Uh oh. Now Dean is a liar...

We've got to be vigilant of this kind of shit against ALL of our presidential contenders. First Kerry is trying to "find himself" while "pundits" lie about the cost of his haircuts.

It's now Dean's turn, as his increased profile starts drawing fire. In an otherwise puff piece in USA Today, we see the following paragraphs:

And at a nationally televised abortion rights benefit in January, Dean told a powerful story but left out a key fact.

A pregnant 12-year-old came to his medical office. ''After I had talked to her for a while, I came to the conclusion that the likely father of her child was her own father,'' he told his riveted audience. ''You explain that to the American people who think that parental notification is a good idea.''

What Dean didn't say was that he knew the father was not responsible; someone else was convicted. He defended his account in an interview with USA TODAY: "The point of the story was that I suspected it was her father and (notification) clearly would have been a very serious problem."

Joanne Ciulla, a leadership and ethics professor at the University of Richmond, says Dean gave ''the appearance of lying because he didn't reveal all the information."

It's mind-boggling that given our current president, liar extraordinaire, the press is already running quotes about Democratic candidates "giving the appearance of lying". And the worst part of it is, Dean didn't even lie!

It looks like every top candidate in the circuit will go through the wringer. I've always said I will support the candidate that can best fight back against the Wurlitzer, since 2004 will be nasty. Remember that Rove hopes to amass a $250 million warchest to pummel the eventual Democrat nominee to the ground.

My jury is still out on Kerry (who may be hoping that nobody is paying attention to the early character assasination being waged by the Boston Globe). Edwards has been doing a great job rebutting the "trial lawyer" slurs.

Dean now gets his turn at bat, though the "he's a liar" meme is just a tast of what's to come. Just wait until the "Civil Unions" slurs and innuendo begin.

Posted March 14, 2003 07:18 AM | Comments (44)