Reply #2: Vermonter Marty Jezer had this to say

[ima_sinnic]

. . . To me, Howard Dean was the governor with the overly-tight collar and a head that looked like the protruding bulge of a squeegee ball. Then came the battle over civil unions.

In December 1999, the Vermont Supreme Court unanimously ruled that gay couples are entitled to equal rights and protections under the law. I initially castigated Dean for coming out against gay marriage. He chose to make a stand in support of civil unions. And stand he did. Right-wing Republicans attempted to make civil unions the issue by which they would bring down moderate Republicans and liberal Democrats. The debate was ugly, but Dean was heroic. On radio phone-in shows and in speeches and public appearances, he took on the abuse, bigotry and phony science of the homophobic following and did not give an inch. He turned the debate and the election that followed into a referendum on human dignity and dignity won. The bottom line with Howard Dean is that he’s a decent guy with backbone.

As Governor, Dean had little to say about foreign policy and no contact with Vermont’s peace movement. His opposition to the Iraqi War is a surprise. But there is substance to his critique and, as evidenced by the civil union fight, he’s not likely to soften his position in order to pander for votes.

His critique of the Bush Administration was so thorough and bold that I was suspicious that it was published on Common Dreams. Was this an attempt to fish for lefty votes? I was therefore relieved to see the statement posted on Dean’s official web site as well. In it, Dean accurately portrays Bush as a dangerous ideologue who has broken with traditional American politics in both foreign and domestic policy spheres. His unilateralism has undermined the war on terrorism, which depends on international cooperation, Dean says. "War should be a last resort," not a policy choice that takes the place of diplomacy. "On Day One of a Dean Presidency," he writes, ". . . I will tear up the Bush Doctrine. And I will steer us back into the company of the community of nations." This is good rhetoric and good statesmanship.

On domestic policy, Dean accuses Bush of dividing the American people by race, class, gender and sexual orientation. He acknowledges that his fiscal conservatism "did not make the progressive community happy," but argues that "social justice must rest upon a foundation of fiscal discipline." Though Dean, as a budget-balancer, short-changed essential social services, his pride that, unlike other states who face billion dollar budgetary shortfalls, Vermont is in good fiscal shape must be respected. . . .

more: http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0424-08.htm