealthy and the corporations. Thus, if they were in the majority they would have to vote for legislation that takes care of these entities that own them and by doing so, reveal to their constituents exactly who they are. This way they can let things become law with little or no fight, play "I love you" to the hometown crowd to get re-elected, keep the lid on things so that the repukes are protected from the people becoming really angry and throwing repukes out, and now and then cast a deciding vote with the repukes if it becomes necessary.
I'm now beginning to believe that rather than a few rotten apples, we are talking the organizational force behind it all. I think that is why this "group" wants and needs to get Dean out. They do not want a strong Dem party. They want a lucrative job lining their own pockets---at our expense.
Am I getting too paranoid?? It seems every time I turn around I'm seeing this kind of behavior from a group of Dems. Every time our "boat starts to float", they try to discreetly punch a hole in the bottom.
But wait a minute. Suppose the Republicans and Democrats really were conspiring to keep the "repukes" in power and the Dems in the minority. What kind of DNC chairman would they want? Well, how about someone given to shooting off his mouth and drumming up the base while insulting vast numbers of voters? Isn't it clear that Howard Dean is in on the conspiracy? DemocracyInaction isn't paranoid enough. |
