Interview with Dean on Meet The Press

[yesthattom]

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/003488.html The leftcoaster says, “The REAL Tim Russert Shows Up - For Once! Today was a very rare day. Instead of Meet the Press being chaired by Republican Party partican hack Tim Russert, the long-lost political journalist Tim Russert had the conn.”

There’s a lot of good stuff in the interview. I highly recommend it. Here’s a quote that shows that Dean has some innovative thinking about the pro-choice debate:

MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to the issue of abortion. Newsweek reports that John Kerry went to a Democratic meeting to thank his supporters, and they asked him what he had learned from the past campaign. He said, “We have to find a different way to deal with the issue of abortion in terms of explaining the Democratic position, and we have to find a way to bring in right-to-life Democrats back into the Democratic Party.” Could you conceive of a way the Democratic Party could say to mainstream ethnic voters, “We’re a different Democratic Party. We may look at perhaps the whole idea of parental notification in terms of abortion. We may look at banning it in the third trimester.” Is there a way the Democrats could change their vocabulary on abortion?

DR. DEAN: We can change our vocabulary, but I don’t think we ought to change our principles. We’re not the party of abortion. We’re the party of allowing people to make up their own minds about medical treatment. We’re not the party of gay marriage. We’re the party of equal rights for all Americans.

You know, I signed the first civil unions bill in America, and four years later the most conservative president the United States has seen in my lifetime is now embracing what I signed. We’ve come a long way. It’s just a different way of phrasing it. We have to start framing these issues, not letting them frame the issues.

I have long believed that we ought to make a home for pro-life Democrats. The Democrats that have stuck with us, who are pro-life, through their long period of conviction, are people who are the kind of pro-life people that we ought to have deep respect for. Not only are they pro-life, which, I think is a moral judgment - I happen to be strongly pro-choice, as a physician - but they are pro-life more moral reasons.

They also, if they’re in the Democratic Party, are real pro-life. That is, they’re pro-life not just for unborn children. They’re pro-life for investing in children’s programs. They’re pro-life for helping small children and young families. They’re pro-life in making sure adequate medical care happens to children.

That’s what you so often lack on the Republican side. They beat the drums about being pro-life but they forget about life after birth. And so I do embrace pro-life Democrats. I think we want them in our party. We can have a respectful dialogue, and we have to stop demagoguing this issue.

Comments

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

*applause*

Using our own terminology, however...

[qnetter]

...it still doesn't explain how anti-abortion Democrats can find a place in a party they believe take a stand (pro-choice) that condones murder. The stock answer -- "we don't share your definition of life" -- will never cut it.

Re: Using our own terminology, however...

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

Why don't care how they are in the party, we want to thank the ones that are, find out why, and help them get their friends involved too.

Re: Using our own terminology, however...

[qnetter]

But what does "in the party" mean? Dean changed the subject from Kerry's reference to ex-Democrats who left the party because they feel unwelcome because of their anti-abortion positions to Democrats who have stuck with the party. First, I'm not sure those exist in any significant numbers, and second, what does "in the party" mean, because I suspect we're talking about people who will tell you they're Democrats but voted for Bush and vote for other Republicans -- Nixon Democrats redux.