C&L Vid Clip: Howard Dean smacks down Leslie the Wolf on CNN

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Dean issues Smack-down on Wolfie



They are trying so hard to link Democrats to Abramoff's scandal that on today's Late Edition, Howard Dean almost set Wolfie's beard on fire.

Video-WMP

Video-QT

CNN transcript

Blitzer has been doing much better as an interviewer lately on the Situation Room using Russert's style somewhat, but not today.

Commenter: 8 seconds of dead air time as Wolf lets out a heavy sigh and ends the interview...

12:11:26 PM Comments (218) permalink12:11:26 PM

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

1. Transcript excerpt from link above...

BLITZER: Should Democrats who took money from Jack Abramoff, who has now pleaded guilty to bribery charges, among other charges, a Republican lobbyist in Washington, should the Democrat who took money from him give that money to charity or give it back?

DEAN: There are no Democrats who took money from Jack Abramoff, not one, not one single Democrat. Every person named in this scandal is a Republican. Every person under investigation is a Republican. Every person indicted is a Republican. This is a Republican finance scandal. There is no evidence that Jack Abramoff ever gave any Democrat any money. And we've looked through all of those FEC reports to make sure that's true.

BLITZER: But through various Abramoff-related organizations and outfits, a bunch of Democrats did take money that presumably originated with Jack Abramoff.

DEAN: That's not true either. There's no evidence for that either. There is no evidence...

BLITZER: What about Senator Byron Dorgan?

DEAN: Senator Byron Dorgan and some others took money from Indian tribes. They're not agents of Jack Abramoff. There's no evidence that I've seen that Jack Abramoff directed any contributions to Democrats. I know the Republican National Committee would like to get the Democrats involved in this. They're scared. They should be scared. They haven't told the truth. They have misled the American people. And now it appears they're stealing from Indian tribes. The Democrats are not involved in this.

[snowbear]

7. That really was the "sigh heard 'round the world" wasn't it?

Poor Wolfie... Dean gave him a lot to think about on his long trip home.. http://eliteleague.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/lol!.gif

[Adelante]

29. woOT!!

Very well done.

[Proud_Lefty]

2. That was pure entertainment

I've been telling my husband all week that the democrats are not involved and he always responds, but the press says .... Dean set the records straight with my husband right there, didn't mince words, and reiterated exactly what I've been screaming all week long. Go Dean!!!!

[hwmnbn]

3. EXCELLENT!! ......EXCELLENT!!.....

That's what I'm talkin about!! Howard just lays it out. No finessing around the issue. Just Say It!!

No Democrat took money from Abramoff. PERIOD. End of story. That's the simple message all dems have to repeat and repeat. There is no debate on this. Cite the FEC findings to prove it.

If dems debate this issue it muddies up the water. Dean did perfect. He said it and he shut up. Poor wolfie was caught with his pants down. (eeewww!!)

[ewagner]

4. That sigh from Wolfie

was absolutely priceless......

Dean refused to play along with Wolfie's script and frustrated the hell out of Wolf...

better yet...

Dean established the "pecking order" beautifully right at the end by telling Wolf to "have a nice flight back"...Dean was in control...

All
the
Way.

Damn I like Dean!!!! :bounce: :woohoo:

[CarolNYC]

5. Thanks for the link.

Dean was perfect! Gotta love that reaction from Wolf. hehe

And then the little chuckling smile at the end, much the way Gen Clark does at the end of a combative interview.

And my Mom will love it because he talked fast. She's always saying the Democrats they put on these shows talk too darn slowly.

Oh, he was perfect...thanks again.

[raysr]

6. Perfect

that was out of sight!

[sendero]

8. If we had..

.... about 10 more Deans, we could bury these sons of bitches.

[RazzleDazzle]

27. Actually, it would have only taken one

in the right place: POTUS

But, noooooo. The DLC had a better idea b ecause they just couldn't stand the idea of a grassroots, populist uprising where American citizens really did have the power once again.

[diamondsndust]

9. That made me PROUD to be a Democrat!..

Howard Dean to it just how it was, no faltering, no waivering, no stuttering... flat out FACTS. That should be part of :

The NEW Democratic Creed
1.) I will not falter.
2.) I will not waiver from the truth
3.) I will stand up against any & all Government Injustice.
4.) I will protect the rights of the people, by the people, for the people.
5.) I will not bring shame to myself or my Party.

ok... feel free to ad more!

I loved hearing wolfie stutter and sigh, he knew he'd been punked!

PEACE!! it's NOT just for hippies anymore!

