|
Re: I we thought Bush had something to say....
| quote: | Originally posted by Fir3start3r
Oh the irony.... |
What irony?
| quote: | Religion
"From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people." -- Howard Dean |
From a religious standpoint, couldn't have said it better myself. Your point?
| quote: | | "After hearing Dr Dean's observation, beginning with 'If you know much about the Bible - which I do', a reporter asked about his favourite New Testament book. Dr Dean named Job, adding, 'But I don't like the way it ends... in some of the books of the New Testament; the ending of the Book of Job is different... There's one book where there's a more optimistic ending, which we believe was tacked on later'. The candidate returned an hour later to confess error: Job was in the Old Testament, not the New. Beyond that slip, his recollection of 'one book where there's a more optimistic ending' is muddled; the Book of Job in the Old Testament has an upbeat ending, with God doubling Job's former wealth and giving him new children for having sustained his piety through all his trials." -- William Safire describes Howard Dean's difficulties with Job. |
Actually I find it a bit irony how the dubious lying little shit, Bill Safire, finds it fitting to point the finger at someone, ANYONE else on their mistakes. This big fat fucking pot calls the kettle black one too many times:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200411160001
http://archive.salon.com/news/featu...fire/index.html
http://archive.salon.com/opinion/fe...4/02/21/safire/
I didn't realize how good a "Christian" Safire really was myself. How foolish of me.
| quote: | | "Dean himself moved from Episcopalian to Congregationalist "because I had a big fight with a local Episcopal church about 25 years ago over the bike path." He does not hesitate to reveal this information or to declare that he seldom goes to church." -- Robert Novak |
Oh NOOOOOO!!!!!! A politician failing to succomb and kowtow to the religious nutbags?!? Stop the presses!!!
And need I really say anything about this other piece of shit, Robert Novak who's ass should be in jail for compromising our national security by outing a covert CIA agent who's job was to find WMD?
| quote: | | "My view of Christianity . is that the hallmark of being a Christian is to reach out to people who have been left behind. So I think there was a religious aspect to my decision to support civil unions." -- Howard Dean |
I'm trying to find something erroneous in that statement. Perhaps I missed it - are you willing to point it out?
| quote: | Republicans
"I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for..." -- Howard Dean |
Nothing like a little honesty in the man. You think Rove and the rest of the neocon fucks think any differently about Democrats? The only difference is they're too chickenshit to come clean and say it.
| quote: | | "I think a library trustee is pretty important," Dean said, during "an administration that likes book burning more than reading books." -- Howard Dean as quoted by USA Today |
And?
| quote: | | "The truth is the President of the United States used the same device that Slobodan Milosevic used in Serbia. When you appeal to homophobia, when you appeal to sexism, when you appeal to racism, that is extraordinarily damaging to the country." -- Howard Dean |
Again, and?
| quote: | Misc
"I don’t know. There are many theories about (9/11). The most interesting theory that I’ve heard so far—which is nothing more than a theory, it can’t be proved—is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is? But the trouble is, by suppressing that kind of information, you lead to those kind of theories, whether they have any truth to them or not, and eventually, they get repeated as fact. So I think the president is taking a great risk by suppressing the key information that needs to go to the Kean Commission." -- Howard Dean |
Though this is admittedly not the best statement from Dean, the full context is helpful:
| quote: | Caller: Once we get you in the White House, would you please make sure that there is a thorough investigation of 9/11 and not stonewalling?
Howard Dean: Yes there is a report which the president is suppressing evidence for, which is a thorough investigation of 9/11.
Diane Rehm: Why do you think he is suppressing that report?
Howard Dean: I don’t know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I’ve heard so far—which is nothing more than a theory, it can’t be proved—is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is? But the trouble is, by suppressing that kind of information, you lead to those kind of theories, whether they have any truth to them or not, and eventually, they get repeated as fact. So I think the president is taking a great risk by suppressing the key information that needs to go to the Kean Commission. |
Taken in full context it looks more like Dean is saying that the Bush Administration should cooperate more closely with the 9/11 Commission in order to dispell these conspiracy theories. Still, it does appear that Dean was trying to have it both ways - conflating a conspiracy theory while accusing the Administration of not being more forthcoming at the same time. Definitely could have stated this more clearer.
