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Posted on 10/12/2003 9:06:43 PM PDT by Pokey78
WASHINGTON
The persistence of a quotation he insists is an "urban legend" is evidently infuriating Howard Dean.
At lunch last week in the Washington bureau of The Times, the reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg identified herself and started to ask a question. Dr. Dean immediately interrupted: "I want to quickly jump on you for a sec here," he said sharply, and referred to an article she had written based on an interview with Senator John McCain in which yesteryear's maverick took issue with a reported remark of Dr. Dean's.
"I never said that. I never said that," the man from Vermont insisted. "McCain claimed I said that on television. We called the station and said we never said that. This is the problem with LexisNexis. It's great, but it circulates urban legends and creates them and I had never said that. . . ."
What was the "that"? Dean angrily denied being "soft on the death of Uday and Qusay. That was something McCain said, and it got quoted in my story and I've been a victim of it ever since. McCain said I said it. We talked and called the station and said we never said any such thing."
What horrendous McCain smear was quoted in my colleague's story? Here's the passage in The Times, coming after McCain said that Dean's national security positions "are way out of the mainstream":
"For instance, Mr. McCain cited Dr. Dean's remark that `the ends do not justify the means,' in reference to the death of Saddam Hussein's sons. `I was astounded,' the senator said. `The ends were to get rid of two murdering rapist thugs and the means was the use of American military intelligence.' "
My trusting heart went out to Dr. Dean, who considers himself the victim of vicious McCain slander.
I recalled an instance of a manufactured quote in the primary campaign of 1968. After Richard Nixon said "we must end the war and win the peace," George Romney asked "Where is your secret plan?" and Nixon is misquoted to this day as having claimed "I have a secret plan to end the war." (He never said it; I've won bets on this.)
Before joining Dean in castigating McCain for putting words in his mouth, I went to Google and keyed in "ends justify the means" and "Dean." To my astonishment, amid the 368 hits was this Associated Press dispatch by Holly Ramer from Manchester, N.H., dated July 22, 2003:
"Questioned about the deaths of Saddam's sons, Odai and Qusai, in Iraq, Dean dismissed suggestions that it was a victory for the Bush administration. `It's a victory for the Iraqi people . . . but it doesn't have any effect on whether we should or shouldn't have had a war,' Dean said. `I think in general the ends do not justify the means.' "
On the day this A.P. story appeared, McCain was asked on MSNBC for his reaction to Dean's reaction to the killing of Saddam's murderous sons: "I am astonished. A lot of people have compared me with Governor Dean. I could not disagree with him more to say that the ends don't justify the means. . . . Mr. Dean does the nation a great disservice when he doesn't recognize how wonderful an event this is and how important it is to the morale of the troops."
Dean spinmeisters will abandon their candidate's untenable "never said any such thing" and argue that the words "in general" remove the quoted sentence from an answer to the specific question about killing Saddam's sons. They will blow smoke about Dean offering a philosophical observation entirely detached from the rapists who were the subject of the question. Some partisans would buy that.
But it is not Dean's way to explain "what I meant was . . ." His eagerness to expunge from the record his snap judgment about the killing of Saddam's sons — to claim falsely "I never said any such thing," to suggest it is a McCain concoction, an "urban legend" — tells us that he is a man who treats a toothache by biting down on it hard.
By repeatedly denying the words ever came out of his mouth — thereby imputing inaccuracy to the A.P. reporter and blatant dishonesty to McCain — he compounds the original blunder that all too tellingly revealed his mindset.
Maybe Dean has a secret plan to end the war.
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That's a good summary. Even more succinct is "his mind is a blunder".
What's this "Mr." McCain and "Dr." Dean?
Oh yeah, this is how the New York Times refers to them.
Hello? Is this microphone on?
Again I ask. Will any Democrat who has freed a nation of oppressed people, outed a dangerous anti-American dictator, and rebuilt a nation without a single err, please raise your hand.
My. The room seems so silent. I guess we'll have to call it a night, folks.
So what should these know - it - all democrats do now?
Gimmie an "S"
Gimmie an "H"
Gimmie a "U"
Gimmie a "T"
Gimmie a "U"
Gimmie a "P"
What's that spell?
SHUT UP!
Well, I hope he doesn't blow until he's won the Primary. This is the dude I want for their candidate. Perhaps a 'blow' about the 10th of October, 2004 would be nice.
He receives money now because he is a "name". I know that there are "recording artists" who sell a lot of albums but never sang on them (Milli Vanilli). PR is a con game.
"Dean, Dean, you're young and alive,
What to say, well and thoroughly *****d.
Come kneel, if you will,
To Wes, Hil and Bill,
&c. &c. (Mary, help!), bonnie Dean."
But the Dims get to change their candidate at the last minute if this happens--remember the New Jersey Senate race? A perfect point for Her Heinous to insert her considerable bulk into the mix....just watch.
That is Dean-doublespeak.
I hope he blows as the Dems nominee. It will be that much more enjoyable and the dividends will be greater.
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