posted on May 23, 2005 07:26:55 PM new
Dean, Feisty and Unbowed, Stands By Words on DeLay
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: May 23, 2005
WASHINGTON, May 22 - Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman, said Sunday that Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, was likely to go to jail over ethical transgressions and called on him to step down pending the outcome of inquiries into his actions.
Dr. Dean offered a blistering review of the Republican Party - "I hate what the Republicans are doing to this country, I really do," he said - and used Mr. DeLay as an example of the "abuse of power" that he said now permeated Washington.
"This gentleman is not an ethical person, and he ought not to be leading Congress, period," Dr. Dean said on "Meet the Press" on NBC. "And it is endemic of what happens in Congress when one party controls everything."
It was the first national television interview Dr. Dean has granted since he was elected chairman in February, and the appearance is part of the party's orchestrated effort to raise his profile. Reinforcing an impression suggested by his often freewheeling remarks on a 100-day nationwide tour he made when he started the job, Dr. Dean left little doubt on Sunday that he is a different party leader than his predecessors or his counterpart in the Republican Party, Ken Mehlman
He offered bruising attacks on Mr. DeLay, President Bush and Rush Limbaugh, among others, and freely expressed his opinion on almost every issue he was questioned about. "I'm proudly willing to say anything," Dr. Dean said as he sidestepped a question about whom he viewed as the front-runner to win his party's presidential nomination in 2008. And he repeatedly declined to back off any of the more noteworthy statements he made during his tour, including his suggestion last week in Massachusetts that Mr. DeLay was going to jail and his mocking mention of Mr. Limbaugh's addiction to painkillers in an effort to portray him as a hypocrite.
Mr. DeLay's spokesman, [B]Dan Allen, responded, "Leading a party with no idea, no solutions and no agenda, Howard Dean's latest antics, which previously earned him a rebuke from his own party, shows the sad state the Democrats have sunk to[B]."
In calling for Mr. DeLay to step down, Dr. Dean went well beyond anything that Democratic Congressional leaders have said. Democratic strategists have argued that it was in their party's interest to have Mr. DeLay stay in power through next year's election. Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, one of the House's leading critics of Mr. DeLay, said Sunday that Dr. Dean's remarks were unfair and counterproductive.
"You don't have to be unfair to be tough," he said. "And you don't have to overstate and really be unfair to people to get your ideological allies energized. It's just inappropriate."
Dr. Dean came to the interview with Tim Russert carrying written notes, which he consulted as he ran through some of the ethics accusations that Mr. DeLay is facing involving improper fund-raising and foreign trips possibly financed by a lobbyist. He rejected suggestions that he was being unfair to Mr. DeLay in saying he was likely to go to jail, noting that Texas prosecutors were investigating political fund-raisers and lobbyists close to him.
In the course of the interview, Dr. Dean also said he would oppose trying to change Social Security by raising the eligibility age or reducing allowances. He also said that local medical boards should have the power to make decisions on third-trimester abortions.
Dr. Dean said the Republican intervention in the case of Terri Schiavo, as it sought to overturn a court ruling instructing that her feeding tube be removed, would be instrumental in the coming elections.
"The Schiavo case will probably be the turning point about our ability to make our case to Americans about the incredible invasiveness of Republicans when it comes to making personal private decisions," he said.
Asked by Mr. Russert why most Congressional Democrats - and Dr. Dean himself - did not speak out when the Schiavo bill passed, Dr. Dean said that he and the party might have made a mistake.
"Look, I'm not making excuses for this," he said. "In retrospect, probably at the time we should have said, 'No, this is a terrible thing.' But I myself, who thought it was a terrible thing, did say so but didn't have a press conference and grandstand about it in a big way is because we need to stay on message on Social Security."
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Evidently their failed leaders couldn't find candidates to oppose the Republicans.
posted on May 23, 2005 08:12:43 PM new
I don't know if any of you saw 'Meet The Press' yesterday or not.
But Tim Russert made dean SQUIRM. He brought up so much of the nonsense dean has said...and made him answer to it. dean, of course, dance and danced, but Russert held his ground.
A GREAT read for anyone who wants to see how much damage dean is doing to the DNC.
I'll see if I can get the link...so anyone interested can see what a fool dean looked like.
posted on May 23, 2005 08:37:35 PM new
Of all the back pedalling dean did on MTP...this still was my favorite part of the interview.
Heaven no....don't want American's to know a socialist will be on the democratic ticket. Then man is a self professed socialist...but dean somehow tries to disagree with the mans OWN self description. It was funny as all-get-out.
MR. RUSSERT: In your home state of Vermont, there's a vacancy for the United States Senate about to occur. Bernie Sanders, the congressman from Vermont, wants to run for that seat. He is a self- described avowed socialist.
DR. DEAN: Well, that's what he says. He's really a populist.
MR. RUSSERT: But is there room in the Democratic Party for a socialist?
DR. DEAN: Well, first of all, he's not a socialist, really.
MR. RUSSERT: He...
DR. DEAN: He hasn't said that for a while.
MR. RUSSERT: Oh, he has a--he wrote in his book: "Outside or in the House, I am a Democratic socialist."
DR. DEAN: Well, a Democratic socialist--all right, we're talking about words here. And Bernie can call himself anything he wants. He is basically a liberal Democrat, and he is a Democrat that--he runs as an Independent because he doesn't like the structure and the money that gets involved. And he actually has, I think, some good points about campaign finance reform. The bottom line is that Bernie Sanders votes with the Democrats 98 percent of the time. And that is a candidate that we think...
MR. RUSSERT: So you'd support him?
DR. DEAN: We may very well end up supporting him. We need to work some things out because it's very important for us not to split the votes in some of the other offices as well.
MR. RUSSERT: In 1996 you said you would never have voted for Bernie Sanders. Instead, you opted in recent years to leave the ballot blank.
DR. DEAN: Bernie and I have had our difficulties over the years. We've had our strong disagreements. He's a strong personality. We're fighting for the future of America, and a Bernie Sanders in the United States Senate is going to be a whole lot better than somebody who will vote to confirm right-wing judges, somebody who will vote to undo minority rights, somebody who will vote to kill Social Security. This is a battle where personalities and differences have to be put aside, and we have to do what's right for America.
MR. RUSSERT: You describe...
DR. DEAN: And Bernie Sanders will be a strong candidate.
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Maybe I just found it so funny as the liberals here get sooooo upset when I've told anyone I see their political position as being a progressive/socialist. Or mentioned their favorite leaders are, imo, socialist progressives...like Pelosi. Well...guess what....some are.
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Four More Years....YES!!!
