''Howard Dean from a Vermonter's perspective''

"Anyone who is paying attention knows by now that Howard Dean is not a liberal. He signed the Civil Unions law after working to make sure it wouldn’t be a gay marriage law. He signed it in a private ceremony with no press coverage. He held a tough line on state spending for social services, including education, social work, and welfare benefits, areas liberals would have liked to see grow. For the bulk of his career as governor, he was opposed to nationalized health care. He was often more lax on areas of business regulation than many of his Democratic colleagues. Howard Dean and I parted ways on a number of issues. But during those “Switchboard” programs on VPR, I got to know a man with many admirable characteristics. He listened to what people asked him. He asked clipped clarifying questions if he didn’t understand the caller. He said he didn’t know if he didn’t know. Usually, he did know his policy in depth. He could cite statistics to back up his agenda or to inform the audience. In those days of Clinton’s presidency, I took mastery of the English language for granted as a necessary skill for public officials. Dean’s communication went beyond Clinton’s, however, in one important way. Dean was and is direct. As I listened to his radio responses, he didn’t mince words. He was seldom eloquent and hardly elegant, but he would tell listeners what he believed even if he knew they wouldn’t like it. Howard Dean was and is a guy who knows how to use the tremendous power of telling the truth."-from a post on the de profundis site, by Matthew Webb.