Howard Dean vs. Sarah Palin?

Everyone knows I respect and admire Howard Dean. In my opinion he broke the mold for liberal progressives, and he carries it off without being an extremist. I supported him when he ran for President, and would again. He is one of the dwindling few Democrats who have a voice in party politics that is still talking sense. His leadership of the DNC was the main contributor to the gains the Democrats made in Congress during his chairmanship, and he presided over the battle royale between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton with ironclad neutrality.


His neutrality irked Rahm Emmanuel and Speaker Pelosi who were solidly in Camp Obama, and Dean got snubbed for a Cabinet position. (See my OpEd here: The Fall of the House of Dean ) He was tossed up as a serious contender for HHS Secretary, which was eventually given to Kathleen Sebelius, after both she and Hillary Clinton were vetted off the VP short list. Regardless, he took his leave with grace and has been advocating for progressive causes since. Likely he angered the White House further when he loudly denounced any health care reform law that excluded a single-payer (universal) system, openly criticizing Pelosi and the President.(See my OpEd here: Howard Dean Blasts Obama, Sebelius-- Calls Public Option Mandatory) When the Sunday show circuit bore no fruit, he launched his own reform campaign through his PAC, Democracy For America, and I still believe if the Democratic party bosses had listened to him, health care reform would not have been bungled so badly in Congress. (See my OpEd: Howard Dean wades into the healthcare battle)


Dean founded Democracy For America in 2004. DFA is, "the people powered PAC, has over one million members nationwide. DFA is a grassroots powerhouse working to change our country and the Democratic Party from the bottom-up. We provide campaign training, organizing resources, and media exposure so our members have the power to support progressive issues and candidates up and down the ballot..." Most recently, DFA is taking on the Tea Party and its firebrand pin-up girl, Sarah Palin.


Here is an excerpt from a fund-raising email I received from Howard Dean and DFA today titled simply, "Sarah Palin.":


I have been in politics for a long time now and I have never seen more extreme candidates than ones being pushed today by Sarah Palin.

They're not just attacking the work President Obama has done -- they're attacking our social safety net and the building blocks of the modern middle class. They want to kill Social Security and Medicare, abolish the minimum wage and end unemployment assistance. Some have even questioned basic civil rights.

Candidates like Joe Miller, Rand Paul and Christine O'Donnell are pushing an agenda that is more extreme than Bush and Cheney's ever was.

But we can stop them. We have a chance to beat two of Sarah Palin's top candidates with progressive fighters and pick up two seats in the United States Senate -- one in New Hampshire with progressive champion Paul Hodes and one in Palin's own home state of Alaska with small town fighter Scott McAdams.

(Click here to make a donation to DFA.)


Palin is wading into the midterms energetically, and in good American tradition, the election is becoming a referendum on the President and his legislative agenda. State and federal candidates are being forced to align with or against Obama, and one of the loudest voices calling out the President is Palin's. Most observers believe, probably correctly that these are the first sparrings of the 2012 presidential race. I don't think it would be politically wise of Obama to legitimize Palin further by directly attacking her. Most visibly, Bill Clinton has taken on the Obama-surrogate role with his ultra-charismatic campaigning style, but the Dean niche is still skeptical.


Howard Dean is uniquely equipped to fight Palin right now, and if he makes any headway, the Democratic party is going to owe him another huge favor. Dean is an ex-governor, as is Palin, and although the two are oil and water politically, it is what legitimizes both of them. Dean is not in elected office at this time, and therefore has no constituency to please, he can say what he wants. Dean also remains a viable presidential candidate, and has maintained, even increased his credibility with liberals and left-leaning moderates. Much more than the president at this time, Dean is the anti-Palin. He showed his stuff in terms of growing the Democratic party with his "50 State Strategy," and his PAC, Democracy for America supports dyed-in-the-wool liberal progressive policies: reforming the Democratic party, ending the Iraq war, solving the climate crisis and providing universal health care. All the causes seemingly abandoned by the Obama platform so eloquently spun out in 2008. Dean can easily storm the castle over at the Tea Party camp, and he has the ideological headroom to safely distance himself from the taint of the White House at this moment in US politics. Dean can spread the net to liberals and to independents whose critical support is flagging. Both are losing confidence in the president and giving valuable ground to the disturbing uber-conservative ground swell in the GOP calling itself the Tea Party.


