How do you explain this away?

[JeniB]

I know this is yet again from the mid 90's, but I don't think someone like this is a good representative for our party. I mean, come on, if Gep ever said anything like this, you guys would be all over it!


Howard Dean on Newt Gingrich
and the Republican Majority

Howard Dean said it was a "healthy thing" that Democrats lost control of Congress, and that the new direction of Congress was "not a bad direction." In January 1995, the month that Newt Gingrich became Speaker, Dean appeared on "This Week with David Brinkley" and was asked about the Republican takeover of Congress. He said he thought it was a "healthy thing":

Gov. HOWARD DEAN: "It is and it's- the reason that I've been unwilling to condemn the change in Congress- I actually think, despite my broad philosophical disagreements with the new Speaker, that the change in Congress is a healthy thing. This government was fossilized and, frankly, the House was the area that it was fossilized in. So now we have an opportunity for historic change, and the question is how far are we going to go?
"...the direction is not a bad direction - decentralization, more block grants, but not total freedom for the states."
Source: This Week with David Brinkley, 1/29/95

Dean said Democrats "deserved to lose" control of Congress in 1994. " his party at both the national and state levels veered too far to the left and lost touch with most of the public. He said the Democrats in Congress deserved the losses they suffered last fall, when Republicans gained control of both the U.S. House and Senate. He also said they have to shoulder some blame for giving Newt Gingrich and his Republicans allies the opportunity to cut critical social programs. Said Dean, "Why Newt Gingrich is in the speaker's chair is because our party was not financially responsible during the '80s, and I make no bones about it."

Source: Montpelier Times-Argus, 12/31/95


Dean said there were "a lot of good things" that came with the change in control of Congress.

"My own view as a Democrat is that there are a lot of good things in this change that went on in Congress...I think a widespread change of this sort is not all bad, even for Democratic Governors."

Source: Dean on VT public television, 12/14/94

Dean offered that the Contract with America had some "good stuff" in it.

"We're going to be in there fighting to make sure the right things get done in the Senate and some of the bad stuff gets put out, and I'll be the first to say there's some good stuff in the Contract. The welfare reform, some of it is very good."

Source: Dean on CNN Late Edition, 4/9/95

edit: spelling