Dean tells San Francisco crowd his views on Iraq are unchanged
Sunday, December 14, 2003
©2003 Associated Press
URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/12/14/state2219EST0115.DTL
(12-14) 19:19 PST SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --
Standing by the anti-war message that helped vault him to front-runner status among Democratic presidential candidates, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said Sunday night that the capture of Saddam Hussein has not changed his views about the conflict in Iraq.
"I congratulate our troops on capturing Saddam Hussein," Dean said at a fundraising concert that featured singers Bonnie Raitt and David Crosby. "He's a bad person and we're all better off with him in captivity. But you should know that my views on Iraq have not changed one bit."
Referring to the political boost that President Bush is likely to receive from the capture of the former Iraqi dictator, Dean added, "A lot of people said, 'Oh, Saddam Hussein is caught, the campaign's over.' I don't think so."
Both comments drew huge cheers from the crowd of Dean supporters attending the concert, some of whom had acknowledged earlier that the president might benefit from the latest events in Iraq.
"I can't be sorry he's captured," said Nancy Head, 61, an artist from San Francisco. "It's a big deal. But it's not good for Dean. It gives Bush a lot more clout."
But Dean supporters also vowed to stick with their candidate.
"His campaign is strong enough to weather this," said Donna Bailey, 55, a consultant from Watsonville. "That's why we're all here today. His platform is not just opposing the war in Iraq."
Bruce Mushrush compared the current situation to 1991, when another President Bush initially looked unbeatable.
"We've got 11 months to go until the election," said Mushrush, a wireless applications developer from Martinez. "Papa Bush also looked unbeatable after Gulf War I. There was no way some hick from Arkansas was going to beat him. And we saw what happened with that." |
