ABC This Week With George StephanopoulosWednesday, September 14, 2003BODY: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS (Off Camera) We are on the campaign trail this week with the surprise star of this presidential campaign, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. Powered by his passionate opposition to the Iraq war and an Internet movement that's raised him millions more in campaign funds than he ever expected, Dean has been transformed from long shot insurgent to top contender. Now, our new ABC poll shows that Senator Joseph Lieberman is still leading nationally with 22 percent of the vote. Dean, Senator John Kerry and Congressman Richard Gephardt are all bunched behind at 14 percent but in the all important states of Iowa and New Hampshire, Dean is ahead. And as you'll see, he is drawing huge crowds and heavy fire. We began in Dean's hometown, Burlington, Vermont. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) Howard Dean is on a precarious perch these days. At the top of the Democratic field in Iowa and New Hampshire, he's come a long way from where his political journey began in 1981, this bike path that he fought to build in Burlington. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) So what is it that hooked you about the experience? HOWARD DEAN, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE It was community organizing. It was getting people interested in their community, getting people doing the things that you have to do to make democracy work like writing letters, calling people. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) He's also come much farther than his mother ever expected. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) You decide to run for president and your mom says it's the silliest thing she ever heard. HOWARD DEAN And it's preposterous, is what she said. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Preposterous. HOWARD DEAN And it's very expensive, she said, as well. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Why did she think it was so silly? HOWARD DEAN Well, you know, in my family you don't do things like that. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Why not? HOWARD DEAN Because we're a pretty traditional family, and I don't think it ever occurred to anybody that I might run for president. My father was astonished when I became governor. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) What do you think your father would have thought about this presidential race? HOWARD DEAN I don't know the answer to that. I think secretly, of course, he would be very proud but he used to, he used to love to tease me about being a Democrat because he was a Republican. And so I'm sure he would write me out of the will about five times a day. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Now, he was, he was a Republican, come from a long line of investment bankers. When did you break from the Republican past? HOWARD DEAN I became a Democrat when I was in college. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) What was it about? HOWARD DEAN It was the war. It was the lies that were being told to the American people. That was the big issue, and then it was the Nixon southern strategy when the Republicans gave up on civil rights. The combination of those three things made me a Democrat. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Now, I've been on the campaign trail a lot, out with Senator Edwards, out with Congressman Gephardt, a lot of the other candidates, and Congressman Gephardt weaves his family, his father, his mother, his kids into every stump speech. Senator Edwards does the same thing, talks about his working class roots. You've been far more reticent about that. How come? HOWARD DEAN I'm a reticent person in general. You know, I don't talk a lot about myself and I don't talk a lot about my family. I think it's real personal. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) What do you say to the suggestion that some, this has been written in some places that, well, the reason you don't do it is you come from Park Avenue and East Hampton and that doesn't have the political resonance that being the son of a mill worker may have. HOWARD DEAN That may be true, but that's not why I don't do it. Where I come from is a lot different than where most people think I come from when people write that I come from Park Avenue or East Hampton or any of that kind of stuff. Well, they don't talk about the fact I worked on a ranch in the summer in Florida which was a cattle ranch in Bell Glade(PH) which has one of the highest poverty rates in America and that everybody else on the ranch who was working there was a Cuban exile who didn't speak English. They don't talk about some of the experiences I had in the South Bronx when I was practicing medicine during medical school. They don't talk about who I spent my time with during the civil rights movement. What drives me in terms of my desire for social justice comes from all those experiences that get internalized. I somehow suspected if I talked about them all the time, I wouldn't have the drive and the desire for social justice that I do, it would just be another political way of touching people. I touch people with a passion and the passion comes from internalizing the people that I've met. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Your success has made you a target. Senator Lieberman says that your trade policies are gonna turn the Bush recession into a Dean depression. Just the other night at the Congressional Black Caucus debate, Senator Edwards took you on because you said “I'm the only white candidate in the race who talks about race to white audiences.” He said that's simply not true. And he's right, isn't he? HOWARD DEAN No, he's wrong about that. White politicians always go before black audiences and talk about affirmative action, all this stuff. Sometimes they, as in Joe Lieberman's and Senator Edwards' and others' case, talk about protection of civil rights. They talk about what they were doing in the civil rights movement in the '60s and all that. That's not talking about race. If you want to talk about race and you're white, you have an obligation to talk about the un, the unconscious bias that people exercise over hiring practices, the fact that ... GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) But that's not what you said in the debate. I've been on the campaign trail with these guys. And Senator Kerry, Senator Edwards and Senator Lieberman, they talk about race in every single stop. HOWARD DEAN But they don't, none of them have attacked the quota system. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) All have attacked President Bush on affirmative action and said he shouldn't call a quotas. HOWARD DEAN But they, well, long after I did. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Now, why not just say, you know, maybe I shouldn't have said it that way? HOWARD DEAN Because I think I'm right. