Wendy Palm [12/22/2003]

To the editor:How long will Howard Dean brazenly get awaywith denying his own record? Last week, on Dec. 10, Dean told reporters "I never said Saddam was a danger to the United States. Ever." But on Sept. 29, 2002, Dean said exactly that. On the CBS program Face The Nation, Dean said, "There is no question that Saddam Hussein is a threat to the United States." He repeated the same thing to the press on Oct. 5 last year. I attended a Dean town meeting in Wolfeboro a couple of weeks ago. Where was the substance? He just railed against the Iraq war and against G.W. Bush. When a physician asked him if he was "introspective," his reply was that he would never admit it it he were!He is running to be the next president of the United States. He would be a heartbeat away from the button that would unleash nuclear weapons around the globe. He is not willing to admit to being introspective? Scary. Scary. A few days after the Dean town meeting, I attended a lecture by Ambassador Joe Wilson in Concord.This meetingwas like night and day. Ambassador Wilson is incredibly skilled, shows great depth and introspection. It was his wife who was an undercover CIA operative and who was outed by a high level member of the Bush administration. This was treasonous actagainst our country. Ambassador Wilson knows more about U.S. foreign policy than most and he worked under Bush I and Clinton. The ambassador has endorsed John Kerry. I think we need a statesman in the White House. I want John Kerry to be the Democratic nominee because he has experience and substance. I want him to be president because he is a true leader. I want John Kerry to be the Democratic nominee for president because he has been consistent on Saddam Hussein from the get-go.Kerry knew that Saddam was dangerous andthat he needed to be badgered into lettingin U.N. inspectors. But JohnKerry said repeatedly, early on, that we should not go to war unless we had to and we shouldn't go it alone. John Kerry has 20 years of foreign policy experience. He's fought for the United States on the battlefield. He is a courageous and decent man; he doesn't change his tune for every audience he faces and he's absolutely the candidate who can beat George W. Bush in 2004. George W. Bush and Howard Dean are cut from the same cloth. They grew up rich, buttry to fool us into believingthat they're just average Americans.One wears cowboy boots and big belt buckles and one rolls up his sleeves toshow that they're like everyone else.First, this shows their insensitivity and second, this is not a popularity or a beauty contest. We need a really serious, really experiencedperson running thingsafter Sept. 11, 2001. Say "no" to governors in the White House for awhile. We've been told that we should vote for the "outsider." Look at what's happened when we have outsiders running things! Vote for John Kerry, an experienced and brilliant man.