What is Howard Dean's record?

[LiberalTexan]

I'd like some sources for Howard Dean's record in Vermont.

I'm a loyal vote-smart.org user and I wish there was something like that for governors. At least some statistics would be nice?

Your opinions are wonderful and I value them. But, I'm trying to get others to take a look at Dean's record, too. So, a link or a resource would be great!

Thank you. :hi:

[Eloriel]

1. There is some good information

at his website -

http://www.deanforamerica.com

The Issues page seems to be in some flux. It doesn't have some of the info that I think was especially terrific about his record. For example, he instituted a program where all new mothers got a visit from a social worker asking if she needed any help or services (parenting classes, job training, etc.) and the result was that it cut child abuse in ages 0-6 by 43% and child sexual abuse by something like 70%. He did this in response to rising prison costs. It's a terrific story.

They kept re-electing him in VT -- he served 11 years (5 2-year terms plus the partial one when he assumed office on the previous Gov's death). He must've been doing something right!

Edited to add: I know you asked about his record, but do be sure to read some of his press releases, and especially speeches -- esp. June 23 Announcement speech which like most he wrote himself. It's just sterling.

Eloriel

[LiberalTexan]

4. Thanks for pointing that out

I was thinking of a more "third party" type approach-- maybe not something written on the campaign website (though I do think it is a great website-- very informative and easy to read).

I found an interesting write up of what he says he "would do" as president at: http://slate.msn.com/id/2085791/

I also found the interesting site: http://republicansfordean.blogspot.com/ which I thought may come in handy someday. ;-)

I'll keep looking-- I don't expect you all to do ALL the work! :)

[TheBigGuy]

12. This sounds like a common sense policy...

For example, he instituted a program where all new mothers got a visit from a social worker asking if she needed any help or services (parenting classes, job training, etc.) and the result was that it cut child abuse in ages 0-6 by 43% and child sexual abuse by something like 70%. He did this in response to rising prison costs. It's a terrific story.

It is pretty good...it shows Dean is more of a pragmatic problem-solver...finding out what works and implementing it....

[CatholicEdHead]

2. Don't vote Dean, vote Kuninich

Here is a good site comparing Dean and Kuninich.

http://www.bobharris.com/kucinichdean.html

[LiberalTexan]

3. That wasn't the nature of my request

I asked for links for Howard Dean. I've already made up my mind who I'm voting for.

On edit: I read that link a long time ago. I'm looking at it with fresh eyes now and a new perspective. I've come to find that the wording on most of the issues is of course slanted towards Kucinich but also not factual in some cases.

One glaring case is the medical marijuana issue. I've read on some of his interviews that he is not "firmly opposed" as the writer of that website implies.

The writer glossed over the abortion issue but I heard Howard Dean say no less than four times on Russert in March that he wouldn't NEED a litmus test for candidates to the bench because he would KNOW already what a candidate's record was and wouldn't even try to appoint someone that is anti-choice. That isn't very clear in the link you sent me to.

Also, the writer of the website says that:
.....".but I'm not an expert, just a guy trying to figure this out."

And, I agree. He/She is not an expert. And, I did do my research on the candidates for the last several months. TODAY I am announcing to everyone in my address book my support for DEAN.

[Capn Sunshine]

11. Welcome aboard LiberalTexan!

We have a HUGE nationally based energized group of people and if you go to either the National Website or Meetup.com you'll find a lot of like minded souls!

Dont forget August 6 is
NATIONAL DEAN MEETUP DAY!
http://www.meetup.com
:party:woo hoo! :toast: :toast:

[LastRobot]

6. strange

This comparison puts Dean in a positive light and Kucinich in a much more negative light than he deserves (and I like both!)

[Sirius_on]

7. Whos Kuninich

Has he ever met Kucinich?

[LiberalTexan]

5. I'm still looking for links, folks

I've fallen to page two and am not a happy Texan.

[dsc]

9. Here are some places to start

In the politics and races forum I posted a thread called the truth about Dean and taxes. There are two links in it which would help you.

Out in the Mountains is online and the official LGBT newspaper in Vermont. They have a whole section on Civil Unions as well as other aspects of his record. I will try to find the link to an interview he gave them.

