Howard Dean: President and VP tried to discredit people who were right about Iraq

[madfloridian]

From his 4:30 Situation Room interview today.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0703/06/sitroom.01.html

BLITZER: You say the president would make a mistake in pardoning Lewis Scooter Libby. Why?

DEAN: Well, the -- that's been done before, as you know, especially around the Iran-Contra times.

The problem is that Scooter Libby now has a -- a great incentive to tell what else was going on in the vice president's office. Don't forget, this is the tip of the iceberg. This is about the president and the vice president trying to discredit people who turned out to be right about the war in Iraq.

And they didn't -- Scooter Libby didn't do this all by himself. The best way that the president has to shut Scooter Libby up before sentencing is to pardon him. I hope that -- that will not happen. I think we need to find out what really did happen when the CIA gave the president reports that said that -- not to trust some of their sources in Iraq.

What really did happen in the vice president's office, when the vice president got CIA reports he didn't like? Did he pass them on to the president? Did he withhold them from the president? There's a lot more going on here..."

Dean is supposed to be on the 7:00 Situation Room as well. I don't know if it is a repeat or a new interview.

[madfloridian]

1. Video from CNN

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/politics/2007/03/06/blitzer.howard.dean.intv.cnn&wm=11

Wolf got pushy, Dean pushed back firmly. Good interview.

[AndyA]

2. Dean statement regarding Bush: "Failed leadership."

I love that. It so sums up what we have leading this country: a FAILURE.

Wolfe is such a right wing whore, it's disgusting.

[Dr Fate]

3. Great points from the good Doctor!!! n/t

n/t

[lyonn]

4. Yup, good to see him being interviewed for a change

Wasn't sure if there was a blackout on Dean appearing anywhere.

[Dr Fate]

5. I would only believe that if Dean himself said so.

Otherwise, Dean has PR people who know the producers of those shows- and most shows would love to have himm on- if for nothing else than to grill him or try to make him slip up.

[madfloridian]

11. Bob Fertik has a good write-up about all of today's responses to Libby verdict.

at democrats.com.

I think he picked up on Dean's passion quite well. This was not just an interview, he was angry.

http://www.democrats.com/node/12192

"Howard Dean was also remarkably passionate in attacking the administration. Dean didn't get bogged down in the details of the case, but simply insisted Bush lied about the pre-war intelligence, much to Wolf Blitzer's horror. Dean also connected Bush's failure to prepare properly for the war with his failure to prepare properly for the wounded soldiers who have returned. That issue really seemed to be visceral for Dean, drawing both on his experience as a doctor and his strong opposition to the Iraq War."

And Wolf was truly horrified.

From the transcript:

DEAN: Because we know that the president was not truthful to the American people when he sent us to war. And the -- we know that politics consumes this -- this administration. You know, here, you have a spectacle of the vice president of the United States circling things in newspaper articles that he didn't like, in order to discredit his -- his foes, while our kids, our young men and women in Walter Reed hospital are not getting proper medical care.

This administration needs to stop talking about politics and start doing something about the actual problems that are facing the American people...

BLITZER: But...

DEAN: ... starting with those soldiers in Walter Reed. There's a lot going on in this administration that's about politics, and it's -- and the truth is a casualty in this administration.

BLITZER: Well, it's one thing to talk about politics. But it's another thing to accuse the president and/or the vice president of actually committing a crime. Are you suggesting either has committed an actual crime?

DEAN: We have no way of knowing what happened. What we do know is that the president sent us to war, and the facts that he told us, when he was sending us to war, turned out not to be true. We don't know why that happened. I will bet Scooter Libby has a pretty good idea how that happened.

Then Wolf gets all upset again that someone might think the administration lied. Then he worries they might want to investigate further.

BLITZER: Governor, do you want to see a special prosecutor investigate the president and/or the vice president? Is that what I'm hearing?

DEAN: Well, no, I didn't say -- you are very good with this, Wolf, but I didn't say any of those things. (He gives a big grin, but is a definite kind of I am on to you, Wolf...grin.)

What I did say is, there is more to come. I think we ought to stay tuned. But I think pardoning -- pardoning Scooter Libby would deprive us of a potential witness at some point. (Oh yeah, they will be investigating...just not saying it out loud.)

Here's the rest of the transcript.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0703/06/sitroom.01.html

Here's the video.

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/politics/2007/03/06/blitzer.howard.dean.intv.cnn&wm=11

[madfloridian]

9. I think the problem may be that he has to speak so as not to hurt congressional Dems.

And that must be hard to do. There are so many views and ideas, and being chairman he has to speak for all.

He did sound very firm about the need to get out of Iraq though, more than in a long time.

He said on CNN a few weeks ago when asked about getting out of Iraq, which plan....that he did not want to say anything that would hurt congressional Dems.

It sort of does mean he has been hushed over many topics. It's kind of sad.

[Dr Fate]

13. True- but everyone in the USA knows Bush is a"liar"- so what is the big scare here?

Dont get me wrong- I support Dean- I just dont see why he couldnt have said "Yes- it's pretty much common knowledge, Wolf, where have you been?" Or something like that...

[Cha]

6. "Especially around the Iran-Contra

times". In other words..These people have a history of committing major crimes and pardoning themselves.

That's right woofie et al.."This is just the tip of the Iceberg"

That fell the Titanic.

[madfloridian]

7. MSNBC video of Dean and Norah O'Donnell posted at Alternet...

with summary. I have yet to find anything at MSNBC.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/48877/

"In the first video, Howard Dean connects the dots between Libby, Cheney, the Bush Administration, the Iraq War, Walter Reed, intelligence deception, politicking rather than caring about the American people, etc etc...

"Suppose the Vice President had focused on what was going on at Walter Reed ?

He also mentions the possibility that Libby will be pardoned in exchange for zipping his lips."

[NDP]

8. They tried to discredit people who were being "honest" about Iraq

That implies that Bush and Cheney were being "dishonest" about Iraq, which is more powerful than just being "wrong."

[wisteria]

10. Governor Dean is absolutely correct. n/t

[JNelson6563]

12. Dr. Dean's Special Brand

[madfloridian]

15. Ha Ha. Love it.

:hi:

Julie, you might like to know that with all our ups and downs locally, seems like mostly downs sometimes....that some of the local Democrats signed up for the DFA Night School. They even sent the email around to the whole county DEC. Trust me this is a first.

Also I noticed the state party website had the DFA Tampa training on their website and sent it around as an announcement. Another first.

Love that can.

[EFerrari]

14. Thank you, Dr. Dean, for being a voice I can consistently

depend upon and feel good about.