"MADISON, Wis. - Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean tried Wednesday night to turn the pressure up on President Bush to fire political adviser Karl Rove, saying a failure to do so would be putting politics ahead of national security. Dean, speaking at a party fundraiser, said Bush in the coming days should live up to his promise to fire anybody involved in leaking the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
"Now we're going to find out, Mr. President, if you'll keep your word: who do you value more, Mr. President, do you value intelligence operatives defending the United States of America or do you value political operatives from Texas?" Dean told a crowd of 500 in a downtown Madison theater.
"Who do you value more, Mr. President, the security of the American people, or your political cronies? Will you keep your word?" Dean also said young people were not signing up for the armed forces because they do not trust Bush, called former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein "a third-string tinpot dictator, no matter how awful he was," and mocked congressional leaders for intervening to keep a brain-damaged Florida woman alive.
Dean's speech highlighted the noisy fundraiser for the Democratic Party at the heart of this liberal-leaning city. Asked after the speech whether Rove should be fired, Dean smiled and declined to elaborate on his earlier remarks."-from the AP story in the the Gazettte Extra (WI).
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