Go Dean!

Howard Dean has announced that he's officially running for the DNC Chair. Go Dean! I think he would be a great choice. The Democratic Party really needs to get back in touch with their party base, reconnect from the grassroots and energize the scores of young people who turned out this election. Howard Dean is just the boost the Democratic Party needs.

Although he did not become the nominee, his campaign really inspired and motiviated a lot of people. And I think he gave the Democrats the backbone they were sorely missing during the first couple of years of Bush's first term. The republican party ran roughshod over the Democrats, who were too timid to really come out and blast the president for the way he's handled the war on terror, bulldozed over the UN and the Congress to go to war with Iraq and threatened the stability of medicaid and other social programs.

I understand that we Democrats hold a minority of seats in the House and Senate, but that does not mean we have to support an agenda that we don't believe is in the best interested of the country. Dean was one of the first to come out and say that the Democrats' placid grumbling and timid acquienscence had to stop. At a time when it wasn't popular, he spoke out against the war in Iraq and about Bush's agenda. He spoke out against the bully tactics coming from right wing to silence any who disagreed with them. Every time he spoke out, Democrats everywhere silently said, "'bout fucking time!" He energized the liberal base of the party and brought many of the progressives who voted for Nader back into the fold. And I don't think there's a Democrat in the country who doesn't know what damage can be done to our party (and country) when the progressives jump ship. Not to mention, Dean brought it scores of young people who flocked to his campaign in droves.

We need someone bold with sharp new ideas who has the abiltiy to get young people involved and keep them involved, to energize the party and reach out and cause a grassroots revolution from within. And I think Howard Dean is the person for the job.

Go Dean!

Democrats fighting back

Now this is what I like to see...

"Sen. Tom Harkin (Iowa), one of the most combative Democrats in Congress, accused Bush of "throwing down the gauntlet" since winning reelection. "Usually when you win you try to be magnanimous," he said. "But everything we've heard from the president is, 'I've got a mandate,' 'I've got all this political capital,' and 'We'll work with you as long as you agree with us.' Well, wait a minute, you mean we have to agree to everything before they'll work with us. That's a non-starter."

Its about freaking time the congressional democrats caught on to this! Sheesh! I am really hoping that the democrats in this congress will stand up for their values. The past four years, they have cowered in the corner and acquiesed on some very important issues in the spectre of 9/11. And I really think it was one of the many factors that hurt Kerry in November, he went along with the president's misguided agenda when he should have pushed for a different dialogue.

Anyway, I'm hoping that after Barbara Boxer's objection of the Ohio vote count, we will see more of the same moxie coming from the party as a whole.