NEWS
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Who is Howard Dean?"In the Vermont political spectrum, he was a moderate or a centrist," said Eric L. Davis, a professor of political science at Middlebury College in Vermont. "In the spectrum of Vermont, he was not someone who was a strong supporter of left or progressive causes."
Not having read much about Howard Dean, I found today's New York times story "Defying Labels Left or Right, Dean's '04 Campaign Makes Gains" interesting. It paints a picture of a moderate, pragmatic politician that has tapped into a rich vein of liberal fury that has catapulted him to the lead position in the race for the Democratic primary. While the New Dems are hand-wringing over a rumor Karl Rove likes Dean because he is "too liberal," I'm worried for a different reason - that the narrow portion of the electorate that controls the presidential election will be too whipped up into a racist, jingoist, ignorant love-fest over Bush to elect a pragmatic moderate that might actually work to improve government and fight the 'war on terror' they love so much - instead re-electing a president too busy war mongering and giving handouts to corporate scoundrels to help them.
"... Vermont now offers the nation's most generous health benefits to children, low-income adults and elderly residents of modest means. Almost all children in the state have full medical insurance, and more than a third of Vermont residents on Medicare get state help in paying for prescription drugs.
Posted by Rob at 1:01 PM
