Posted on 01/12/2004 9:42:28 PM PST by Utah Girl
Howard Dean expresses admiration for President Bush's father in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, but says the current president's "obsession with re-election is hurting the country."
"I admire George Bush's father," Dean told the magazine during the course of two question-and-answer sessions last month. "There were some things I strongly disagreed with him on, but he tried to be a good president."
He said President Bush is the opposite of his father.
"This president is not interested in being a good president." "He's interested in some complicated psychological situation that he has with his father," the Democratic presidential front-runner said. "He is obsessed with being re-elected, and his obsession with re-election is hurting the country."
Asked for his thoughts on what motivates Bush, Dean said: "George Bush's philosophy is, 'If you're rich, you deserve it, and if you're poor, you deserve it. That's not my philosophy."
Dean, who will grace the magazine's cover when it hits newsstands Friday, also identified Bob Dylan as probably the greatest cultural influence of the former Vermont governor's generation.
Switching from the political to the personal, he also was asked about his experiences during the social upheaval of the 1960s. Dean, who grew his hair a bit longer while studying at Yale from 1968 to 1971, said the era's counterculture was exaggerated.
"Believe it or not, even though a lot of people smoked pot, I think beer was still the drug of choice. It was for me," he said.
A medical doctor, Dean was cautious in his support for medical marijuana, saying he is against legalizing drugs but would, as president, order the Food and Drug Administration to study pot's medicinal benefits.
One of Dean's presidential rivals, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, got the White House's attention with his Rolling Stone interview, in which he used profanity to assess Bush's Iraq policy.
Dean said Monday that former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's charge of pre-emptive war planning in the White House has validated his stand against the invasion of Iraq.
Dean said his leading rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination supported the congressional resolution authorizing the war without scrutinizing the faulty information coming from the White House. He singled out by name Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina, Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and former Gen. Wesley Clark.
"I would remind Iowans and others that a year ago I stood up against this war and was the only one to do so of the individuals that I have mentioned," Dean told reporters during a six-stop campaign swing before the state's Jan. 19 caucuses.
Clark made a similar claim to being vindicated by O'Neill's revelation. Clark is running as an opponent of the war, but Dean often notes that Clark said two years ago that he would have voted for the resolution and that there was a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida.
With one week left before the Iowa caucuses, Dean said the race is very close and he was stepping up his criticism of his Democratic rivals.
"I'm going after everybody because I'm tired of being the pin cushion here," said Dean, a former Vermont governor and the front-runner among the field of nine seeking the Democratic nomination.
Dean repeatedly told audiences Monday that if they want to change Washington, they should not vote for a Washington politician.
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Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz, D-Texas, has endorsed Clark while Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., has thrown her support to Dean in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Ortiz, a senior member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, worked with Clark in Latin America and Europe as well as in Washington during the span of their careers, Clark's campaign said.
Brown, a member of the Congressional Black Caucusnews, is the first member of the Florida delegation to endorse Dean.
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The Green Party will hold its annual nominating convention in Milwaukee from June 23-28.
"We're not only opposed to what President Bush stands for — we oppose what this entire political system stands for," party official Lynne Serpe said Monday. "We're here to join Democrats and Republicans on the political stage and to replace them in public office."
The party's 2000 nominee, Ralph Nader has decided against running on the Green Party ticket this year. Many Democrats blame Nader for taking votes away from Democratic candidate Al Gore in the 2000 election, helping Republican George W. Bush win the election.
Coming soon to a Barnes and Nobles near you..."Ask Doctor Dean" (Due out December 2004)
said the era's counterculture was exaggerated
Anybody who will tell that whopper to a country that lived through it is absolutely certifiable.
And anybody who votes for anybody except George W. Bush for president in 2004 -- even by staying home -- is NO conservative and doesn't give a damn about this country, regardless of how many times they say that they care more about it then we do.
This man is a danger to this country. Period.
And I'm getting scared that Edwards is grooming himself as the "good guy" and wants to snap the nomination away from them.
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