That should give you a start as to a couple of his records. Some interest groups still rate governors and you could look at those individual sites.

Link to interview

www.mountainpridemedia.org/jun2000/news06_dean%20.htm

Links to tax info

The first link covers taxes from 98 to present while the second is a study commissioned in 96 and covers 75 to 95. That leaves a three year gap but gives a good idea of what he did on taxes which is one of his issues.

www.state.vt.us/tax/majorvttaxes.htm
www.leg.state.vt.us/reports/tax/vol1-03.htm

Link to OITM Civil Union coverage

www.mountainpridemedia.org/oitm/oitm_misc/oitm_freemarry.htm

link to interview with Human Rights Campaign. They are intending to interview them all.

www.hrc.org/publications/hrcq/hrcq02wi/dean.asp

[LiberalTexan]

10. Going there now, dsc

thanks for the info......

(Where were you this week when I was fending off Republicans on 'the other site'? Go read the stuff I wrote.) :0

I'm almost done with my e-mail to the people in my address book about why I support Dean. I'm thinking maybe I'll post it here when I'm done..........

[Eloriel]

14. Okay, okay, here's what I've got

You have to realize it's not particularly easy to find good, balanced articles or lists or whatever of his Vermont record. There are some clearly biased or outright hatchet jobs out there (not unlike the Dean/Kucinich site you looked at), but historical info isn't all that available.

However, I've collected a few bookmarks and here they are:

Those who know Howard Dean say he's no classic liberal
http://www4.fosters.com/News2003/May2003/May_19/News/reg_vt0519a.asp

Howard Dean is a Woman (alas, no longer available -- from 7/17/03)
http://www.sevendaysvt.com/insidetrack/

Democrat laces up a liberal exterior
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/06/Worldandnation/Democrat_laces_up_a_l.shtml


PROFILES
What you see is what you get (not quite a profile, but a good piece)
http://www.cmonitor.com/stories/news/local2003/012303dean_2002.shtml

Governing's Public Officials of the Year, 2002
http://www.governing.com/poy/2002/dean.htm

Democracy in Action - Gov. Howard Dean
http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/dean.html

The Media's Favorite Long Shot for President, Editor and Publisher
http://www.mediainfo.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1863469

An Old-Style Centrist
http://www.progressive.org/may03/rc0503.html

Interview with Howard Dean
http://www.thestranger.com/2003-05-15/feature-special.html

Dean.com, Campaign Journal, TNR
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=MsFThRpEfeVRNVf9ei9j2R%3D%3D

[LiberalTexan]

18. Awesome! Thanks Eloriel!

Great links! You've kept me busy for the next five hours. :) Yeah!

I'm keeping these all as reference and if I get a response from my general e-mail, I'll be able to answer it. Also, I haven't announced this to my precinct voters yet, so if they have questions about him I can answer in an educated way.

[Eloriel]

15. Sorry, duplicate post

/

[mkregel]

8. Simple...it's simply "The White Album"

Although it has no formal title, the cover is all white, and opens up to pictures of John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Oh...Howard Dean? Sorry - wrong record ;)

[w4rma]

13. Massive information dump on Gov. Howard Dean

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=43435&mesg_id=43435&page=

[LiberalTexan]

17. Excellent job you did! :)

Great post, lots of information! This is what I was looking for. Hopefully I can bookmark it and it won't be trashed by the DU Archive eating monster. LOL

[w4rma]

19. Thanks! I hope it helps ya'! (n/t)

[AmyStrange]

16. More of a RW slant on his record can be found here...

it's not a really pro-Dean article so if you want to see it from a biased site. It still acknowledges his accomplishments:

http://www.seattleactivist.org/Dean/DEAN-JUL-12-2003-Deans-Vermont-Track-Record.html

Lots of other Dean stuff here:

http://www.seattleactivist.org/Dean/DEAN-INDEX.html

Oh and don't forget Vermont has a ten million dollar surplus while most all the others are drowning in debt:

http://www.seattleactivist.org/Dean/DEAN-JUL-11-2003-Vermont-beats-trend-with-$10-million-surplus.html