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) This isn't the only time that you've drawn fire for your use of language. You've had to apologize to Senator Edwards in the past. HOWARD DEAN The only time I've had to apologize just for the record. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) The only time. HOWARD DEAN Yes. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) So are you worried at all, that the fact that you speak bluntly and have had to take back some things that you said might get you into trouble as this campaign goes along? HOWARD DEAN No. I'm not going to be scripted, George. I'm not going to be scripted. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Even if that means at times having to take back what you said? HOWARD DEAN Sure, I make no bones about apologizing to Senator Edwards for his, for my saying he had misconstrued his position on the war. I didn't know it. I made a mistake and I said so and when I make a mistake, I'm going to own up to it. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) You have changed on various issues. On NAFTA, you used to be a very strong supporter of NAFTA. HOWARD DEAN George, you're doing it again. I supported NAFTA and wrote a letter to President Clinton in 1992 supporting NAFTA. That's different than “you used to be a very strong supporter of NAFTA.” GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) You were a strong supporter of NAFTA. HOWARD DEAN I supported NAFTA. Where do you get this “I'm a strong supporter of NAFTA”? I did anything about it. I didn't vote on it. I didn't march down the street demanding NAFTA. I simply wrote a letter supporting NAFTA. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Well, are you ashamed of that now? HOWARD DEAN No, I'm not. And I tell the labor unions I did and I tell them why I did it. Because NAFTA did a lot of positive things for Vermont because it's right up against the Canadian border. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) But now you've renegotiated. HOWARD DEAN What I see you doing is painting me into a corner that I was never in, and that's what a lot, that in some ways it's a funny ... GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) But I don't get this. I mean, you were a supporter of it. You wrote a letter supporting it, you talked about it. HOWARD DEAN Sure, yeah, right. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) And now you have a different position? HOWARD DEAN No. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Why isn't it right to ask about that and explain what you mean by it? HOWARD DEAN It is. It is fine. I have no problem with you asking about it but don't put me in a position, which most journalists do, including you, of “you were a strong supporter of NAFTA and now it's not true.” GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) A trip to the Internet command center with top strategist Joe Trippi suggested Dean's irritation is reinforced by political calculation. JOE TRIPPI, DEAN STRATEGIST People really respond when we're under attack. I mean, people just sign up or contribute. They actually have, I think in the last debate they actually created, our own people created an, a Dean attack fund and any time anybody attacked us in the debate, they would go over and contribute to that fund. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) And you also have a rapid response network, too. JOE TRIPPI Yeah. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) To date, the campaign has raised more than $8 million on the Internet. More than any campaign ever. The next day Dean had seven stops the state of New Hampshire beginning with a visit to fellow doctors at Dartmouth. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Do you miss being a doctor? HOWARD DEAN Well, in some ways. I mean, you grow up with it, and you're heavily involved with it, it's kind of like coming home when you get to discuss medicine. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) You seem very at home today. HOWARD DEAN It is. It is. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) The campaign's message of the day is mental health policy. HOWARD DEAN Eleven million adults in this country live with serious mental illness and three million children suffer from emotional disturbance. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) But rival Dick Gephardt has attacked Dean on the subject of Medicare. DICK GEPHARDT, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE In 1995, Governor Dean said Medicare is, quote, “one of the worst things that ever happened.” HOWARD DEAN What? GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) On a conference call with Iowa reporters, Dean is blindsided by the charge. HOWARD DEAN I think that's pretty silly. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) The packed house at Plymouth State College knows nothing about it, so Dean sticks to the stump speech that's working. HOWARD DEAN As commander in chief of the United States military, I will not hesitate to send American troops anywhere in the world to defend the United States of America, but as commander in chief of the United States military, I will never send our sons and our daughters and our brothers and sisters in harm's way in a foreign land without telling the truth to the American people about why they're going. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) But the reporters waiting for Dean outside have been fully briefed. REPORTER, FEMALE Congressman Gephardt has just delivered remarks in which he said in 1995 you said that Medicare was one of the worst things that has ever happened. HOWARD DEAN You know, I'm disappointed in Dick. I worked with him in 1988. I think this is the politics of the past. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) On a car ride to Concord, I pressed Dean on the specifics. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Congressman Gephardt, I heard what you had to say just out there, sad attack, old politics. But I want to get you to respond to the substance of what he said about your support of Medicare in the past. HOWARD DEAN Of course, I support Medicare. That's ridiculous. I certainly have been very angry at Medicare over their bureaucratic stuff. You know, they're really difficult bureaucratically to deal with. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) But he goes farther. He also says that in 1995 you specifically supported the $270 billion or so in tax cuts that were called for by Newt Gingrich. HOWARD DEAN I think that's very unlikely. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Here's the, here's the documents. HOWARD DEAN I know what Gingrich has said, but this ... GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) This is what Congressman Gephardt is saying about 1995, and those are the clips supporting it. It's pretty clear that you said you would accept a seven to ten percent cut in the rate of growth of Medicare, which ... HOWARD DEAN Oh, the cut -cutting the rate of growth. That's much different. