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July issue
by Sarah Jordan
August 2, 2003

Hello Free Press,

I just finished reading the most recent FP issue. I am a supporter of Howard Dean for President. While your paper gave some mention of Dean, I don't understand why the coverage he receives there is no better than in the Dispatch.

You say (p. 7 by C. Arnebaeck) that Dean has made the greatest use of the internet. It is true that his campaign is using this medium well as a tool, but people are supporting Dean because of who his is and what he stands for. All of the campaigns have websites.

Then in the Norman Solomon article, you give several column inches toward bashing on Dean. He says "As a fiscal conservative, Dean is aligned with the status quo of extreme inequities". That is bull, my friends. Anyone who thinks it is ok to spend more than you take in from taxes is a fool just like George W. Bush. It is not ok to keep spending recklessly. Already a huge portion of the government budge it going just to INTEREST on the national debt. Adding to the deficit is going to make this much much worse. This is a huge concern of mine as I am 26 and have a 4 year old. I know who is going to get stuck holding the bag on this and it isn't the "Greatest Generation" or the Boomers. As a radical feminist anti-racist, who voted Nader last time, I agree with Dean who says, "We cannot have social justice without a sound fiscal foundation. We must balance the federal budget."

Then Solomon complains about Dean for advocating raising the retirement age for Social Security. Fear mongering anyone? Dean has advocated the quite reasonable position of saying he would "entertain taking the retirement age to 68". It is currently 67. His main position is ending the regressive taxation policy of FICA taxation by applying them to all income, not just income up to $80,000. He is supporting making the rich pay their fair share. Sounds like a progressive view to me.

Solomon says he "called for a slowing down of the rate of increases for Medicare spending". Has this guy even looked at what Dean's position's are or is he just looking at soundbites taken out of context from the GOP? Dean has a 4 point plan to get universal health care coverage and a proven record in Vermont where he has a proven record. Where 99% of Vermont children are elligible and 96% have health care coverage, where he signed a bill that requires mental illness and substance abuse to be treated like any other disease, and 92% of adults have health care coverage. This is far better than Ohio and any other state I know of. www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer?pagename=policy_statement_health

Finally Solomon criticizing Dean for disagreeing with Kucinich about cutting the Pentagon budget. It is important to cut Pentagon waste and eventually reduce it the military's size. But there is no way we can reduce it anytime soon and for Kucinich to advocate this is totally irresponsible if not nieve. We have to clean up that mess that Shrub caused in Iraq. We can't just abandon the responsibility to put things back together after destroying the place for the past 12 years. Dean has a 7 point plan to reconstruct Iraq. www.deanforamerica.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5364&news_iv_ctrl=1421 Where is Kucinich's realistic plan? All I've heard from him is pie in the sky plans for a Peace Department.

And to say that Dean isn't talking about Iraq at all is BS too. He has 16 questions for Bush on Iraq and lying www.deanforamerica.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6998&news_iv_ctrl=1421 and also questions on their domestic policy www.deanforamerica.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7147&news_iv_ctrl=1421 But the fact of the matter is that Iraq isn't the only issue.

And I don't think that Kucinich is as left as some would portray him. If that was the case he wouldn't have 95% voting record with the Right to Lifers. And he wouldn't have flip flopped recently and gotten a clue conveniently right before running for President about women's rights. Kucinich couldn't win Ohio and if he thinks he could he ought to try running for Senate so we don't have the embarrassment of Jerry Springer.

I don't think Dean has ever claimed to be a leftist although the media portrays him that way. He is a left-moderate and he is getting support from all over the spectrum from Greens to progressives to liberals to Yellow Dog Dems to Independent to Libertarians to Moderate Republicans. And that is the only sort of Coalition that can possibly beat Bush and his $200 million. Progressives who think otherwise, deserve another 4 years of Bush&Co...ok maybe they don't deserve that, but that's what will happen.

If FP wants to really report on the Dean phenomena rather than just bash it, you should check out his positions, check out his blog (www.blogforamerica.com), and come to the next MeetUp (August 6, 7 PM at Clintonville Scottie MacBean's).