Dean Offers New Direction for America on CBS' 'Face the Nation'

[Stephanie]

10/29/2006 2:46:00 PM

To: National Desk

Contact: Stacie Paxton or Luis Miranda, 202-863-8148, both of Democratic National Committee

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today on the CBS Sunday talk show "Face the Nation," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean contrasted the Republican Party's stay-the- course policies with the new direction Democrats are offering the American people on everything from creating middle class tax fairness to being tough and smart in defending America. Below are excerpts from his appearance:

On the Republican War on the Middle Class:

"We Want Middle Class Tax Fairness"

"We want middle class tax fairness. We think there is a war that hasn't been discussed and that's the Republican war on the American family. A million people have lost their health care every single year that George Bush has been President. We need a minimum wage, America needs a raise. The congress has gotten their raises but the American people haven't gotten theirs, so I think you are going to see a lot more middle class tax fairness but you're not going to see across the board big tax increases on anybody. That is just the usual scare tactics that the Republicans always bring out in order to try to win elections".

"I think we will pay for that (middle class tax fairness) by making sure that those big oil companies who just reported record profits are going to pay their fair share, because they haven't been doing it under the Republicans."

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On the New Direction Democrats Offer America:

"We Need to Be Tough and Smart"

"We are interested in moving the agenda forward. Here is why we're running. We want middle class tax fairness for the American people. We want middle class Americans to benefit from this economy, not just the folks that are contributing to the president. We want a defense policy that is tough and smart. The fact is, the Republicans have failed us on defense. Iran is about to get nuclear weapons, North Korea has exploded a bomb after the President has been in power for six years and done nothing about it. Osama Bin Laden is still at large, and we're in the middle of as Jack Murtha says, a civil war in Iraq. Explain to me how the Republicans have made us safer. We need to be tough and smart not just try to scare people at election time with tough talk."

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On the Iraq War:

A Democratic Congress Will be a "Positive Influence"

"The president will still be in charge of foreign policy and the military so the influence of a Democratic Congress will be I think a positive influence but I don't imagine that we're suddenly gonna force the President to reverse his course. We don't have the ability to do that, but I think we will put some pressure on him to have some benchmarks, some timetables, and a real plan other than stay the course. What you'll see happen is the Iraqis will finally get down to the business of a political settlement. Right now, they are basically using our troops so that each folks', each one of their different parties can get advantage hoping that we will be there long enough so they can take advantage. That puts our guys in the middle, and our troops are great and they don't deserve that. They deserve to be served better by their civilian leadership.

"One of the things democrats believe if we should take over and if we eventually take back the presidency is that we are going to need to leave a force of special operations folks in the Middle East. Not in Iraq, but on the periphery of Iraq so that we can deal with terrorism in a timely manner. We don't believe having, since the President chose to send us there and has created conditions of terrorism in Iraq where there were none there before, we don't believe now that we can suddenly pull everybody out. We would like to bring as many people home as possible as fast as possible, but most of the Democrats that I know believe that we are going to have to leave a special operations force in the Middle East in order to deal with the terrorist situation."

"We need political leaders that are going to make decisions. Tough decisions and smart decisions."

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Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, http://www.democrats.org. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

 

[roadhouse158]

Goodness gracious. Democrats raise taxes. Period. They don't help out the middle class. Not that the Republicans neccesarily do either. The Republican party however doesn't raise my taxes. You know why the rich get tax cuts? Because they own the businesses. You cut them a break and they stay here in America. Is that too obvious or what. You raise the taxes on the "ritch" and they move overseas. Sorry....That's the way ritch people are. There are just as many ritch Dems as Repubs too so you might as well stop blaiming a political party for that. That's not their decision. They can't make a company stay in America. You have to offer them incentives to stay.

Healthcare is my area. Let's discuss it...Health insurance is outrageous. I agree. One reason is HMO's. That was the Democrats answer in the 90's. This is a insurance policy that allowed the insurance company the ability to tell a Dr what they can do to treat a patient. That's ridiculous. Drs' weren't con artist. They did test they deemed neccesary. I mean..That is what they went to school for...This just allowed the Insurance companies to make more money because not as many test would be ordered. So the thought was this would decrease cost. Nope....Dr's aren't going to risk a patients heath on an insurance policy...This in turn just means that the patient had to pay more out of pocket expense. This hurt the American people. Now what do the Democrats want to do?....They want to "reform healthcare" again....Well tell me how....If you want my vote, you need to tell me how your going to actually reform it...That's not telling me anything. You didn't do such a good job of it last time. I mean I want to make my wife a millionare...Not sure I know how or ever will, but hey....I think it needs to be done. So there...That makes her a millionare

 

[Mr. P]

The worst thing about this IMO is people believe it.
Another appeal to the MORONS, pretty scary.

Morons? Yes. Don’t get me wrong here, there is plenty the republicans need to work on.
The difference is, when they do something stupid republicans speak up. Take this board as an example; many here have expressed their dissatisfaction with the administration. Do we hear the same from the Democrats, when their party spews this type stuff? Hell NO!

In post #1 you’ll find ALL the reasons you need NOT to vote Democrat. (if ya have half a brain).

 

[Annie]

Goodness gracious. Democrats raise taxes. Period. They don't help out the middle class. Not that the Republicans neccesarily do either. The Republican party however doesn't raise my taxes. You know why the rich get tax cuts? Because they own the businesses. You cut them a break and they stay here in America. Is that too obvious or what. You raise the taxes on the "ritch" and they move overseas. Sorry....That's the way ritch people are. There are just as many ritch Dems as Repubs too so you might as well stop blaiming a political party for that. That's not their decision. They can't make a company stay in America. You have to offer them incentives to stay.

Healthcare is my area. Let's discuss it...Health insurance is outrageous. I agree. One reason is HMO's. That was the Democrats answer in the 90's. This is a insurance policy that allowed the insurance company the ability to tell a Dr what they can do to treat a patient. That's ridiculous. Drs' weren't con artist. They did test they deemed neccesary. I mean..That is what they went to school for...This just allowed the Insurance companies to make more money because not as many test would be ordered. So the thought was this would decrease cost. Nope....Dr's aren't going to risk a patients heath on an insurance policy...This in turn just means that the patient had to pay more out of pocket expense. This hurt the American people. Now what do the Democrats want to do?....They want to "reform healthcare" again....Well tell me how....If you want my vote, you need to tell me how your going to actually reform it...That's not telling me anything. You didn't do such a good job of it last time. I mean I want to make my wife a millionare...Not sure I know how or ever will, but hey....I think it needs to be done. So there...That makes her a millionare

Maybe I'm 'hearing you' or 'maybe not.'

Here's my take. Prior to Blue Cross/Blue Shield becoming a standard in 1960 or so, nearly everyone paid their doc. hospital bills out of pocket.

With the advent of 'medical'/hospitalization nearly everyone could turn to the most up-to-date treatments available. Not to mention these were the same entities funding research for new treatments. Seemed win/win.

By 1970's became obvious that not everyone was covered and of those 'covered' not all they wished were in all circumstances.

 

[Avatar4321]

There are so many things wrong with what he said that make it clear that the man is a complete and utter idiot.

You cant arbitrarily tell companies they need to pay people more. It doesnt do anything but inflate the costs of products and ensure companies cant afford to hire more personel. Mininimum wage increases have never had anything but a negative effect on people. Its just bad economics.

How exactly does Dean think that increasing our gasoline prices arbitrarily through government interference is going to benefit Americans?

He said America needs politicians who will make tough and smart decisions. I agree. thats why I could never vote for Howard Dean. The guy is just stupid.