[pf] The democratic candidate for the US Democrats, Gov. Howard Dean, M.

~ In my PF post: "The Peace Candidate, Dennis Kucinich", at:
http://www.topica.com/lists/positive-futures@igc.topica.com/read/message.html?mid=806025642&sort=d&start=17408
 {or via: http://tinyurl.com/8uc4 }
   I pointed out that few Americans have heard of him.

~ Here's Governor Howard Dean (of Vermont), who I hadn't heard of at all.

http://deanforamerica.com/dean.cfm?section=about&page=speeches&drill=022103
   (Edited Transcript) is:

Howard Dean's Address to Democratic National Committee Winter Meeting
February 21, 2003, Washington, D.C.

First, let me thank my wonderful, loyal advance team. Don't they deserve a 
hand? And did you enjoy the maple syrup and cheese? 

What I want to know . . . is why in the world the Democratic Party leadership 
is supporting the President's unilateral attack on Iraq? 

What I want to know . . . is why are Democratic leaders supporting tax cuts? 
The question is not how big the tax cut should be -- the question should be: 
Can we afford a tax cut at all with the largest deficit in the history of the 
country? 

What I want to know . . . is why we're fighting in Congress about the Patient's 
Bill of Rights when the Democratic Party ought to be standing up for health 
care for every man, woman and child in this country? 

What I want to know . . . is why our folks are voting for the President's No 
Child Left Behind bill that leaves every child behind, every teacher behind, 
every school board behind and every property tax payer behind? 

I am Howard Dean. And I'm here to represent the Democratic wing of the 
Democratic Party. 

If you want young people to vote in this country, and if you want 50% of the 
adults that do not vote in today's elections to go to the polls, then we had 
better stand for something because that is why they're not voting. 

Let me tell you what I want to do for America -- and what we've done in 
Vermont: 

I want to balance the budget. 

There has not been one Republican president that has balanced the budget in 
this country in 34 years. And if you want someone who can be responsible with 
your money, to take care of your tax dollars, then you had better elect a 
Democrat because Republicans cannot manage money. 

In our state, I served long enough so that I had the privilege of serving 
through two recessions, not one recession. And when all that money was coming 
in between the recessions -- between the Bush recessions -- when all of that 
money was coming in during the good times thanks to Bill Clinton, who balanced 
the budget without a single Republican vote -- we gave some tax cuts, but we 
also saved money in a Rainy Day Fund and were able to pay back a quarter of our 
debt. 

Today, not only is the budget balanced in these very difficult times, but my 
successor does not have to cut health care, does not have to cut higher 
education, and does not have to cut K-12 education. 

I'm the only Governor running for President. And I'm the only one that's 
balanced the budget - including George Bush because in Texas the Lt. Governor 
balances the budget. 

In our state virtually every child under the age of 18 has health insurance. We 
made Medicaid into a middle class entitlement. If I become President, with your 
help, the first item of business on the agenda is to do something that Harry 
Truman put into the Democratic platform in 1948. We're going to bring health 
care to every man, woman and child in America. 

I'm the only Doctor in this race, and I've done it. 

I want an environmental policy in this country that respects and preserves 
public lands against drilling. In our state we've preserved hundreds of 
thousands of acres, which will always be available for hunting, fishing, 
trapping, hiking and canoeing, and will never be developed. The Vermont I left 
as Governor in January will be the same Vermont a hundred years from now 
because we have been solid stewards of our natural resources. This President 
would like to drill on our natural resources. 

We can do better. 

Let me tell you something else I'm going to do. One of the things I thought was 
terrific about Bill Clinton was that when he became President in 1992, he said 
that his Cabinet would look like the rest of America -- and he did it. He did 
it. 

I want all of our institutions of higher learning, - our law schools, our 
medical schools, our best universities - to look like the rest of America. I 
thought that one of the most despicable moments of this President's 
Administration was three weeks ago when, on national prime time television, he 
used the word "quotas" seven times. The University of Michigan does not now 
have quotas, has never had quotas, and "quota" is a race-loaded word designed 
to appeal people's fears of losing their jobs. 

I intend to talk about race during this election in the South. The Republicans 
have been talking about it since 1968 in order to divide us, and I'm going to 
bring us together. Because you know what? White folks in the South who drive 
pick-up trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back ought to be voting with 
us because their kids don't have health insurance either, and their kids need 
better schools too. 

We're not done yet. 

Most of you know that six months before my last re-election I signed a bill 
into law that made Vermont the first state in American to guarantee equal 
rights to every person under the law - EVERY person under the law. That bill 
was called the Civil Unions bill. And it said that marriage is between a man 
and a woman, but same-sex couples are entitled to the exact same legal rights 
as I have - hospital visitation, insurance, and inheritance rights. All 
Americans are equal under the law in our state. 

This bill was at about 40% in the polls when I signed it … 60% were against 
it, six months before the election. I never got a chance to ask myself whether 
signing it was a good idea or not because I knew that if I were willing to sell 
out the rights of a whole group of human beings because it might be politically 
inconvenient for a future office I might run for, then I had wasted my time in 
public service. 

I looked in the mirror, and I knew that if my political career were about 
myself, then I would not have signed that bill. But my political career has 
never been about getting elected. I didn't even seek the governorship. I became 
governor because my predecessor died in office twelve years ago. 

My political career is about change. And this campaign is about change. What 
we're going to do here is, we're first going to change this party because this 
party needs to look in the mirror and ask itself: Is this party about the next 
election or is it about changing America? 

This party needs to be about changing America, because only by changing America 
will we win back the White House. 

I want a party that stands unashamedly for equal rights for all Americans. 

I want a party that stands unashamedly for health care for every single 
American. 

I want a party that stands unashamedly for balanced budgets and taking care of 
poor kids and voting together and healing the divides instead of expressing the 
divides and exploiting them the way the Republican Party has so shamelessly 
done since 1968. 

I need your help. 

We're going to change this party, and then we're going to change this country, 
and we're going to take back the White House, and we're going to balance the 
budget, and we're going to have healthcare for everybody, and we're going to 
have an America with its best institutions - right up to the Capitol - that 
looks, once again, like America. 

We're going to bring hope to America, jobs to America, peace to America. 

We're going to bring pride to the Democratic Party. 

I need your help. Let's go get it. Let's go do it. Let's win the White House in 
November 2004. 


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sent-on by David.
(David MacClement) - Civis Mundi  d1v9d @ bigfoot.com
ZL1ASX http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html


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