Today, I found my new favourite Dean quote: ""From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people."
The news coverage of today is about gay, character, Clark and taxes:
First, the quote above is from a Washington Post story by Jim VandeHei about god and gays:
Democratic front-runner Howard Dean said Wednesday that his decision as governor to sign the bill legalizing civil unions for gays in Vermont was influenced by his Christian views, as he waded deeper into the growing political, religious and cultural debate over homosexuality and the Bible's view of it.
"The overwhelming evidence is that there is very significant, substantial genetic component to it," Dean said in an interview Wednesday. "From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people."
Dean, who is a member of the Congregationalist Church, which preaches a liberal brand of Christianity, falls on the side of Episcopal leaders in the United States who recently stirred international controversy by ordaining a gay bishop, and the millions of Americans who do not consider homosexuality a sin. This theological debate predates the questions of civil unions and gay marriage and has divided biblical scholars for a long time."
There are several articles today, exploring Dr Dean's character today
For some reason there seems to be a greater interest in the soft factors of a candidate, than in the hard one's, but I might just be an idealist. whatever...
Ruth Marcus writes her Washington Post Editorial about the impersonal style of Dean's stump speeches:
"This is the era of the Oprah-ization of American politics, in which sharing personal secrets or private anguish -- Bill Clinton's abusive, alcoholic stepfather, Al Gore's accounts of his son's automobile accident and his sister's lung cancer -- has become a campaign trail staple. Yet Dean is running -- and so far succeeding -- while playing the role of Oprah, not guest. During the last campaign, both Gore and George W. Bush appeared on Oprah's program; this time the Dean campaign is the program. In a self-absorbed age, what better campaign message than to tell voters it's about them, not the candidate" [...]
"The fact that I'm the least autobiographical is very much connected with the fact that I'm the most passionate," he told writer Mark Singer. "Experiences that I don't have access to consciously are what drive me -- personal experiences that I can't tell you about because I haven't processed them."
As Dean's time on the couch probably showed, you don't need to know much (not anything, Freud would argue) about your shrink to get the benefits of therapy. But picking a president is different. The experiences that have shaped a candidate's character, the events that forged his beliefs, the depth and nature of his relationships with family and friends -- all these things matter, more when voters select a president than when they make any other political choice. As much as Dean has built a campaign that is about his supporters, it will also, inevitably, be very much about him as well."
This article fits well to a CNN story
about the absence of Judy Dean from the campaign trail. But, if you read, have a look at the picture: there are several pictures of Dean and his wife, why did they choose the one with Dean, his wife and his one appearing in court some days after Paul Dean was arrested. It is so far the only story from the earlier days that did not show up again. But I think this is going to happen soon. :
Although Dean is going home this week to watch Paul play in a hockey game, he hesitated when asked about it. He reluctantly revealed that the team has a 9-to-1 record, but cut off the questioning when asked about a play his son made in a recent game.
"I'm not going to get into that stuff," Dean said. "It's his life, not mine."
Dean described his marriage as a 23-year equal partnership and close friendship.
"There's not that element of self-sacrifice of her career that there is in some political families," he said.
Sometimes voters ask whether they will see Judy Dean on the campaign trail, but Dean said their response to her decision has been mostly positive.
"Whether they are positive or not, that's the way it's going to be," he said.
Felix Schein comments on msnbc about Dean's learning by doing on the campaign trail:
Some observers argue that Dean simply doesn't listen or sufficiently think before speaking, but that theory only tells part of the story. Yes, Dean does speak off the cuff and he admits "the rules are a little different with the national press corps than they are in the local press corps and you need to be a little more careful and I think I am trying to be a little more careful about my off-the-cuff remarks." Moreover, Dean has begun to add caveats to his categorical statements, going out of his way to add qualifiers like "major candidates" or "almost all" to some of them.
And yet, Dean still finds trouble. Part of that is his nature. Says Dean, "I am somewhat of a street-fighter. If someone punches me, I am apt to chase them down and I need to be restrained by the people who know better and have been in the game longer than I have." But could Dean also be over-thinking or perhaps under-thinking the questions he gets? Is it possible that he still hasn't adjusted to the national stage and the rigors associated with a presidential candidacy?
Not according to Dean. For him, "it has nothing to do with running for president. It has to do with the kind of person I am. I tend to say what I think and that includes all of what I think. Not just the part that's good for focus groups."
Clark and strategy are next on the agenda. Josh Benson of Salon.com (mind the ad :-) concludes that Dean needs to win overwhelmingly in Iowa and New Hampshire if he wants a get momentum out of it:
With the first contest of the Democratic primary season just 10 days away, Howard Dean is in a commanding position. He appears to be the front-runner in Iowa, though perhaps by a narrow margin, and he's all but certain to win the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 27. He's raised the most money, has the most volunteers, and has won a string of big-name and big-union endorsements.
But concealed in this optimistic picture is a doomsday scenario that is shaping every serious Democratic campaign: If Dean does not win the January contests with a show of force, by decisive margins, then even a victory could count as a loss. Dean's campaign staffers might not talk about it, but the plan to counteract that scenario is plain: Over the next two-and-a-half weeks, they hope to overwhelm all challengers, demonstrating unequivocally that opposition is futile.
Concerning Clark, Jody Wilogren of the NY Times reports how Dean became less available to the press since Clark's so called rise in the polls I just want to remind you that several other stories today are based on long interviews with Dean, so this might in the end say more about Wilogren than about Dean :
With a wary eye on Gen. Wesley K. Clark's rise in national and New Hampshire polls, Howard Dean's campaign has begun to limit his availability to the press, and the candidate himself is watching his words after several recent statements unleashed a storm of criticism from opponents.
Dr. Dean, who has spent two years campaigning as the candidate willing to say what he thinks, initially told reporters that he would be "happy" to discuss his tax policy. Then, as aides glared at him, he immediately said a senior adviser had "veto power" over what he would say.
"I'm not allowed to say I'm happy to do anything anymore," he added.
Chris Suellentrop at Slate also has a story about the rise of Clark:
When I last sawWesley Clark, I called him "Howard Dean with flags." Since then, he's reinvented his candidacy and made himself an even bigger threat to the former Vermont governor. He's now Howard Dean with flags and tax cuts. [...]
The candidate is angry, his voice rises, and the crowd leaps to its feet. It's Clark's best moment of a pretty good day. He's got them, I think, as the crowd presses around him for autographs and picture-taking. But I also can't help but think that Howard Dean would have had them on their feet from the start.
The Washington Post has another assessment of Dean's electability:
Dean's supporters believe he can beat Bush. And if they can win while sending a message, great. But they also seem to be saying they'd rather go down fighting than win compromising.
It's Better to Have Loved and Lost Than Never Loved At All
One last article, a more developed new tax proposal by the Dean campaign, reported in a number of papers, including the LA Times:
While Howard Dean repeatedly tells voters on the campaign trail that he would repeal all of President Bush's tax cuts to pay for programs such as expanded health insurance, he is now contemplating whether to also devise tax relief for the middle class.
The potential shift in Dean's policy comes as he has fielded criticism from some of his rivals for wanting to roll back the entire $1.7-trillion Bush tax cut package, a move opponents say would burden working people.
Have a nice day over there.