Howard Dean: His Secrets Finally Revealed to the Public

[LuminousX]

Tell All Book About Dean

The two Vermont newspapers have collaborated on a book about Howard Dean. They are going to blow the lid off the myths that surround him.

Did you know...

Dean is not a liberal?
"Dean is not especially a liberal," said Dirk Van Susteren, editor of the papers' Sunday magazine who also edited the book. "That is one of the biggest surprises."

Dean is outspoken and blunt?
(Irene Wielawski) writes that his outspoken, blunt personality came out early, citing an incident at Yale University. Dean was playing touch football and confronted a friend, an ROTC scholar, for taking a cheap shot at another player who was the son of outspoken, anti-war Yale chaplain William Sloan Coffin. "Dean stopped the game and told his friend to knock it off, accusing him of taking the shot because he didn't like the guy's father," she said. "He didn't let his friendship get in the way of playing fair."

Dean has a history of working with both sides of an issue?
"He said he voted with the Carter people during the day and partied with the Kennedy people at night," (Jon) Margolis recalled. "That showed his ability to get along with both sides." Margolis credits Dean's behavior at the convention for helping him to get the chairmanship of the Chittenden County Democratic Party later that year because "he could bring people together."

Dean has a sketchy environmental record?
He also had a mixed record on the environment, purchasing some 470,000 acres of open land during his tenure in order to protect it, but also spearheading several major developments despite their questionable effect on water and natural resources.

"His critics charge that his preference for the interests of large business over environmental protection sapped the vitality from the state's regulatory apparatus," (Hamilton) Davis wrote in one of two chapters he penned for the book. "The result, they say, was unwise large-scale development and degraded water quality."

Dean is a fiscal conservative?
...Dean's record as a fiscal conservative who cut income taxes and kept spending so low that Vermont regularly produced surpluses through the late 1990s.

There is something for everyone here to keep us talking about Dean into the new year and beyond. There is even something for the people who think Dean is being propped up by the GOP because one of the authors is Greta Van Sustern's brother!

[Egnever]

1. Hey you forgot this part!

"What motivated all of us was the challenge -- to tell the country who Howard Dean is," Van Susteren said. "I think what you see is what you get with him -- that is it."


:wtf:

[helleborient]

5. So where do Greta's sympathies lie?

She now slums for Fox...but I've also seen her referred to as a liberal who keeps somewhat quiet about it for the sake of her job.

[Demobrat]

2. If I had only known.

I would have donated twice as much.

[helleborient]

3. Very interesting post, I think....

But I thought it was very weird...I couldn't find the book publisher. Did you?

Without at least a midline independent publisher, the book won't get far.

Wow! It says that Dean works well at negotiating with people on both sides of an issue. Yeah, I figured that already.

None of this looks a whit new from those who have followed him very closely.

[LuminousX]

10. Publisher: Steerforth Press

http://www.steerforth.com/

[helleborient]

13. They do get reviews in major publications...

For some of their books...and they got a lead quote from Judy Woodruff.

It will be interesting to see where it goes.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. Is Robert Woodward's murder in there?

The murder by police after which Dean stood by his buddy the AG and refused to properly investigate? Even though eyewitnesses insist the police acted brutally with no regard for a sick man's life?

http://justiceforwoody.org/story/shooting.html

[Padraig18]

6. A man with a gun in a church...

... who won't surrender peacefully gets shot. And the 'story' would be....what?

I grew up in Chicago, and it's 'too f*cking bad'. Don't want the cops to shoot you--- don't go into a public place and start waving a gun around.

Nothing to see here. Move on...

[eissa]

7. This reminds me of the attacks

on Clinton by Falwell and his ilk -- remember those? Clinton was a cocaine-snorting, ass-grabbing womanizer who killed off Vince Foster and members of his troops to keep them silent about his drug dealing and cheating on Hillary. Hmmmmm.....I wonder if Howard also snorts and bags ugly chicks?

[helleborient]

8. Can you help us with where the site connects this to Howard Dean?

With all respect to the people putting it together, it is a really poorly done web site.

I had to dig and dig before I finally found some independently verifiable material in the form of articles from newspapers.

The link for the rally they had actually went to a photo of the flyer for the rally...no pictures of it or anything like that.

I couldn't find a connection to Howard Dean in the newspaper stories.

It does sound like an unfortunate event - I agree with that.

But it almost came off like a parody at first...because there was nothing present to verify any of it is true.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

14. Dean wouldn't conduct an outside investigation

he took the AG at his word. Despite the efforts of the victim's friends and family to persuade first the AG and then Dean to investigate.

Dean sees no need for special prosecutor

and from an interview upon leaving office:

Q: This community continues to be divided over the Dec. 2, 2001, police shooting of Robert Woodward. William Sorrell exonerated police in that incident. But at least two different analyses have found fault with the Sorrell report. As governor you resisted calls to intervene. Do you continue to stand by the attorney general's findings?

Dean: I've read one of the analyses of the report and I thought it was very good, it was by the friends of Woody ... It is impossible for me, as someone who wasn't there, to know what went on in the church. I have a long association with the attorney general and I have an enormous amount of respect for the attorney general as a human being and as a really smart lawyer. He is not somebody who has ever been afraid of prosecuting the police when it was necessary to do so, so that's why I do have confidence in the attorney general.

http://justiceforwoody.org/media/articles/html/casa1.htm

The bottom line is everyone defended the cops from the city on up to the state- eveyone who wasn't there. Dean is business as usual.

[Padraig18]

16. Why re-investigate?

:shrug:

[LuminousX]

9. Wasn't in the description of the book

I'm sure if it was important to his career in one fashion or another, it will be.

[helleborient]

11. If it's relevant, it's old news that all 8 other campaigns dismissed

As important.

And apparently all of the networks, including Fox, have as well.

I guess I would vote with our other esteemed candidates on this one.

[unfrigginreal]

12. Oh my goodness! Guess I'll have to dig out my Kerry button.

n/t

[killbotfactory]

15. Woah!

In one case, after signing the controversial same-sex union bill in 2000, Dean embarked on a statewide tour, asking organizers at backyard stops to invite citizens who were angry at what he had just done. After allowing them to vent their opposition, Dean explained why he had signed the bill, mentioning that part of the reason was a reaction to recent court rulings that required equal protection for gays and lesbians. "The truth be told, they very likely saved Howard Dean's political skin," the book stated in a chapter on campaigning by David Gram, a longtime Associated Press reporter based in Montpelier. "He went on to win the election of 2000 by the barest of margins."

Dean's got cajones of steel.

[LuminousX]

17. Dean is realistic

He knew signing that bill wouldn't make people happy so he went out to meet with them instead of saying "If you don't like it, I don't want you voting for me."

Reaching out, creating understanding... that is leadership.