Page 1 Editorial: Dean’s smear: Will it be ignored?

Union Leader ^ | 12/09/03 | JOSEPH W. McQUAID , Publisher

[kattracks]

ANYONE WHO would insinuate that President Bush knew in advance of the Sept. 11 attacks on America would normally be dismissed as a charter member of the lunatic fringe.

But when that person is the leading candidate for the Democratic Party’s Presidential nomination, it is a different situation.

Asked “Why do you think he (Bush) is suppressing that report?” here is what Howard Dean said:

“I don’t know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I’ve heard so far — which is nothing more than a theory, it can’t be proved — is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is?”

What a clever man is Howard Dean! He spreads — on national radio, no less — an out-and-out world-class smear against the President, while being careful to say this “most interesting theory” is just a theory that “can’t be proved.”

Does Dean have any information at all to back up this “theory”? Of course not. He even admits it in the same breath — “it can’t be proved.”

So why bring it up at all? On Sunday, he was asked just that by Fox News.

“Because there are people who believe that,” Dean said.

“Do you believe that?” he was asked.

“No, I don’t believe that. I can’t imagine the President of the United States doing that, but we don’t know and it would be a nice thing to know.”

It would be a nice thing to know if Dean is going to get away with this stuff. Will his fellow Democratic candidates and the news media at tonight’s televised debate on WMUR-TV let him? These are the same people who went ballistic on Dean when he made his crack about seeking the Confederate flag pickup truck support. This is far more serious.

It was a Democratic President of whom it was claimed that he knew all about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Has FDR’s party now stooped so low as to countenance a similar irresponsible charge against the current President by one of its own presumed leaders?

For shame if the answer is yes.

[wizardoz]

Dean suffers massive character defects and is obviously mentally unstable. He reminds me of the psycho Presidential candidate in the movie version of the Dead Zone.

If I remember correctly, that actor was Martin Sheen. Ironique, non?

But Dean reminds me of a young Adolf Hitler, especially when I see his raving mad speeches and his reliance on this combination of rage and charisma. I'm reading a lot about Weimar Germany and the rise of Hitler. The book is Ominous Parallels by Piekoff.

All you need is someone who can unite the socialists with the nationalists (read: protective-tariff folks, unions). Let him blame all problems on the Jews (read: our support of Israel). Let that person create a cult of personality for those who consider themselves the underdog, and you are, as one Freeper says in his tag line, one beer hall short of a putsch.