Howard Dean calls Al Jazeera America 'The Fox of the Muslim world'

[Douglas Carpenter]

29. Then Congressman Bernie Sanders in his 1998 autobiography, Outsider in the House

described then Gov. Howard Dean as a moderate or perhaps even conservative Governor. Although to be fair - that was moderate to conservative by Vermont standards. Although, remember before he became to be seen as a liberal figure he had won the praise of the DLC. He's not a bad guy - just your typical, Gore, Clinton, Obama type centrist who happened to take the right position regarding the Iraq war. And as Barney Franks said at the time, Gov. Dean recognized there was a niche for a candidate to position themselves as the candidate of the left in the 2004 primaries and Gov. Dean made a decision to try to fill that niche.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek Magazine had this 2003 article about him that is probably quite fair.

Who's the Real Howard Dean?

Howard Dean has fought his way to the front of the Democratic pack jostling for the 2004 Presidential nomination partly because he has won the hearts of so many liberals with his antiwar rhetoric and shoot-from-the-lip style. But who is the real Howard Dean? Is he the left-of-center insurgent being portrayed in the press or the business-friendly fiscal conservative and pragmatic moderate who governed Vermont for 11 years?

Conservative Vermont business leaders praise Dean's record and his unceasing efforts to balance the budget, even though Vermont is the only state where a balanced budget is not constitutionally required. Moreover, they argue that the two most liberal policies adopted during Dean's tenure -- the "civil unions" law and a radical revamping of public school financing -- were instigated by Vermont's ultraliberal Supreme Court rather than Dean. "He was not a left-wing wacko," says Bill Stenger, a Republican and president of Jay Peak Resort, who says he supported Dean because of his "fiscally responsible, socially conscious policies."

Business leaders were especially impressed with the way Dean went to bat for them if they got snarled in the state's stringent environmental regulations. When Canada's Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. wanted to build a new manufacturing plant on 700 acres of Vermont farmland in the mid-'90s, for instance, Dean greased the wheels. Husky obtained the necessary permits in near-record time. "He was very hands-on," says an appreciative Dirk Schlimm, the Husky executive in charge of the project.

read more: http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2003-08-10/whos-the-real-howard-dean