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Well, except that the cut in growth rate in 1995 came to $270 billion. HOWARD DEAN Once I find out, I've just got to find out. I fully subscribe to the notion we should reduce the Medicare growth rate from ten percent to seven percent or less, if possible, I'm sure I said that. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) That's what Newt Gingrich was calling for in 1995. HOWARD DEAN Well, then, you know, Newt Gingrich probably also called for a strong America, I believe in that, too. I mean, to, my guess that is I could find some things that, that's like my saying Dick Gephardt is the same as George Bush because they both voted for the war and Dick Gephardt went to the Rose Garden to support the war. I've never said that. I'm just so disappointed. I worked for him, this guy, in 1988. I really ... GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) His campaign. HOWARD DEAN Yeah, I worked for his campaign in '88. And this is really the pathetic politics of the past. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Why do you think he's doing it? HOWARD DEAN Because I think he's desperate. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Back in 1995, you also supported cuts in Social Security, cuts in veterans' benefits along the same lines. HOWARD DEAN You know, I can't respond to that because it was a long time ago. It was eight years. I will say that in 1995 we had an enormous budget crisis in this country. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) We do now, too. HOWARD DEAN Yes, we do, but now I know how that can be fixed. And that is you get rid of the president's tax cuts. The next president of the United States is gonna have to confront exactly this, do we cut veterans' benefits. Do we cut Social Security benefits. Do we cut Medicare benefits. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) And what's your answer now? HOWARD DEAN We do not. We don't need to do that. But I have not said that I won't look at the rate of growth of any of these things. If we're in bad trouble of course we will. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) The rest of the ride is more reflective. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) You talked when you were before the doctors this morning about spirituality and I was wondering how would you describe your spirituality. HOWARD DEAN I'm actually a pretty religious person, believe it or not. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) No, I believe it. HOWARD DEAN You know, I think what is missing in this country is a degree of spirituality. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) You've had quite a journey. You were raised Roman Catholic. HOWARD DEAN I wasn't raised Roman Catholic. I was baptized Roman Catholic. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Baptized, not raised. HOWARD DEAN No, raised Episcopalian, and I ended up as a Congregationalist. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) That's what I wanted to ask you about. How did you end up as a Congregationalist? HOWARD DEAN Because I had a big fight with a local Episcopal church about 25 years ago over the bike path. They had a huge chunk ... GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Over the bike path? HOWARD DEAN They had a big, we were trying to get the bike path built. They had control of a mile and a half of railroad bed, and they decided they would pursue a property right suit to refuse to allow the bike path to be developed. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) How do does your faith inform your politics? HOWARD DEAN I'm not sure that it does. I think my faith and my politics are parallel. You know, I consider myself a Christian in the best sense of the word. I think that Christ was somebody who really reached out to those who couldn't fend for themselves so I think about those things, but I don't think it informs my politics. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) It informs your sense of ethics clearly. HOWARD DEAN Yes, very much so. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Do you pray? HOWARD DEAN Yes. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Constantly? HOWARD DEAN No, but lately. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) All afternoon the attacks keep coming. HOWARD DEAN John Kerry just put out a press release accusing me of being a Hamas sympathizer. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) Dean seems undaunted. And he can afford to have a little fun. CHILD, FEMALE I do not like that George and Dick. I do not like them not one bit. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) At this stage of the campaign he's drawing extraordinarily large and committed crowds. And he knows how to fire them up. HOWARD DEAN This flag does not belong to the right wing of the Republican party. It belongs to every single American. Every single one. You have the power to take this country back. And make it our country again, not Jerry Falwell's country, not Rush Limbaugh's country, not John Ashcroft's country and we have the power to take the White House back in 2004. And that is exactly what we're going to do. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) The day ends with a visit to Manchester's Greek festival. HOWARD DEAN Man, those are really good. Those are great. Maple? Only New Hampshire and Vermont Greeks do this. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Voice Over) And a final talk about all of those attacks. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) You don't look it right now, but do you feel embattled? HOWARD DEAN No, I really don't. I've got to get used to it, of course, as you know, you don't usually don't have four people going after you at the same time plus the Republican governor but that's what's going to happen. You know, we're doing well and when you do well the other guys want to catch up. I think that's usually the wrong way to do it. I think they're making a mistake but, you know, it's their strategy. They got to deal with what they got to deal with. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) How do you fight back? HOWARD DEAN In some ways you don't. In some ways you run against George Bush. Because, for me I don't want to make the mistake that they made early on. You know, if you're doing well, what Democrats want is for us to beat George Bush. They don't like the fighting between us. So what I want to try to do is just stiff arm them and then keep my attention on the president. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) Still having fun? HOWARD DEAN Actually, this kind of stuff I love. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (Off Camera) George Will and Michel Martin are coming up but when we come back “The List.” Copyright 2003 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. ABC News Transcripts http://www.lexis.com/
|
.
.
 |