Palin did not invent the Tea Party, but they have embraced her as their figurehead. Combined with this and her PAC, SarahPAC, and her growing celebrity, Gov. Palin is still holding the #2 spot in Republican presidential picks for 2012, narrowly behind Mitt Romeny. And the way the Republican primary process works, with their winner-takes-all system, Palin could plausibly shut out the competition with critical early wins. If Howard Dean is targeting Palin it is because he understands the threat she represents to liberal causes. Because of his now-outsider stature, Dean may actually be able to direct the commentary coming into the 2012 election, which is "officially on," once the mid-term Congress is sworn in. If it works, there could be a background rumble, "Dean '12." And wouldn't that be interesting.

The War On Some Drugs: Hypocrisy From The White House

Yesterday, April 2, 2009, the House passed a new tobacco bill, giving the FDA sweeping powers to regulate the industry, including the contents of cigarette products, including nicotine. A battle will ensue in the Senate now, with the tobacco lobby as well as the economic lobby of states like North Carolina that have over 10,000 high-paying jobs in the tobacco industry.

According to the New York Times, President Obama "strongly supports the legislation." First of all, President Obama smokes, making such a claim the ultimate hypocrisy. And second, in related news, it is a major campaign promise broken (not to raise taxes "one dime" on anyone making less than a quarter million a year.) I bet you that quarter million he would deny that tobacco taxes have anything to do with personal taxes, but that is precisely what they are. In just 3 weeks here in Florida, cigarette prices have risen nearly $2 a pack. It's the highest sin tax this country has ever seen.

How about we tax the hell out of McDonald's? Coke-a-Cola? How about we tax Guitar Hero? Isn't that rotting the minds of our nation's youth, making them slaves to short attention span media, and ruining their depth perception? I know, how about we start taxing fat people pound-for-pound over their ideal BMI. That's as fair as taxing smokers for personal choice. Talk about pay to play. What I was really hoping to see was Barack Obama saying, "Yep, I smoke. And nope, it's none of your damn business." Instead he fawns and demurs and acts like it's some great mea culpa and feigns guilt. Sure, Barack. When you're sucking down that Newport Light behind a dumpster out of sight of the cameras, I'm sure all you feel is guilt and remorse.

Praise For Pelosi

Mark this one on the calendar. I have something nice to say about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Politico has the full details of the House road map to budget approval. And, it appears Speaker Pelosi has really pulled it together on this one. She's gone hard to the left, stayed true to the President's 'vision' of the budget, and worked her fingers to the bone courting Moderates who otherwise would have made trouble. Reasonable and realistic compromises and all. I have to say, Nancy: good job on this one.

$165 Million Dollar Shit Storm

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's ass is in a sling.

By the second, the media is making him look like the evil mastermind behind some maleficent plot to wreck the American economy. Geithner took his licks today, promptly admitting Treasury's role in the AIG mess, under his guidance.

President Obama, doing probably the only thing he can, publicly accepted responsibility yesterday. (Note: David Axelrod, who must have lost his mind, claiming "no one cares about the AIG mess," better write that promise by his boy Barack down on his little pad for 2012.)

Sen. Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and veteran Democrat heavyweight, while scrambling a little, as the only other visibly culpable party, is taking his licks, too, admitting to his role, and defending himself believably.

Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi took a big ball of the shit that is flying in every direction and threw it squarely in the face of both the Senate and the President, "this is Senate and White House language... this was never brought to the House." Let me say, props to Pelosi in one way: this debacle really had nothing to do with her. But she couldn't resist a dig, either. No one should be surprised; she started pissing on fire hydrants quite some time ago. Now the House gets to look like the big heroes, passing a 90% tax on AIG and other corporate bonuses today, 328-93 (Note: what anyone would have to call an overwhelming bipartisan support.) Again, props to the House. Those corporate fatcat bitches deserve a kick in the chops.

No one is trying to lie. A bad judgment call was made. And the number, $165 Million, is shocking. Headline grabbing, even. (Thank you everyone for reading this.) Tim Geithner must be praying for Bernie Maddoff to get raped in jail a couple more times a day for getting everyone so fired up over crooked bankers. Even John McCain's oft-used campaign one-liner, "We will make them famous," is getting airtime again.

It's amazing to me how a gaffe like this got so out of control. Yes, it's more than a gaffe. But, all the guilty parties are confessed and contrite, and in less than 24 hours the House has made AIG go cut its own switch for the beating they are about to get. So, why for does the shit fly in so many directions? I can think of plenty of things to get this mad about. Maybe David Axelrod is right in a way. More blame needs to be placed on AIG, and the swift way in which everyone fessed up and the problem was dealt with, should be getting praise. Now, that is not to say there couldn't be more of these little "oversights." In which case, some indignation and finger pointing may be warranted.

