Dean Working to Be Seen as Foreign Policy Centrist

[DuctapeFatwa]

...Dean also indicated he agreed with a number of Bush's foreign policy stances. In a speech Monday, Dean will seek to counter his image as a darling of the left by positioning himself as a centrist Democrat on foreign policy. Dean portrayed himself as a realist, willing to use military force if necessary, and to maintain relationships and alliances, even if freedom and democracy in countries such as Russia and Pakistan are eroded....

Indeed, Dean suggested that on some issues, the difference between Bush and himself was more of tone and temperament...

In March 2000, Dean told a Canadian public affairs program that 98 percent of the public does not vote based on a candidate's foreign policy views, "unless they are really a wacko." Now, he says, because of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the Iraq war, national security is the most important issue in this election...

Dean's core foreign policy team includes former national security adviser Anthony Lake; retired Gen. Joseph Hoare, a former chief of U.S. Central Command; retired Gen. Merrill A. "Tony" McPeak, former chief of staff of the Air Force; two former assistant secretaries of defense, Ashton Carter and Frank Kramer; former assistant secretary of state Susan Rice; and political theorist Benjamin R. Barber. Danny E. Sebright, a former Defense Department civil servant who works for the consulting firm headed by Clinton defense secretary William Cohen, is Dean's foreign policy coordinator....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62184-2003Dec13.html

I do not support any of the candidates

[hedda_foil]

1. Wait for the speech rather than taking snippets from the press.

They're invariably out of context. If you find it repellant, then so be it, but we've learned how the press manages to compress everything into superficialities.

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. Do you think his foreign policy positions are repellant?

Which aspect do you feel is superficial?

[bearfartinthewoods]

2. well, well, welll.......that was faster than even i thought

errrr.........if it ain't broken, why fix it?

[dolstein]

4. I hate the state the obvious, but . . .

the easiest way to be seen as a foreign policy centrist is to ACTUALLY BE a foreign policy centrist. Hence Dean's problem.

[bearfartinthewoods]

9. bingo

[KaraokeKarlton]

16. He is a centrist on the issue, it's obvious

He's not anti-war, he was anti-THIS war. He supported Afghanistan, the first Gulf War and probably every other one with the one possible exception being Vietnam. He supports the death penalty in some cases (wants to make sure it's fair, though). He's not anti-gun either. He's centrists on most issues, and I wouldn't expect foreign policy to be any different.

Anyone who thinks Howard Dean is some raging liberal hasn't even looked at his record or where he stands on issues.

[Hep]

18. Nor do they care

It's just a daily piss on Dean thread. It's best we keep these people here, posting amongst themselves. It' helps assure us that they're not out on the street doing any relevant advocacy, which guarantees our win in the primaries.

[blm]

19. And THAT'S what makes me angry about the media not examining Dean

when he first started throwing out the hot rhetoric and accusing those who were KNOWN to have long liberal records of being Bushlite and saying that HE represented the Democratic wing, when he was FULLOFSHIT. He was one of those Dem lawmakers PULLING the party to the right throughout his time as governor.

It was guys like Kerry and Gephardt who, thankfully, were pulling left to stop the forward march to the center.

[Hep]

22. Kerry and Gep did a wonderful job

Thanks to them, our party is in much better shape than it was five years ago.

[Nederland]

27. Better Shape?

How do you figure that losing Senate seats, Congressional seats, and governorships puts the party "in better shape"? Oh yeah, didn't we have a Democratic President five years ago too?

[Hep]

32. Ahhh

the sarcasm escaped you?

[blm]

28. That's your excuse for Dean pulling the party to the right for 10+ years?

And if more people were interested in dry matters like foreign policy thay would have read Kerry's book in 1997, The New War, and understood its implications of a dawning widespread terror war.

If more people had listened we may never have seen a 9-11. Does that even matter to you or is it all about scoring political points?

[Eloriel]

29. Oh, please

Healthcare for all kids, drug benefits for poor seniors, stemming child abuse thru an innovatine social program, protecting the environment, signing civil unions are pulling the party to the right?

Get real.

[blm]

30. Pushing deregulation, curbing healthcare services to balance budgets,

supporting NRA against assault weapons ban, pushing Yucca Mt. decision, bypassing environmental regulations for favored businesses.

[Hep]

34. You from VT?

Ever notice how the most hateful and vitriolic anti Dean people aren't from VT?

[blm]

38. My post stands.

Your attempt at deflection fails because you know what I listed is true.

[Hep]

33. Dean did nothing of the sort

That's just the desperate speculation of a person who doesn't know how to support THEIR candidate.

There were lots of ways to avoid 9/11. Reading Kerry's freaking book isn't one of them.

