Dean surges by becoming the anti-Bush

[pruner]

More emphatically than any other candidate for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, Dean is the anti-Bush. And that is propelling him toward winning the leadership of a party that increasingly defines itself by its loathing of the president.

The combative, finger-waving Dean decided early on to adopt a risky but potentially high payoff strategy - flatly opposing virtually every one of Bush's major initiatives at a time when many Democrats supported the president, especially in the days between Sept. 11 and the Iraq war, when Bush enjoyed record-high approval ratings.

The former Vermont governor opposed the war in Iraq when many Democratic rivals supported it. He proposes to repeal all of Bush's tax cuts, while many rivals want to keep those that go to the middle class. And he rips Bush's education reform, the No Child Left Behind Act that was widely supported by Democrats, as the No School District Left Standing Act.

Having thus carved out his ground, once the broad post-Sept. 11 support for Bush washed away and the nation's 50-50 partisan split re-emerged, Dean became the champion of all who never really liked Bush.

…

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/7470292.htm

[Cha]

1. Definetly .."the anti bush" in my book and there

couldn't be a better compliment!

"For example, Dean wants to repeal all tax cuts enacted under Bush, totaling $3 trillion by his count. Some rivals, including Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, argue that some of the tax cuts helped working-class people and that repealing them would unwisely raise taxes on them.

Dean dismisses the complaint.

"What tax cuts?" he asks sarcastically, telling audiences that any tax savings under Bush were lost to rising college tuition or property taxes.

"He's got people all riled up," said Lin Prinsberg, 21, a senior at Coe College. "I was for Kerry, but then I heard Dean speak at Iowa City in October. A lot of it was the intensity. The other candidates don't have that."

[BeFree]

2. Not just anti-bush

He's as close as we'll come to an anti-elite candidate.
If he gets to DC as Prez. he will turn the tables on that swamp.
The established powers that be are gonna fight him the whole way.
This is gonna be one hell of an election year. Ya think its bad now? Ha.

[Cha]

6. Yeah...they're just warming up in the

BULL pen.

[blm]

3. The writer is pushing an inaccurate picture.

Dean in July, 2002, unwilling to back up Kerry's criticisms of Bush allowing Al Qaeda and bin Laden to escape at Tora Bora...and his less than straight answer about TIPS and the curtailing of rights which he proposed as early as Sept. 14, 2001.

 MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe the military operation in Afghanistan has been successful?
       
       GOV. DEAN: Yes, I do, and I support the president in that military operation.
       
       MR. RUSSERT: The battle of Tora Bora was successful?
       
       GOV. DEAN: I’ve seen others criticize the president. I think it’s very easy to second-guess the
       commander-in-chief at a time of war. I don’t choose to engage in doing that.
And when Russert noted that Dean proposed curtailing of civil rights shortly after Sept.11, listen to how Mr. Straight talk answers by side-stepping and shuffling. But, again, he "tends to support the president." and on TIPS, no less.
MR. RUSSERT: You heard Mr. Armey’s objection to the president’s TIPS Program, where cable
       installers, utility workers would observe what’s going on and report anything suspicious to the police.
       Do you support the president?
       
 

     GOV. DEAN: I tend to support the president, although I have some reservations about this one as well.
       All I’ve seen is what’s been on television, and I have something in me that is bothered by the notion that
       Americans are going to be spying on each other. So if the president is simply asking people to be alert,
       I think that’s fine. If the president really is encouraging Americans to spy on each other, I have a
       problem with that.
       
       MR. RUSSERT: You did say after the 11th that the United States may be prepared to have to sacrifice
       some personal liberties and civil liberties in order to fight the war on terrorism.
       
       GOV. DEAN: We already are. I think when I got on the airplane to come down here, it took me about
       25 minutes longer than it would have a year ago. And those are the kinds of liberties that we are going
       to be sacrificing and there may be some other ones.

[stickdog]

5. Blah, blah, blah.

blm, we all lived through the Iraqi War, looking for one Democratic "leader" -- anybody -- to say out loud that the Warmonger had no clothes.

Dean said it over and over. Meanwhile, Kerry was nearly silent and banked on his silence making him the far more formidable candidate. That's what happened. We all know what happened. We all lived through it, and there's nothing you or Kerry can do to change it.

Just some friendly advice: stop trying, and move on to your new post-Kerry campaign life.

[opihimoimoi]

4. If this is what it takes to get the Shrub out so be it

and to top it off

This Dean can and will do it. He will make Bush go away to masticate by himself

[Cha]

7. Bean for Dean here!

[Eloriel]

8. It's a shame they see -- and characterize it-- as a "strategy"

instead of principles or honest to God beliefs. That's the kind of thinking that prevents pundits and pols from getting it about Dean and esp. his supporters and the reason for his support at all.

Stupid, cynical morons.