If this really is an isolated event however, the real culprit is AIG. Contractual or not, first of all, they should have known better. They could have found a way out of paying $165 Million in bonuses to already rich people. If all else fails, leak it to the media before the payout. Clearly, AIG thought they were going to sneak this one under the radar. Amazing how thick the blinders of greed are. I can understand the outrage on the one hand, but it is getting misdirected in D.C. People are so hyper-sensitive about money and "the economy" there is no way some voice in some boardroom somewhere along the line didn't say, "Um, can we really do this?"

AIG is ruined. They will be lucky to get bought by Chase, if that. It remains to be seen who they drag down with them. This could get uglier.

Still My Way Or The Highway For Pelosi

Did I say something nice about Nancy Pelosi yesterday? Allow me to take it back. Yes, I said she was "mending fences" and "taking a placating tone."

Not so much. Pretty much the moment word came out of the Senate that a deal on the stimulus had been reached, and enough GOP Senators swayed to the side of passage, she's at it again. Note that I believe the dial was turned way up on the rancor over this bill by her refusal to allow regular House rules to come to order, and for this bill to receive the daylight and due process a trillion dollar appropriations bill should get.

So, Pelosi says, "I'll restore regular rules once this stimulus bill is passed." This should be read: once I get my way, I'll throw you a bone. So, the bill passes the House. No regular rules. The Senate indicates they have reach a passable agreement, and Pelosi is already threatening to ruin it by reinserting everything the opponents of the bill hate. President Obama has called for this legislation to be on his desk by Friday the 13th. I don't see regular order in the House any time soon. And Pelosi has already let her favorite attack dog, David Obey off the chain.

I honestly don't know what kind of game Pelosi thinks she is playing. She's not doing herself any favors with anyone at this point, except her personal amen chorus of Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. Note that when Hoyer tried to advocate on behalf of Democratic House members asking for normal rules to be resumed, Pelosi quickly brought him to toe. The party line in the House is not the party line any more, it's the Pelosi line. Now that it appears the stimulus bill will be bounced back to the House for a joint conference session, the President has to protect his hard-fought-for bill from the meddling of his own party. All of this could have been avoided if Pelosi had allowed regular rules to resume in the House at the onset of the 111th Congress, which she gave a clear sign she had no intention of doing with her first edict. Pelosi and Obama have both jibed the GOP with comments about how "we won," and it looks more every day like rubbing salt in the wound is more important than actually getting anything done. Of course, the GOP isn't acting much better or more mature, but would you? If someone was constantly scoffing at your failures, telling you what a wreck you made of things and systematically destroying your ability to get anything done, and shutting you out of a process you have legal right and imperative to participate in? News flash, Nancy: we are still a two-party government. The GOP didn't get fired in November, and if you're not careful, you'll be lucky to be House Minority Leader by 2010.

The More GOPers Complain, The Higher The Bill Goes

The House of Representatives will vote today on President Obama's economic stimulus bill. President Obama, as promised, met with House Republicans yesterday to peddle the bill, and in an uncharacteristic show of humility, made a stop at the Ohio Clock, traditional headline-grabbing spot of Senators at the Capitol, and announced how well the talks were going. Maybe it was just old habits dying hard, as the President also made a Freudian slip at the Ohio Clock, referring to "my Senate colleagues," and correcting himself after, "I mean, my former Senate colleagues." Called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009, Obama's plan is expected to pass the House in spite of GOP resistance, and a few Democrats, too. In anticipation of the bill hitting the Senate floor within a few days, tax committees within the Senate have already tacked another $70 Billion onto the plan, bringing the total a Chairman's penstroke shy of $1 Trillion dollars. The Wall Street Journal published a scathing review of the legislation today, criticizing huge portions of the bill as non-productive, with low return potential and calling some of it outright vanity spending.

Democrats are saying the bill isn't big enough, Republicans are saying it's too big. At the same time, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is launching its first 2010 campaign ad, directly targeting Harry Reid and his "big spending." This stimulus bill better work, or Democrats are in trouble. We already thought we were seeing a Clinton Revival in Obama's administration staffing picks; we just might see an even more significant one at mid-term elections if they're not careful. House Republicans, upset over being shut out of the crafting of the bill, are already targeting Speaker Pelosi and Vice President Biden over it. And, Politico is claiming the stimulus is killing the Obama honeymoon, or Pelosi is. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) when asked what happened to Obama’s honeymoon answered, “Ask Pelosi." It seems the more Republicans complain about this bill, the higher the price tag goes. Back in September, when it was the GOP calling for "broad economic measures," the number was $500 Billion. Then Nancy Pelosi got hold of it and started floating progressively higher numbers until we get to today -- the day of the vote, and the Senate is already planning to hike the number again. Like I said, this better work.