Wednesday, June 25, 2003

Howard Dean.

"I stood up against this administration and even when 70 percent of the American people supported the war, I believed that the evidence was not there and I refused to change my view," he told the Council on Foreign Relations.

So, he's telling that 70% they are idiots and he's brilliant?

"I would remind them that during the Cuban missile crisis, President John F. Kennedy took on the hawks among the Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as the 'me-too'ers' in Congress," the former Vermont governor said in a foreign policy address two days after formally launching his 2004 campaign.

He said Kennedy's toughness and diplomacy averted war and forced Russia to withdraw the missiles it had placed in Cuba.

What about Kennedy's 'rush to war'? As the deadline approached American forces were on DefCon 2 and prepared to attack within minutes. And when negotiations began before the time was up the military stood down. And when Saddam's deadline passed with Saddam in full defiance, George Bush remained tough (apparently Dean is telling us he would have gone limp).

"No Democrat can beat George Bush without the same willingness that John F. Kennedy showed in 1962," Dean said. "A president must be tough, patient, and willing to take a course of action based on evidence and not ideology."

We had 12 years worth of evidence based on intelligence from every nation (and the UN) with the capabilities of knowing. We have had a policy aimed at deterring, containing and warring with (if necessary) Saddam since 1991. That policy has passed the ideology test of 3 Presidents and a Congress that has seen majorities from both parties in the past 12 years. So what evidence would Dean have believed? That given by Saddam? What ideology would he ignore?

Dean said the four Democratic presidential contenders who supported the congressional resolution authorizing the war against Iraq did not know the facts at the time of the vote.

Dean, a man without an office at the time of the vote last year knew what those in Congress who were getting intelligence updates from the CIA, FBI and NSA every day did not?

Let it not be said that Dean isn't afraid to call everyone but himself dupes and idiots.

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