Gov. Dean and Bush are just two sides of the same coin. As Democrats we should uphold some principles. 'Anyone but Bush' is not good enough if that anyone has the same deficit of character as Bush.
On several occasions and on several issues Gov. Dean has demonstrated that deficit of character.
On campaign finance, Dean said months ago he would attack any Democrat that opted out of the public financing system.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20030815_1771.html Now the opportunistic Gov. Dean has decided to opt of the the public financing system himself. We don't need another President who says one thing and does another. The public finance system was put in place in response to the excesses of the Nixon campaign in the Watergate scandal. The GOP have been trying to get rid of it for years. Now Dean has done their bidding for them. And this is not Dean's first attack on campaign finance reform. As Governor of Vermont, he tried to get rid of public financing and open the door to large special interests.
http://www.vpirg.org/campaigns/finance Reform/deangutcfr.html
And it is important to note where Dean's money is coming from. Like Bradley and Nader in 2000, much of Dean's funds are coming from Republican donors. This was confirmed in Newsweek's August profile of Dean. One of these pro-Dean Republicans, CK Rairden, in an article entitled "Should Republicans Help Nominate Howard Dean?" in the Washington Dispatch, suggests:
"Republicans are already voting with their wallets for Howard Dean, logging on to Dean’s official Web Site and donating various sums of cash to the left wing candidate’s primary campaign. They want Dean to win the Democrat primary. The real question now emerges. Will rank and file Republicans cross over and vote in the Democrat Primary elections to help get Dean the nomination?
"Rank and file Republicans should crash the Democrats 2004 primary election and help elect the GOP dream opposition candidate, Howard Dean and let the landslide re-election of President George W. Bush begin."
However, campaign finance is not Dean's first flip-flop or first misrepresentation of his record or positions. He has run a negative campaign attacking other Dems and picking up the late Paul Wellstone's line of 'representing the Democratic wing of the Democratic party'. As many that have examined his record as Governor of Vermont have noted, Dean is much further to the right than he presents himself.
http://www.counterpunch.com/colby02222003.html http://www.uexpress.com/tedrall/?uc_full_date=20030812 http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=& contentId=A15326-2003Aug2¬Found=true
He has no appeal to the ethnic minorities needed for a Democratic victory because his views, again, are more in line with Bush and the GOP. On CNN Dean made these comments in a 1995 interview:
GOV. HOWARD DEAN (D), VERMONT: You know, I think we ought to look at affirmative action programs based not on race, but on class, and opportunity to participate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You sound like Newt Gingrich.
DEAN: People from working class families who have not had the educational opportunities, regardless about whether they're white or black, ought to be given some kind of opportunity. And that may mean doing something for those groups of people.
But I don't think it ought to be done by race.
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0310/29/ip.00.html Even his big claim to fame, Gay Civil Unions, is a total fake. In 1999, the state Supreme Court unanimously decreed that gay couples were due the same legal rights of marriage as heterosexuals. Instead of taking any initiative, Dean left it to lawmakers to respond, saying loud and clear that he would not sign a bill permitting gay marriage.
The Vermont Legislature, after a prolonged and fractious debate, drafted compromise legislation, creating the "civil union" concept that allows gay partners such benefits as inheritance and hospital-visitation rights, but not the same recognition as heterosexual marriage. At the time, he was going round the state telling folks he was only doing it because the Vermont Supreme Court made him, and, instead of the usual showboating public ceremony, he signed the legislation behind closed doors.
Also, Dean's loudest claim of executive experience is in providing "free" health care to Vermont's 613,000 citizens while simultaneously balancing the state budget. As of 1998, Vermont had the third highest percentage of Medicaid recipients in America. In other words, Vermont's so-called state-provided health care comes primarily from federal taxpayers. Dean is taking credit for state-provided health care when, in fact, most of this is funded by Washington. This kind of supposed health care system has no application on the national level.
Dean is constantly saying in his campaign speeches, "Here's what we did in Vermont." (Reminiscent of Bush in 2000 referring to want he did in Texas.) Why then, on leaving office in 2003, did Howard Dean seal his gubernatorial papers for 10 years -- almost twice as long as his two predecessors did, but considerably less than the 20-year-lock he sought? Why did he determine himself, with his lawyers, what was covered by executive privilege? This is the same kind of anti-democratic scam that Dubya has pulled in sealing his gubernatorial records and his father's presidential records.
And let's not forget that Dean has built his campaign on the anti-war movement. But is Dean really a dove? He has already publicly stated that he wouldn't reduce military spending despite that we now spend more than twice of what Russia & China spend combined not counting costs for Iraq.
In his major foreign policy address to date of February 17 speech at Drake University in Iowa, Dean blasted the Bush administration’s foreign policy regarding Iraq and several other areas, but – when it came to Israel and Palestine – the former Vermont governor declared that, while the United States should become more engaged, he did not have any fundamental objections with President George W. Bush’s policies. Dean called for an end to Palestinian violence against Israeli civilians, but he did not call for a cessation of Israeli violence against Palestinian civilians. Similarly, there was no call for an end of the Israeli occupation, for Israeli compliance with UN Security Council resolutions, or a withdrawal from Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied territories or even a freeze on the construction of new settlements.
The liberal wing of America’s Jewish community is represented in the views of Americans for Peace Now (APN), which supports negotiations with the Palestinians based upon the principle of land for peace, that is, Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories in exchange for security guarantees. The conservative wing is represented by the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which supports the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his government’s ongoing occupation and colonization of Palestinian land seized in the 1967 war, repression of the Palestinian population, and refusal to negotiate with the Palestinian leadership.
When asked by the Jewish newspaper Forward late last year as to whether he supported APN’s perspective, Governor Dean replied "No, my view is closer to AIPAC's view."
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0226-04.htm Also don't forget that Dean has no loyalty to the Democratic party. In 2000 he endorsed Bill Bradley who only acted as a spoiler. Unlike the other Democratic candidates, long before Al Gore bowed out last December Dean was planning to challenge him which would only serve to split the party divert the rightful nominee's attention away from focusing on attacking Bush.
Dean has been the first Democrat to attack the other Dems and continues to do so. This is not good for whoever is the eventual nominee. And on many occasions he has misstated facts as well as the positions & records of the other Dems and has been forced to apologize. Those are GOP tactics, Dems should be above that. Now he is the only candidate not to agree to back the nominee as soon as enough delegates are secured. He is vowing to fight all the way to the convention. Nothing could be worse for the Democratic party.
And Dean's followers consistently use right wing tactics. They are freepers and shills that troll around sites attacking those who dare criticize or question Dean. I've been recipient of this treatment myself as can be seen by personal attacks on me above. The Bush Republicans have several attack Web sites which put out orchestrated email messages on demand--both offensive and defensive. Dean has a similar attack site connected to his campaign on the Web, called the Dean Defense Forces (DDF).
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/07/268984.shtml After the attacks they then spin and obfuscate to defend Dean from legitimate criticisms. Much like the White House explaining the 'Mission Accomplished' banner.
As Americans we deserve better of our President. As Democrats we should demand better of our nominee. We deserve a man of the character and principles of Al Gore not the moral relativism & political opportunism of George W. Bush or Howard Dean.