Dean's Son Nabbed in Booze Heist

NewsMax.com ^ | Saturday June 21, 2003; 11:32 a.m. EDT | With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[Jean S]

Democratic Party presidential candidate Howard Dean put his campaign on hold yesterday after his 17-year-old son was busted for stealing booze from a tony Vermont country club.

"When a child gets in trouble like this, it constitutes a family crisis, and I believe it's important that I be home," Dean said in a statement issued by his campaign.

"I have canceled my scheduled campaign appearances tomorrow in Iowa so that I can return to Vermont and deal personally with what my family and I consider a very serious matter."

Police said that Paul Dean and three friends cut the lock on a walk-in freezer at the Burlington Country Club at 4:30 a.m. and made off with "a large amount of beer and champagne."

Candidate Dean revealed that his son acted as the gang's getaway driver and said he would probably be charged as an accessory.

The arrest comes at an awkward time for the Vermont liberal, who has forced Democratic front-runner Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to move left in order to maintain his support with the party's hard-core antiwar constituency.

The Dean booze bust also threatens to overshadow the candidate's appearance Sunday on "Meet the Press."

[AAABEST]

Dean's Son Nabbed in Booze Heist

"Booze Heist"....LOL!!!! Gotta love the descriptive way Newsmax phrases the headline here.

[Paleo Conservative]

The DemocRATS will give him a pass on it. After all he's only stealing from the rich.

[JulieRNR21]

FYI....PING

Do you think that the same media that covered every thing about the Bush twins will be on top of this story?

[rs79bm]

I guess it goes it to show that while Dean is campaigning all around the Country, nobody is at home watching his 17-year old son. Furthur, you'd think Dean would have at least told him that this is the type of stuff you need to avoid while I'm running for President. I have a feeling that the media simply doesn't want Dean to win, because of all the play this has gotten. It popped up on MSNBC and NBC within a short amount of time. If this had happened to Kerry or Leiberman or any of the others, with the exception of Sharpton, you'd hardly have heard about it.

[The KG9 Kid]

Dad wants to legalize pot, son steals legal booze.

There's a WOD joke here, somewhere, but someone else will have to put it together.

[Mark17]

The DemocRATS will give him a pass on it. After all he's only stealing from the rich.

Yes, a pass is forth coming. After all, Demon Cats celebrate this kind of behavior. The Clinton's got a pass too.

[ErnBatavia]

cut the lock on a walk-in freezer at the Burlington Country Club at 4:30 a.m. and made off with "a large amount of beer and champagne."

Not good temperature for beer and bubbly!

On the flipside, years ago when in the seafood biz, I stopped late on a Friday afternoon to pickup a check from a flaky customer....I noted that he'd already shut off his walk-in (full of 'frozen' scallops, as I recall) for the weekend to save a few bucks.

[jocon307]

"a large amount of beer and CHAMPAGNE."

These are high-class punks, to be sure.

[gc4nra]

Follwing in the footsteps of another fine old New England family, I see! Some traditions never die. Right Teddy?

[jocon307]

"Bad children seem to run on both sides of the political aisle."

Actually the little brats are running in the middle of the aisle! Teenagers, it's almost worth running for president just to get away from them!

Can't stand Dean, but I've got a teen too, and I think his statement was a very good one. Someone also named Dean is gonna be in a heap of trouble, but, again, I think this one gets filed under "prank".

[TheSpottedOwl]

Sometimes I wonder if someone doesn't pay politician children lots or money to make asses of themselves when their parents are running or in office.

Bad children seem to run on both sides of the political aisle. This is one time I won't blame the press.

That's why I would really hesitate to run for even a local political office, a couple of my kids are hellions ;-P

[gg188]

This is one time I won't blame the press.

The press will be absolved when I see this story appear on page one of the NY Times tomorrow morning as did the stories of the Bush twins every time they walked into a night club or attended a party where alcohol was served.

This story will be buried the same place as that of Al Gore's son caught driving 100 mph to meet a plane during Al Gore's campaign.

It is SO unnecessary to say this, BUT: if a child of Cheney or Rice or Rummy or President Bush or of a third-cousin-twice-removed-by-marriage of a BUSH were busted like Dean's son it would be front-page-above-the-fold on the WashPost/LA Times/Jason-Blair-Times tomorrow morning and it would lead Brokaw/Rather/Jennings from Monday through Friday next week.

[ArneFufkin]

Jean, this is why FR is infotainment and edushowbizzy.

If clinically insane Howard Dean's pathologically crimal stret urchin son's campaign of theft and vandalism was successful ... it would be a "caper."

In Vermont, there is nothing but Dean and a smell of rotting maple syrup.

That's all I have.

[beckett]

Basically, I am willing to cut the kid some slack, partly because I remember when some of my friends and I plotted similar master crimes at his age. The crime, though real enough, does not rise to the level of a 7-11 heist. They broke into a freezer at a club their parents probably belong to. It was wrong, but it was not the Great Train Robbery.

The irritating thing about it is that the boy's act is more serious than anything the Bush twins have ever been accused of, and yet I am sure you won't see skits on Saturday Night Live satirizing his transgression, or reports blared all over the networks alerting the nation to it.

[Focault's Pendulum]

Bad children seem to run on both sides of the political aisle. This is one time I won't blame the press.

Agreed. While I'm not too thrilled with the coverage the Bush Twins received....it would appear that our constitutionally protected press, needs to get it's collective head out of it's ass.

[Hacksaw]

There's a WOD joke here, somewhere, but someone else will have to put it together.

If drugs were illegal this would never have happened. I mean, if drugs were legal, this would have happened. I mean, if you smoke weed, it will help you fight off cancer. Ooops, alcohol is the only dangerous drug. Smoking pot makes you a better driver. The United States is a police state because the potheads can be arrested for smoking a joint.

[The KG9 Kid]

Someone will pull the sword from the stone, Hacksaw.

Ain't going to be either of us, though. :D