| quote: | | "I told Steve McMahon, the media guy for Dean, who was on 'Crossfire': You have one of the three most influential presidential campaigns of my lifetime. That's the good news. The bad news is the other two are McGovern and Goldwater." -- James Carville |
And we wonder why CNN is getting rid of Crossfire? Carville's a stupid Washington hack for the left - one of the very reasons why the DNC voting in Dean rather than a Beltway choice.
| quote: | | "For me as a political figure, it was in many ways the most important event in my political life. There aren’t many people who get to do what I did." -- Howard Dean on Vermont's Civil Unions Law |
And you're saying this is bad?
| quote: | | "Not only are we going to New Hampshire ... we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and we're going to California and Texas and New York! And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan. And then we're going to Washington, D.C. to take back the White House, Yeeeeeaaaaaargh!" -- Howard Dean in the Iowa concession speech that proved to be the final nail in his campaign's coffin |
God forbid a little excitement on the campaign trail! Hey, I love the Dean Scream as much as the next guy, but really - so fucking what?
| quote: | | "We have got to stop having the campaigns run in this country based on abortion, guns, God and gays..." -- Howard Dean |
Indeed we do. The "moral values" debate being narrowed down to such ridiculous levels as this is repulsive to me too.
| quote: | Race
"I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks." -- Howard Dean |
Well you gotta appeal to the redneck Southerners somehow.
| quote: | | "I believe that the flag of the Confederate States of America is a painful symbol and reminder of racial injustice and slavery which (Abraham) Lincoln denounced from here over 150 years ago." -- Howard Dean |
Yes, it was a clumsy thing of him to say at first about the pickup truck. But what did he say after that?:
| quote: | But Dean did not apologize. He said, "We're not going to win this country, and even worse, Democrats, if we don't have a big tent."
He said, "This country needs to engage in a serious discussion about race and that everyone must participate in that discussion."
Dean said, "I started this discussion in a clumsy way. This discussion will be painful and I regret the pain that I may have caused either to African-American or Southern white voters in the beginning of this discussion. But we need to have this discussion in an honest, open way."
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLI...prez.dean.flag/ |
| quote: | | "We're going to tell all those white boys who run the Republican Party to stay out of our bedrooms." -- Howard Dean forgets what color he is. |
Oh that's cute. You really think he forgot what color he was, or perhaps he was stating an element of truth about the Texas Supreme Court case that struck down the anti-sodomy laws, allowing homosexuals to actually have (*gasp*) intercourse!!! Oh the agony!!!
Or what's worse, they actually allowed heterosexuals to have (oh GOD NO!!!) oral sex! Can you believe this slimy filth?!? What God-forsaken planet are we on?!?
| quote: | | "You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people of color in a single room? Only if they had the hotel staff in here." -- Howard Dean |
Right on the fucking money. And even conservative commentators agree with him:
| quote: | "Give me a break. Dean is saying, hyperbolically, that there aren't many blacks or other nonwhites in the Republican party. He's right. I've been to many, many Republican dinners where most nonwhites present have been serving the food. (Or giving the keynote.) If Republicans are bothered when people make that observation, they should try to make it less true."
-Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...ns/kurtzhoward/ |
| quote: | | "Dealing with race is about educating white folks..." -- Howard Dean |
Who else would it be educating - the African Americans? Again I fail to see how this quote is fallacious in any way (though he could have stated this a bit better again). And once again, the full context helps:
| quote: | | "Dealing with race is about educating white folks. Not because white people are worse than black people about race but because whites are in the majority, and therefore the behavior of whites has a much bigger influence on hiring practices and so forth and so on than the behavior of African-Americans." |
| quote: | The War On Terrorism
"It's a victory for the Iraqi people ... but it doesn't have any effect on whether we should or shouldn't have had a war. ...I think in general the ends do not justify the means." -- Howard Dean after we blew away Uday & Qusay Hussein |
Well stated. Something I've argued over and over again here. Your point?
| quote: | | "We've gotten rid of (Saddam Hussein), and I suppose that's a good thing" -- Howard Dean, April 9, 2003 |
Full context, once again, puts his quote in a bit of a better light:
| quote: | Sure. The reason I didn’t support the war—and I continue to
maintain this position—is because it opens up a new, dangerous, preemptive doctrine. And the war resolution urged the president to go to the United Nations, but made no such requirement. I think it’s a dangerous thing to do, to give the president six months ahead of time a blank check, which is what I think the resolution did. We have more dangerous foes in front of us, North Korea and Al-Qaeda; there’s been no such concentration on those dangers. And I think Senator or Ambassador Moseley Braun is right. We’re going to spend a lot of money in Iraq. We’re at $80 billion, it’s going to be $200 billion. For $200 billion, we can insure every child under the age of 18 in this country, just like we do in the state of Vermont. It seems to me that that’s a better investment. We need to contain Saddam, we should have contained Saddam. We’ve gotten rid of him, and I suppose that’s a good thing, but there’s going to be a long period where the United States is going to need to be maintained in Iraq, and that’s going to cost American taxpayers a lot of money that could be spent on schools and kids. |
Couldn't agree more.