Dave (AmyStrange.com)

DU (slang/ folklore) Glossary (Dictionary): http://DUG.SeattleActivist.org/
Index of WMD Articles: http://WMD.SeattleActivist.org/

Here are some excellent resources and timelines of quotes and interviews and newspaper article quotes documenting the different things Bush and Co did and said for the last two plus years concerning the war in Iraq and WMDs (and other fun things) from the Howard Dean Website---even if you're not a Dean Fan, these are still excellent resources:

The Bush Administration And WMDs: Then And Now:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer?pagename=bush_wmd_summary

Niger-Uranium Timeline:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer?pagename=niger_timeline

Bush and WMD: Assumptions vs. Reality:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/DocServer/TikTok_-_Bush_-_Iraq_-_Side_by_Side.pdf?docID=781

The Bush Administration and WMD: What did they know and when did they know it?:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/DocServer/TikTok_-_Administration_-_Iraq_Deception.pdf?docID=762

[LiberalTexan]

20. Amy, w4rma, Eloriel and the rest of you

Here is the e-mail that I just sent out to 150 of my closest friends in my address book:
********************************************************************

For the last several months, I have been paying close attention to the nine Democratic candidates in the field who have high hopes of unseating George W. Bush and becoming our next President of the United States. I have met some of the candidates, I have watched the debates on C-Span, I have put myself on various campaign e-mail lists, I have visited websites to discuss the candidates; I've read their backgrounds, voting records, stances on the issues, comments of approval and disapproval from various special interest groups and even gone so far as to recruit a friend of mine to give me an impartial opinion of one of the candidates.

I must admit I've had a long personal struggle deciding who I wanted to get this nomination. It is important for those that know me and know how politically involved I am that I claim allegiance to a candidate at this early stage. Not only do I have many friends who don't necessarily get involved -and come to me for my opinion- but I am also a Precinct Chair in my community. It is my duty to educate and inform the voters of my precinct about the issues and the candidates. I feel it is therefore important for me to come out "early" and be able to say who I support for the nomination.

Each of the candidates have a special something about them. Some would make better presidents than others. Each brings something important to the table. But, after all these months searching, only one stands above them all for me and that is Howard Dean.

My announcing this late may come as a shock for those of you who have seen me at the Dean Meetups and House Parties. I've even contributed money to the campaign already. But, maybe your surprise comes from not knowing that I've been involved in all the campaigns in some capacity. I gave all the candidates a chance. I was open to Howard Dean in the past, but more by curiosity of his popularity. I wanted to know what it is about him that really moves people to get excited about politics again.

So, for those of you who want the short list of why I support Howard Dean, here it is:

~ The majority of the voters across this country are fence sitters-- they don't know who they really want to vote for till maybe a month or even a week before election day (I call it Superbowl Sunday Syndrome). I've seen these kinds of people come out in droves in support of Howard Dean (and yes, even a year early!). A couple weeks ago in Dallas, Dean spoke in front of City Hall. He asked the crowd of 2,000+ how many had never been active in a political campaign before. Over a third of the crowd raised their hands. He is a motivator. He is waking up our country. I highly respect that. I have even met people with a history of voting Republican come out in support of Dean. And, they are not ashamed to say so. See this website for more on that: http://republicansfordean.blogspot.com/

~ Howard Dean has a no nonsense way about him. He explains things in plain English. He gets this from his years of being a medical doctor. He says what needs to be said, explains why something needs to change and explains exactly how he is going to do it. Furthermore, most of what he says he will do for our nation are things that he's already accomplished before...

~ Howard Dean has a proven record as governor of Vermont for over a decade. He balanced the budget, made sure children under the age of 18 had medical insurance, and got legislation passed that helped troubled children get on the right path for avoiding drugs and jail time (which in turn lowered the rate of child abuse and population in correctional facilities). From all the things that Governor/Doctor Howard Dean has done in Vermont, I would love to see what he could do with our ailing economy and suffering nation.

