Dean looks back, dryly

[demdave]

For his soon-to-be-published campaign manifesto, "Winning Back America," Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean takes a confessional approach. He describes his privileged preppie upbringing, his youthful drunken behavior and his occasional adventures in petty theft.



Dean also reminisces about his fraught relationship with alcohol - a narrative that parallels the experience of fellow Eastern Establishment scion George W. Bush, a graduate of Phillips Andover Academy.

After he got married, "I quit drinking," he writes. "When I drank, I would drink a lot and do outrageous things, and then I wouldn't drink again for a while. I realized that what was very funny when you're 18 is not very funny when you're 30. I had a terrible hangover after my bachelor party, which didn't help. So I quit. Drinking served no useful purpose in my life, and I just got tired of it. I haven't had a drink in over 22 years."


http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/133177p-118729c.html

[stopthegop]

1. sound kinda like someone else ..

who gets roundly criticized here for past drinking...interesting

[bleedingheart]

3. at least he isn't giving Jesus Christ his lord and savior credit for his

decision....

[stopthegop]

5. and why would that be bad? n/t

.

[short bus president]

12. Exactly!

If you want to attribute anything positive that happens in your life to your glorified imaginary friend, more (or less) power to you.

[bleedingheart]

13. it just makes me cynical...how would christ control someone's

behavior...why not just say that it was a personal decision?

Even if religion is involved it just seems over the top when people credit Jesus for everything in their life....to me it a bit over the top.

Like when athletes credit jesus for winning the game... so when they lose is it satan's fault..??

Years of dealing with my born again mother in law have made me very cynical. One day she decides that Jesus wants her to wear skirts and assert her feminine side... a few months later that gets old... so she stops... then she stops drinking socially because Jesus wants her to....then at the next big family wedding she's boozing it up like the rest of the family....

[mac56]

6. And he's owning up to it right away -

And I assume there are no DUIs in the closet.

[Demobrat]

4. Sounds just like me.

And lots of other people I know.

[RetroLounge]

9. Yup. I agree.

sounds like a lot of DU'ers too.

It's a non-issue...

[demdave]

7. The term "dry drunk" got batted around rather freely

explanations will make interesting reading now that the shoe is on the other foot. Yet another reason that I have always preached about keeping debates confined to issues and to avoid hate filled personal attacks. Without exception, the chickens always come home to roost.

[w13rd0]

8. problem is...

...Bush has always been a complete hypocrite. Where Bush would likely lock someone up and throw away the key for doing what he did for years, Dean would likely treat it as a health issue. As someone who had his own rowdy youth, I'd rather someone changed and learned something, than see someone like Dubya, where a seedy past just makes for a heart full of hatred and hubris.

[Demobrat]

16. Actually, the problem is

that Bush doesn't appear to have actually quit, note the pretzel incident, the bloodshot nose and eyes, the leaning on the podium, etc.

[Dookus]

14. exactly.....

I personally never attacked Bush on his past, but many here did. I even got attacked when I denied the existence of such a thing as "dry drunk".

Now Dean gives essentially the same exact explanation of his drinking past as Bush gave. Somehow I don't think he'll be attacked with the same gusto.

[Demobrat]

17. He will if he falls on his face

and blames it on a pretzel.

[MGKrebs]

10. Not very interesting to me.

Duers do not think with one central brain (despite the freeper belief that we are controlled by Alec Baldwin).

Some attack Bush with whatever they think they can hang on him.

Others attack where they can and have fun with the rest.

Still others just watch and learn.

And some live to point out shortcomings of others.

[tsipple]

2. I'm Looking Forward to Reading "Winning Back America"

I'm glad Dean is coming out with a book during his campaign. It's a really great idea, and it has helped a lot of candidates get their message across in detail.

[Vis Numar]

11. OK

He's getting down the "I was a fool" act, good for 10 or so million votes in the general.

[TahitiNut]

15. Not LBN

"Lloyd Grove is The Daily News' newest gossip columnist, joining us from The Washington Post, where he wrote the widely read 'Reliable Source' column."
... and ...
"Originally published on November 2, 2003"

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[jobycom]

18. Simple strategy-- get it out as soon as possible so you can say "old news"

Well, if Dean is 55, he stopped drinking at 33, so although what was funny at 18 may not have been funny at 30, I guess he didn't figure that out until three years later. It's still 7 years earlier than Bush, and if Dean is being honest here, he wasn't an alcoholic like Bush. W wasn't sober much before 40. It sounds like Dean was just a partier.

It doesn't make me like him better, I'll admit. But it is a good strategy, to get the details out. Problem is, the shady way he explains it, almost trying to sound like he was around 18 when he was drinking, makes me wonder if he's coming clean now, or is planning to do it bit by bit.

Why do we get candidates who seem to be running on the spur of the moment, who don't seem to have gotten serious about their goals and ideologies until they were well into adulthood? Dean's biggest knock so far is that people don't trust that he has a consistent ideology, and this detail doesn't help to add any depth to him.

Sigh. Gore's still not running. I just have to adjust. I'll be okay.