Dem. front-runner Dean comes under attack

AP | 12/13/03 | NEDRA PICKLER

[kattracks]

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean is getting the kitchen sink thrown at him, with rivals attacking his record, his temperament and anything else that might knock him from his perch atop the field.

Two candidates, Rep. Dick Gephardt and Sen. John Kerry, accused Dean of catering to corporate interests while governor of Vermont. A third, Sen. John Edwards, suggested that the front-runner is waging a negative, divisive campaign doomed to fail against President Bush. Another rival, Sen. Joe Lieberman, plans to criticize Dean's economic record and policies in a speech next week.

The fresh round of attacks follow former Vice President Al Gore's announcement Tuesday that he is backing Dean — an endorsement that made Dean the undisputed Democrat to beat.

Dean was getting another crucial backer with the endorsement of the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, in Atlanta on Saturday, campaign aides said.

"It's tough at the top," said Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, who ran Gore's White House campaign in 2000. "He better get his Teflon suit on."

Dean spent Friday campaigning in Iowa, telling audiences that Bush has aided corporate interests while ordinary Americans suffer.

"He spent $3 trillion of our money, giving it to his friends like Kenny-boy Lay and the folks that ran Enron in terms of the huge tax cuts that they got," Dean said. He was referring to former Enron chief Ken Lay, a friend and supporter of Bush.

At the same time, Dean faced questions about corporate tax breaks enacted during his 11 years as Vermont governor. Enron set up a special insurance subsidiary in the state on Dec. 12, 1994, a year after the Dean-supported tax break to the industry went into effect, Len Crouse, Vermont's deputy commissioner of captive insurance, said Friday.

The Boston Globe first detailed the tax breaks in a story Friday.

Accusing Dean of "gross hypocrisy," Gephardt told reporters, "While he was attacking President Bush's special treatment of Enron, he's been hiding the fact that he turned Vermont into a tax shelter for that very same corporate criminal."

Later, Sen. Kerry issued a statement, saying: "Howard Dean tried to slash seniors' drug benefits while creating Cayman Island-style style tax havens for corporations already in Vermont."

Two days ago, Kerry accused Dean of flip-flopping on his signature issue: opposition to the war in Iraq. The criticism forced Dean to concede that he supported a failed resolution that would have allowed Bush to wage war without approval of Congress.

Dean bristled at the criticism, saying the law enticed insurance business to Vermont that would have otherwise gone overseas. The state's Republican governors also have pushed for it as a means to attract businesses.

Enron's corporate wrongdoing had nothing to do with the Vermont law, Dean noted. Suggesting otherwise is "like saying a bank is in bad shape because they had an account with Enron," he said.

But when he criticizes Bush's links to Lay, Dean never mentions that Enron's mismanagement was not the result of the president's tax-cut package.

Asked to explain the difference between the Bush administration giving tax breaks to Enron and what he did in Vermont, the former governor interrupted and tersely replied, "Excuse me, we did not provide tax breaks for Enron. Don't do the work of the other campaigns for them."

Edwards did not mention Dean by name when picking apart his rival's perceived political advantages: his appeal to liberal voters and landmark use of the Internet.

"We hear a lot about which candidate can engage the most partisans in December of 2003, and that's important. But what's more important is which candidate will help the most Americans, because that's what matters in November 2004," Edwards told the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.

___

AP Political Writer Ron Fournier in Washington and Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vt., contributed to this report.

[kattracks]

"Excuse me, we did not provide tax breaks for Enron. Don't do the work of the other campaigns for them."

No need to get snippy about it, Howie.

[RLK]

ll these clowns are tearing each other up in a circular firing squad while Hillary waits patiently to become the unifying savior of the party.

[RLK]

All these clowns are tearing each other up in a circular firing squad while Hillary waits patiently to become the unifying savior of the party.

[thesummerwind]

At the same time, Dean faced questions about

Here's a question for you Doc Dean, "Doc, what was your preference in skincare products in Aspen when you went skiing for eight months with that "bad back" directly after the military let you out of your obligation -- after you showed them those "x-rays"? Did you prefer 'Reflectant Sunscreen Cream', 'Sun E45 High protection Lotion', or the 'Coppertone Ultrashade 23 Lotion'?

So Doc, what's the scoop, eh?"

[backhoe]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1039410/posts
Howard Dean's Secret Enron Tax Breaks
EIB ^ | 12-12-03 | Rush Limbaugh
I actually named Dr. Dean as one of my physicians, thus ensuring his records would be seized immediately...