~ Howard Dean has huge fundraising capabilities. In the second quarter of this year, he raised over $7 million dollars. This may not seem like a lot, but think of it like Dean does: he would rather have those 59,000 individual contributions (of less than $150 each) and the vast support that goes along with it than 3,500 people giving $2,000 a plate like Bush has at his fundraising dinners. Howard Dean knows that our strength is in numbers. We are taking back America one neighborhood at a time. As a Precinct Chair who walks the neighborhood every weekend, I can respect that.

~ And, lastly, a very important point: Howard Dean is not beholden to Washington. He is not a Congressman with a seat to protect and pundits to appease. Howard Dean has the liberty to speak off the cuff. He has nothing to lose. I appreciate the attempts by some of the candidates to speak out, but oftentimes we see them back down the following week or vote another way on an issue just to make their own constituents happy. That is not the position Howard Dean is in. I believe there is a LOT to criticize the Bush Administration for and Howard Dean is the only candidate fully in the position to do so.

If you want to get informed about the issues Howard Dean supports, go to www.deanforamerica.com and on the left side, click on "On the Issues". All of those explanations are written by Dean himself, including statistics of what has been accomplished in Vermont During his five and a half terms as governor. Write to me if you need more links to Howard Dean's accomplishments in Vermont.

I hope those of you who are undecided will consider coming out and supporting Howard Dean, too. Exposure is everything at this stage of the game. I will support anyone who wins the Democratic nomination. But, for now, my full support rests with Howard Dean.

[Eloriel]

21. TERRIFIC

BIG SMILE. :-)

Eloriel

[LiberalTexan]

29. I only sent the thing an hour ago

and I've already had people mailing me to say thank you. They had been in the same quandry over who to support. Some people forwarded my e-mail to everyone in their address books, too. Feel free to do the same with it!

I think the e-mail works for everyone except died in the wool Republicans because I come from the perspective of innocently not knowing who to support to reasons why I do support Dean. For this reason, I think it is easy for those fence sitters in your address book to stomach. And, if not, you've gotten Dean's name out there for them to think about!

You have my permission to cross post.

[dajabr]

22. Wow!

That's a great e-mail - great to know you're aboard! This would be great for you to post on the Deanblog comments - I'm sure they'd love to read it as well.

http://www.blogforamerica.com/

[LiberalTexan]

28. Okay

I went to that website, but I honestly didn't see anyplace to submit a blog and I also didn't see anyone else's blogs posted. Perhaps there is a link on his site that I missed. It's late and my eyes are tired. Perhaps I'll find it in the morning? :)

Thanks for letting me know my e-mail was worth the time it took to write it.

[Eloriel]

32. After each blog entry from someone connected to the campaign

is a hotlink called "Comments." Click on that and it opens a new window where others' comments can be read and at the very bottom you can add your own.

Believe me, they'd LOVE to read that. People from the campaign absolutely do read all the comments (sometimes Trippi and Dean themselves!!), and sometimes they respond. Sometimes they pull certain comments out and add them to the front as a blog entry.

Eloriel

[LiberalTexan]

33. Okay, I posted it

And, I got a response from someone wanting to put it in a magazine called Dean Scene. :)

I didn't think it was anything special.......just the facts......but if that's what people want! lol

[dajabr]

37. See that!

Your an "Official" Dean supporter for a day, and you're already getting published! :-)

Which entry did you put it under? I'd like to go over and see if you got any other responses.

:toast:

[Northwind]

23. WOOHOO!

Yeah, LiberalTexan (you ain't the only one)! We WILL deny Bush the Texas electoral votes in '04!!!

DEAN DEAN DEAN DEAN DEAN DEAN

[RevolutionStartsNow]

24. Good for you!

You are obviously very smart. :)

[AmyStrange]

25. !!! Double WOW !!!

like dajabr said,



Dave (AmyStrange.com)

DU (slang/ folklore) Glossary (Dictionary): http://DUG.SeattleActivist.org/
Index of WMD Articles: http://WMD.SeattleActivist.org/

Here are some excellent resources and timelines of quotes and interviews and newspaper article quotes documenting the different things Bush and Co did and said for the last two plus years concerning the war in Iraq and WMDs (and other fun things) from the Howard Dean Website---even if you're not a Dean Fan, these are still excellent resources:

