"Nervous about NAFTA"....from 1998 by Howard Dean on Canada's The Editors forum.

[madfloridian]

It is amazing how things get all twisted around about what people stand for and believe in. One of the main talking points against Dean by many progressives was his so-called support of NAFTA.

Yet these quotes from the debates he had as governor on The Editors, a Canadian forum....show he was doubtful about NAFTA in 1998. NBC pulled these tapes out of their you know whats during the crucial Iowa caucuses. He criticized the Iowa caucuses in the late 90s, and NBC put it out just before the caucuses. It worked. More on that later. Yet he was vindicated on a lot of subjects.

NBC: Old TV shows answer some questions

First about NAFTA and tax cuts.

'Nervous about NAFTA'

In addition, while Dean has been critical about free trade on the campaign trail, some of his opponents have blasted his earlier support of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Yet in a February 1998 episode of “The Editors,” Dean said he was already having second doubts about that support. “I’m a little nervous about NAFTA. I was a big supporter four years ago. I’m worried about the condition of Mexican workers around the maquiladoras. And I had hoped that NAFTA would boost the Mexican standard of living.” Such a statement seems to contradict Gephardt’s current argument that Dean’s doubts about NAFTA and free trade are an “11th-hour conversion.”

Dean has also been consistent about his opposition to tax cuts, including his desire to roll back the tax rates to their levels during the Clinton Administration. “There is such a thing as a bad tax cut,” he said in an October 1996 appearance. “It took Reagan’s tax cuts, which were irresponsible, to create an enormous deficit, which has finally 12 years later come home to roost and force us to reduce spending.”

Then about the Iowa caucuses, which was the purpose of Lisa Myers having her fun on TV with this at a crucial time.

Harsh remarks on caucuses
“If you look at the caucuses system, they are dominated by the special interests in both parties,” he said. “ the special interests don't represent the centrist tendencies of the American people. They represent the extremes. And then you get a president who is beholden to either one extreme or the other, and where the average person is in the middle.”

He added, “Here's what happens: Say I'm a guy who's got to work for a living, and I've got kids and so forth. On a Saturday, is it easy for me to go cast a ballot and spend 15 minutes doing it, or do I have to sit in a caucus for eight hours? … I can’t stand there and listen to everyone else’s opinion for eight hours about how to fix the world.”

The caucus part was geared toward his defeat. I would someday love to see more of those tapes. There is a video with some snips of the forum, and they are fascinating.

Video:
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?f=00&g=622864e0-aa26-407c-80e4-7a2f6c119f02&p=&t=m5&rf=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3908334/&fg=

As Dean said not long ago, "there is a price to be paid for candor." He paid it, and so will others unfortunately.

They are probably hoarding those tapes of an outspoken man to use against him if he ever runs for anything again. :evilgrin:

[madfloridian]

1. A Price to be paid for candor....

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1207

From You Have the Power,Fall 2004.

P. 124, 125

Although I was often criticized during the campaign for coming on so strongly, I think Americans desperately want a president who will clearly, forcefully, and unambiguously state their case. George Bush's greatest strength, despite being wrong on virtually every issue of long-term importance to the country, is that he always speaks with conviction in defending his policies.

"For Democrats to offer voters significant change over the long term, we need to say what we mean and not be afraid of the consequences. But there is a price to be paid for candor, as I and others inclined to speak our minds have discovered the hard way. There is no reward now in politics for saying what you think. On the contrary in the go-along-get-along world of Washington, politicians are penalized for saying what they believe; and insincerity is the culture of the currency.

America's politicians attack one another by day and slap one another on the back by evening. They can play this game because they know their fighting words have no real meaning. And the media play right along, reporting on the game as though it were a story of substance. Indeed the game becomes the story, and discussions of substance are relegated to the newspapers' inside pages if indeed they are covered at all."