Why Dean Shouldn't be our Candidate:
It's now November, and I still find myself scratching my head about Dean's success in the polls. So, in an exercise that I hope will be therapeutic for me, let's flesh out the Doctor for a bit.
Dean is very fond of broadcasting how bold he was as Governor of Vermont, particularly when it comes to health care and civil unions for gays and lesbians. In fact, Dean only signed the legislation into law after the state Supreme Court ordered the state to do so. After unanimously ruling that gay couples were due the same legal rights of marriage as heterosexuals, the Supreme Court ordered the legislature to pass a law codifying that right. Indeed, he went around the state confiding to Vermonters that he only did it because the Supreme Court made him do it (behind closed doors, no less).
During his tenure as Governor, Dean slashed millions of dollars from all sorts of social programs, from prescription drug benefits for Medicare recipients and heating assistance for poorer Vermonters to housing assistance funds. In defending these cuts, Dean said, "I don't think I have to shy away from that just because I'm supposed to be a liberal Democrat." As governor, Dean was repeatedly criticized by advocates for the poor, coming to the state capitol to protest his cuts (over $30 million - a lot for a small state like Vermont ) and compared him to Newt Gingrich. These weren't petty protests either, as education, retire funds for teachers and state employees, health care and welfare program for the disabled, medicaid benefits all were cut drastically. Moreover, he was repeatedly criticized by Democrats and advocates of the poor and needy for surrounding himself with "money people, brokers and bankers" for advisors.
The National Education Association endorsed Dean only once in 11 years. In fact, when making his budget cuts, financial aid for higher education was first on the chopping block. Meanwhile, during his tenure as Governor, state funding per student in Vermont decreased by 13 percent.
Throughout his term as governor Dean was a staunch supporter of NAFTA, the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank. Now he's distanced himself considerably from all.
As far as the environment is concerned, listen to Annette Smith, director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment: "Dean's attempts to run for president as an environmentalists is nothing but a fraud," she said. "He's destroyed the Agency of Natural Resources, he's refused to meet with environmentalists while constantly meeting with the development community, and he's made the permitting process one, big dysfunctional joke." Remind you of someone? "Howard Dean's environmental record in Vermont is toxic," said Tom Elliot, the former political director of the Vermont Sierra Club. In fact, the Vermont Sierra Club never endorsed Howard Dean in his 5 campaigns for governor.
Dean has consistently opposed the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Moreover, in Vermont, heroin use increased dramatically during his tenure, yet Dean did everything he could to oppose the introduction of methadone treatment to the state.
His criminal justice policies and views during his term as Governor are MOST appalling. As Governor he under-funded public defense, instead diverting the money to state's attorneys, police, and corrections. He also tried to block a $150,000 federal grant to assist defendants with mental disabilities. He was quoted in a Vermont Press Bureau interview as saying that he believed quick convictions were just, and that legal technicalities should be overlooked during the prosecution of criminal and civil cases. He even said that he was willing to appoint people to high positions who interpreted the Bill of Rights the same as he - with a knack for overlooking the Bill's particulars.
While he rightly rails against President Bush's tax cuts today, as Governor in Vermont he twice fought for state tax cuts and repeatedly bashed Democratic spending plans as irresponsible. Said a conservative Democratic stockbroker, "The joke among a lot of Vermont Republicans was that they didn't need to run anyone for governor because they basically had one in office already."
What's going on here? This is the Dean everyone is so ga-ga about?? An interview he gave to Jake Tapper in Salon.com is quite insightful. Dean candidly admitted to Tapper that if he were to win the nomination of his party, he would "probably dispense with some of the more rhetorical flourishes. One time I said the Supreme Court is so far right you couldn't see it anymore. Next summer I won't be talking like that." Oh I see...it's just a ploy to win over the red meat crowd of the Democratic constituency. In another interview with the New York Times, Dean said, "I was a triangulator before Clinton was a triangulator."
Take away Dean's opposition to the war in Iraq, and you have very little left. But let's look at the evolution of his position on Iraq briefly, because I believe you'll see that there is little there as well. In the same interview with Jake Tapper in Salon.com, Dean was in the midst of a barrage of phone calls from the press asking him his position.
Which is - "as I've said about eight times
today," he says, annoyed - that Saddam must
be disarmed, but with a multilateral force
under the auspices of the United Nations.
If the U.N. in the end chooses not to
enforce its own resolutions, then the U.S.
should give Saddam 30 to 60 days to disarm,
and if he doesn't, unilateral action is a
regrettable, but unavoidable choice."
Interestingly enough, Dean saw the situation in Liberia differently...exactly the opposite, mind you. Dean supported unilateral action in Liberia. "There is an imminent threat of serious human catastrophe and the world community is asking the United States to exercise its leadership."
There's been a serious human catastrophe in Iraq ever since Saddam came to power, hasn't there??? What gives?
(Disclaimer: I supported action in Liberia, did not support a unilateral war Iraq.)
A couple more points.
Now Mr. Dean is attacking all those who voted for the Patriot Act (which was everyone except Senator Feingold). "Too many in my party voted for the Patriot Act," he said. "They believe that it was more important to show bipartisan support for President Bush during a moment of crisis than to stand up for the basic values of our constitution."
Hmmm....Well...he told the Vermont press corps he believed the terrorist highjackings would "require a re-evaluation of the importance of some our specific civil liberties. I think there are going to be debates about what can be said where, what can be printed where, what kind of freedom of movement people have and whether it's OK for a policeman to ask for your ID just because you're walking down the street...I think that's a debate that's a debate we will have." Said Vermont Law School Professor Michael Mello, "Good God. It's terribly irresponsible for the leader of our state to be saying stuff like that right now."
There are sooooooo many other problems that I have with Dean. I realize that some of you are going to rip into me again for posting this stuff. I don't think Dean can win a general election, so it worries me he is doing so well. I see him as a classic DLC democrat who's doing whatever it's going to take to win the nomination, but then triangulate back to the center/conservative statesman that he really is...while in the process lose the general election.
Al Hunt has an interesting piece in today's Wall Street Journal, if you haven't checked it out yet.
No candidate is perfect. There are flaws in all of them. But what sort of stands out in all of this is Dean's lack of consistency and utter manipulation and exploitation of the left-wing of the party to satisfy his political ambitions. I think it could also be called pandering.
But...I've said enough.