[11th Earl of Mar]

Donna Brazile, who ran Gore's White House campaign in 2000: "He better get his Teflon suit on."

You mean this is going to get better?

I can't wait!

[samtheman]

Dean bristled at the criticism, saying the law enticed insurance business to Vermont that would have otherwise gone overseas.

So what you are saying, Howard, is that lowering taxes on business is actually good for business? And does it follow, then, that in the long term, lowering taxes on businesses and thus increasing economic growth will actually yield higher tax revenues?

What a great idea, Howard!

Too bad President Bush is too busy "cutting taxes on the top 1%" to see the utility of stimulating economic growth by encouraging business development by, er, cutting taxes on corporations, that is, well, what I mean to say is... oh never mind.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

"It's tough at the top," said Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, who ran Gore's White House campaign in 2000. "He better get his Teflon suit on."

Ironically, I believe the criticism, even coming from his fellow Democrats, actually helps Dean. It reinforces the view that he is the strong frontrunner. It also bolsters his image as the daring outsider, whose boldness elicits attacks from the establishment.

[thesummerwind]

He was rejected after a physical. I lived for 7 years with a severe back dislocation, and worked as a roofer; ....... A back injury does not preclude skiing.

How's that old back of yours now, dude?

You are right that a back injury does not preclude (prohibit, exclude) some stressful physical activity. Not at all.

I have been diagnosed with degenerative discs in my lower-lumbar region of my back for over 30 years. And I've had cartilage problems in a knee for more than those years, yet today I work in a physical manner in my nursery every day. I also played professional baseball for a time with the problems.

But, you are apparently missing the point. You might want to do a little more studying on Dean's life from high school (captain of his wrestling team, and a member of the track team) through the day of his military 'examination'. Then, tell me about Dean being clean and righteous with the claim of the "bad back". I know how these things were done with young 'silver spoon' guys back in the Vietnam era. I know, because I was one of them, and I had a chance to do the very same thing he did. But I did not, and I did my years in the Army Security Agency after my college graduation in 1968. I had the papers to AVOID the draft, to fail my exam, but I didn't use them.

Dean's actions were the actions of a rich kid who punked out, and in a way, I don't blame him. It was a bad time then, and it was easy to look for a way out.

But, call a spade a spade, he was just weak-kneed, and now he wants to be President.

We'd all be better off if he'd get a job in Aspen as a senior ski instructor, and leave the Presidency to someone else!

[Jhensy]

How did you hurt your back? Falling off a anti-war puppet float? Go fellate Dean back at DU, idiot.

[woodyinscc]

He was referring to former Enron chief Ken Lay, a friend and supporter of Bush.

These lib. journalist just cannot keep themselves from letting their bias seep into their reporting. Ken Lay played golf with Clinton, and slept over in the WH. twice, when Clinton was in office. He was an equal opportunity campaign contributer. Let Dean keep giving red meat to his rabid base, in the general election, it will come back to haunt him.

[thesummerwind]

I am confused (not too unusual).

What did I write that had anything to do with Ken Lay? I was talking to geo.... about Dean's "bad back" and skiing.

[woodyinscc]

I had just read the article, and was commenting on that particular context. I scrolled down, your familiar handle appeared, and I posted to you. I should have read your comments first and added a thought. My fault, I wake up confused.:)

[WOSG]

"Later, Sen. Kerry issued a statement, saying: "Howard Dean tried to slash seniors' drug benefits while creating Cayman Island-style style tax havens for corporations already in Vermont." "

Demagogic attacks come back to haunt the Democrats!

The same loopy logic they used to attack Bush can be used to attack Dean. I do find that funny.

[WOSG]

I think i've got the liberal logic down now:

Tax cuts are only good if done by Democrats.
A Democrat tax cut is for fine upstanding family businesses.
A Republican tax cut is for evil greedy corporate behemoths.

Spending by Democrats is an "investment".
Spending by Republicans is "give-aways to special interests".

If a Republican majority exists, the 'rights of minorities are threatened'.
if a Democrat majority exists on an issue, the Republicans are standing in the way of the will of the people.

Oh, and anything the Bush administration does on any given day is wrong.

---

Bush: Failing at Failure

The national Democrats are slowly painting themselves into a corner
that is wrong on practically every major issue.
The charm of it all is how they've done this in the face of
inconsistent Bush policies and have been driven by their Bush-hatred
to abandon sensible and consistent positions.

