Graceless Under Pressure - Howard

Graceless Under Pressure - Howard "The Duck" Dean thinks civil liberties are something to be negotiated on an case by case basis, as events warrant, as this 9-14-2001 article shows:

Dean said Wednesday he believed that the attacks and their aftermath would “require a re-evaluation of the importance of some of our specific civil liberties. I think there are going to be debates about what can be said where, what can be printed where, what kind of freedom of movement people have and whether it's OK for a policeman to ask for your ID just because you're walking down the street.”

Dean said he had not taken a position on these questions. Asked whether he meant that specific rights described in the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution — would have to be trimmed, the governor said:

“I haven't gotten that far yet. I think that's unlikely, but I frankly haven't gotten that far. Again, I think that's a debate that we will have.”

Now, Instapundit says that you have to give Dean a little slack - it was three days after 9/11, and lots of peole were saying stupid things.

Maybe. But this shows Dean's thought process when the pressure is on. That's important in a president.

Of course, had a Governor George (or Jeb) Bush said any such thing on 9/14/01, we'd be hearing about it.

Posted by Mitch at August 7, 2003 07:17 AM