Dean: Bush = Nixon
When his run is finished, Howard Dean will most be remembered for his scream and his idiotic diatribes. His latest pronouncement is that President Bush is “more corrupt than Nixon.”
Speaking to the New England Press Association, he called the Bush White House “more corrupt” than Nixon’s, accusing President Bush of leaking military secrets, “in a time of war in order to fulfill their political agenda.”
I hate telling Dr. Dean this but the President and Vice President have the authority to classify or declassify documents. But facts don’t matter when Dr. Dean’s trying to score cheap political points. The thing is that he doesn’t realize how stupid and polarizing he sounds.
It’s also insulting to hear Dr. Dean comparing the President’s protecting us from terrorists to Nixon’s wiretapping his political enemies. Dr. Dean deserves to get slapped for saying that big of a whopper. Then again, we’re so used to him telling us whoppers that it’s like noticing a Clinton scandal. After 15 minutes, you just forget about them until the next one pops up.
It’s also noteworthy to recall that Dean didn’t speak out against Bill Clinton when a low-level aide named Craig Livingstone received raw FBI files even though he didn’t have the proper security clearance for getting them. (By the way, looking at FBI files without the proper clearance is what landed Chuck Colson in prison in Watergate.)
In a related story, the DNC issued this statement:
Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney issued the following statement in response to Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman’s divisive partisan attacks on Democrats ability to protect America:
“Ken Mehlman’s angry attacks are harmful to America. Using the security of the American people as a political wedge issue is disgraceful,” said Spokeswoman Karen Finney.
“Democrats will not be lectured to from a Republican party that leaked classified information in a time of war, sent our troops to war without the proper equipment and have left America’s ports and borders, chemical and nuclear plants vulnerable to attack some five years after September 11th. As we saw in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, under Republican watch, we are not safer today than we were five years ago, a finding reconfirmed this by the F’s and D’s this Republican administration received by the 9/11 commission.
“The fact is that it was Democrats who pushed to create a Department of Homeland Security. It was Democrats who pushed to make our airlines safer. It is Democrats who are now working to make sure we close the remaining gaps in our nation’s security. It was Democrats who demanded reform of the intelligence community. And it is Democrats who are pushing for a foreign policy that honestly deals with the threats of today, and the threats of tomorrow, like securing the nuclear materials around the world.
Republicans in Washington had to be dragged kicking and screaming to our side on all of these issues that protect America. Democrats believe that we must fight the War on Terror, protect our country from attacks and follow the rule of law, not be distracted by unsubstantiated rhetoric.”
There’s so many over-the-top statements and misstatements that it’s hard to know where to start. Here’s my best shot at it:
Getting D’s and F’s from the 9/11 ‘Omission’ is as insignificant as having Jimmy Carter lecture you about foreign policy. The Commission lectured people for not connecting the dots but then didn’t seriously look into Able Danger, which connected the dots but wasn’t useful because Jamie Gorelick, a 9/11 Commissioner, had built a wall saying that foreign intelligence people couldn’t talk to law enforcement. The Commission was a bigger waste of money than any independant counsel ever was. Even worse than Lawrence Walsh.
As I stated earlier, the President and Vice President have the authority to declassify documents. I don’t expect Democrats to know that, though, since so few of them have a working understanding of the Constitution or of the duties of the Executive Branch. After all, it isn’t like the Democrats inhabit the White House that often.
Ms. Finney saying that Republicans are trying to place politics ahead of national security is absurd. After all, it wasn’t a Republican who emailed his fellow senators on the Intelligence Committee and told them to help him drag his feet on a vital report so that they could then blame Republicans of dragging their feet on. If I didn’t know better, that sounds like playing national security as a Democratic wedge issue.
It’s true that Democrats pushed for the creation of DHS. They were also the ones who caved into the public employee unions on the issue of civil service protections. DHS gets more civil service protection than any other national security department. That sounds more like an opportunity to spend tons of money than it was an opportunity to protect Americans.
Ms. Finney’s statement that “it is Democrats who are pushing for a foreign policy that honestly deals with the threats of today, and the threats of tomorrow” is laughable, especially in light of Harry Reid’s “We just killed the Patriot Act” announcement and John Murtha’s assinine statement that we had to “immediately redeploy” and create an “over-the-horizon” force located outside Iraq. We all remember Murtha telling us that our military were the main targets, only to have the NY Times of all people tell us that the insurgents were turning on AQ terrorists.
Murtha’s statements also came shortly before the Pentagon announced that US casualties were dropping significantly and that US troops were taking a more behind-the-scenes role in bringing security to Iraq.
And who can forget Murtha’s statement that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war? If you think you might forget hearing that, just remember that that statement came just before we found out that more and more insurgents were quitting the insurgency to join the political process following the December 15th vote.
In short, Democrats aren’t taken seriously on national security because most Democrats are clueless about protecting America.
Cross-post at LetFreedomRing
February 11th, 2006 at 10:12 pm
“As we saw in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, under Republican watch, we are not safer today than we were five years ago”
Republicans clearly aren’t doing enough to end the constant threat of hurricanes. Howard Deans idea is to wear a wizard hat and wave a wand into the sky.
>_
February 12th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
Yeh, I shorely think AlGore wudda hit UBL where it hurts right after 9/11, jist like his boss did at least three times when he had the chance.
I also shorely am grateful them union-luvin dems had the gumption to stand up ta the likes of the TSA an’ give the pore folk jobs what they ain’t qualified fer, ’cause it keeps ‘em offun the public dole.
An’ mosta all, I’m most grateful fer the dems what runs lousyana, spendin’ my tax dollas where they work best, even though the billions were earmarked fer the dikes. Yessiree, Bob, it was fine of Noggin an’ Blanko ta spend all them dollas on sumthin ’sides the dikes, ’cause them dikes was only pertectin’ the folks, mostly pore, and the money wuz much too important to spend like that.
An’ God bless the dems, they’s all fer sapportin’ our soldiers, long as the soldiers ain’t outta the country terrorizin’ ferrin citizens in the middle of the night, or torturin’ some pore suckers who just happined ta git caught with IED’s or sumpin. Yeh, they’s all fer pertectin’ us.
February 13th, 2006 at 1:48 am
Don’t worry, Dean’ll get slapped. This November. Good quality posts, CC!