GOV DEAN:"If The Issue Is Defense, The Republicans Will Lose"

[kpete]

"The Weakest Adminstration on Defense We Have Seen in Many, Many Years"
(From a speech given by Governor Dean earlier today at the the Annual Conference of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. -- Tim)

"Karl Rove says that the Republicans are going to win on the issue of defense. I submit to you that if the issue is defense, the Republicans will lose because this is the weakest Administration on defense that we've seen in many, many years. What I mean is this. For five years this President has been in the White House. For five years North Korea continues to possess nuclear weapons. For five years this Administration has been in the White House, Iran moves closer every day to producing nuclear weapons. For four years, Osama Bin Laden has been on the loose and remains so. And today we see the specter, as reported in the Jerusalem post- of a company that is about to take over American ports, which actively continues today to boycott Israel.

"The Democrats have a better idea. First we will conclude the negotiations with the Chinese and the North Koreans to disarm North Korea. Secondly, under no circumstances will a Democratic Administration ever allow Iran to become a nuclear power. Three, we will kill or capture Osama bin Laden and four, the authority and the control of the ports of the United States must be retained by American companies.

"We are not simply speaking about the United Arab Emirates -- we are also speaking about the western ports which are controlled by companies controlled by the Chinese government. Foreign governments of any kind ought not to be controlling American ports, especially when the Coast Guard already recommended that they could not guarantee the security of the ports."

"We will defend America."
http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/02/governor_dean_i_4.php

[dave29]

1. I can't quit you, Dean

:toast:

[SteppingRazor]

2. On this, I have to disagree with Dr. D.

The GOP won't necessarily lose on defense. Dean is right when he says they're weak on defense, but what he doesn't address is that it DOESN'T MATTER if they're weak on defense. All that matters is that they are PERCEIVED as strong on defense. And while the UAE ports deal has done a lot to chip away at that misperception, the general public still sees Republicans as "tough guys."

[Warpy]

3. I reluctantly agree. What the GOP parlays into "strong on defense"

is the amount of money they waste, pouring it into the coffers of fatcat defense contractors and getting greatly diminished return on the investment (unless you count big campaign contributions for GOP candidates).

Yes, they're incredibly weak on defense, in many more ways than one. For instance, the export of key industries means that the US can no longer fight a major war that disrupts shipping. Troops are undersupplied, and the US didn't make enough bullets to supply the effort in Iraq. Yes, conservatives in both parties have contributed to this, but the bulk of the blame lies with the party in control of all 3 branches of government.

However, as long as they have a tame press willingly abetting their bamboozling the sheep with glowing accounts of increased military budgets under GOP administrations, the defense issue is a loser.

[napi21]

4. Some do, but I think this port deal did more damage than we

realize yet. Let's see what happens with the whole deal. If the House can stop Shrub from signing this damn thing on March 2nd, 45 days is a very long time! Based upon the first 2 months of Shrub's second term, there's a lot more dirty stuff out there.

I think Dean saying this, and managing to get it into the news just might help change some of those preconceived notions about the Pubs being tough guys.