Posted on 06/25/2003 7:13:47 AM PDT by bedolido
WASHINGTON, June 24 — Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean is “too far out of the mainstream. ... Ultra left-wing people aren’t going to be president of the United States.” Meanwhile, some Democrats say Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman is too conservative to win their support as presidential nominee. But a look at their records shows both Dean and Lieberman to be very much mainstream Democrats on most issues. From abortion to taxes, Dean and Lieberman are aligned with most rank-and-file Democrats.
SOME DEMOCRATIC activists deride the entire labeling process.
“Of the six major contenders, there is neither a conservative Democrat nor a liberal Democrat in the race,” said Simon Rosenberg, president of the centrist New Democrat Network.
“To argue that Howard Dean is an orthodox liberal is just not accurate,” Rosenberg said. “He’s been supported by the National Rifle Association in his state. I know Southern Democrats who are openly supporting him because they believe he is the only candidate they can take into the South because of his stance on guns.”
PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE So what is it that has gotten Dean the “ultra left-wing” tag, while Lieberman is pegged as conservative? In Dean’s case, it is partly a case of the president’s brother applying a little pre-emptive tar to a Democratic contender who shows signs of becoming a grass-roots favorite among his party’s loyalists. Dean’s “left-wing” label is due primarily to two issues: Iraq and gay rights. His opposition to the invasion of Iraq put him at odds with four of his rivals — Lieberman, Sen. John Kerry, Sen. John Edwards, and Rep. Dick Gephardt — all of whom voted for last October’s congressional use-of-force resolution. Advertisement
Democratic strategist Garry South, who now works for Lieberman, gave his view of Dean back in March before signing on with the Connecticut senator.
‘SOFT’ ON NATIONAL DEFENSE? “He’s going pretty far to the left,” said South, who added that “if this party becomes branded again ... as being insufficiently concerned about national defense, it doesn’t matter what we say about anything else. ... If we’re viewed as the anti-war party, we’re dead.” But on Iraq, Dean stands where many, if not most, Democrats do. Some in the left wing of his party say Dean does not go far enough in opposing the Pentagon. His rival, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, told MSNBC.com, “We’ve got to cut this Pentagon budget and get the money that they took away from our schools, our veterans, our health care programs. ... He (Dean) won’t talk about cutting the military, not a chance.” Dean said Sunday, “I don’t agree with Dennis about cutting the Pentagon budget when we’re in the middle of a difficulty with terror attacks.” In an e-mail this week to Democrats, the group Democrats.com, which is backing Kucinich, jumped on Dean’s remark, saying he “describes himself as a fiscal conservative adamant about balanced budgets. But if the soaring Pentagon budget is untouchable, are we being candid with voters about delivering them an enhanced domestic agenda that Democrats can be proud of?” Kucinich serves as a useful foil for Dean. Because he goes even further in opposing the Pentagon and Bush’s foreign policy, Kucinich helps Dean look more “moderate” by comparison.
GAY RIGHTS The other issue that gets Dean the “too liberal” epithet is his signing of a law, when he served as Vermont’s governor, that extended the same rights to same-sex couples as heterosexual couples. While Vermont is the only state that has such a law, support for gay rights is strong among all nine Democratic presidential contenders. The man tagged as Dean’s polar opposite in the Democratic field, Lieberman has gotten the reputation of being a conservative partly because of positions he once supported, but has since recanted, such as vouchers for low-income parents of children in public schools. Lieberman’s crusade against smutty Hollywood movies, misogynistic rap music and violent video games — and his past association with fellow cultural conservative Bill Bennett — makes some Democrats uneasy. But Rosenberg said, “It’s very unfair to characterize Joe Lieberman — who has been a civil rights advocate, a pro-choice Democrat, has given the only major speech (among the Democratic contenders) on poverty, was far out in front on notions of energy independence — as a right-wing Democrat. I know what right-wing Democrats are; they are not Joe Lieberman.” In fact, on many issues, Lieberman’s positions are close to or identical with Dean’s: Abortion: Both Dean and Lieberman are outspoken supporters of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide. Dean has said, “The government ought not interject itself into medical decisions to advance the religious or moral agenda of a politically vocal minority.” He has also said “the notion of ‘partial birth abortion’ is nonsense. It is a rare procedure used only to save the life or preserve the health of the mother.” Lieberman has repeatedly voted against bills that would have outlawed the procedure or imposed penalties on doctors who perform it.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...
No, but there used to be.
Former GA Governor
Lester G. Maddox
Dead at 87
So9
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