Dean on George Allen: "I don't think he belongs in public service."

[madfloridian]

And he should know. He worked with him as governor for several years. In fact Dean worked with Bush as governor, and he was far more complimentary to Bush than to George Allen.

Here is what he said about Allen tonight on Hardball.

"I served with George Allen when he was Governor. I don't think he belongs in public service. There are Republicans who are capable and smart, thoughtful people, and he's not one of them."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/8/23/184753/670

So they were governors together from 1994 to 1998. Dean was governor from 1991, I believe, to 2002. Maybe a year off on the dates.

In November 1993, Allen was elected the 67th Governor of Virginia, serving from 1994 to 1998. As governor, he was recognized for educational reforms such as the implementation of rigorous academic standards and accountability. His tenure also included the overhaul of the juvenile justice system, moves toward the elimination of state welfare programs, and the abolition of parole. Virginia, especially Northern Virginia, boomed during this time period, particularly in the technology area.

Here is what he said about George W. Bush in his book, You Have the Power. Not nearly as dismissive as he was of Allen today. That must tell us something.

I was horrified by the way George W. Bush was governing our country.
Mortgaging our future with irresponsible tax cuts for his friends.
Despoiling our environment with huge giveaways to industry. Dividing us in
the worst possible ways. Endangering our children with air pollution and
draconian cuts in health-care services. Turning America into a monster in
the eyes of the rest of the world.

I hadn't started out a Bush-basher. In fact, I'd been predisposed to like
George Bush. I knew him personally and had dealt with him professionally
when we were both governors. He'd always been charming and hospitable to me
and my family, both in the Governor's Mansion in Texas and at the White
House. He'd always been more than upright in the business dealings between
our states, keeping his word when he had no legal obligation to do so. What
I knew of his record in Texas bespoke a moderate man who was willing to put
pragmatism before ideology, to raise taxes when necessary to equalize state
education spending, and to take some heat from the right wing of his party
for doing so. ("I hate those people," he'd once snarled at me when I ribbed
him at a White House governors' gathering about some trouble he was having
in Texas with the Christian Coalition.)

I'd approached his presidency with an open mind. 'I hadn't voted for Bush,
but I didn't expect the worst of him, either. After all, I'd always been in
the moderate middle of my own party — a staunch advocate of fiscal
discipline, a devotee of balanced budgets, pro-choice but also pro-gun
owners' rights, and in favor of the death penalty in some instances.'

[BootinUp]

1. Thats a pretty good quote, lol.

Allen is taking a beating all right.

[saltpoint]

2. Dean's right. Allen doesn't seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed,

and he doesn't seem to have any manners, either.

He's a galunk. A stone-age mediocrity.

C'mon, you Virginia residents. Webb's a good man and Allen isn't. Let's have a big blue upset in the Old Dominion on November 7th.

[underpants]

9. Suit and a haircut

Stand up straight smile and wake smile and wave

Allen is simply living off his father's image and once he got the Redskins' fans votes he was set for life... or at least he thought he was.

He and Jim Gilmore made a mess of everything in the state government. Only the truly obstenate still won't admit how bad they were as governor.

[SaveElmer]

3. Felix rode the CLINTON economy into the Senate...

He did squat while governor...just sat on his ass while the economy hummed around him. Then was able to get elected over a weakened and damaged Chuck Robb...

Another politician, like Bush, who did nothing to warrant the position they were given!

[saltpoint]

4. Good point.

I shudder to think of the right-wing nutcases a President Allen would nominate to the courts.

Frightening.

[Virginia Dare]

12. I was really upset about that race...

Robb's heart clearly wasn't in it, and he let Allen get away with some really cheap shots. Plus, Allen ran as a "moderate" which is so glaringly a lie now. His record is there for all to see. He was one of the idiots who stood on the floor of the Senate claiming that Terry Schiavo was not in that bad a shape.

Not to mention he's a racist scumbag....

