Howard Dean Speaks For Me

cross-posted at MRDC blog

In the past few weeks, you've no doubt heard a lot
about DNC Chairman Howard Dean regarding remarks that
he made about the GOP.

I can appreciate Gov. Dean's tough talk, and if you
heard him during the 2004 election, you would know
that he can be somewhat cranky when he gets his
passion on. However, I do wish sometimes that he would
choose a more elegant way to express himself.

Having said that, I absolutely do not approve at all
of the way some democrats have been piling on about
him not "speaking for the Party." Yes, I am looking at
you, Senator Biden and you too, Senator Edwards and I
am very disappointed with you, Senator Obama. I'm not
saying that these folks shouldn't make their feelings
known, I'm saying that we should keep it in the family
and not go around making public statements that make
our party look unfocused, and undisciplined. You would
NEVER see this type of thing happen with the GOP.

It's no surprise that the folks who are criticizing
Howard Dean are mostly Washington DC,
inside-the-beltway types. These are the same types of
party members that were reluctant to have him as
Chairman in the first place because his loyalties lie
more with the grassroots, than with the movers and
shakers in DC.

I appreciate what Howard Dean has done since the
election. After losing in the primaries, he could have
easily taken his huge e-mail and donor lists and laid
low until 2008, but he didn't. He turned his campaign
organization into Democracy for America which raised a
lot of money and helped get quite a few folks elected.
That list includes the Junior Senator from IL. He put
the interests of the party before his own ambition.
He's not perfect, but I think he's done more than
enough to earn the respect and support of our party.

Grassroots supporters have organized Support Howard
Dean Day on June 15, 2005. There is a Letters to the
Editor campaign as well as donating to the DNC in his
honor. There is also an online petition drive

At our MRDC meeting last Monday we discussed how our
group could show our support for Howard Dean. If you
are so inclined, write a letter, give a donation or
sign the petition.

I'm proud to say that Howard Dean speaks for me.

MRDC and DFA wrap-up.

The first meeting of the Montachusett Region
Democratic Coalition was this past May 23, 2005 at
Slatterys in Fitchburg. It was a very rainy evening,
but there was a good turnout of 8 people, including
three of us from my town committee.. We had
a good discussion about what the purpose and
objectives for the MDRC will be. The minutes are
on the MRDC blog

Last night I attended the monthly Democracy for
America meeting in Littleton.

DFA is joining with an organization called Wake-up
Wal-Mart for an action designed to put pressure on
Wal-Mart to provide affordable health care to all of
their workers.

You can read more about the action
here.

Also highlighted was a new film from Robert Greenwald
(director of Outfoxed and Uncovered: War on Iraq)
entitled, Wal-Mart: The High Costs of Low Price

There was some lively discussion about this topic as
you can imagine. It's an important topic for sure,
but I was a bit surprised about DFAs involvement in
this issue. My understanding about DFA is that it is
designed to help get progressive democrats elected to
office and to offer instruction and training to the
grassroots.

Also, and this is just one democrat's opinion, if DFA
is going to get involved in any cause, I would prefer
that cause to be Verified Voting. If Americans cannot rely on fair, open and transparent elections with a non-partisan certified result, we're not likely to get the folks in office that can make universal health care a reality.