In a 'Jam,' Dean Apologizes for Remarks on Rebel Flag

[Rose Siding]

Howard Dean apologized yesterday for his recent comments about Southerners who display the Confederate flag, saying, "I deeply regret the pain that I may have caused." He said he would lead the nation in a "difficult and painful discussion" about race.

A day after the issue arose in a Democratic presidential debate, Dr. Dean, the former governor of Vermont, interrupted a planned speech at Cooper Union in Manhattan about campaign finance to invoke the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln, and condemn the Confederate flag as " a painful symbol and reminder of racial injustice and slavery."

By day's end, in New Hampshire, he added that he also "apologized for any people in the South who thought they were being stereotyped."

snip<

He said he had been up most of the night pondering the problem, and called former President Jimmy Carter yesterday morning for advice.

At the same time he said his comments had been misconstrued and he did not back away from his conviction that the party had to make inroads with white Southerners noting that the Republicans "have played the race card" since 1968 and the Democrats had to find a way to win them back with issues like health insurance. He insisted "the African-American community gets this."

Throughout the day Dr. Dean, 54, appeared subdued and reflective, a sharp contrast to the defiant tone he struck at Tuesday night's debate.

He said that his main mistake had been not immediately condemning the flag during the debate, and that he had decided to change course as he came to understand that his comments had been personally offensive to two of his rivals, the Rev. Al Sharpton, who is black, and Senator John Edwards of North Carolina.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/06/politics/campaigns/06DEAN.html?hp

[Feanorcurufinwe]

1. I'm glad Dean finally did the right thing.

Better late than never.

[Guaranteed]

25. Well....you should watch the tape.

.............

:shrug:

Just watch the tape.

[Brucey]

2. I feel that personally he did the right thing,

but politically he should have stuck to his guns and it would have died. Jimmy Carter is not the right person to ask for political advice on this issue. Carter is a great person, the best ex-President in history, but not good at dealing with errors. Dean screwed up and should have stuck with his original point that the Dems want all low and middle income people to feel they are represented and welcome in our party. He could have privately apologized to Sharpton and Edwards if he thought they were truly hurt.

[Rowdyboy]

3. A good move....

personally and politically. Sad that he needed to.

[PartyPooper]

4. Jimmy Carter and Howard Dean are one the same page!

I even remember Jimmy Carter recently recollecting how Dr. Dean visited him in Georgia...soliciting advice for his run for the White House.

:dem:

[0rganism]

21. Too bad George W. Bush isn't on Gerald Ford's page

Nixon, yes. Ford, no.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. This is why I respect Dean far more than I respect most of his supporters

He at least CLEANS up a careless mistake rather than justifying it as a political strategy regardless of whom it may invoke painful memories for.

[wndycty]

7. He cleaned up after Al dressed him down. . .

. . .he was outrageously defiant until it got too hot.

My hats off to him for apologizing, but it should not have taken this long.

[JNelson6563]

20. Interesting you should bring supporters into this

Scroll down this thread and take a look at 'em lining up to take their shots....and they ain't Deanies....plenty of cheap shots by some of the usual suspects....(not counting yours at the supporters)

Julie

[goforit]

6. Well......Dean seems to truely want to unify the nation polarized by Bush.

Bush has made sure that religions repel each other,
races despise each other, classes in society distant each other,
gender compete against each other, public schools clash with
private schools, Southerners despise the Northerners, environmentalists are pitted against industrialists and finally, he hastaken the most admired country in the world and villified it.

WE NEED A UNITER!!!(with a little good old fashion neighborliness
here in this country and abroad)

I like to dream!

[janx]

11. It's not that big a dream. The country used to be united and respectful

of political differences when I was a kid. People had their political differences, but that was nothing compared to the paralysis we have now. We are truly divided in so many different ways, and for nothing but media and politics! It breaks my heart.

[LuminousX]

8. I just saw the first part of 'Tough Crowd'

I figured they'd tear into Dean.

They got it. Judy Gold obviously doesn't like him, but the others kept saying it was wrong to jump on a guy over a statement taken out of context. Patrice O'Neil said (paraphrased), "He doesn't support racism, he's just saying he wants all the crackers to vote for him. What's wrong with that? At least he's trying to represent everyon."

[Clovis Sangrail]

9. a little late

IMHO he handled this issue very poorly during the debate.

[NashVegas]

19. Well

From what I've seen, this was a lot like a trial cross-examination. No one had a real problem with the original remarks, but when criticized and questioned further, 'I still want to be the candidate ...' became the slip up.

I think this is one area where Dean may continue to be vulnerable - not the flag specifically, but items where he may be pressured to rephrase his ideas in (his rivals') hopes he'll make a verbal mistep.

[0007]

22. Your opinion is in the minority, Sir!

I indeed don't care. I watched the debate and felt that Dean defended himself very well.

Like I said I don't much care about this race, but will add that Dean does have guts and class.

[Voltaire99]

10. Can Dean weather this disaster?

My hunch is: maybe not.

The issue isn't fatal. At best, he's been exposed as naive or insensitive. At worst, as an obstinate blunderer. Next to Bush, he still comes off looking well.

