Wednesday, June 08, 2005
. . .and giving and giving and giving . . .
Howard Dean, bless his heart, just does not know when to shut up.
What's wonderful about Dean is that he's failed to do the one thing that he was essentially hired to do: energize the Democratic base. The RNC has doubled the DNC in the amount of receipts it has taken in thus far in the election cycle. In April alone the RNC almost raised as much money as the DNC had all year.
So the guy is out there alienating moderate voters AND has shriveled the donor base of his party. He may have been a crapweasel, but at least Terry McAuliiffe was an outstanding fundraiser. After the passage of BCRA (McCain-Feingold), it was widely assumed that the Democratic party would be at a tremendous disadvantage because it relied far more heavily on large donors - yes, the party of the average man was much more dependent on rich fatcats while the supposed party of the rich was far more able to entice contributions from middle-class donors. And yet McAuliffe's DNC pretty much attained parity with the RNC by the end of the 2004 election cycle. But that has been wiped out in the short-tenure of Howard Dean.
So the question stands: what exactly does Chairman Dean do for the Democratic party other than provide the GOP with an excellent target?
Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, unapologetic in the face of recent criticism that he has been too tough on his political opposition, said in San Francisco this week that Republicans are "a pretty monolithic party. They all behave the same. They all look the same. It's pretty much a white Christian party."At this point I just pray the Democratic party continus to fail to come to its senses.
"The Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people," Dean said Monday, responding to a question about diversity during a forum with minority leaders and journalists. "We're more welcoming to different folks, because that's the type of people we are. But that's not enough. We do have deliver on things: jobs and housing and business opportunities."
What's wonderful about Dean is that he's failed to do the one thing that he was essentially hired to do: energize the Democratic base. The RNC has doubled the DNC in the amount of receipts it has taken in thus far in the election cycle. In April alone the RNC almost raised as much money as the DNC had all year.
So the guy is out there alienating moderate voters AND has shriveled the donor base of his party. He may have been a crapweasel, but at least Terry McAuliiffe was an outstanding fundraiser. After the passage of BCRA (McCain-Feingold), it was widely assumed that the Democratic party would be at a tremendous disadvantage because it relied far more heavily on large donors - yes, the party of the average man was much more dependent on rich fatcats while the supposed party of the rich was far more able to entice contributions from middle-class donors. And yet McAuliffe's DNC pretty much attained parity with the RNC by the end of the 2004 election cycle. But that has been wiped out in the short-tenure of Howard Dean.
So the question stands: what exactly does Chairman Dean do for the Democratic party other than provide the GOP with an excellent target?
# posted by Paul Zummo : 8:57 AM
