Dean Issues Statement Over 700 Club Fracas

Our posts yesterday
evidently rung some bells over at the DNC. I received a clarification from them this morning, so I thought I'd share it. Again, I'm all for Howard Dean
and the Democratic Party reaching out to evangelicals and the religious community,
but pandering to Pat Robertson is not the way to do it, especially when you sell out our Party principles to make a point. As a religious/spiritual person, I welcome Deans efforts, right up until the point he becomes a sell out like John McCain. Today, Dean is backtracking, saying
he “misstated” what the Democratic Party represents. Coming off a stellar appearance on “This Week” this past Sunday, his 700 club appearance was even more depressing for me. It's not the
first time Mr. Dean engaged his mouth before his brain was in gear.

Statement by DNC Chairman Howard Dean on CBN Interview Washington, DC – In a Christian Broadcasting Network interview aired on Wednesday, May 10, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said the following in response to a question about gay marriage: “[On] gay marriage: the platform said marriage is between a man and a woman. That's what it says. I think where we may take exception with some religious leaders is we believe in inclusion. That everybody deserves to live with dignity and respect and equal rights under the law are important. I'm not saying we'll agree with everything between the more conservative evangelicals and Democrats but I think there's more common ground and we're willing to work with the evangelical community.” [CBN, 5/10/06] Dean today issued the following statement: “I misstated the Democratic Party's platform, which does not say that marriage should be limited to a man and a woman, but says the Party is committed to full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and leaves the issue to the states to decide. The Democratic Party remains committed to equal protection under the law for all Americans. How we achieve that goal continues to be the subject of a contentious debate, but our Party continues to oppose constitutional amendments that seek to short circuit the debate on how to achieve equality for all Americans.”

Howard Dean, the chairman of the DNC, “misstated the Democratic Party's
platform” where marriage is concerned? Does anyone else see a problem here?
How 'bout, Dean blew this one big time, which is the bottom line. Speaking as a person who has done many TV and radio interviews over the
years, if I was preparing to go on the 700
Club, there are two things I'd get down cold. First, my talking points on abortion, which I do have down cold;
second, the importance of gay marriage to people and our culture as a whole, not to mention what marriage can mean to a spiritual person longing for commitment. You simply cannot afford to equivocate, hedge or screw up the Party platform, especially on national security and values issues. Dare I also say that I find it wholly unbelievable that Dean didn't say exactly what he wanted, hedging for Pat Robertson and the 700 Club audience, which
was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster.

I also received what is supposed to be the full transcript of the interview.
In fairness to Mr. Dean, I provide it below, because the 700 Club did not.

PAT ROBERTSON: First, the news. Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean once described the GOP as “pretty much a white Christian party.” Now a year later, Dean is trying to win them over to his party. David Brody sat down with him to find out why and how. DEAN: One of misconceptions about the Democratic Party is we're godless… DAVID BRODY: Howard Dean, the Vermont liberal now head of Democratic National Committee, is trying to change that. He wants evangelical and other conservative Christians to know Democrats have something to offer them. DEAN: The truth is that we have an enormous amount in common with the Christian community. One of the biggest things Democrats worry about is what's on television, our culture and the lack of spirituality. That's something we have in common. BRODY: But the Democrats' records on abortion, gay marriage, and separation of church and state, don't match up with that of evangelicals. Still they don't need to be scared off by Democrats. DEAN: I'm a Democrat because of my values. My values include inclusiveness, not leaving more debt to our kids than we have ourselves. My values include wanting our values to drive our public policies. My values include not having kids go to bed hungry at night. Those are values I bet I share with the vast majority of evangelicals. BRODY: What about the other values they speak out about is abortion, pro-choice and the gay marriage issue? These are very heartfelt issues for the evangelical community. How do you reach them when many Democrats don't have the same positions? DEAN: Lets discuss abortion first. What we have in common with the evangelical community is that we want to have fewer abortions than we do. We should have far fewer abortions. We ought to make sure there's not just abstinence but family planning is used to get rid of abortion. That's something we share. The difference is we don't think that making criminals out of doctors and women say good idea. Gay marriage the platform said marriage is between a man and a woman. That's what it says. I think where we may take exception with some religious leaders is we believe in inclusion. That everybody deserves to live with dignity and respect and equal rights under the law are important. I'm not saying we'll agree with everything between the more conservative evangelicals and Democrats but I think there's more common ground and we're willing to work with the evangelical community. BRODY: That work has already started. Since Dean has come on board, he started a program called the Faith in Action initiative where the Democratic Party in each state works closely with religious leaders from all faiths to explain how the Democrats values are in line with the views of many Christians. In the wake of 2004, election where the value voter played a key role, the strategy seems to make sense. As we look at 2006, how important is to tap into the voter community/evangelical community to win in 2006? DEAN: I think it's important and a good idea for the Democratic Party anyway, even if we didn't need the evangelicals to win, we ought to be communicating with the evangelical community for two reasons. First, you shouldn't and aren't going to do a good job, you shouldn't govern if you're ignoring a whole section of the population. The second reason is that Democrats need to talk about their values. Values motivate lots of voters, not just evangelicals. Values motivate all kinds of voters. People want to know who you are. BRODY: And Howard Dean and the Democrats hope evangelicals will begin to see them in a new light.Time will tell if they are successful. David brody, CBN News, Washington. PAT ROBERTSON: Interesting interview who I thought would be the nominee the Democratic Party until he hit Iowa and Senator Kerrey (sic) pulled an upset over him. But the issue in my opinion in the last election was judges. Judges, judges and judges. And the Republicans at least the president, the Bush had promised to put in judges who respected the original intention of the constitution and that's what we received with a couple supreme court picks and nominations at the same time the Democrats filibustered these people saying they want to leave the supreme court in a liberal bent to take prayer out of public schools and abortion on demand, etcetera and gay marriage is a constitutional right. Homosexuality is a constitutional right and if they took that stand, they'll have a hard time winning those value voters. So Mr. Dean will have explaining to do but at least they're reaching out and I think that's a good thing. It's a good thing we don't have as much ran core in politics and there would be an attempt to bridge the divide that's been there. Democrats realize without the value voters a lot of them are former Democrats, blue-collar Catholics who are very instrumental in seeing the election of Ronald Reagan and subsequent Republican.