Dean Gets Standing Ovation from Arab-Americans; attacked leading conservatives, religious right

Reuters ^ | 10-18-03

[Brian S]

Sat October 18, 2003 06:09 PM ET By Tom Brown

DEARBORN, Mich. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean received a standing ovation from an Arab-American audience on Saturday when he attacked leading conservatives and figures from the religious right.

Dean, one of seven Democratic presidential candidates to address the Arab American Institute's national leadership conference in Dearborn, pointed to an American flag and named some of the people he said it did not belong to.

"It does not belong to General Boykin, or John Ashcroft, or Rush Limbaugh or Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson," the former Vermont governor said to cheers in the packed hotel conference room in the Detroit suburb which is home to one of the highest concentrations of Muslims and Arabs outside the Middle East.

"This flag belongs to every single American, including every single American in this room, and is the hope and aspiration for many other folks who are not yet citizens," he said.

The message was warmly received by the crowd of about 300 as Dean named Ashcroft, the U.S. Attorney General and a prominent spokesmen for America's conservative or religious right, along with Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin, the senior Pentagon intelligence official who has told Christian gatherings that Muslims worship an "idol."

His speech was repeatedly interrupted by applause as he condemned violations of civil liberties, racial profiling and abuse of authority under the USA Patriot Act, the anti-terror legislation championed by Ashcroft that passed after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Hundreds of Muslims and Arabs were detained in roundups after the attacks and Dean said the detentions and deportations of an untold number of immigrants based on secret evidence were unlawful and should be repealed.

"Today we see another shameful chapter in American history. Because John Ashcroft touts the Patriot Act around this country does not make John Ashcroft a patriot," he said.

"The war on terror cannot become a war on civil rights and freedoms. We should not have to chose between securing our homeland and securing the blessings of liberty. We can have both, otherwise the terrorists have won and we will not permit that."

Dean also won applause by reiterating his recent promises to send former President Bill Clinton to the Middle East as his peace broker if he is elected next year.

[edwin hubble]

"Dean will come to regret this"

I hope Bush's team and the RNC are carefully capturing all of Dean's sound bytes and quotes for later use.

If Dean gets the nomination we will have another McGovern election.

[jigsaw]

The Democrat Party is the party of choice for those who want to destroy
our nation from within using our system of government as a tool.

Pinging Jayne for Quote of the Day nomination.

[Pikamax]

Don't forget and add this to it..


"Dean's advisers said the candidate sometimes get himself in trouble by choosing the wrong words. They said his evolving position on the Middle East is a perfect example.

On the Middle East, Kerry and Lieberman have accused Dean of sending mixed signals regarding the peace talks. He has. Dean told a New Mexico audience several weeks ago that the United States should not pick sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. When asked a few days later by The Washington Post if he stood by his comment, Dean backtracked, saying the United States should pursue an "even-handed" approach.

Soon after, under pressure from the Jewish community, an influential Democratic constituency that considers the use of phrases such as "even-handed" as a softening of the U.S. government's pro-Israel stance, Dean emphasized that his Middle East policies would be no different from Clinton's.

Dean also generated controversy by calling the suicide bombers of the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, soldiers, not terrorists, and by suggesting that Israel should dismantle the "enormous" number of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. He has since said negotiators should decide the settlement issue.

In all four issues, Dean aides chalked up the miscommunication to a "poor" choice of words.
"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30685-2003Oct1.html

[oceanview]

perhaps, but don't think the jewish vote is going to turn. the dems will get 80+% of the muslim and jewish votes. amazing, sad, but likely true.

[concerned about politics]

Dean also won applause by reiterating his recent promises to send former President Bill Clinton to the Middle East as his peace broker if he is elected next year.

Hide the virgins.
Uh, Howard, how do you think we got into this mess in the first place? O'DOH!!

Clinton got Israel to sign the Oslo Accords, validating a Palistinian state in the first place! Had Israel not signed that contract with the devil to destroy Israel, they could remove the Palistinians off their land right now.
"I sent you a king, and you rejected him. Along came another, and it is he you accept."

[madison10]

The "religious right" is at it's best when confronted.

[ErnBatavia]

received a standing ovation from an Arab-American audience

Yet more proof that he's a whoring slut.

[tet68]

80% of the muslim vote sure, the jewish vote......I don't think so, a lot is going to happen between now and election day.

[ErnBatavia]

"Doctor" Dean should stick to collecting specimens.

I'm declaring right now that his gloved finger will never find it's way up my bunghole....I'll die of prostate cancer first....

[tet68]

Imagine the outcry if George Bush pointed to an American
flag and said, "It doesn't belong to the likes of ted Kennedy, janet reno, bill clinton, Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton."

Imagine it.

Dean should be horse whipped out of town.

[Burkeman1]

Do you really think Dean is going to get the nomination? I still think Kerry will. He has the money raising ability and the purse- Dean doesn't. Wait for the political ads to start having their effect. Kerry will outspend Dean 4 to 1 on TV and radio ads and buy the nomination. Polls right now are meaningless.

[RJayneJ]

Thanks for the nomination! };^D)

[concerned about politics]

Imagine the outcry if George Bush pointed to an American flag and said, "It doesn't belong to the likes of ted Kennedy, janet reno, bill clinton, Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton."

Imagine it.

Dean should be horse whipped out of town.

He wants to be president, too. Isn't that weird?

[Righty1]

She might well be one of the anti-Zionist self-hating leftist Jews who don't have a clue. Since they are fellow saw bones maybe Dean will hit it off with El-Zawari?

[paul51]

Dean Gets Standing Ovation from Arab-Americans

They deserve each other

[badmrbunny]

amen. i am praying dean wins the nomination. almost as good as voting against clinton twice, and gore...

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

Howard Dean

Endorser of the "Illegal Alien Freedom Ride"-along with every other anti-American hating scumbag.

[Bernard Marx]

The Democrat Party is the party of choice for those who want to destroy our nation from within using our system of government as a tool.

It has been since at least the 1920s. The Imperial Judiciary is the result.

[Paulie]

"When are the sheeple going to figure out that when the Muslim's get strong enough they start killing everybody they can kill?"

Somewhere between the eleventh hour and when it's too late.

[muawiyah]

Hey, look, it doesn't really matter of Dean's wife is Jewish ~ in this world from time to time somebody has to become a voluntary zonderkommando. Might as well be her!