HOWARD, HOWARD, HOWARD
Step up to the podium.

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Press review: Howard Dean accused of racism
Wasn't he the same one trying to attract confederate flag waving southern voters?
The leading Democrat is hit by accusations of racism
Fri 7 Nov 2003 02.55 GMTFirst published on Fri 7 Nov 2003 02.55 GMT
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USA Today Editorial, November 5
"Members of [Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean's] own party have labelled him a racist for saying he wants to woo southerners who drive pick-up trucks festooned with the Confederate flag. They see the flag as so loathsome that its fans should be shunned...
"Mr Dean's provocative comments...are accurate... Democrats do face problems because of Republicans' success dividing southerners by race. According to a 2002 Gallup poll of low- and middle-income southern white men, 56% said they were Republicans, only 35% called themselves
Democrats... Mr Dean backed down, saying he regretted the hurt feelings caused by his choice of words. Maybe the focus can now switch to his message."
Chris Suellentrop Slate.msn.com, November 4
"Recovering their appeal to white working-class voters is something of an obsession among Democratic party politicians, and the Dean campaign rightly points out that the Confederate-flag comment is something that their candidate says all the time, and that he never received any criticism for it in the past...
"That said, Mr Dean handled [the] kerfuffle...poorly, and he did so in a way that raises a worrisome question about his candidacy. Why is he so obstinate about admitting that he was wrong?"
Jay Bookman Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 6
"The Democratic party ought to be at least competitive in attracting the votes of white southerners. Too often, however, Democrats try to sell their populist policies by using elitist rhetoric, while Republicans sell elitist policies using populist rhetoric. Not surprisingly, Republicans often win. Some Democrats are finally beginning to rethink that approach. [The] former Vermont governor, Mr Dean...[is] right: for too long, national leaders in the Democratic party have written off much of the white south in the mistaken belief that racial issues made their votes unattainable."
Kathleen Parker Orlando Sentinel, November 5
"Living in rural South Carolina, I'm surrounded by pick-up trucks and, I reckon, good ol' boys. Yeah, sure nuf, we get together every sundown at the corner Esso to shuck corn, swat flies, chaw tobacco and flirt with our cousins... But I'll be gall-durned if I can remember the last time I saw a Confederate flag - on a truck or off it, as we say in the sticks... The whole episode smacks of classism if not racism: Northern Nobility embraces Southern Idiocracy. How long before one of them says: 'Why, some of my best friends are southerners'?"
Constance L Rice Los Angeles Times, November 6
"Do I find the Confederate flag an obnoxious symbol of slavery? Yes. But I find the third-world poverty of poor American children a more obnoxious symbol of today's slavery. My point here is to move on. This family feud about a symbol is not resolvable at this time. But more important, we don't have to resolve it to get to the more important mission of rescuing this country from the merry band of corporatists and robber barons at its helm right now.
"So, Mr Dean, get the interracial sophistication that's needed to carry our Martin Luther King's vision of the grand alliance, and get it quickly. As much of a minefield as it presents, talking about the Confederate flag, poverty and race is crucial for our country's future as a multiracial society. Go for it, and you don't need to apologise."
Look at the comments from the early 00s and how people thought. HMM
Dean: 'I actually approve' of tea party
You APPROVE OF THE TEA PARTY?
“I don’t think they are all racists,” explained Dean, who clashed with Democratic party leaders — including White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel — over his “50 State Strategy” geared at tapping grass-roots Democratic activists in deep-red Republican districts. But "if you look at the tea party, they are all people of my complexion and my age. … there are a lot of people who are my age and my color who can’t get their arms around the idea that this country is going to look like California in 40 years in that there’s not going to be a [white] majority. … That is a very hard pill to swallow if you are an American who is my age. That is a swirling issue that nobody wants to talk about.”
Added Dean: “I actually approve of most of what the tea party is doing… I think it’s great to have individuals reach out to take their own responsibility for their own [future] and lashing out against government that has really forgotten them … but I also believe that there is a fringe of racism in the tea party, which unfortunately for the tea party that is focused on” by the media.