At last night's
Rock the Vote debate, Howard Dean got his ass kicked trying to respond to criticism of his statements that he wants the votes of people with Confederate flags on their pickup trucks. As a Dean supporter, it was really disappointing to see his performance, because I believe the point he's trying to make -- when not distorted by the PC police -- is right on. A lot of poor white people in the South (not to mention the rest of the country) are voting against their interests, divided by emphasis on symbols, "gays, guns, God, and the Flag". To win, Democrats need to reach these people and get them to vote for them.
But Dean did not articulate that point well, and in the process, managed to offend blacks and Southerners at the same time! This is doubly disappointing for me because Dean is consistently not doing as well as he should be in the debates. He should've been ready for this, and he wasn't. If he doesn't get better in the debate format, how is he going to defeat Bush one-on-one?
Below is a summary of commentary on the flag issue.
Dan Conley:
Rock the Vote. "But no one's claiming Dean's a bigot, we're claiming he's an arrogant ... I don't want to say it but it rhymes with trick."
Hesiod: the Vote. "It's time for the Democrats to stop Howard Dean."
jgkojak, Daily Kos: Debate comments/flag flap. "Howard Dean has had his sister souljah moment- and then some."
LiberalOasis: Dean Can Stop Dean (after yesterday's Can Anyone Stop Dean?) "Oops. Less than 24 hours after LiberalOasis said Howard Dean was 'barely scraped' by the confederate flag flap, he got pummeled by it."
Nathan Newman: Dean and Confederate Flag. "This is not an argument for pandering to racism; it's an argument that if poor white voters aren't given a real economic alternative, they'll retreat to frustrated scapegoating."
William Satelan, Slate: Confederate Flog. "The headline coming out of this debate is the pounding Howard Dean took for saying he wants the votes of guys whose trucks sport Confederate flags. It's a bum rap."
Emory Walker, Daily Kos: The High Road To Dixie. "I lived in Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee for more than 20 years, including all of my childhood prior to high school. The notion that confederate flag-bearing, gun-toting truck drivers make up the better part of that population is nonsense--the kind only a carpetbagging yankee could conjure. That is why that phraseology will ultimately come back to haunt Dr. Dean. There is a New South, and it looks nothing like cotton plantations and tent revivals."
Joan Walsh, Salon: Confederacy of dunces. "Howard Dean's Democratic rivals are willfully misrepresenting the candidate's reference to the Stars and Bars -- and writing off the pickup-truck vote."
Crossposted from my blog.
