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Monday, Nov 23, 2009
In liberal Vermont his thorny side has met with unquestionable success, as Dean was elected governor five times before stepping down last year to make his presidential run. When Vice President Dan Quayle attacked the TV show "Murphy Brown" for its depiction of single motherhood, Dean called him "a tramp"; after a welfare policy agreement Dean found wanting was announced, he declared that Speaker Newt Gingrich and GOP governors were "smoking opium in the speaker's office"; he has referred to the big spenders in the state Senate as living "in la-la land." But Dean has built a reputation for having a loose tongue when in fact he was almost always in complete control.
In the Foley anecdote, for instance, Dean doesn't portray himself as anything less than obnoxious in the story, but he is also featured in it fighting against entrenched and clueless congressional Democrats. And of course, he appears right on all counts.
He has now been taking his act on the road for nine months, since being the first of the pack to formally announce his intention to run in May 2002. And his harsh assessment of his congressional opponents and their colleagues -- "The time is now to present a very different vision and stop trying to 'me, too' the Republicans," he tells a gathering of Democrats in Manchester -- clearly has an appeal to weary members of his demoralized party.
Dean starts most meet 'n' greets by saying there are two reasons why he's running for president. "I'm horrified by the president's economic policy and I'm horrified by the president's foreign policy," he tells the Manchester crowd. "And the sad thing about what's going on here is the Democrats are voting for this kind of stuff. I think our party has decided that the way to be popular is to be almost as conservative as President Bush."
He slams Senate Democrats for their tax-cut proposal, which he calls "almost as bad as the president's."
He nails rival candidates Gephardt, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., for having "voted for the Iraq resolution, which is essentially a blank check that allows the president to invade Iraq, if he wants to, unilaterally."
Taking care to remove Lieberman from the list, he slams the other three for then trying to "go to people and pretend you're against the war after you've voted for it," he says. "That's what kills us. Because it appears like we'll do anything" to get elected. The crowd nods approvingly.
"People like what he has to say," says New Hampshire Democratic Party chairwoman Kathy Sullivan. "The question is can he get elected. But in the last two months it's not asked as much."
He's made impressive progress. The most recent poll of likely New Hampshire Primary voters, conducted Feb. 6 through 9 by the University of Connecticut Center for Survey Research and Analysis, indicated that in that all-important primary kickoff state, Kerry leads the pack with 32 percent, Lieberman has 18 percent, and Dean has 12 percent. Among self-described "liberals," however, Dean's support more than doubles; he vaults into second place and Kerry loses support -- 32 percent of liberals back Kerry, 20 percent pick Dean, and 18 percent prefer Lieberman.
Then come the brash pronouncements that have drawn fans from the ranks of antiwar protesters and among key independent voters in New Hampshire. "The president can't and won't and isn't fighting terrorism the way he should because we have no oil policy," he says. "We send money to the Saudis and the Saudis spend it to fund schools which teach small children to hate Americans, Christians and Jews -- that's the next generation of suicide bombers and terrorists." The party is afraid of going after Bush on terrorism-related issues, he says, but it shouldn't be, since "there are plenty of things that he hasn't done right." He cites the administration's December decision to allow the freighter So San and its cargo -- 15 SCUD missiles purchased from North Korea -- to proceed into Yemen.
His brusque manner appears remarkably candid for a candidate whose party seems so careful that it seems to have tied itself into a straitjacket. When I ask him about Al Gore, he refers to "the Supreme Court, Katherine Harris, that whole charade" -- remarks far harsher than anything Lieberman has probably even thought about saying. But at the same time, he shows an awareness of just how candid he can be in front of a reporter. Or, at least, he kind of does.
"I'll probably dispense with some of the more rhetorical flourishes," if he wins the nomination, he says. "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. It's true and I'm not ashamed to have said it, but it doesn't sound very presidential."
