I doubt Will will mind if I quote a few paragraphs. It was a candid interview done 6 years ago. Will was not Howard Dean's biggest fan, but he did a far more fair interview than most corporate media did.
I have watched several here demand single payer only. I remembered how Dean talked about his views on that issue in the Pitt interview. I watched Dean tonight on Countdown. He reamed the Democratic leadership just as he did back in 2003. Here is the
Countdown videoHere is the interview from June 2003:
Truth Out's William Pitt interviews Howard DeanJust a few pertinent points that ring true today.
The question was about reaching out to Green voters on issues.
DEAN: They've actually reached out to us. I divide the people who voted for Ralph Nader into two camps. One group is the really hard-core progressives with strong litmus tests, and if you don't meet those litmus tests, then they're not going to support you. The other group is made up of those who are liberal, but who are very pragmatic. What they really want is someone to stand up and be proud of being a progressive. Those people I can get. I don't know if I can get the hard-core people.
For example, there will be people who will say, "If you don't support a single-payer plan, then I'm not going to support you." Well, I'm not supporting a single-payer plan because I don't think I can get one passed. It's not that I think the plan is terrible, but I don't think we're going to pass a single-payer plan. I'm sort of a pragmatic progressive on most issues. I believe it is really important to be pragmatic because if you're not, the victims are the people you claim to represent. People with no health insurance and so forth.
I noted his stance on single payer because it is almost exactly what he is saying today. Some are going to support both single payer and public option as Dean espouses, some will most definitely not.
But there is something to be said about being honest and consistent.
Pitt asked him why the DLC was attacking him so much since he was known to be a centrist.
DEAN: I think there are two reasons. First of all, it's personal. Some of the folks running the DLC feel they haven't been afforded the proper amount of respect or something like that. But I also think it's political. They represent Joe Lieberman and John Edwards, and it is in their interest to try to get rid of us. That's not going to happen. They wish that I would go away. I was particularly perturbed when they came at us the second time on their website, saying at the AFSCME meeting that we were catering to the elite.
Now it seems to me that union members, nine of whom gave their lives at the World Trade Center, are the core and the heart and soul of the Democratic party. Hardly the elite or the special interests, as they were called by the DLC. I know a lot of DLC members, and I don't think their executive director is representing the opinion of the DLC. To be honest with you, every time they attack us, we raise a lot of money on the internet. They're welcome to attack all they want. We're going to need everybody to beat George Bush, and I think sooner or later the DLC is going to have to figure out how to get on board this campaign.
Well, to be honest, the DLC won that round, I fear.
They discuss Bush, leadership, and Democrats who went along with his agenda.
Dean responds:
People in my party fundamentally misunderstand why this President is popular. The reason he is popular has absolutely nothing to do with the issues. It has to do with the fact that people think he is a leader. The way to deal with a leader is to be another leader, and to be strong in your views and present the American people with a choice. Not to take half of his policies and vote for them, and then say, "Well, I voted for half of the policies, but I thought he was a little wrong on this one." That's not going to win us this election.
Will asks him about the media bias and how to get our voices heard. Dean's answer to him in 2003 could be said again today with almost no changes....unfortunately.
DEAN: I do. I think, first of all, it is true that the media has a conservative bias, and is being well-funded by conservative people like Rupert Murdoch. There is no question about that. But I also believe that part of the fault belongs to the Democrats, because the Democrats don't stand up and therefore there is no other side to cover. We've got to do that. Now, some of them are doing it during election time, but it's a little late.
Dean ends with this statement:
DEAN: I don't think I've run to the left. I am who I am, and I say who I am. I'm not saying anything different than I've said in my Governor's races. I don't think you run to the left or you run to the center. You go out there and lay out your ideas, and your ideas are the same in the primaries as they are in the general election. I'm more conservative on budgets and guns, and I'm pretty liberal on civil rights and health insurance and investing in children. People are just going to have to make up their minds if they can deal with all these different positions. I'm not unwilling to change positions based on facts, but I am unwilling to change positions based on polls.
He has been saying these things for years now. It is as though the congressional Democrats have tuned out what he has to say. It probably
makes them squirm.In recent years the Democrats, in our pursuit of big dollars, have neglected the people we're there to serve. We let our connection to our base atrophy and have forgotten, as they say in politics, who brought us to the dance. In service to a falsely named "centrism," we've sidestepped every major request from labor unions, especially on including worker protections in our free-trade agreements.
The cautious tone and lack of speaking out by our Democratic leaders is the legacy of the think tank that took them over in the late 80s and hijacked the agenda. I felt they might be getting over it, but when I see the Conservadems on TV with such a squishy messaging tone, I realize they are still in the mindset of caution and post partisanship.