| quote: | | "We don't know that yet. We don't know that yet, Wolf. We still have a country whose city is mostly without electricity. We have tumultuous occasions in the south where there is no clear governance. We have a major city without clear governance." -- Howard Dean's reply when he was asked if he Iraq was better off without Saddam, April 23, 2003 |
Again, couldn't agree more. And?
| quote: | | "...The capture of Saddam has not made America safer." -- Howard Dean |
Full context, once again:
| quote: | As our military commanders said, and the President acknowledged yesterday, the capture of Saddam does not end the difficulties from the aftermath of the administration's war to oust him. There is the continuing challenge of securing Iraq, protecting the safety of our personnel, and helping that country get on the path to stability. There is the need to repair our alliances and regain global support for American goals.
Nor, as the president also seemed to acknowledge yesterday, does Saddam's capture move us toward defeating enemies who pose an even greater danger: al Qaeda and its terrorist allies. And, nor, it seems, does Saturday's capture address the urgent need to halt the spread of weapons of mass destruction and the risk that terrorists will acquire them.
The capture of Saddam is a good thing which I hope very much will help keep our soldiers safer. But the capture of Saddam has not made America safer. |
Which again, I couldn't agree with more. It's easy to take bits of quotes and leave them out of context. Something you Republicans do quite well.
| quote: | | "I've resisted pronouncing a sentence before guilt is found. I will 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." -- Howard Dean on Bin Laden |
He sounds quite logical and correct in citing our court system maxim - innocent before proven guilty. You do remember that one, right? As despicable as Osama is, our court system is universal and applies even to the most twisted folks like him.
What, you want that rule to only apply to people you like? Sorry it doesn't work that way for you. Negative Spin answers this pretty well too:
http://www.negativespin.com/blog/archives/000220.html
| quote: | | "(9/11 & the aftermath will) require a re-evaluation of the importance of some of 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." -- Howard Dean after 9/11 |
Definitely an ill-advised knee-jerk reaction, one which he obviously believed was incorrect. The rest of the quote is of interest, however:
| quote: | Dean said he had not taken a position on these questions. Asked whether he meant that specific rights described in the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution — would have to be trimmed, the governor said:
“I haven't gotten that far yet. I think that's unlikely, but I frankly haven't gotten that far. Again, I think that's a debate that we will have.” |
Emphasis mine. So he believes a debate on civil rights was warranted, but that no changes in the basic civil rights will likely take place. I guess that's "bad" per se, but considering that's pretty much exactly what SHOULD have taken place in passing the Patriot Act, rather than the devious and slippery methods Ashcroft and the Justice Dept. utilized in passing it, I'm not too much in disagreement with his statement. Though again it is a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. The difference between him and Ashcroft, however, is Ashcroft showed no pause in the similar knee-jerk thought - he acted on it immediately and put it into law. Quite a scary difference, really.
Look, I get your point - Dean isn't the most noteworthy spokesman, and that there's a notable comparison between his rhetoric and shoot-from-the-hip statements and Bush's. The trouble is as someone else pointed out - Bush's statements fill volumes of books, plus there's that minor difference in that the misstatements and contradictions from the most powerful man in the world are a bit more noticeable and harmful. But that's why Dean isn't President either - and is the chairman of the DNC instead. His attributes of being outspoken, raising buttloads of money, and his desire to spend that money and take on the Republicans LOCALLY across the nation is what got him a landslide of votes for the DNC chair. He's also gonna cease the party from hiring the same idiotic greedy fucking Beltway consultants who could give 2 shits about the Dem. party and continue to LOSE for them, which is a major step in the right direction too.
To me with attempts like this it looks more like the Republicans are afraid of him more than anything, which they should be. I'd take him anyday over a hypocrit like Ken “I refuse to acknowledge my homosexuality on record to my party” Mehlman. But hey, just my humble opinion, of course.
___________________
Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...
|