Obama’s debt to Howard Dean
When Howard Dean walked in the door at the Democratic National Committee nearly four years ago, the party was in the wilderness and looked ready to stay there for quite some time. George W. Bush had...
View ArticleLieberman decision pits Dean against liberal blogosphere
It's no secret that most of the liberal blogosphere loves Howard Dean and loathes Joe Lieberman. So it's interesting to see how progressive bloggers have responded to the news that Dean supports...
View ArticleIs Obama deliberately snubbing Dean?
Politico's Jonathan Martin has an interesting article today about Howard Dean's absence from the announcement of Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as Barack Obama's choice to take over the Democratic National...
View ArticleNo, Howard Dean doesn’t want to be surgeon general
With Sanjay Gupta's decision to bow out of the running for surgeon general, there's yet another big vacancy in the Obama administration open. Unsurprisingly -- and I say that because it seems like his...
View ArticleDean supporters upset by surgeon general talk
The Obama administration just can't win: First, they don't talk about former Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean for Cabinet jobs, and Dean's allies get mad. Now, the White House is talking...
View ArticleHoward Dean joining CNBC
Howard Dean didn't get the Cabinet spot he wanted, but he does have a new job. The former head of the Democratic National Committee is joining CNBC as a regular contributor, a gig he kicked off Monday...
View ArticleInventor of the public option explains why it’s crucial
Just a couple years ago, very few people could have told you what the "public option" is. Now, the idea to have a government-run, not-for-profit health-insurance program -- like Medicare or Medicaid --...
View ArticleDean approves of Senate healthcare deal
Some important liberals are already getting in line behind the Senate's healthcare reform deal, as Gabriel Winant noted in an earlier post. And the biggest of them all -- at least when it comes to talk...
View ArticleDean’s diagnosis
Howard Dean got some prime real estate on today's Washington Post op-ed page to express his dissatisfaction with the healthcare reform bill. He opens with a pretty concise summary of the main...
View Article“It’s unfair”
Howard Dean proved long ago that he marches to the beat of his own conscience. Neither personal attacks nor appeals to party -- nor mockery voiced by Washington's media establishment -- will move him...
View ArticleImperfection is a start
Buyer's remorse seems to be setting in among Democrats, even as the U.S. Senate is poised to vote (as I write this) on the most significant piece of social reform since the 1960s.No less a figure than...
View ArticleHoward Dean: 2010 won’t be as bad for Dems as people think
A lot of people see doom on the Democratic Party's horizon this fall. Respected political analyst Charlie Cook has even said he believes Republicans will recapture the House this year. But Howard Dean,...
View ArticleDean: I want Reid to stay as majority leader
For some progressives, the defeat of Majority Leader Harry Reid this November would come with a silver lining: the potential for bolder leadership in the Senate.But that's not how Howard Dean sees it....
View ArticleThe wrong lessons of the Sherrod story
MSNBC's "Hardball" today might have seemed like a case of blind men describing an elephant, as host Chris Matthews, Gov. Howard Dean and I all appeared to have seen different Shirley Sherrod videos....
View ArticleJournalism as blood sport?
I've already said I'd give Charles Sherrod the last word on the story of his family's smearing by right-wing media. But I had more than a few thoughts on Howard Kurtz's provocative Washington Post...
View ArticleHeroes, villains and cowards of the so-called “ground zero mosque”
The bizarre, ginned-up controversy surrounding the Park51 project -- a proposed Islamic community center, like the 92nd Street Y, including a space for worship, to be built at the site of an old...
View ArticleHarry Reid and Howard Dean: Fox News enablers
Harry Reid and Howard Dean had their reasons for coming out against the Park51 project in lower Manhattan last week. Well, at least Reid, who is locked in a tight reelection campaign in Nevada, did....
View ArticleToday’s most inane 2012 speculation
Will Howard Dean challenge Barack Obama in 2012? Politico columnist Roger Simon, who drew Dean from a hat full of cards that he'd written the names of various Democrats on, says probably!First, Simon...
View ArticleThe seduction of Howard Dean
Howard Dean has long cultivated an image as the plainspoken doctor who speaks for the left wing of the Democratic Party, a role he still plays as a pugnacious pundit on TV. But since his term as...
View ArticleHoward Dean responds to Salon
Howard Dean's spokeswoman, Karen Finney, has responded to my story on Dean's turn into paid advocacy work, accusing me of engaging in "lazy journalism." I think the adjective is not accurate.Salon has...
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