Remember Gore's lockbox (he's been proven right once again)?

[fujiyama]

Wasn't such a bad idea after all eh? God, this guy has the shittiest luck imaginable. First he wins the election and has it stolen. Next, he bets on the wrong horse in the primaries.

Either way he's been proven correct over and over again. So much about Bush=Gore....

[Fitzovich]

1. well put

I think you have said it all...

[quaker bill]

2. Exactly

But actually he backed the right horse in the primaries. A guy who understood the true and impending costs of tax-cut and spend government and tried to put a stop to it.

But, but, but "middle class tax cuts are popular". Well social security benefits are popular as well. You can have one or the other, but you can't both. The numbers just don't work.

Sorry, but Dean was also right on this one. Thus the endorsement.

[molly]

4. Really?

http://www.isreview.org/issues/32/dean.shtml

This article, very well researched, and footnoted! talks about Howard Dean pre-presidential run. It addresses his stances on many items of interest to this community throughout his years as governor of Vermont.

Snippets:

Though he has been dubbed a "raging liberal" by admirers and critics alike, Howard Dean governed Vermont strictly within the framework of the conservative Democratic Leadership Council.

Many people on the Vermont left see Dean’s current posture as politically motivated. "The notion that he is a liberal is ludicrous to those of us who worked with him in Vermont," said Terrill Bouricius, a former state representative.4 Dean admits that he recognized early on that the popular anger at Bush is "a raw energy, an energy that I know could be channeled."5

and

But such political maneuvering is nothing new for Dean. Upon becoming governor of Vermont in 1991, after the sudden death of then-Republican Governor Richard Snelling, Dean made a sharp turn to the right and pursued that course ever since. In his 11 years as governor, Dean would shift rightward on one position after another, all the while claiming to be concerned for the needy and less-fortunate, and disappointing all who thought they were getting someone who would govern from the liberal end of the political spectrum.

Dean inherited a massive deficit in the state budget from Snelling. Refusing to raise taxes on wealthier Vermonters (and rendering the tax system more regressive than previously), Dean declared in his first State of the State address that it would be his mission to balance the state budget with some "tough" cuts. Even though Vermont has no law requiring a balanced budget, Dean promised, "The pain for Vermonters will be real."7

Dean slashed millions of dollars from all sorts of social programs, from prescription drug benefits for Medicare recipients and heating assistance for poorer Vermonters to housing assistance funds. In defending his cuts to social programs, Dean said, "I don’t think I have to shy away from that just because I’m supposed to be a liberal Democrat."8

[quaker bill]

3. Just for added emphasis

The facts about Social Security have not changed over the last 8 weeks. The only thing changing here is our understanding of the facts.

[Donna Zen]

5. Well_not exactly

This country runs on a unified budget, and has for some time.

IOW, there is no locked box. For more information read "The Two Percent Solution" by Matthew Miller, a book which points out the many ways we are being lied to by both parties who use this issue for political gain. Also, the situation is far worse than we are being told. The truth is that we are reaching the point that the amt. being paid in will equal the amt being paid out; after that it is all down hill until it finally results in ALL discretionary spending being consumed by med. care and soc. sec.

At that time, those paying into the system will be faced with chosing between roads, schools, etc., or telling the elderly to suck it up and go starve in the streets.

People do not get elected by telling the truth....whose problem is that? I think it is as much the "ignorant" voters problem as it is the smarmy politicians.