But now it's open season on Dean within the party. Weak status quo Democrats in Congress and at the top of the DNC are going to use Dean as a surrogate - pounding him in order to look tough after a shameful season of accomodating and collaborating with Bush.

Don't kid yourself that the party wants to win the White House with just anyone. When Lieberman said the party "doesn't deserve to win" if it moves to the left, he was speaking for the deep establishment interests that govern this wayward outfit.

[Rose Siding]

13. This NYT editorial asks just that

Dr. Dean and the Pickup Truck

A year out from the presidential election, former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont has advanced from the political backwoods to the front of the Democratic pack. Dr. Dean's unequivocal opposition to the Iraq war and masterly use of the Internet for grass-roots fund-raising have made him the early, and unexpected, leader in the run for the nomination. Over the next few months, Democratic voters will be watching to see whether he has the political skills and staying power to win a presidential election.

snip>

Early on, the question was whether the phenomenon of Dr. Dean would turn into a latter-day Eugene McCarthy with a one-note antiwar campaign, ultimately lacking the political chops for the multiple issues of the long haul. That does not seem to be the case. Dr. Dean has not hesitated to stake out a politically risky position in calling for the rollback of all of President Bush's budget-busting tax cuts. He is eager to talk about issues like Medicare, the environment and agricultural policy. No one doubts that he has the energy, and the stomach, for the exhausting chase ahead.

Primary politics is a gantlet of rapid-fire challenges. All manner of ponderous issues and explosive tangents will pop up in the 10 weeks remaining until the Iowa caucuses. After his run-in with the pickup truck, Dr. Dean now has the chance to show that, like Bill Clinton, he can turn on a dime, recover from his mistakes and make the voters want to move on to the next question.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/06/opinion/06THU1.html

[LiberalTexan]

14. I like how

we've got an alcoholic cocaine addict in the white house but we're making such a big deal about Dean's flag comments.

Methinks even Democrats need to get their priorities straight around here.

Dean did not apologize for the sentiment, just the fact that people MISUNDERSTOOD him. I think there is a big difference. There is a difference in saying "I'm sorry for what I said" and "I'm sorry if what I said hurt you". I'm glad he didn't apologize. There was no need to.

[Voltaire99]

15. What happens next

It's going to be interesting.

He's turned one positive out of the affair and that's raising the issue of white voters not voting their economic interest.

If Americans start to talk about that now, we'll be having a long overdue public discussion. It's really in the long-term interests of the party to resist gunning for Dean and instead take advantage of this opening to talk about economic equality. What an opportunity!

[0rganism]

23. Yes, if he follows through with leading a discussion

IF he takes this opportunity to expose the various aspects of the race/class/economic/regional stereotyping issues he's raised, he can gain from this event. Not just little gains, either: perhaps he could even bring in some of the real "johnny reb" vote, and bust open the republican lock on the south.

But he has to work fast, not let himself be perceived as sheepish or confused, and ride the trough of this wave to its next peak. This is a great opportunity for him to prove himself, if he's up to it.

IF he tries to wait it out, hoping it will blow over, he's finished.

[Jim Sagle]

12. Medium-sized mistake - he should've toughed it out.

[MartinAmbroseForan]

16. Dean: "cluck, cluck, cluck"

[DemBones DemBones]

17. Edwards and Sharpton were gracious in accepting Dean's

"apology." Sharpton was especially gracious to forgive this:

[dbt]

18. Another issue that will never be settled!

Abortion, Confederate Flag, Guns, Hillary, Religion. The talk will go on and on, fingers will be pointed, chests will be pounded, reams of paper and miles of bytes will go up in flames.

Nothing will be solved, no minds changed, no positions modified. At the end of every "discussion," it will still be a matter of

"Mine's bigger than yours."
"Is not!"
"Is too!"

Meanwhile, the Regime will lick its hungry chops as it looks for its next meal.

And we will all feel so fulfilled somehow, because we have shown everyone else how we walk on quicksand.

Bah.

:grr:
dbt

[AP]

24. Word choice?

"apologized for any people in the South"

Why not "apologized to"?

Is that a subtle way to convey in your apology that you indentify with people in the south? Or is it a sublte dig at people in the south? Or maybe a Freudian slip? Or do I need psychoanalysis?

[Guaranteed]

26. And both Sharpton and Edwards were quick to "accept" his apology

...as if they, personally, had been deeply hurt and offended. LOL

[AP]

28. They're the kind of people Dean was apologizing "for"

Who else would be accepting the apology other than a black man and man who grew up working class in the south. In fact, Edward's father is probably exactly the kind of guy Dean was talking about -- a poor, white southerner who voted Republican.

[VolcanoJen]

27. Kick

:dem:

[onehandle]

29. Dean: 'I apologize' for flag remark

This is new news. Not a dupe.......

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean, under fire for saying he wanted to be a candidate for "guys with Confederate flags on their pickup trucks," issued an apology for his remark Thursday.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/11/06/elec04.prez.dean.flag/index.html

Fine. It's front page news. Next subject, please.