Hmmm.

[tahnan]

Reactions to AlterNet's description of Dean?

A brief quote:

After seven years as governor, the Associated Press described Dean as "a moderate at best on social issues and a clear conservative on fiscal issues." The news service added: "This is, after all, the governor who has at times tried to cut benefits for the aged, blind and disabled, whose No. 1 priority is a balanced budget."

When Dean officially announced his presidential campaign on June 23, some news stories identified him with the left. It's a case of mistaken identity. "He's really a classic Rockefeller Republican – a fiscal conservative and social liberal," according to University of Vermont political scientist Garrison Nelson.

I'm not posting this as truth, I'm posting this for reactions from those who pay more attention than I do.

Comments

[bryant]

I think that's accurate. Dean pretty clearly decided to stake out the left wing position early on in the Democratic primaries, but unlike most of the people who make that choice, he has a clear path to take back to the center if he winds up as the Democratic candidate. It's not hard at all to imagine him in the same party as William Weld.

He's also a big state's rights guy, in the classic (not racist) sense of the term.

Yes and No

[fuldu.livejournal.com]

I can't speak to Dean in particular, but what's being described here is really a pretty good definition of a Clinton-era New Democrat. Fiscal conservatism is becoming less and less ascribable to one party or the other and more and more a plane of cleavage within each of the two major parties. People on both sides of the political spectrum are beginning to see the economic consequences of the twin deficits as more serious than the consequences of decreased consumption (either by the government for Democrats or by individuals for Republicans). Looked at this way, Dubyuvian tax cuts are fiscally indistinguishable from the Great Society. Each results in ill-advised budget deficits with negative economic consequences.

A better gauge of "appropriate" party, then, is probably whether the individual would prefer to balance the budget by cutting programs or by raising taxes. Under that guideline, the analysis above is internally consistent, though I don't know whether it's representative of the actual facts about Dean.

On another topic, running spell-check on this comment brought to my attention the fact that LJ doesn't recognize the word "gauge."

[navrins]

Well, good. We need the media to stop calling Dean an ultra-liberal. He's never been that, and he never said he was. Like me, he's conservative in some areas, liberal in others... he knows that no single party line is completely right and isn't afraid to do the right thing even if it doesn't match his label. I respect that.

(Yes, I pay attention. I spent this morning canvassing in New Hampshire for Dean. I don't do that kind of thing on a whim. In fact, I don't do that kind of thing at all.)

Good sauce

[mallen.livejournal.com]

Dean is a true enigma. He seems to be a guy who is generally modern on social policy (doesn't seem to be a gun grabber, pro-gay rights, etc.,), but on foriegn topics and some fiscal topics seems to think it's 1976 rather 2003.

So I think there's something to this analysis.

[tablesaw]

Who cares? I'm voting for Sharpton.

[(Anonymous)]

The Reagan adminstration marked a serious change in fiscal policy for both the Republicans and the Democrats. Previously, Republicans favored balanced budgets while Democrats, who tended to increase spending without increasing taxes, did not. Since then, Republicans have increased budget deficits by cutting taxes and Democrats (well, Clinton. We're now on our third Republican and still our first Democrat) have favored a balanced budget.

Consequently, the balanced budget isn't the same left-right issue it used to be. The more relevant questions are whether the candidate prefers to increase or decrease social spending and to increase or decrease taxes. I don't know enough of Dean's position to speak on spending, but he's made it clear that he wants to undo all of Bush's tax cuts. The other fiscal question is how progressive taxes should be, and Bush's tax cuts have made taxes much less progressive. (Including all taxes, including sales tax, Social Security, property taxes, and the like, Bush is moving towards a regressive tax policy, where low earners pay a greater percentage of earnings in total taxes than high earners.)

So I guess I'm not really sure how liberal Dean is on fiscal issues. He's also an interesting split on social issues, favoring gay equality and environmental issues but also generally opposing gun regulation.

It's an interesting mix, but definitely not as traditionally liberal as, say, Kucinich, who wants to overturn NAFTA, among other things.

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