but apparently it is a Howard Dean value. According to a CNN transcript (Jan. 31, 2005), Howard Dean — front-runner for the Democratic National Committee chairmanship — said this, apparently at a Democratic National Committee forum in New York:
I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for, but I admire their discipline and their organization.
Perhaps it was a slip, and he really meant simply that he disagrees with us (or our leadership), rather than hating us. Or perhaps it wasn’t a slip. Just seems worth pointing out; among other things, would a Democrat who hates Republicans, and says so publicly, be really effective helping Democrats reach out to cross-over Republicans, or even moderates who sometimes vote Republican? Or is his view that the DNC should just focus on increasing Democrat turnout, and write off those who are Republicans, or who are uncomfortable with those who like Republicans?
(Thanks to Jeff Jacoby’s column for the pointer.)
UPDATE: A reader writes:
As a former Dean staffer (and diligent VC reader), I’ve heard him use this formulation live and in person — so I don’t doubt the transcript. But, each time (and, oh how I wish he’d not expressed the sentiment this way), I’ve also heard him immediately move on to refine it, to the tune of “Now I don’t really hate them,” etc…
Given his record in Vt., where the legislature’s Dems. tended to be more frustrated with him than the bodies’ Republicans, I chalk it up to an infelicitous — and undisciplined — phrasing. I don’t believe his view is that cross-over voters should be shunned (viz. his campaigning for John Kerry, which frequently emphasized the liberty issues on which he believed Democrats might appeal to traditionally Republican voters), but accept your questioning as entirely appropriate. Perhaps it’ll spur him to a more nuanced rhetoric.
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