It all starts with the wicked premise that whatever Bush is doing,
it must be wrong. Now, the Bush administration rarely stops to admit mistakes or
to explain changes of course. They blithely avert disaster
and then declare: "I meant to do that".
The Democrats get twisted into a pretzel demanding that the inconsistent
Bush do exaclty the opposite of what he is doing, making their own positions
as inconsistent. Howard Dean three weeks
ago demanded Bush end his tariffs on steel. With WTO ruling ready to start a trade war
over the issue, the Bush administration wisely ended the tariffs.
Did bush acknowledge any WTO or EU influence? No. Did Dean step
in front of the parade and declare victory?
No, his "Bush is wrong" message overrode any consistency in positions
and he denounced Bush's change in policy, thereby changing his own.

The Bush administration failed to account for how badly the French wanted
to provide cover to the regime of Saddam Hussein. They went ahead anyway.
They failed to expect the quick victory on the march to Baghdad,
and the humanitarian crisis in Iraq that was expected never materialized. This
has been distorted into a 'failure to plan', but the Bush administration has
just gone ahead and started reconstructing Iraq anyway. No waiting on UN
reports, not a whit of concern for the views of the unelected UN diplomats
from third-world socialist countries who are experts at maintaining
impoverished dictatorships.

The Iraqi failures are running out. No humanitarian crises, an Iraq economy that is on the men, oil production above prewar levels, and defeat after defeat of the terrorist cells. The most underreported story this month was the 20,000 people in Iraq who marched in favor of democracy, freedom, the coalition effort and against terrorism.
The Iraqi quagmire has been quite a failure, though not for lack of trying, what with underpaid Iraqi soldiers quitting and a press eager to tout every failure and ignore every success.

Of course, the failing economy is also failing to fail.
The tax cuts passed last May are exactly what the
economy needed. The stock market responded, after a
3 year bear market, by partying like its 1999 again. The economy
in the 3rd quarter showed its best performance in 20 years.
After several years at idle, the economy is hitting all cylinders -
production up, productivity up, and employment, the last indicator
to move in economic cycles, starting to respond.

The Democrats response? Bush is a 'miserable failure' whereas the
Democrats are much much better at that failing stuff. It's true! Democrats are
much better at failure than Bush is. They managed
to fail to pass the prescription drugs for 4 congressional sessions straight,
keeping hope alive that they'd have an issue for the next election.
Bush dashed that. Rather than doing a "Bush" and declaring victory
after getting 50% of what they want, they turned around and called it a failure.


For a fiscal conservative, the current trends are depressing.
Spending is up, the deficits are up, and the Democrat response
to Republican largesse is that only Democrats are allowed to do that
and by the way, it['s not enough.
Some at least want to stop the Republicans from being Democrats.
Ted Kennedy said "keep your hands off our medicare".
as if the Democrat party owned the medicare program and
only the Democrats have the right to spend like drunken sailors.
Ted Kennedy, whose attempt at drunken amphibious water-crafting ended in tragedy,
knows a thing or two about what it takes to be a drunken sailor,
and if the Republicans want to compete with Kennedy on either binge
drinking or binge spending, they'd likely end up passed out on the floor and with a
severe hangover come next morning.

Failing to control spending is something the Democrats have 40 years and trillions of dollars of experience in.

Bush has yet to admit his failure to do the wrong thing, and boy does that make Democrats mad. They keep asking "What Would Jimmy (carter) Do?", seeking wisdom from the man who had tremendous success in failures - advancing Communism and Islamic Theocracy in the 1970s while not managing to get hostages freed for over a year and a half. But Bush doesnt budge. The distressing thing is, one year from now, with the economy on the mend and booming and the Iraqi situation likely much improved and with progress on the war on terror, Bush may never have to account for this miserable performance on failure.

And the Democrats may yet in November 2004 show us how failure is really to be done.

[TigersEye]

HIDING THE GOODS

"In a nondescript warehouse here (in Middlesex, Vermont) are 146 boxes of letters, memos and other documents from former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's days in office. Although he maintains that no 'smoking gun' is hidden anywhere in the boxes, Mr. Dean has made extraordinary requests to keep them sealed and refuses to release them now as he runs for the Democratic presidential nomination." (Washington Times, Dec. 7)

"86% of you who responded to last week's online poll think Hillary will find a way to get into the 2004 presidential race. We tend to agree. Especially if there's a smoking gun in Howie Dean's secret papers. What do you think? Will Howie be able to keep hiding his papers behind lock-and-key for the duration of the 2004 race, or is he eventually going to have to 'fes up and give the public a peek at whatever it is he doesn't want the world to see? Cast your ballot in this week's poll today by clicking on the 'Survey Says!' button at www.citizenoutreach.com." (News & Views, Dec. 8)