Dean stumps in Pittsburgh, derides Bush policies

http://www.post-gazette.com/election/20031019dean1019p2.asp

Assailing President Bush for misleading the American people about the Iraq war, Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean told supporters in Pittsburgh last night that the Bush administration "looks more like the presidency of Richard Milhous Nixon every single day."

Dean, whose campaign fund-raising totals for the third quarter of the year broke Democratic Party records, raked in $76,000 more appearing at a dinner and reception at the Westin Convention Center hotel, Downtown. About 175 attended the events.

<snip>

He said Bush's economic policies have cost the nation 3 million jobs. He said Bush's tax cuts have done little to help the average American but enriched "Ken Lay and the boys," a reference to the former Enron Corp. chairman who was a friend of the president.

Dean took a swipe at U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, saying Ashcroft's national tour in support of the controversial USA Patriot Act didn't make him a patriot. Dean opposes the law that Ashcroft calls a tool against terrorism and others call an intrusion on civil rights.

Also, Dean took an indirect poke at U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. He criticized Bush for standing by "nice, inclusive" Santorum after the senator was quoted in an Associated Press article comparing homosexuality to bigamy, incest, adultery and polygamy.