www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/11/01/build/nation/67-deancomments.inc
Dick Gephardt of Missouri, who shares the lead in Iowa with Dean, accused Dean of making a blatant move to win the votes of people who disagree with us on bedrock Democratic values like civil rights. I dont want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks, Gephardt said in a statement. I will win the Democratic nomination because I will be the candidate for guys with American flags in their pickup trucks. John Kerry of Massachusetts contended that Deans pandering to the National Rifle Association gave him an inroad to pander to lovers of the Confederate flag. Deans comment was reported in story about Kerrys criticism of Deans record on guns. The senator claimed that Dean was an NRA favorite who opposed a 1994 law that banned assault weapons to civilians. I would rather be the candidate of the NAACP than the NRA, Kerry said in a statement. In response to the criticism, Dean released a statement saying: I want people with Confederate flags on their trucks to put down those flags and vote Democratic - because the need for quality health care, jobs and a good education knows no racial boundaries. We have working white families in the south voting for tax cuts for the richest 1 percent while their children remain with no health care, Dean said. The dividing of working people by race has been a cornerstone of Republican politics for the last three decades - starting with Richard Nixon.
The only way were going to beat George Bush is if southern white working families and African-American working families come together under the Democratic tent, as they did under FDR. Some of the greatest civil rights leaders, white and black, have come from the South, said Edwards. To assume that southerners who drive trucks would embrace this symbol is offensive. Clark said, The Confederate flag flies in the face of our most deeply held American values - diversity, equality and inclusion. Governor Dean ought to be more careful about what he says, Lieberman said. It is irresponsible and reckless to loosely talk about one of the most divisive, hurtful symbols in American history. Dean spokeswoman Tricia Enright told The Associated Press that Dean had previously used the Confederate flag image in his campaign.
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