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Dean decries 'credit card presidency'
| Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean (middle) greets supporters at a rally at the Keokuk Labor Temple Monday. |
By Steve Dunn/Gate City Managing Editor
Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean brought his message of a balanced budget, a new foreign policy and universal health care to Keokuk on Labor Day Monday.
Taking a shot at President George Bush, Dean said, "If you can't get the economy right and foreign policy right, you need to go back to Crawford, Texas.
"Forty-eight percent of the people got less than a $100 tax cut. Think about what has happened to your property taxes and college tuition. You've paid out a lot more than the federal government has given you the last few years."
Promising to abolish the president's tax cuts, he said only one Republican president has balanced the federal budget in the past 34 years.
"This is the credit card presidency," Dean declared. "We need a new president so we can have a balanced budget."
Besides balancing the budget, the former Vermont governor said he would help small business, which creates more jobs than big business.
"We need to invest in our communities," he said, speaking from the front porch of the Labor Temple. His plan to create an economic revival in rural America starts with access to capital for rural entrepreneurs and focuses on encouraging new development in areas where outmigration is killing communities. He also supports extending broadband technology to every American.
Dean also believes a level playing field is needed in foreign trade.
"We have to understand the rules for trade have to be fair," he said. "I don't see how we can have open border trade without meaningful protections for labor, the environment and human rights," he said.
Turning his attention to foreign policy, Dean explained he supported the first Gulf War and the war in Afghanistan but not the latest war in Iraq because he did not believe Iraq presented an imminent threat to the U.S.
"In this case," he added, "the president told us al-Qaida and Iraq were going to make a deal and that Iraq was going to get nuclear weapons, which wasn't true. As commander-in-chief, I'll never send troops overseas without telling the people why they are going there."
Taking a swipe at the other Democratic presidential candidates who voted to support Bush on the war in Iraq, Dean commented, "If the other guys voted on misinformation, I don't think we need them. We need somebody who'll look at the facts and make up their own minds."
Dean drew some of his biggest applause with his position on health insurance for all Americans.
"In my state virtually everyone under 18 has health insurance, and all the working poor have health insurance," he said. "If we can do that in a small, rural state, it seems to me the most powerful country can do it along with the rest of the industrialized nations in the world. The cost would be less than one-third of the president's tax cut."
In addition, under Vermont's Success by Six program, nine out of 10 newborns get a home-visit from trained community outreach workers to help provide their parents with information and parenting skills. As a result, Dean says, the state's child and sexual abuse rates have fallen dramatically.
While the Democratic Party's presidential front runner believes in some forms of gun control, he said, "We ought to get the guns off the national agenda and just enforce the state laws."
Dean's appearance as Keokuk's Labor Day festivities were winding down strengthened the resolve of at least one supporter.
"This man is a Democrat, and he's not afraid to say he's a Democrat," said Barb Haas, a nurse at the Keokuk Middle School. "He wasn't afraid to be against the war (in Iraq). Look what he's done for Vermont."
Haas also predicted that Dean's grass roots support will be a key factor in the coming months.
"There is a lot of excitement out there you haven't seen before," she observed. "I think he's the one for us."
Taking a shot at President George Bush, Dean said, "If you can't get the economy right and foreign policy right, you need to go back to Crawford, Texas.
"Forty-eight percent of the people got less than a $100 tax cut. Think about what has happened to your property taxes and college tuition. You've paid out a lot more than the federal government has given you the last few years."
Promising to abolish the president's tax cuts, he said only one Republican president has balanced the federal budget in the past 34 years.
"This is the credit card presidency," Dean declared. "We need a new president so we can have a balanced budget."
Besides balancing the budget, the former Vermont governor said he would help small business, which creates more jobs than big business.
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Dean also believes a level playing field is needed in foreign trade.
"We have to understand the rules for trade have to be fair," he said. "I don't see how we can have open border trade without meaningful protections for labor, the environment and human rights," he said.
Turning his attention to foreign policy, Dean explained he supported the first Gulf War and the war in Afghanistan but not the latest war in Iraq because he did not believe Iraq presented an imminent threat to the U.S.
"In this case," he added, "the president told us al-Qaida and Iraq were going to make a deal and that Iraq was going to get nuclear weapons, which wasn't true. As commander-in-chief, I'll never send troops overseas without telling the people why they are going there."
Taking a swipe at the other Democratic presidential candidates who voted to support Bush on the war in Iraq, Dean commented, "If the other guys voted on misinformation, I don't think we need them. We need somebody who'll look at the facts and make up their own minds."
Dean drew some of his biggest applause with his position on health insurance for all Americans.
"In my state virtually everyone under 18 has health insurance, and all the working poor have health insurance," he said. "If we can do that in a small, rural state, it seems to me the most powerful country can do it along with the rest of the industrialized nations in the world. The cost would be less than one-third of the president's tax cut."
In addition, under Vermont's Success by Six program, nine out of 10 newborns get a home-visit from trained community outreach workers to help provide their parents with information and parenting skills. As a result, Dean says, the state's child and sexual abuse rates have fallen dramatically.
While the Democratic Party's presidential front runner believes in some forms of gun control, he said, "We ought to get the guns off the national agenda and just enforce the state laws."
Dean's appearance as Keokuk's Labor Day festivities were winding down strengthened the resolve of at least one supporter.
"This man is a Democrat, and he's not afraid to say he's a Democrat," said Barb Haas, a nurse at the Keokuk Middle School. "He wasn't afraid to be against the war (in Iraq). Look what he's done for Vermont."
Haas also predicted that Dean's grass roots support will be a key factor in the coming months.
"There is a lot of excitement out there you haven't seen before," she observed. "I think he's the one for us."
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