[areafiftyone]

[Paul Atreides]

I have to give Dean for appearing on Fox. The smartest woman in the world won't even do that much.

[jatfla]

It was difficult to watch this....I miss Tony Snow!!! Maybe I'll be ok later, but not now.

If Dean doesn't talk, I can look at him. He gives me the willies.

"They (the Administration) don't seem to care about ordinary people. They'll do everything for corporations."

What a lie. I'm sure they (the Administration) is doing as much as they can for the "corporations", but to say that the Administration doesn't care about me?? well, as best they can, they are.

Dean took the whole issue of releasing the "files" out of his hands and put it into the hands of the court. Maybe good, but probably bad considering our court system.

[Reagan Man]

Seeing is believing.

And Howie Dean is a sight to behold.

Bush in a landslide!

[Kevin Curry]

The man is a bona fide saliva-spittling disaster!

I especially found it interesting how obviously and painfully uncomfortable he is discussing the gay rights agenda and where he stands relative to it.

[Conservative til I die]

DEAN: What the Republicans have been doing since 1968 was actually the subject of a speech I'm about to give in a couple of hours here in South Carolina, is dividing us along racial lines by talking about quotas, dividing us about abortion or guns or other issues like that.

So, basically he's upset that the Republicans have different viewpoints than him on these topics.

[risk]

At least some of Dean's criticism of the Bush administration's handling of military and veterans' benefits are valid, such as the 164,000 cut from veteran's benefits, but there are two sides to the story on the healthcare cuts. I think President Bush should address those concerns either by explaining how his proposals will compensate for the differences, or by rescinding them.

Here's a summary of the cuts and eliminations I know about:

• The current budget involoves cuts to military families for housing and education costs:
  
  • It will force cuts in veteran’s benefits,
  • There will be $200 million in cuts to impact aid to the very same school districts that educate the children of military families.
  • As many as 230,000 military families have been cut out of the low-income child tax credit provision currently on the books.
• According to the Army Times, President Bush proposed cutting back combat pay from $225/month to $150. There's also talk of capping E1,22 and O1 raises at %2.
  
• The the latest  budget proposals as of June didn't extend certain tax breaks for troops.
• Republicans have opposed healthcare benefits for reservists.

I disagree with all of these cuts. We need to increase the economic incentives for joining the military and serving in harm's way, not reduce it. It's clear to me that on this "domestic" issue, the pluralism of our two party system is serving the interests of national security. George Washington said: "The willingness of future generations to serve in our military will be directly dependent upon how we have treated those who have served in the past."

Do I give credit to Dean for bringing up these concerns? No way. He's just using a concern near and dear to the hearts of Americans to get attention.

[jagrmeister]

Only two things to remember about Dean:

1. He proposes raising taxes on the American people by $2 trillion over the next 10 years.

2. He is a novice peacenik with no foreign policy experience who, by his own admission, be too timid to stare down Saddam Hussein and has called terrorists "soldiers". Not the guy you want leading the war on terrorism.

[JebRudy2008]

this guy is a real nut job! I can't believe he is the best the Dems can do! He is going to be beat so bad he will head back to Vermont and keep on going and hide out in canada.

[elhombrelibre]

Dean's philosophy on National Defense shares much in common with the philosophy of a jail house catamite.

[Az Joe]

"..So why can't we talk about jobs, health care and education, which is what we all have in common, instead of allowing the Republicans to consistently divide us by talking about guns, God, gays, abortion and all this controversial social stuff that we're not going to come to an agreement on?..."

---

That's right Governor/Abortionist Dean we don't have God in common do we?

Dean can't talk about God,, gays, abortion and guns because he knows he will lose if he does, I should say, lose bigger if he does.

[Jorge]

I saw Dean on FOX, and he was worse than I could have imagined.

Hatred of Bush is causing the Democratic left to lose all rational judgment and nominate a real wacko.

[Green Knight]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: I am tired of coming to the South and fighting elections on guns, God and gays. We're going to fight this election on our turf, which is going to be jobs, education and health care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: What do you mean by that, when you say that you don't want to talk about guns, God and gays?

DEAN: What the Republicans have been doing since 1968 was actually the subject of a speech I'm about to give in a couple of hours here in South Carolina, is dividing us along racial lines by talking about quotas, dividing us about abortion or guns or other issues like that.

Well, let me tell you something about South Carolina. There's 102,000 children here with no health insurance. Most of those kids are white.

