The time was 1998, when Republicans were on the verge of impeaching President Bill Clinton. Howard Dean, then governor of Vermont, was unhappy with Mr. Clinton and disgusted with the Republican leadership in Washington. But he did find a Republican to admire.
"George W. Bush did very well," Dr. Dean said of the Texas governor, who had just been elected to a second term. "Why? Because he is talking about his issues in a civil, thoughtful way in getting his point across."
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When Dr. Dean was praising Mr. Bush in 1998, he added that the Texas governor and others he did not name were successful because "they govern from the center, they are respectful of their opponents." Governing from the center was Dr. Dean's approach as well, and he often cited the Clinton model with approval.
He also appointed judges whom he considered conservative, even though their stiff sentences resulted in overcrowded jails. "I've put much more conservative people on the bench because I've wanted longer sentences, and I'm getting those longer sentences," he said in 1997.
Only after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, did foreign affairs begin to creep in to Dr. Dean's public comments. Immediately after the attacks, he said he was open to "more aggressive measures in terms of dealing with terrorism, measures that we would have perhaps declined to do on humanitarian or constitutional grounds." He did not specify what measures he had in mind.
But when he was asked if the United States should retaliate for the attacks, he said, "I don't think we should do anything out of revenge."
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