Howard Dean: The Gloves Come Off
Bouldin just reported on a fundraising letter from the DCCC by James Carvelle where the gloves came off. Well, looks like the Dems are trying for a double punch because I also got an fundraising email from Howard Deam on behalf of the DNC where the gloves also came off.
The Democrats, angry at 5 years of Republican lies, scandlas and failure since 9/11, are coming out swinging, making national security a prime issue.
Here is Howard Dean's message:
You can't trust Republicans on national security -- and two things proved it yesterday:
1) In a powerful interview that aired yesterday, President Bill Clinton took on the extremist Republican propaganda about 9/11 -- and Fox News tried to cover up the fact that the Bush administration downgraded terrorism as a priority before September 11th and has failed to eliminate Osama bin Laden since the attacks.
2) An explosive report on the still-classified National Intelligence Estimate states that the "invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks" -- and Republicans have been trying to cover it up.
This is what we're fighting against every day -- an administration covering up of the Bush failure of 9/11 and covering up an honest look at the war in Iraq and the war on terror.
You know that Democrats have a real plan for destroying Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, fixing the mess in Iraq, and really securing us at home.
But we've always had those things -- the problem until now has been our willingness to stand up and fight for them in the face of fear mongering, bullying and intimidation from the other side.
That's why we're going on the offense on national security. The future of our party, and of our country, depends on the ability of Democrats to get a strong national security message out in all 50 states this year. Donate to make it happen and watch President Clinton fight back now:
http://www.democrats.org/offense
Here's the meat of the Fox News interview with President Clinton, where he's had enough of the right-wing revisionist history from the propaganda machine:
CLINTON: I'm being asked this on the Fox network. ABC just had a right-wing conservative run in their little Pathway to 9/11, falsely claiming it was based on the 9/11 Commission report, with three things asserted against me directly contradicted by the 9/11 Commission report. ... And I think it's very interesting that all the conservative Republicans, who now say I didn't do enough, claimed that I was too obsessed with bin Laden. All of President Bush's neo-cons thought I was too obsessed with bin Laden. They had no meetings on bin Laden for nine months after I left office. All the right-wingers who now say I didn't do enough said I did too much -- same people.
Over a quarter million Americans stood up to ABC and beat back the right-wing Republican 9/11 propaganda that tries to cover up the Bush administration's huge failures to protect America before and after the attacks.
Yesterday Bill Clinton did exactly what Democrats need to do in this election -- to stand up to the right-wing and tell the truth. We will not let the Republicans twist history and distort reality.
We're sick of playing defense against a Republican leadership that uses national security to scare people to win elections. We're not going to be pushed around, spun, and defamed by right-wing extremists and those whom they use to disseminate their propaganda.
Our plan for this election is to go on the offense -- to talk straight about the Republican failures and lay out a clear Democratic plan to take American foreign policy and national security in a better direction.
Watch President Clinton and donate now to Democrats who will fight back:
http://www.democrats.org/offense
We have a fundamentally different vision for our security than the Party of Bush. We want a new direction in Iraq, more competent security at home, and the restoration of America's moral leadership in the world.
They failed to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, and five years after September 11th he still lives to taunt Americans.
They squandered America's moral authority and global leadership by launching a war of choice in Iraq instead of fighting the war on al Qaeda.
The calls of the 9/11 Commission Report and Hurricane Katrina simply did not awaken Republican leaders to our continuing vulnerabilities at home.
We've had enough, and we're going to run an honest campaign about the security of our country. People are smart and ready for real leadership -- will you make a donation right now to help get the message out?
http://www.democrats.org/offense
Republicans have won two elections since 9/11 by instilling fear in people, and they're trying to do it again this year.
But it's not going to work. The Bush policies have failed. Iraq is sliding into civil war. Iran and North Korea are more dangerous than they were five and a half years ago. And the Taliban resurgence poses new threats in Afghanistan.
As President Clinton said on Fox News that we have a government "that thinks Afghanistan is only one-seventh as important as Iraq."
People have had enough. This administration cannot be trusted with our security.
Democrats are going to reclaim American leadership with a tough, smart plan to transform failed policies in Iraq, the Middle East and around the world.
We will increase the size of Special Forces to destroy Osama Bin Laden and terrorist networks like al Qaeda. We will implement the bipartisan 9/11 Commission proposal to secure America's borders and ports and screen every container. And we will fully man, train, and equip our National Guard and our police, firefighters and other first responders.
Let's get this message out to Americans who need to hear it:
http://www.democrats.org/offense
When it comes to national security, the Republicans have not led.
We will.
Thank you,
Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.
Democratic National Committee
All I can say is that it is about time. The Republicans have failed so miserably since taking control in a dubious eleciton in 2006, that it is no wonder that their popularity is at an all time low. People are sick of the countless scandals, reaching all the way up the Republican party. They are tired of the cronyism where Halliburton and Exxon make record profits while American soldiers are dying and American citizens are suffering.
It is about time the Democrats come out swinging because there is no question that all the Republicans have left is lies.
2006 Elections | Elections | Fundraising | Politics | Terrorism | War | Bill Clinton | Democratic Party | Howard Dean















Numbers speak louder than words
Numbers speak louder than words. The Democrats need to quote the numbers:
On 9/11, 3,030 persons were estimated to have been killed. Since the Iraq war began up until Friday 9/23/06, 2,701 americans have been killed in that conflict. The monthly average in the 34 months of the war is approximately 79 deaths (source: icasualties.org) By this count, it should be sometime in January if not sooner when more americans will have died in Iraq than on 9/11. This is in addition to deaths of Iraqis estimated at between 43,426 and 48,215, and any estimates of those are bound to be low since many deaths don't get reported.
Combined, over 50,000 people have likely died as the result of Bush's Iraq war. All the Democrats need to do is quote these numbers. They speak for themselves. And for what has all this death taken place? The Times article clearly points out that the world is less safe and there is more islamic radicalism now than before the war. Things are bloodier and worse now than they were when this war started.
Worse than that, the civil war in Iraq will still be going on in January, and it will still be going on in January ten years from now. We can't fight other people's civil and cultural wars. We tried that in Vietnam. We didn't win there and we won't win in Iraq.
Every democratic candidate should have signs on the campaign trail that have these numbers quoted above on them, along with the phrase "Numbers don't lie...Bring the troops home!"