Nice piece. Trippi is right on... the 'liberal left' needs solid operators like him. I hope they find a home for him 'longer term'...

One caution... never fight the last war. 2008 will be different from 2004 just like 2004 was different than 2000... Roves model may be a disaster in 2008.

With that said - it never hurts to build a local party base. It is critical for the long term sustenance of the organization... like a farm team in baseball. After Dean & Trippi's 2004 run... we have lotsa rookies at the 'A' level... we need to get some of tehm up to 'AAA' before we can win in the 'majors'...

I don't want this to devolve into Dean v. Kerry intra-party backbiting, which is far from helpful at this point.

Anybody who thinks that Dean, at like 5'8", would have outperformed a 6'4" beanpole like Kerry, must be nuts. And "Howard"? C'mon, that's like some kinda accountant's name.

Oh, sure, he had the injection of honesty the Dems needed, but we've got to keep our eyes on the prize.

The day after the election, the local Repubs
were not only celebrating, they were working on a school board election NEXT FEBRUARY
and on the '06 elections. Nuf said.

The Far-Left is not a base. The only viable political position is center-left/centrist.

We don't get everything we want, but we damn well better find some common ground before this country is laid waste by partisans and wingers - ON BOTH SIDES!

Moderation Or Death!

"The Far-Left is not a base. The only viable political position is center-left/centrist."

I heard Dick Armey say on CSPAN once...

"The only thing you will find in the middle of the road are dead armadillos..."

While I think Dick was a prick in a 100 different ways... he got that one right.

Joe Trippi makes some good points, but it isn't like you have to be a veteran, Beltway insider, political consultant to see these things.

First thing we do, let's kill all the consultants.

To the extent that the Democratic Party might be said to exist, it needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. Not just in structure and organization, but in ideas and policies.

The changes necessary in the Democratic Party and the country have to start at the bottom of the pile. Everyone who is dissatisfied needs to join their county party, get their friends to join, and start talking with and listening to each other. To forge in the smithy of those discussions the uncreated political conscience of our country.

This is so much fun to watch: everyone with his hand on the tiller, no one in the stokehold, the lookouts disagreeing about what that big white thing up ahead is... The only thing missing are flames rising from the deck. Ah well, the spectacle of lifeboats overturned from ineptitude is sufficiently engaging.

This is so much fun to watch: everyone with his hand on the tiller, no one in the stokehold, the lookouts disagreeing about what that big white thing up ahead is... The only thing missing are flames rising from the deck. Ah well, the spectacle of lifeboats overturned from ineptitude is sufficiently engaging.

Democrats can't keep ignoring their base. Running to the middle and then asking our base to make sure to vote isn't a plan. And to those who say talking to your base doesn't work--Read the Rove 2004 playbook!

This is exactly what winners do: Pump up the base and make it so attractive that people want to jump on the bandwagon. And a Democrat can't do that by running away from the liberal values that make this country great.

I guess I never understood why it was so difficult to just say the "Emperor's Naked". Bush gave us all so much material to work with. A budget surplus to a budget deficit, the Patriot Act as the solution to FBI Supervisor's indifference, Condoleeza Rice, Halliburton, The war in Iraq, questioning the need to lower arsenic levels in drinking water, turning the entire world against us 2 short years...Forget all that talk about speaking to our roots or "getting out the vote" for God's sake man, may the next Democratic nominee give people something to vote for.

Frankly, I'm more focused on saving our country than 'our' party. Let the grassroots become the new American Resistance, free of party trappings. And if the Dem Party wishes to remain relevant, it'll tag along till it figures out how it can help, too.