[Shadow_Group] Howard Dean Disputes Media View that 'Values' Swung Election

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

Howard Dean Disputes Media View that 'Values' Swung Election 
    By Charles Geraci 
    Editor & Publisher 
    Friday 12 November 2004 

    Evanston, Ill. - Former presidential candidate Howard Dean wants
the media to stuff its new conventional wisdom that "values" or
"morals" drove the result of this month's election. 

    Speaking Thursday night to 500 Northwestern University students,
many of them journalism majors, Dean noted there was little
"statistical difference" between the percentage of voters who deemed
moral values the top issue (22 %) and those who ranked as their top
concern Iraq or the economy/jobs, according to exit poll data. 

    "How can you get to the conclusion morality was the most important
issue in this campaign?" Dean asked. "It's beyond me, but that was
what the media was riding. They're entitled to their opinion. It
doesn't happen to be the opinion of thoughtful people who are
looking." 

    Though Dean, a Democrat, complimented President Bush, saying he
"ran a great campaign" and was "very disciplined," he compared the
president to former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, at least in
one regard. 

    "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," Dean charged. "I know
George Bush. I served with him for six years [as a fellow governor].
He's not a homophobe. He's not a racist. He's not a sexist. In some
ways, what he did was worse ... because he knew better." 

    Dean also criticized Bush for the ballot initiatives in 11 states
calling for gay marriage to be outlawed, saying this "had only one
effect, which is to appeal to homophobia and fear and gay-baiting in
order to win a presidential election." 

    And he took a shot at Rev. Jerry Falwell.: "Most Americans are
decent people - not all. I mean, there are those hate-mongers. I
wouldn't call Jerry Falwell a decent person." 

    Scolding Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia for, in Dean's
opinion, humiliating people from the bench, he said, "Justice Scalia
ought not to be on the bench. Never pick anyone who's sarcastic and
mean-spirited." 

    But Dean's lighter side also was apparent throughout the evening.
When a student asked what, if anything, Democrats could do regarding
Bush's Supreme Court nominations, Dean joked: "We can do a lot. But
senators have to have some chutzpah, as they say in Yiddish, or
cajones, as they say in Spanish." 

    The former Vermont governor also responded to an ad by the
conservative Club for Growth in which two ordinary Americans said Dean
should take his "tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking,
sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing,
Hollywood-loving, left wing freak show back to Vermont where it
belongs."

    He explained, "I don't drink coffee. I have three cars - all of
which are American. No part of me is pierced that I'm willing to
discuss publicly. And if you want to see a freak show, go look at the
people who wrote that ad - you won't believe it." 

    Dean talked about his vision for the Democratic Party, saying, "We
need to stand up for what we believe in ... so that the people who
vote against their economic interests will now consider voting for
Democrats." 

    Complimenting students for "voting in significantly higher
numbers," Dean appealed for them to "run for office" quite a few
times. Echoing the now infamous "Dean scream," he shouted, "You need
to run for office - not just in Illinois and Ohio and South Carolina!
... You need to run for office in Mississippi, and Alabama, and Idaho,
and Texas, and...." 






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