From Patrician Roots, Dean Set Path of Prickly Independence (puff piece alert)

The New York Times ^ | 12/28/03

[small voice in the wilderness]

Explaining that every time she had a baby, the dining room would serve as a bedroom for the newborn and his nurse

BWHAHAHAHA!! They really DO NOT GET IT, do they? DGIH, what's it gonna take to shake them into reality?

[thegreatbeast]

No mention of the priveleged upbringing of that old lion of the senate, Ted Kennedy, who while his daddy was ambassador to England had his son receive First Communion from the pope of that time.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

"for the newborn and his nurse"

I couldn't get past that part, either. What pretentious phonies.As for Mrs Dean slamming the Bushes and their child rearing -guess she doesn't realize that George and Barbara lived in a modest home in Midland, Texas. Or that the Bushes drove themselves and their dying daughter from Texas to NYC,in an old car,so she could be treated at Sloan-Kettering.

[Cicero]

Too much can be made of these similarities, of course. Certainly Dr. Dean, 55, and his family feel it is misleading to tag them as Bushlike bluebloods, despite the fact that they own a Park Avenue apartment and an East Hampton country house.

Try pricing a three-bedroom apartment on Park Avenue (plus living room, dining room, library, entrance hall, study, kitchen, butler's pantry, and a maid's bedroom or two, I would guess, all with 12 foot ceilings). Or a house in East Hampton, which is more blueblooded than South Hampton.

I have friends who live this way, but no one would pretend that it isn't a bit beyond the usual.

[kaylar]

True story , circa late 1950s:

Instructors at an exclusive private school for young (preteen) girls wanted to create empathy for "The Poor" in their students. So the girls were given an assignment : Write a short story about "A Poor Family".

One girl's story started out thusly : Once upon a time, there was a very poor family. The father was poor. The mother was poor. The butler and the maids were poor. Everyone was poor.

It is unlikely that the 9 year old who wrote that was being ironic or witty. She just didn't know better. But an old lady, not realizing what that detail about "the nurse" reveals-!

[billorites]

The Conversion of St. Howard on the Bikepath to Burlington

[billorites]

"A C.E.O.'s skills are essentially the same, no matter the size of the company,"

What a stupid thing to say.

[Criminal Number 18F]

the inroads Dr. Dean might make among swing voters

Someone left the meds locker open at the Times again, and the staff got into the pretty pills.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Criminal Number 18F]

Years later, he remembers, his parents were immediately accepting of his decision to marry Judith Steinberg, even though it was highly unusual for someone from his family background to marry a Jew.

Why, isn't that special. [ MRS HOWELL VOICE] Of course, we couldn't let Howard in our club any more, but do you know, his little Jewess was just like a human! [/ MRS HOWELL]

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Sonny M]

I couldn't get past that part, either. What pretentious phonies.As for Mrs Dean slamming the Bushes and their child rearing -guess she doesn't realize that George and Barbara lived in a modest home in Midland, Texas. Or that the Bushes drove themselves and their dying daughter from Texas to NYC,in an old car,so she could be treated at Sloan-Kettering.

I can't see why Mrs. Dean would take a shot at the Bushes, One of George W Bush's grandmothers was part of the wedding party for one of Dean's grandmothers. The 2 families actually did know each other, and Dean's father was a lifelong republican.

[Sonny M]

No mention of the priveleged upbringing of that old lion of the senate, Ted Kennedy, who while his daddy was ambassador to England had his son receive First Communion from the pope of that time.

Deans family and the Bushs family do have some history together. I can't knock Dean's grandparents, one of them had W's grandma in her wedding party, and dean's family was republican.

Joe Kennedy and his ilk however, were born rat, played nazi and stayed rat.

[joesnuffy]

I like the way Dean isnt depending upon his anti war peacecreep image to please the commie liberasl and keeps trotting out for conservative dems.....his "lost in Laos" big brother...who MAY have worked for the CIA.....
What a phoney SOB....right up their with Clinton tears...Hillary's patrotism...algore's many inventions & fabrications...ketchup (catsup) boyze war record....and Daschole's integrity....

[Criminal Number 18F]

"When I was growing up," [Ma Dean] said, "we didn't even treat the servants like servants."

Ah, now that's what makes Howard what he is. Blind condescension.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Criminal Number 18F]

his "lost in Laos" big brother...who MAY have worked for the CIA.....

His brother was on a hippy-dippy dope-and-hiking trip around the world when he went to lay some solidarity on the brothers in the Pathet Lao.

There is no star in the memorial in CIA HQ for the time period in which doper Dean assumed room temperature. That's why Dean "hints at it" but won't say it, just like he hints that W was responsible for 911, but doesn't dare to say it: it isn't true. Not that this will stop him in the long run -- he is a Democrat, after all.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Criminal Number 18F]

Joe Kennedy and his ilk however, were born rat, played nazi and stayed rat.

True. Mrs Dean here is just snooty about Jews; Joe K wanted to put them up the chimney. Still, it's only a matter of degree...

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Miss Marple]

Boy, that comment on the nurse was the one that got me as well! I was lucky to have my sister come and help me for a week!! The idea of a NURSE is totally from East Coast wealthy elitism!

[speekinout]

Dr. Dean, 55, and his family feel it is misleading to tag them as Bushlike bluebloods, despite the fact that they own a Park Avenue apartment and an East Hampton country house.

Bush grew up in Texas, not on Park Avenue & East Hampton. I'd say the "blueblood" label is misapplied in the Bush case. But not in Dean's.
Very few would call every Yalie a "blueblood".

[Freee-dame]

They attended top prep schools and Yale. And they settled far from traditional power enclaves, reinventing themselves as archetypes of their chosen new homes, President Bush in swaggering Texas and Dr. Dean in outdoorsy Vermont.

George W. Bush attended the local public school through fourth or fifth grade. I wonder if Dean has ever attended public school?

W also moved to Texas as a toddler and has had Texas as his domicile most of his life. At what age did Dean move to Vermont?

"Billionaire Ross Perot's" extremely modest bungalow childhood home was almost never shown, but Algore's Tennessee "farm" was a term of constant reference. No bias in the old media....

[motherof 3]

Of course, the Deans didn't have to be materialistic. They have their parents buying their house and giving them $200,000. I also love how President Bush's experience as Governor of Texas was never enough experience for the NYT but Dean as Governor of a state the size of a city is just great.