The Bush Administration And WMDs: Then And Now:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer?pagename=bush_wmd_summary

Niger-Uranium Timeline:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer?pagename=niger_timeline

Bush and WMD: Assumptions vs. Reality:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/DocServer/TikTok_-_Bush_-_Iraq_-_Side_by_Side.pdf?docID=781

The Bush Administration and WMD: What did they know and when did they know it?:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/DocServer/TikTok_-_Administration_-_Iraq_Deception.pdf?docID=762

[Stoic]

26. I archived a ton of articles on Howard Dean since December.

You can still pull up my old site at...

portal.fightingdemocrat.com

and select 'search' from the left menu. Just enter 'howard dean' and enter. You'll see everything I have.

(On edit: I have 59 articles with "Howard Dean" mentioned and 25 under the catagory "Howard Dean")

[LiberalTexan]

27. Bookmarked!

Great site. I can't believe I hadn't seen it before. Good job! I love the layout. :)

[LiberalTexan]

30. I HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION:

A woman I know says she is solidly behind Howard Dean except for the Depleted Uranium issue. She says she wants her question answered first. PLEASE HELP if you can!!!!
*******************************************************************

I am waiting for one piece of important information I want from Dean ( would he stand up for stopping the use of DEPLETED URANIUM in our weaponry as it is has been used in the Gulf War by THE UNITED STATES! and now, it is being used again, in Iraq?).

For this past week I have been scouring the internet for information on this subject once it became known to me. I've heard fuzzy reports about the Gulf WAr Syndrome, but since we bombed the hell out of Iraq , reports of ill soldiers have been filtering back here...the last report was by a reporter in Missouri...a 20 year old, healthy male went off to war, became very ill "suddenly", was sent to a hospital in Hamburg, Germany, and died there. His parents flew to Germany only to find their son in a "drug-induced coma", and he died shortly thereafter. His first symptoms were of a kind of pneumonia, thenhis body just disintegrated.....sure sounds spooky to me. He was runner, 20 years old, and healthy when he left home. ( I called the reporter, spoke to him, gave him the websites to check out, he knew NOTHING OF DEPLETED URANIUM WEAPONRY, and asked him after he educated himself....to print out the stuff and give it to the family of the soldier who died)...

I've read a lot of what a Major in our military. Dr. Doug Rokke ( a PhD in physics, I believe) has to say about gulf WAr Syndrome and the use of DU weapons. He is sick himself from DU. He worked with clean up crews. His best friend died...after serving in Vietnam and the Gulf WAr, and was denied medical care by the military. Rokke claims even his friend's medical records disappeared. Reading what he had to say, seared my brain. You must read this. Go to GOOGLE and type in the words : depleted uranium, and a whole new ugly world of danger, deception, lies, and the possibility of the destruction of our planet as we have known it, will leap out at you. This is a critical issue for me. And, I think Dean, as a physician, is in a unique position to publicize it and clarify it. He may choose to do this, now or later, but I want to know how and where he stands on the subject. Maybe he doesn't know any more about it than I did just days go....but I'm educated now and realize SOMETHING must be done to stop this insanity. There is NO HALF LIFE TO THIS POISON WE ARE USING. IT MAIMS AND KILLS FOREVER. Even plutonium has a half life of 20,000 years....compared to DU, this sounds like safe stuff! Can you imagine unleashing this ugly genie onto the world? The gross irony of it all, BUSH WENT TO WAR OVER WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION IN IRAQ, AND WE, THE U.S. MILITARY, ARE THE ONES USING THEM? But read Rokke, and Michio Kaku, a physicist, who teaches at CUNY, and has written several books. Read Dr. Helen Caldicott's messages about the use of nuclear weapons. Or Karl Grossman, who teaches investigative journalism, and has written extensively about nuclear poisons let loose on earth..... DU appears to be the worst. Evidently, the heavy weight of the metal makes it an excellent weapon, it slicesthrough other metal structures ( like tanks) like a knife slicing through butter. But the metal heats up and vaporizes, the dust then floats all around and the tiny particulates get into humans' lungs....lays on plants,
little children play in the dust, and play around the contaminated tanks. I could go on and on.
Humans who have come in contact with this stuff ( male soldiers, for example) can wind up with DU in their semen, possibly dooming an unborn child.....the soldier's semen might produce a deformed child...(this has been happening in Iraqi births from the last war) ..same thing in a female , if the stuff gets into her body and her reproductive organs, she is much more likely to give birth to a deformed child, whose DNA is altered. What are we playing with here?