[Douglas Carpenter]

10. now just imagine if Joe Lieberman had been answering the same questions

:blush:

[quiet.american]

18. The horror! The horror! :) n/t

[Mad_Dem_X]

25. UGH! Good for Dean for saying he thought

Lieberman was wrong. I like how they have to show video of a (so-called) Dem defending Bush. :eyes:

[Cha]

11. I was telling a friend over

the phone about Dean's interview on blitzer today and how not one Dem is involved in this abramoff scandal and she said.."why did some of the Dems give back the money then?" I said because they got some money from some of the Indian Tribes and they didn't want it to seem like tainted money and some just like to grandstand. But, the Indians always gave money to the Dems just because some of them were clients of abramoff doesn't mean it was connected to them.

I like what Dean said.."I know the Republican National Committee would like to get the Democrats involved in this. They're scared. They should be scared. They haven't told the truth. They have misled the American people. And now it appears they're stealing from Indian tribes. The Democrats are not involved in this."

[Sadie5]

12. Notice in the end

how Wolfie was confused as to what to do next. Couldn't make Dean admit to a thing.

[LeahD]

20. He pummeled him! TKO!

I'm sure Blitzer was relieved that he was "out of time."

[CarolNYC]

13. great line

Yep, that was a great line...Good for the good doctor! Good job!

[Cha]

14. Check out buzzflash's Huge Headline..

HOWARD DEAN DECIMATES WOLF BLITZER ON WHY THE REPUBLICANS ARE CORRUPT AND SCANDAL RIDDEN . BLITZER IS STOPPED IN HIS TRACKS. (VIDEO)

Headline..http://www.buzzflash.com/ :7

[Greyskye]

15. Dean did better than that

To "decimate" something means to get rid of 1/10th of it. Wolfie was lucky that Dean left him that much! :rofl:

[diamondsndust]

16. or you could say....

Dean knocked ol' Wolfie out with a left hook! Now I have to go watch it again! I need a good laugh!

[TankLV]

17. YES! Nail that rat bastard!

This is priceless.

The look on that repuke whore is priceless!

It just keeps getting better and better.

Pass the popcorn!

[Nothing Without Hope]

19. ***HERE IS THE PERMALINK of the Crooks & Liars entry with these clips

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/01/08.html#a6627

You can't direct-link to the video files, they redirect to the C & L home page.

And thanks.

[fearnobush]

21. Give Wolfy a little love letter

<http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/wolf.blitzer.reports/popups/email/frameset.exclude.html>

[buddysmellgood]

22. It's just so god-damned SWEEEET!!!

[Ino]

23. Priceless!

Oh man, that was great! Blitzer stuttered, sounded desperate, kept throwing out misleading accusations, was finally speechless, and oh, that heavy sigh at the end! Dean was forceful, direct and unhesitating. He had the might of right behind his words. Just brilliant. I love him.

[yurbud]

24. His answers on Alito were equally concise, forceful, and ACCURATE

Howard is pretty consistent about reminding us why so many of us supported him for president and the GOP feared him so much: he isn't mealy-mouthed and apologetic, and what he says sounds a lot like what any of us would like to say in the same position.

HOWARD DEAN, DNC CHAIRMAN: There are a couple of problems with Judge Alito. First of all, he appears to be outside the mainstream of where most Americans are on privacy for individuals, not just women's issues, but strip searching, OK'ing a strip search of a 10-year-old, these kinds of things.

The other thing which is also troubling is the conflict of interest case where he owned $400,000 worth of mutual funds and was willing to sit on a case involving the company. His order was later vacated.

Now, he promised the American people when he was confirmed that he would recuse himself.

So, the question that I have is, when he's answering the questions from Senator Leahy and Senator Specter or others, how are they going to know he's going to tell the truth, because he did not tell the truth when he said to the Senate Judiciary Committee 15 years ago that he would recuse himself from cases in which he had a financial interest.

BLITZER: Well, he later explained, though, that that was really a technical slip-up for which he apologized. That's not a good enough explanation for you?

DEAN: Well, the chief judge disagreed with him. The chief judge removed him from the case and ordered a new judge to hear it. So, you know, this is an ethically charged climate in Washington. There's enormous corruption scandals in both the White House, involving the chief procurement officer and Karl Rove and the vice president's office and the Senate and the House.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0601/08/le.01.html

[Debi]

26. That was BEAUTIFUL!

We need to repeat Dean's words over an over and over again!

Way to go Chairman Dean!

[LevelB]

28. I saw Ken Mehlman's response tonight

It was pathetic (of course), but what really struck me was when Wolf referred to his interview with Dean. He said (paraphrase) "We checked with our political correspondent, Some Asshat, and he said that no Democrats had accepted money from Abramoff."

The biggest political scandal of his journalistic career, and he was unaware of this simple fact - shit, I could do his job.

B.

[CarolNYC]

30. Mehlman is pathetic...

I like the political correspondent's name, though, "Some Asshat"...lol