Posted on 09/14/2003 7:21:12 PM PDT by Marcus Alonzo Hanna
Dean fights criticism over Hamas comments September 12, 2003
By DARREN M. ALLEN Vermont Press Bureau
MONTPELIER — Howard Dean on Friday fended off a torrent of criticism for likening members of the Hamas terrorist group to soldiers in a war, the latest in a series of misstatements on the Middle East that have dogged the Democratic front-runner all week.
On Wednesday, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked the former Vermont governor his opinion on whether Israel should be assassinating Hamas leaders.
“I think no one likes to see violence of any kind. That’s why the United States is involved. I will say, however, there is a war going on in the Middle East, and members of Hamas are soldiers in that war,” Dean said. “Therefore, it seems to me, that they are going to be casualties if they are going to make war.”
The remarks sparked an outcry among his Democratic rivals, who already have blasted Dean’s suggestion last week that it was not the United State’s place to “take sides” in the decades-long dispute between staunch U.S. ally Israel and the Palestinians.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. — trailing Dean in polls in the key early primary states of New Hampshire and Iowa — on Friday characterized Dean’s Hamas comments as careless and insulting.
“In going out of his way to term members of Hamas as ‘soldiers,’ Gov. Dean insults the memory of every innocent man, woman and child killed by these suicidal murderers,” Kerry said in a statement released by his campaign. “Hamas militants are not soldiers in a war — they are terrorists who need to be stopped.”
Dean’s campaign responded by saying the former governor’s remarks were taken out of context, and accused his rivals of heating up an already divisive national issue.
“Particularly in these days of enormous tension and spiraling violence, I see no room in American politics for political gamesmanship when it comes to the Middle East,” Dean said in a statement released by his campaign in Burlington. “Of course, Hamas is a terrorist organization, and it must be defeated and its members defeated for seeking to thwart peace and to kill innocent men, women and children. To suggest that I might feel otherwise is shameful and should be beneath the dignity of any campaign.”
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., also had sharp remarks last week for Dean’s Middle East comments, and suggested that Dean didn’t understand the importance of the five-decade U.S. relationship with Israel.
Dean tried to deflect the criticism by saying the senators are the ones whose views are detrimental to peace in the Middle East.
“Instead of engaging in petty political gamesmanship, I call on Senators Lieberman and Kerry to lay out exactly how — if they do not wish to play the role of honest broker at the negotiating table — they could ever carry the legacy of Bill Clinton and Yitzhak Rabin as peacemakers,” Dean said, invoking the memory of the slain Israeli prime minister who joined Clinton in signing the Oslo peace accords 10 years ago.
The outspoken former governor has had his share of explaining off-the-cuff remarks this week.
On Friday, he apparently has come to terms with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the House Democratic Leader who on Wednesday signed a letter circulated in Congress condemning Dean’s U.S. neutrality comments. And during the Democratic debate Tuesday in Baltimore, his rivals took great umbrage at his suggestion that he is the only white candidate who ever discusses race in front of white audiences.
Israel and race weren’t the only issues confronting the sometimes-combative Dean at week’s end. Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., compared Dean to former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, invoking memories of Gingrich’s “Contract with America” that has been despised by Democrats since the mid 1990s.
“Howard Dean actually agreed with the Gingrich Republicans,” Gephardt told a union audience in Iowa. “It was in this period when Gingrich said Republicans wouldn’t immediately kill Medicare. Instead, they would let it wither on the vine,” Gephardt said. “And it was also during this time that Howard Dean, as chairman of the National Governors Association, was supporting Republican efforts to scale back Medicare.”
Dean replied in a statement, “It is a sad day for Dick Gephardt when he compares any Democratic candidate running for president to Newt Gingrich and his divisive policies. No Democrat in the presidential race bears any resemblance to Newt Gingrich on any major issue. And for Dick Gephardt to suggest otherwise is simply beyond the pale.”
The “blast Dean” bandwagon was apparently too much fun to miss for the former governor’s Vermont foes.
Duplicating the successful “flip-flop” campaign used against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Doug Racine in the 2002 election, the Vermont GOP issued its own response to Dean’s comments.
Dubbed the “Endless Flip-Flop Tour,” the statement from Vermont Republicans assembled a collection of apparent statements and reversals over the last several weeks.
Vermont GOP Chairman Jim Barnett said Dean’s Hamas comments were so outrageous that he felt compelled to respond, even though Dean is far from becoming George Bush’s general election opponent.
“First Howard Dean says the U.S. should not support Israel over the Palestinian Liberation Organization,” Barnett said. “And now he legitimizes members of the Hamas terrorist organization. To suggest that there is a moral equivalence between American soldiers and terrorists is not only shocking, but should be a disqualifer for anyone seeking to be commander in chief.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
"Little Dick" Gephardt is STILL spewing that lie about Newt!!!! When are these idiots going to, at the very least, find some new "lies" to tell on the Republicans?
As far as Dean goes, he is a mental midget in a field of 8 other lesser men............
Wanna bet? The retired Palm Beach Socialists and the secular Jews of New York and Hollywood will have no problem voting for and supporting with big bucks Dean or any other piece of offal the DemocRATS run in 2004.
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