[OwnedByFerrets]

5. I saw the Dean interview

Why is it that even Dean has a problem saying we should get out of Iraq. He finally got his point out, but it seemed to take several times trying. (I know tweety didnt let him finish most of his sentences) They (the democrats) know this is the one question they are going to get every time they are interviewed. BE READY WITH THE RIGHT ANSWER!!! Everyone get the same playbook and hit them with the same decisive answer every time. I wrote earlier about how DECISIVE Hacket was on tweety yesterday. All the Democrats need to take lessons in clarity from this man. Decisiveness is what will win it for us in Nov. Indecisiveness will lose it for us.

[madfloridian]

7. He did give his opinion, but he had to clarify it was his, not the party's

At the end he said he could give him his own opinion, which was the Korb plan. He described it.

Blame the ones who are telling him not to set position and policy. The Iraq war was the sore point in the primaries, and it is still.

He stated he liked the Korb plan, and he made clear that it was the one Murtha explained.

[bklyncowgirl]

8. He was able to say Democrats want out of Iraq

That's a step up in my opinion. At least now he doesn't have to worry about Lieberman cutting him down and giving the press a reason to blather about disunity in the Democratic Party.

Dean was very clear that he agrees with Korb & Murtha on a personal level. In speaking for the party, however, he knows that stating a position that many Democrats do not agree with will cause outcries from Democrats who do not share that position--though fewer now than a few months ago.

It's progress but too slow for my taste.

[madfloridian]

13. That's true.

I am very fearful now that we have few good choices about getting out. I mean in a logistical way...how would we do it safely? It's a mess there, scary.

I think they are all being careful what they say right now. How DO we get them out safely?

[DemoTex]

6. Washington Redskins/NFL connection got G. Felix Allen elected.

His daddy was the Redskins' coach and a NFL Hall-of-Famer. Now skin color has little Felix's pecker in his watch pocket, and his face is very red.

[underpants]

10. (wait for it)...... .... SWEET NECTAR OF LIBERTY!!!

Exactly Demotex-I said the same in a post above.

http://www.conservative.org/pressroom/2006/speech_allen.asp
Senator George Allen (R-VA)
Conservative Political Action Conference
Washington, DC
February 9, 2006

Ladies and gentlemen. Patriots all! Good evening!

Allen Philosophy
As many of you know, I grew up in a coach’s family. As such, I was raised on the four Fs of Life: Faith, Family, Freedom and Football!

But I say, remember Ronald Reagan who changed all the dynamics of the Cold War, which went on for nearly fifty years. Reagan didn’t think you could appease, co-exist, and accommodate the Soviet Union. He changed the dynamics in favor of the advancement of freedom. And now, because of Ronald Reagan—along with Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul the Second—there are millions of people in Central and Eastern Europe who were locked behind that Iron Curtain, who are now tasting that sweet nectar of liberty, and they are our friends and allies. He persevered, and freedom prevailed.

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN'S 95TH BIRTHDAY
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r109:FLD001:S50721
February 06, 2006
Today, because of Ronald Reagan, there are literally hundreds of millions of people who were once locked behind the Iron Curtain living in countries we now know as free countries--Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, former East Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and added countries such as Ukraine and Georgia, which are now tasting that sweet nectar of liberty as opposed to being behind the Iron Curtain.




HONORING THE 94TH ANNIVERSARY OF PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN'S BIRTH
http://www.washingtonwatchdog.org/environmental_justice/documents/cr/05/fe/03/cr03fe05-25.html
February 3, 2005

Today, thanks to Ronald Reagan, as I saw Ambassadors on
the House floor from Lithuania, from Romania, throughout Central
Europe--those were hundreds of millions of people who were behind the
Iron Curtain. But, thanks to Ronald Reagan's perseverance, for his
belief in the dignity of all human beings, that all people do yearn to
be free, to exercise their God-given rights, those people who were
behind that Iron Curtain, who were enemies, are now tasting that sweet
nectar of liberty.