White people and black people in the South have a common interest. Their jobs are going offshore. They haven't had a raise because health-insurance premiums have eaten up all their money. They need -- $70 million was cut, got cut out of public health insurance -- public education here, because the president's economic program has been such a disaster.

Everybody deserves a break -- not just in the South, but everybody else. And working people, no matter what color they are, need to vote together, because their economic interests are not served by the Republicans. And I think that's why the election needs to be about health insurance, economic opportunity and jobs, and better educational opportunities for everybody.

WALLACE: Governor, I don't think anybody would deny that those are very important issues, but why take the others -- abortion, guns, God, gays -- off the table? I mean, it sounds like you're uncomfortable talking about values.

DEAN: I'm very comfortable talking about values, but we're never going to agree on some of these issues. I actually have a more conservative positions on guns than many Democrats, although I do support the assault-weapons ban and background checks and all that. But...

WALLACE: But aren't those legitimate issues, whether it's a woman's right to choose versus right to life, whether there should a national ban on assault weapons, gay rights?

I mean, aren't those issues -- I have to say, I remember back in 1988, because I was covering the campaign, when Michael Dukakis said that the campaign is about competence, not ideology, and the Republicans killed him on that.

Don't American voters care about values?

DEAN: They care about values. And there are a lot of different kinds of values. My attitude is, each state's going to make their own kinds of decisions about these difficult issues that we're -- you know, the social issues that divide us.

My question is, what we have in common is what we ought to look at. This president ran as a uniter, not a divider, and that was a complete falsehood. What he has done is use words like "quota" to send race-coded words to folks, talking about scaring them into thinking somebody from a minority community is going to take their jobs. On and on it goes.

What about what we have in common? What we have in common is we need better education for everybody. We need health care, health insurance for everybody. Every industrialized country in the world has health insurance except for us. We don't have to have a complicated government-run system. But we ought to have it, like we do, for the most part, in Vermont, at least for all our kids.

So why can't we talk about jobs, health care and education, which is what we all have in common, instead of allowing the Republicans to consistently divide us by talking about guns, God, gays, abortion and all this controversial social stuff that we're not going to come to an agreement on?

I really believe that states ought to have a role. My gun policy basically is let's keep the federal laws, let's enforce them with great vigor, and then let's let every state make additional laws if they want to. You're going to have states that want gun control making more, and you're going to have states like my state saying, look, we'll enforce the federal laws and leave it at that.

Why can't we take that kind of an approach to these issues and stop getting exercised about them? That's what cost this election. Why can't we look at what we have in common: economic opportunity, educational opportunity, health insurance? Those are the things that I think are value-driven.

Translation: "I'm never going to convince you rubes that I'm right and you're wrong, so I'm just going to impose my beliefs on guns, God, and gays on you and to Hell with your personal opinions. And if you try to change the local state laws to suit your personal beliefs, big whoop. You still have to take whatever laws I pass on the federal level up the @$$."

What a pathetic joke this man is! To break it down.

is dividing us along racial lines by talking about quotas

Democrats did that particular bit of dividing, by saying one racial group is to be favored over another.

dividing us about abortion

I think Roe V. Wade did a good job of that, all on its own.

or guns

So trying to eliminate a Constitutional Right to Bear Arms by not allowing people to arm themselves isn't divisive? Riiiggghhhttt.

My attitude is, each state's going to make their own kinds of decisions about these difficult issues that we're

Unless, of course, it's an issue at the Federal level in which case the states CAN'T make their own decision about these issues. Roe V. Wade turned abortion from a state issue to a federal issue. It's the federal government which is doing its best to infringe on Freedom of Religion. And it's the federal government which is playing a large part in putting up roadblocks to firearm ownership, like the Assault Weapons Ban. Can't do much about any of that at the state level short of seceeding.

Dean pretty much defines the crux of the problem in this quote.

My gun policy basically is let's keep the federal laws, let's enforce them with great vigor, and then let's let every state make additional laws if they want to. You're going to have states that want gun control making more, and you're going to have states like my state saying, look, we'll enforce the federal laws and leave it at that."

What if a state wants LESS restrictions on gun laws then what the federal government is proposing? What recourse do they have? If the federal government pretty much eliminates the 2nd Amendment, then what're you supposed to do? Can't make Abortion illegal if the Federal government says it's a Constitutional Right and so must be legal in all 50 states. Can't make Gay Marriage illegal if the Federal government says that the each state must recognize marriages in other states.

Either he's an idiot and doesn't see the contradictions, or he's purposefully trying to deceive people. Myself, I think it's possible he's both.

[nutmeg]

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