Ad Nags in the NY Times:
This was definitely Howard Dean day as the Democratic National Committee convened in Washington to hear the Democratic presidential candidates.From the DNC, Watch video of the speeches by Harry Reid, Dodd, Obama, Edwards, Kucinich and Clinton today. This is undedited coverage, so the first 16 minutes or so is just like you were there, waiting for the meeting to start. Someone is heard saying, "We're ready, but the Governor is shmoozing." You can listen to some Miles Davis there while you are waiting.
Mr. Dean may be chairman of the D.N.C. today, but four years ago, he was a candidate and he stole the show at a similar meeting with a smoking speech in which he attacked Democrats who backed Republican policies –- like the Iraq war. He presented himself, memorably, as the candidate of the “Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.”
Mr. Dean, who is certainly not above being self-referential, peppered his speech today with references to the speech that made him famous (famous in a good way, as opposed to another speech that provided the unflattering bookend of his candidacy in Iowa).
“What I want to know,” he began, to laughter and cheers from the crowd that remembered the “What I want to know refrain” Mr. Dean used in his speech, assailing Democrats last time. And there was this.
“As I stand before you today, I am proud to be a member of the Democratic Party, of any wing of the Democratic Party,” he said with a broad grin.
Clearly, Mr. Dean’s authority only went so far. For one thing, he said there would be a seven-minute limit on the speeches by the candidates. The shortest was 12; most were closer to 20.
However, if he needed any validation of how he has changed Democratic politics, it came from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the New York Democrat who –- consciously or not, and certainly without credit — appropriated another trademark Dean line in her own speech:
“We have to take our country back!” she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment