Howard Dean: I Beat Booze

NewsMax.com ^ | 7/02/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

Howard Dean and George Bush share one thing in common: both had serious alcohol addictions that they beat.

Both prove anyone with an alcohol problem can still recover and rise to the highest levels of American society.

Months before former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean became a top tier candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, the left-wing Democrat revealed that he had to quit drinking at age 33 because, "I didn’t think I handled liquor well."

Bush has previously said he kicked the habit at age 40.

In an interview with New York Magazine in February, Dean's Yale University buddy Ralph Dawson was asked about the Democrat rising star's student hobbies.

""Well, he drank," Dawson blurted out.

Dean later explained, "I quit drinking when I got married in 1981. I didn’t think I handled liquor well."

Then the candidate revealed that sometimes his drinking caused trouble. "Actually, I drank beer. I tended to misbehave. I had a hangover the next day,” Dean told New York magazine.

The up and coming candidate won't say what kind of misbehavior he indulged in, adding only, "What’s funny when you’re 18 isn’t funny when you’re 30, so I just quit.” He insists that he was never arrested for drunk driving, and there is no alcoholism in his family.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

2004 Elections

[talleyman]

Dean made more sense when he was drinking. (or is it that he made more sense when I was drinking? Nah, I don't drink that much!)

[wideawake]

I wonder if we'll see any long articles speculating on the effects of "dry drunk" syndrome on Howard Dean's personality, political beliefs, etc.

I'm going to guess we won't.

[1Old Pro]

Maybe he should start drinking again because he's acting wacky.

[Lee'sGhost]

Well, I guess now we'll see all the people who did and continue to dis Bush as a former drunk do the same to Dean.

Nawwwwww. They're libs.

[Richard Kimball]

Howard Dean: I Beat Booze

I can top that. I killed a quart of Jim Beam.

[EllaMinnow]

I don't think he handles sobriety well either.

[sarasota]

Why doesn't he sue the liquor company who made the booze that made him an alcoholic? You know, like the overweighties who are suing the fast food folks.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

At the risk of engaging in pop psychology, they say that alcoholism is a symptom of depression, and that in turn depression is the result of the repression of anger. Dean strikes me as one angry dude. Then again, W doesn't.

[CFC__VRWC]

I wonder if we'll see any long articles speculating on the effects of "dry drunk" syndrome on Howard Dean's personality, political beliefs, etc.

No, but you'll see plenty of fawning missives praising him for his "great courage" in "admitting his problem", and stating that this proves his worthiness for the presidency.

And of course they'll slip in plenty of statements about how Dean is handling his addiction so much better than Bush ever will.

[paulklenk]

Howard Dean: I Beat Booze

"Booze" -- that's a strange nickname for his wife...

[dead]

Booze should have won.

[ricpic]

I can tell you, as a Vermonter, that the "dry drunk" syndrome makes Dean a very angry guy. He's often on the edge of exploding, of course always in the name of some righteous cause. I don't think he'd be able to keep it under control in a long campaign should he be the Dem candidate.

[bulldawg]

After he loses next year he'll pull a Kitty Dukakis.

[PJ-Comix]

At the risk of engaging in pop psychology, they say that alcoholism is a symptom of depression, and that in turn depression is the result of the repression of anger.

Actually it is pretty much all genetic. My relatives are dinstinctly non-alcoholic. Nothing to pat ourselves on the back about since it was a matter of genes, not willpower.

[RichInOC]

Copycat.

[OREALLY]

So Dean's son stole booze for himself or his daddy ? hahaha

[exile]

Hey, I beat booze too! Does that make me qualified to be president?

[OREALLY]

I would vote for you before Dean any day !

[beaversmom]

I think the Dem candidates need to take Pat Kennedy's advice who recently said, "I don't need Bush's tax cut. I have never worked a f****** day in my life."

With that he got the audience's attention -- the dropping-jaws kind. "He droned on and on, frequently mentioning how much better the candidates would sound the more we drank,"

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