Dean takes Bush to task over 'Enron economics'
Not far from here stands Enron Tower -- it symbolizes all that is wrong with our country today. At Enron, those at the top enriched themselves by deceiving everyone else and robbing ordinary people of the future they'd earned. And the Bush administration is following their lead. They have created an economic program that enriches their friends and supporters at the expense of ordinary working Americans -- a program deserving of the name `Enron economics.'
- Howard Dean
I admire any Democratic candidate who is willing to spend any time at all in Texas. After all, Democrats have about as much chance of winning Texas 12 months from now as I do of being elected Queen of England. A trip to Texas is a good chance to fire up the troops, but any Democrat counting on winning Texas' electoral votes needs to check what he's smoking.
Still, A Howard Dean speech in the heart of Bush country ought to be a guaranteed good time, no??
The Dean campaign originally had scheduled its gathering for outside the Enron headquarters downtown. The event was moved to Hermann Park in hopes of attracting a crowd of more than 5,000, but drew about 1,500, campaign officials said, as the city began recovering from the previous day's flooding and tornadoes....
As he has throughout his campaign, Dean, a former governor of Vermont, stressed a need for change in the politics of Washington. He repeatedly attacked the president during his visit to Houston, where Bush lived as a young man after graduating from Yale University.
He said the country should change an energy policy dependent on Middle Eastern oil to one using more renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.
He said the war against terrorism should be waged with help from other countries. The United States should deprive terrorists of refuge and sympathy by winning the "hearts and minds" of people around the world through a unified effort with the United Nations and NATO, Dean said.
"We will never win the war on terror with a purely military strategy," he said.
Dean won an endorsement from U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston.
"We're going to roll through the South, we're going to deliver it for Howard Dean," Jackson Lee said.
Dean criticized Bush for opposing an affirmative action program at the University of Michigan and said the president tries to divide the country along racial lines.
"I believe that George Bush's philosophy in life is, if you're rich you deserve it, and if you're poor you deserve it," Dean said, drawing a large round of applause. "But those aren't the values that our country was founded upon."
Of course, winning an endorsement from Sheila Jackson Lee is not exactly something I would be trumpeting if I were Dean. Considering that Jackson Lee's grip on reality is somewhat tenuous at best, an endorsement from her is like finding used bubble gum in your Cracker Jacks.
If Dean can learn to curb his anger and focus his energy on selling his program instead of playing attack dog, he might surprise us all. Howard Dean has a lot to offer, and even though I've endorsed Wesley Clark, Democrats could do a lot worse that Dean as their candidate (Michael Dukakis, anyone?? Hmm??).
I did love the response from the Republican National Committee's talking head, though:
"Howard Dean continues to look to the past, which will provide no solutions for the future," said committee spokeswoman Lindsay Taylor. "He has proven capable of peddling only protest, pessimism and outdated policies of the liberal left."
Yeah, like George Bush has proven himself to be a man of the People. Bush has demonstrated that he truly respects one thing: money. If you have it, you have a place in the Republican Party of George W. Bush. If you don't, well, shut the hell up until you have some. Any REAL American would be donating to the Bush re-election campaign, right?? *SNICKER*
