The Howard Dean Approach « The Pink Flamingo

The Howard Dean Approach

May 7, 2009

“If we pursue a party that has no place for someone who agrees with me 70 percent of the time … then we are going to keep losing.“ Lindsey Graham

Aside from his primordial scream, when Howard Dean took over the DNC, they were proclaimed dead as a door-nail. Unfortunately the increasingly amnesiac MSM, blogsphere, and our conservative talking heads don’t seem to remember the little fact that in January of 2005, the question was asked about the Democrats being a national party. They were DOA.

Then Howard Dean hatched his 50 State Strategy.

It was quite simple. All he had to do was find candidates to compete in every state. If it was in the South, he found conservative “Blue Dogs” to compete with increasingly irrational and some very bad far right extreme primary winners. He did the same thing in the mid-west.

Two years after the party being declared DOA, the Dems were in control of the House and the Senate. Conservatives were blaming Bush, and deserting the GOP like the rats they are. People like Laura Ingraham suggested they vote for Howard Dean’s Blue Dogs and teach the GOP a lesson. Well, they sure did.

Thanks to the likes of Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage (I’d ban him too), Mark Levin, and the other talking heads, Howard Dean was proved to be correct. The problem now though, is these same talking heads are so in charge of the far right that we have a serious problem. Anyone who even hits at rational thought is roundly castigated. I suspect circular firing squads will soon be pelting us with phasers set on stun.

Maybe the GOP needs to pull the plug on the talking heads and let cooler, REPUBLICAN heads prevail. Instead of listening to the group of conservatives who CAUSED us to lose in 2006 and in 2008, they should adapt the Howard Dean approach.

Lindsey said it best:

“...But here’s the challenge for the Republican Party. Can the person that — running now win in Pennsylvania win? I can’t win in Pennsylvania. I win in South Carolina. Rush Limbaugh can’t win in Pennsylvania. If you’re worried about giving the country over to the Democratic Party and not being a vibrant, relevant Republican Party, we need to find somebody that can win in Pennsylvania….”

Now we are being treated to conservative rage at “moderates” within the GOP, who are damning us to eternal minority status because they want to be “pure”. When Howard Dean unleashed his Blue Dogs, people like Rush Limbaugh roared with approval, just positive those conservative Blue Dogs were “real conservatives” unlike the GOP losers they defeated. Those Blue Dogs are typical Democrats and cannot be trusted – sorry Rush.

The only way we can win is to adapt that 50 state strategy. If it’s a liberal state, we go for a less than “pure” candidate. I know Jim DeMint and the rest of the darling little conservative losers can’t deal with it, but maybe it’s time for them to grow up a little.

Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, Leaning Straight Up, third world county, Allie is Wired, Right Voices, and The World According to Carl, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.