Condi Rice’s confirmation hearing
1/19/05
http://allen.senate.gov/?c=story&t=press&story=2005011961776.859375


Because of President Reagan's steadfast determination, hundreds of millions of people tasting that sweet nectar of liberty in central Europe are now friends and allies," said Senator Allen.

On the 2004 election
10/10/2004
http://www.vote-smart.org/speech_detail.php?speech_id=69507
Ronald Reagan's election changed the dynamic of the Cold War from one of containment and co-existence to the advancement of freedom. As a result, hundreds of millions of people in Central Europe, once behind the Iron Curtain, now taste the sweet nectar of liberty, have joined NATO, and are true friends and allies.

Senator Allen's Tribute to President Reagan
June 8, 2004
http://www.nrsc.org/nrscweb/newsdesk/articles/401.shtml

But President Reagan believed the blessings of liberty must not be bestowed only on a few nations and only to those blessed to be born on free soil; Ronald Reagan, with the strength of his convictions, exported and advanced democracy to continents, countries, and people yearning to taste the sweet nectar of libert.



GOVERNOR ALLEN SELECTED AS "JEFFERSON SCHOLAR"
August 28, 1998
http://www.alec.org/viewpage.cfm?pgname=3.1aa56

He also pointed to North Korea, China, Iraq, Cuba and other countries where "there are people who have never truly tasted freedom's sweet nectar.

[Jacobin]

17. Damn.

Now I've got ants crawling all over my monitor!!!

[AspenRose]

19. Yeah, well he can take his 'sweet nectar of liberty'

and stick it where the sun don't shine.....

One trick pony.

[underpants]

11. LOL-Allen phones it in

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2472517

[madfloridian]

14. Only took two weeks?

And they talked for a whole 3 or 4 minutes on the phone?

Pathetic. Is it true that Allen has a confederate flag in his office?

[The Count]

15. Daily Show: "he is clearly a racist - which is unclear if in Virginia will

hurt him or help him"

[durrrty libby]

16. I hope the people of Virginia step up to the plate

and show the country that they do not support

this regressive racist slug

[ieoeja]

18. "The abolition of parole"

So now Virginia just dumps ex-cons on the streets? No monitoring of any kind until they get resettled? And this is something to BRAG about?

Have to give Republicans credit. They can take something this obviously hideous frame it to their advantage.

[underpants]

20. Yeah

actually the sentencing tends to make it a life sentence.

Now if people would consider comparing the cost of one parole officer versus a correctional facility ....(at this point anyone saying the previous would officially be taken off the ballot as there is no chance of them ever getting elected to anything in the state of Virginia)

[leesa]

21. Public service? Well, hardly any of the a**holes in our government are

in public service, more like public extortion.

[madfloridian]

22. Matthews and Blankley....shocked. Wash. Times to endorse Allen

The Moonie Times will most likely endorse George Allen. Chris M. seemed disppointed that Dean did not praise him before condemning him. Blankley, Moonie Times...good combination.

First they play the video of Dean saying Allen should not be in public office.

"MATTHEWS: You know, I followed up by saying you make him sound like a knuckle head and all I can say is I thought he was about to say I‘ve served with him, because that‘s in Washington parlance, he‘s a decent man, I know he‘s not a racist, all that. Instead he says he doesn‘t belong in public service.

ROBINSON: He went the other. That‘s severe. He was my governor. He‘s my senator. I‘m not a huge fan, I don‘t think he‘s the brightest light in the Senate. You know, is he the worst senator? Is he worse than Conrad Burns? I don‘t know.

MATTHEWS: Are you going to endorse George Allen at the “Washington Times?” You get to decide that?

BLANKLEY: Yes, I think that we will do an endorsement and typically we would endorse a very solid, intelligent, competent Republican conservative, but we haven‘t made a final decision.

MATTHEWS: So he fits the bill.

BLANKLEY: So he fits the bill, but look for a party chair to say rude things about another party‘s candidate for an important Senate and possible presidential contender in not exactly news. "

MSNBC Transcript
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14498963/