AP: Dean Blasts Bush Over Mad Cow Scare

Excite News ^ | December 27, 2003 | JOHN SOLOMON

[LurkedLongEnough]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean says the Bush administration missed an opportunity to soften the impact of the country's first mad cow scare and that the American beef industry should receive federal aid to weather the crisis.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Dean also said Friday he wants Osama bin Laden to get the death penalty, seeking to minimize fallout from a New Hampshire newspaper story in which he was quoted as saying the terror leader's guilt should not be prejudged.

"As a president, I would have to defend the process of the rule of law. But as an American, I want to make sure he gets the death penalty he deserves," Dean told the AP in a phone interview.

The former Vermont governor, who solidly leads the field of Democratic presidential candidates in both polls and money, said he was simply trying to state in The Concord Monitor interview that the process of trying bin Laden needs to be fair and credible.

In that interview published Friday, Dean was quoted as saying, "I still have this old-fashioned notion that even with people like Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of executive power, not to prejudge jury trials."

Dean told the AP that sentiment doesn't mean he sympathizes in any way with the al-Qaida leader. "I'm just like every other American, I think the guy is outrageous," he said.

Dean also weighed in for the first time on the news earlier this week that a cow in Washington state has tested positive for mad cow disease, the first such case in the United States.

The former governor, whose state has a large dairy cow population, said the Bush administration failed to aggressively set up a tracking system that would allow the government to quickly track the origins of the sick cow, quarantine other animals it came in contact with and assure the marketplace the rest of the meat supply is safe.

"What we need in this country is instant traceability," he said.

Dean said such a system should have been set up quickly after the mad cow scare that devastated the British beef industry in the mid- to late-1990s. The Bush administration was still devising its plan when the sick cow was slaughtered Dec. 9, and on Friday the government still hadn't determine the infected animal's origins.

"This just shows the complete lack of foresight by the Bush administration once again," Dean said. "This is something that easily could be predicted and was predicted."

Dean said as a result the beef industry will suffer enormously. Officials said Friday 90 percent of the foreign markets for American beef have been closed off because of the announcement.

Asked if he supported a federal economic aid package for the industry, Dean said: "The answer is, yes, of course I do. The question is how much? And we don't know how much yet."

Dean said the government's first job, before the economic damage is calculated, must be to "close down that impact as soon as possible" by tracing the cow's origins and credibly reassuring the American public and the world that the rest of the U.S. beef supply is safe.

As a doctor, Dean said he was more concerned about the impact of the announcement on the U.S. economy than on public health. "The truth is this is going to have a minimal health impact," he said.

Dean also reacted to comments attributed to Democratic rival Joe Lieberman in a story published Friday in The Union-Leader of Manchester, N.H., suggesting the Roe vs. Wade decision needs to be revisited because scientific advances allow a fetus to survive outside the womb much earlier than in the 1970s.

Lieberman issued a statement Friday saying he was misquoted and doesn't want the historic Supreme Court decision to be reopened.

Dean said he wasn't personally familiar with the Union-Leader interview, but he said Lieberman is "very much off base and doesn't understand the science," comparing him to anti-abortion Republicans.

"I think Joe makes the mistake that Republicans do, insinuating himself in the doctor-patient relationship," Dean said.

[tapatio]

Oops!Sorry about the double post.

[hocndoc]

What he says-
I'm personally opposed to _________, but would never interfere _________________."

Fill in the blanks
higher taxation ....... in the pork barrel system which has served me and the Dems so well.
abortion ........ between a woman and her hired abortionist
abortion ......... at the medical schools where the students are encouraged to learn and perform abortions as I was.
euthanasia ..... between a depressed patient and his doctor who is ready to kill him.
euthanasia ...... a patient and the hospital that needs his bed.
the death penalty ..... the American people and their expressed opinions in my polls and focus groups.

justice ....... my true beliefs and my chances at becoming President.

[jagrmeister]

Let me get this straight: Dean opposed "prejudging" Osama (who has claimed credit for 9/11 himself) but has flip-flopped and now pretends to favor the death penalty in order to appear tough on terrorism. He wants corporate welfare for the beef industry as a "solution" to the Mad Cow problem?

Mad Cow disease is interesting. The rogue protein "prions" infest in the intestines, spine, and brain. Howard Dean must be impervious to Mad Cow's because he has no guts, no backbone, or brain.

[jagrmeister]

>Except when his mouth gets into gear. Then we hear words come out, and they SOUND like the English language, and the phrase construction seems to be correct, but the sentences make no sense whatsoever.

LOL.

[GeorgiaYankee]

National cow tracking and a bailout for the cattle industry.

What a platform!
_________________________________

Don't forget the 3-day waiting period on hamburgers!

[He Rides A White Horse]

What we need in this country is instant traceability," he said.

People, cattle...all the same I suppose.

[I_dmc]

I've been wondering about this. Which administration made severe cutbacks in staffing at whatever agency does meat inspections? Curious, I really don't know which, or which agency, for that matter. Food inspections involve two agencies, which is part of the problem, as I recall.

[Mo1]

Dean told the AP that sentiment doesn't mean he sympathizes in any way with the al-Qaida leader. "I'm just like every other American, I think the guy is outrageous," he said.

But yet Dean STILL doesn't say that he thinks Bin Laden is guilty of these terror attacks

[Brimack34]

Breaking News: Howard Dean Ripped into himself today asking:
Why am I such an IDIOT!!!! I blame the President.

[sheik yerbouty]

Mad cow? Where's Hildebeast?

[I_dmc]

I'd like to see them disallow slaughter of a cow that cannot stand, I think.

[Hat-Trick]

He is the epitomy of a political chameleon - he'll say anything he thinks anyone wants to hear if he thinks it will win their vote.

[Rocky]

These guys are desperate. They read the news each day looking for some way to get traction. Then, when they can't find any viable means, they grasp at whatever straws they can find. They still have to go out and speak to voters, so they have to have something to say.

They haven't learned that it's better to let people think you're an idiot than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Dean told the AP that sentiment doesn't mean he sympathizes in any way with the al-Qaida leader. "I'm just like every other American, I think the guy is outrageous," he said.

Liberace was outrageous. Osama bin Laden is a bit beyond "outrageous."

[MeekOneGOP]

You got that right, Abe !!

Interesting choices for Howard Dean's college classes. Marxism, Communism, etc ...

I think he must have truly EMBRACED them, too ! ...

Dean's Yale Transcripts Are Released

[MeekOneGOP]

[MeekOneGOP]

I can't imagine this even being an issue for the election. Minor, if any issue at all.
Just a gut feel ...

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!