Posted on 12/28/2003 9:48:01 AM PST by nwrep
Some of Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean's worst campaign gaffes have followed briefings by former Clinton administration officials who were sought out by the Vermont Democrat to tutor him on foreign policy.
In August, Dean's campaign staff turned to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who conducted a six-hour "private class" for the Vermont Democrat on Middle East issues, reported the Boston Globe in Sunday editions.
A few weeks later, Dean caused an uproar by suggesting Israel and the Palestinians should be treated in an "evenhanded" way, the paper noted.
After that blunder, President Clinton began personally advising the Vermont Democrat, ostensibly in a bid to head off any further poltically damaging gaffes. But the results have been anything but stellar for the presidential front-runner.
Shortly after his talks with the ex-president, Dean began touting Clinton as a special Middle East envoy, saying that President Bush should tap Clinton for the job now, and that he would do so if elected. In the weeks that followed Dean loaded up his campaign staff with ex-Clinton officials like Anthony Lake and Susan Rice.
Lake was regarded by critics as a security risk when he was nominated by Clinton to be National Security Advisor in 1993.
Rice has been accused of spurning efforts by Sudan in the late 1990s to improve relations with the Clinton adminisration, which included an offer to arrest 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden and turn him over to the U.S.
Coincidentally or not, since he's been under the tutelage of Clinton, Albright, Lake and Rice, the Democratic front-runner has careened from one rhetorical blunder on foreign policy after another.
In the last four weeks alone, Dean has accused the White House of being complicit in the 9/11 attacks, citing suspicions that President Bush received advanced warning from the Saudis but decided not to act on the tip.
Under sharp questioning by Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace a few days later, Dean declined to back away from the conspiracy theory or apologize, saying of the bizarre allegation: "We don't know [if it's true] and it would be a nice thing to know."
Two weeks ago, Dean insisted that the U.S. was "no safer" after the capture of Saddam Hussein, and that security measures undertaken by the Bush administration had left the country no less vulnerable to terrorist attack than it had been before 9/11.
And in what promises to be the most damaging gaffe of all, Dean told a New Hampshire newspaper on Friday that it was wrong to prejudge bin Laden's guilt, even though the 9/11 mastermind had bragged of plotting the attacks in a videotape released by al Qaeda two years ago.
In what may be a window into the kind of bizarre advice Dean has been getting, Albright herself was caught ten days ago indulging in some wild-eyed conspiracy mongering, when she told Fox News commentator Morton Kondracke that she wondered if the Bush administration had already captured bin Laden, but was keeping the news on ice until just before the 2004 election.
Albright later said she had been joking.
It's as simple as this: Clinton et. al. want Dean to muff it so Clark can run as the nominee. Hillary will take the Veep slot and not need to surrender her Sentorial post, a'la Joe Lieberman.
Clinton advises, Dean messes up. Coincidence? I think not.
Yeah, but it's an article from *newsMAX*, so it's hardly worth commenting on directly. I don't deny that you are correct about what the article said, but I'm on a different track, pointing out the more important point that the Democrats are run by amateurs, have no new ideas, don't have the "charm" that Clinton had to unite all politically correct groups, and that the Democrats have such a shallow pool of talent that White-Guy Gore is claiming to be their "draw" for Black votes.
If Sam Rayburn were alive today he'd be kicking the crap out of these amateurs who have somehow climbed to the top of the Democratic Party. Lyndon Johnson would keelhaul Carville and Clinton. The powerful Democrats of old make today's Democratic Party misfits look like cartoon characters in comparison.
What about the BJ's in the Oval office?
The failure to take Osama into custody on several occasions?
His impeachment?
Redefining sex to exclude fellatio?
The last minute pardons?
Please don't try to take that poor man's legacy away!
Actually, the Islamists are having production problems, and they are having to recycle used virgins for newly dead idiots. Sloppy seconds are now in operation.
Well, that makes her equivalent to the cop murderer Mumia Abu Jamal. How fitting. Actually, Maddie would probably consider being honored like Mumia as a great compliment.
Naw, Hillary won't mind being number two.........for a few days.
Then old Clark is going to grow a hole in the top of his head.
What is really interesting to observe, is that Dean actually believes that Clinton wants to help him in any way, and the fact he believed that at any time should be reason enough to exempt him from the Presidency. Can you imagine Dean appointing Billy Jeff Blythe Secretary Of State? I shudder to think about that possibility.
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