INSIDER POLITICS

Part of Howard Dean's great appeal is that he is not just another Washington politician in perpetual campaign mode, à la Gephardt or Kerry. He's a physician, and he has supposedly developed his views about people and the world through years of seeing patients in his clinic, in addition to his experience in the statehouse. Dean, we're supposed to believe, has the human touch that his rivals lack, and adduces his policy proposals with his experiences dealing with sick people.

But he sure has a way of exploiting them. The most recent example is a man Dean has cited, who apparently died when he couldn't afford to buy the medicine his doctor had prescribed for him. One catch: according to the Iowan who told Dean the story, it happened to his father in 1993, during the Clinton administration. Not that it was Clinton's fault--that was before the collapse of Hillary's health care task force--but it certainly isn't Bush's (at least not this Bush).

At any rate, this isn't the first time Dean has knowingly exploited a suffering-patient story for political gain, despite a few inconvenient facts. Dean told a furious NARAL Pro-Choice America audience:

As many of you know, I'm a doctor. I'm an internist, and I take care of all ages, pretty much five to 105. And one time I was sitting in my office--and it was not unusual for young kids to come and talk to me because I knew the whole family--and one time a young lady came into my office who was twelve years old and she thought she might be pregnant. And we did the tests and did the exam and she was pregnant. She didn't know what to do. And after I had talked to her for a while I came to the conclusion that the likely father of her child was her own father ... You explain that to the American people who think that parental notification is a good idea ... I will veto parental notification!

Later, when pressed, Dean told Jake Tapper of Salon that he knew several years ago that his "conclusion" was wrong: "All I'm going to tell you is that her father was not the father of her child, it was more complicated than that. But it was adjudicated and someone was severely punished."

So why would he omit that? Certainly his justification for opposing parental notification is stronger if he has personal experiences to inform his politics. But he twisted convenient stories to give his ideas a human face, one that audiences can't refuse. For a candidate who's not a Washington insider, Dean's learning the tactics pretty quickly.

How come it isn't a scandal when the Dems lie to THe American people?

Dean gets an A++ for running as a Democrat for the Democrat presidential nomination. That is all he cares about, rightfully, and he's focused like a laser on that goal. If it advances his goal, it's a go; if not, it's no-go. None of his advisaries have figured this out, and that's why they'll all be eating Dean's dust. Stupid Dems. I love it.

2 posted on 11/25/2003 1:20:19 PM PST by GraniteStateConservative ("We happy because when we switch on the TV you never see Saddam Hussein. That's a big happy.")

I think Kerry, Libelman, Geppy et al, began with the assumption that the base would gravitate to one of them, once they finished winning three or four early primaries. Dean is the only one who has actually attempted to win any primaries thus far.

3 posted on 11/25/2003 1:24:55 PM PST by .cnI redruM (The social agenda of the Democratic Party reminds me of a creepy XXX fetish show.)

Candidate: Howard Dean

Category: Intellectual Honesty

Analysis: Oxymoron

4 posted on 11/25/2003 3:56:33 PM PST by mombonn (¡Viva Bush/Cheney!)

5 posted on 11/25/2003 5:04:36 PM PST by .cnI redruM (The social agenda of the Democratic Party reminds me of a creepy XXX fetish show.)

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