I have complied many papers that I've printed off the net, and am sending them to the man who is head of "policy" for Dean. ( The other candidates, i won't even bother with yet....but I may just INFORM them later to alert them that there is a terrible problem and terrible price the whole of humanity, animal and plant life if this continues. so THEY will be informed, if they're not now). If they passed the resolution to go to war, which Dean opposed, wisely, and didn't bother to read it, chances are they know nothing about the poison we're spreading their, killing our own as well as other innocents.

My plan, once Dean says he is opposed to the use of this stuff, is to go to work contacting all the scientists and their links and asking them to put the full force of their scientific groups to work for Dean....

[LiberalTexan]

31. To the Front Page

Sorry, I have to keep this bumped. It's such an obscure question that if it goes to page two today someone may miss it. :)

[sierrak9s]

34. Half-life

Waidaminnit. On the issue of the "half-life" of depleted uranium, doesn't a longer "half-life" indicate a LOWER radiation level? Somebody with physics knowledge please correct me if I'm wrong, but I dimly recall from my undergraduate studies of nuclear weapons that "half-life" has something to do with how long it takes half of the electrons to escape, or something like that.
Highly radioactive materials give off particles like crazy, so their "half-life" is low -- doesn't take long to give off half their electrons. A high "half-life" should indicate low radioactivity, shouldn't it? I mean, what's the "half-life" of non-radioactive stuff like plastic or bread?
Or I could be completely misremembering...

[AmyStrange]

35. half life

is the half life of an atom at which point it turns into something else...

RH Webster's College Dictionary:
The time required before one half the atoms of a given amount of a radioactive substance to decay.

http://einstein.byu.edu/~masong/HTMstuff/C24A1.html:

We imagine that we have a radioactive substance. When the nuclei of the substance decay, they emit radiation (alpha, beta, or gamma rays) that can be detected by counters such as a Geiger Counter. For a Geiger Counter, each time an emitted particle passes through the Geiger Counter, the counter makes a clicking sound. The number of clicks per unit time of the counter tells us how many decays per unit time are occurring. But the rate of clicks decreases with time because the rate is directly proportional to the number of radioactive nuclei in the substance that can decay. Hence, as time goes on, we know that the number of radioactive nuclei in the substance must also be decreasing.

The radioactive half-life of the substance is the period of time over which the number of radioactive nuclei decreases by a factor of one-half.

more:
http://einstein.byu.edu/~masong/HTMstuff/C24A1.html




I hope this helps a little,

Dave (AmyStrange.com)

DU (slang/ folklore) Glossary (Dictionary): http://DUG.SeattleActivist.org/
Index of WMD Articles: http://WMD.SeattleActivist.org/

Here are some excellent resources and timelines of quotes and interviews and newspaper article quotes documenting the different things Bush and Co did and said for the last two plus years concerning the war in Iraq and WMDs (and other fun things) from the Howard Dean Website---even if you're not a Dean Fan, these are still excellent resources:

The Bush Administration And WMDs: Then And Now:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer?pagename=bush_wmd_summary

Niger-Uranium Timeline:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer?pagename=niger_timeline

Bush and WMD: Assumptions vs. Reality:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/DocServer/TikTok_-_Bush_-_Iraq_-_Side_by_Side.pdf?docID=781

The Bush Administration and WMD: What did they know and when did they know it?:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/DocServer/TikTok_-_Administration_-_Iraq_Deception.pdf?docID=762

[AmyStrange]

36. !!! WELCOME TO THE DU !!!

here's a little DU Slang Dictionary that might come in handy:

Index of WMD Articles: http://WMD.SeattleActivist.org/

Dave (AmyStrange.com)