[arewethereyet]

5. leaving out his recently exposed approval of the war

he has been anti war from the start when most were for it.

thats not centrist to me. Centrist would be Edwards.

[KaraokeKarlton]

17. There is a distinct difference between being "anti-war"

and being anti THIS war.

[blm]

40. and there was little difference between Dean's actual stance

on the war and Kerry's but it never stopped Dean from exaggerating both and making the whole issue one of black and white - antiwar and prowar, just the way Sean Hannitty or some other unscrupulous thugs do on issues.

[delhurgo]

6. Is it possible that things could improve in Iraq to....

...such a degree that voters will decide that Bush is not needed anymore? Thats what happened to his Dad after Desert Storm. He led America into a great victory over Iraq, but people voted on domestic issues and Clinton won. Immediately after the war, that seemed impossible. The conventional wisdom has been that things must stay a mess in Iraq in order for any Democrat to win, but maybe thats wrong. Maybe the exact opposite is true. Lets say Dean gets the nomination and, as this latest piece in the WashPost suggests, is able to convince voters that he can be trusted with the defense of the country - that he's positively not a pacifist. His speech Monday and 'cabinet' picks suggest that. He's trying to position himself in the center. Its still an uphill battle, but this article is a very hopeful sign. Americans will appreciate Bush's leadership, but as they always do, will vote in their own self-interest. So stop wishing things go badly in Iraq. Saddam's capture is good news for the Iraqi people and for the United States.

[_Jumper_]

7. This is ironic

<In March 2000, Dean told a Canadian public affairs program that 98 percent of the public does not vote based on a candidate's foreign policy views, "unless they are really a wacko." >

I wonder where he got that 98% number from...

[Frederic Bastiat]

10. Sorry those records are sealed

;)

[blm]

11. That's Dean showing his scorn for the left, as usual.

Of course, that was before the antiwar movement grew and the "wackos" started sending him money.

[Karmadillo]

13. but, but, but "wackos" was 3 years ago. That means it's an inoperative

statement. Only the last eleven months of "populism" counts.

[blm]

15. Yes. His so called principles are 11 months old.

Now, when he shows his true centrist core the media will say he's switching just because Saddam was caught or some other superficial reason, never bothering to explain to audiences that Dean has ALWAYS been a centrist and even a hardliner on some issues. The guy never even stood against Reagan-Bush on their illegal wars in Central America, instead he said he had "mixed feelings" about those wars. Sheesh. Way to show real spine, Howie.

[dsc]

20. IThe context makes clear

that he meant the candidates views not the publics.

[Karmadillo]

8. Is he still a warrior against the status quo? n/t

n/t

[Hep]

21. He will be

as long as top down campaigns that alienate motivated individuals remain the status quo. For example, YOUR GUY.

[Karmadillo]

24. Kucinich isn't running a top down campaign and rather than alienating,

he encourages motivated individuals. And, better yet, he's not moving to the center on foreign policy as the election approaches. And, even better yet, he still is a warrior against the status quo.

[Hep]

25. Kucinich isn't moving at all.

If he is encouraging motivated individuals, one can only wonder where the hell they are and what the hell they're doing.

[bearfartinthewoods]

26. the only thing he will ever be is a

chameleon. blink and he changes his colors depending on his need.

[DancingBear]

12. You ask - what will Deans foreign policy speech consist of?

"The answer, my friend, is blowing in the polls,
The answer is blowing in the polls"

[ErasureAcer]

14. this just in

everything Dean is going to do is going to be CENTRIST.

www.kucinich.us

[KittyWampus]

23. No Matter What Dean Will Be A Foreign Policy Lightweight

Junior has demonstrated the problems and dangers of having a Head of State unfamiliar with Foreign Policy.

You can have the BEST advisors but they WILL have differences and power struggles.

And then you can factor in the Neo-Cons in the Pentagon and you have a recipe for disaster.

Look at what they did to Clinton and Carter. And Clinton was no political Lightweight after Governing as a Democrat in a Conservative state like Arkansas.

Dean simply has waited too long in his campaign to do Foreign Policy. He skimped on Foreign Policy advisors and it shows in his statements.

During the last debate you could tell Dean was regurgitating information he had only recently crammed. The non political friends who watched the debate with commented on that without any prompting by me.

Dean is best suited for VP- President of the SENATE. Not Commander in Chief & Head of State.

[sistersofmercy]

31. What is this? More "evolving" by Dean?

:evilgrin:

[mzmolly]

37. Nope, its more 'spinning' by his opponents.

:crazy:

[NewYorkerfromMass]

35. Dean's lost the "wacko" vote

File that one away in the ever growing "stupid things Dean has said" file.

[mzmolly]

36. He always has been a 'centrist'

is that news?

[WhosNext]

39. Am I the only one who thinks Tony Lake = badass?

Glad he's on board.