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DNC Chair Howard Dean delivered this week’s Democratic radio address, which he used to point out the differences between the Democratic Party, and Republican presidential nominee John McCain. After welcoming the Pope, Dean laid out the challenges facing America.

“We face challenging times in our country and our world. Our troops are in Iraq – many on their second or even third tour of duty. The gap between the most fortunate and everyone else is widening. As we elect our nation’s next leader it’s important that we choose someone who understands the struggles that so many families here at home face as they try to make ends meet. As I listened to Senator John McCain’s remarks about the economy this week, I heard more of the same Republican policies that George Bush has brought us for the last eight years,” Dean said.

Dean detailed America’s economic woes, “This year, more than a quarter of a million Americans have already lost their jobs. Since the Republicans have occupied the White House, seven million more Americans have lost their health insurance. Wages have fallen. Gas prices are at record highs. And even groceries cost more than they have in the past 17 years. And America has the largest deficits in our history. Senator McCain believes we are better off.”

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He asked how McCain was going to cut taxes and still pay for the Iraq war. He also discussed McCain’s flip-flops, “On the campaign trail, Senator McCain talks about spending American tax dollars responsibly. But how can he think he’ll pay for a $12 billion a month war in Iraq, make the Bush tax cuts permanent, and give additional tax cuts to billionaires without making our deficits even bigger? So far in this campaign we have heard very little “straight talk” from John McCain. He was against the Bush tax cuts before he was for them. He was for comprehensive immigration reform before he was against it. He was for campaign finance reform before he said it didn’t apply to him.”

Dean mentioned McCain’s so called “compassion tour” next week, “Next week, Senator McCain will embark on what he’s calling a compassion tour. We haven’t seen much compassion from George Bush and I don’t think we are going to see any more from John McCain: privatizing social security, denying our children health care, adding eight trillion in new deficits, no plan to turn our economy around, or help people keep their homes.”

“We honor John McCain’s service to our country, but John McCain is not the right choice for America’s future. This November, voters do have a choice. If you want to see more of this Bush economy, if you want to see our troops in Iraq for a long period of time, we can stay the course with Senator McCain,” Dean concluded.

During bad economic times Republicans have chosen a nominee whose strength is a wildly unpopular war, and whose weakness is the economy. The nomination of McCain demonstrates the level of disconnect that exists between the GOP and average Americans.

Once the Democratic Party chooses their nominee, beating McCain should be like shooting fish in a barrel. McCain has no answer for how he will pay for the war, and cut taxes. He can’t call himself fiscally responsible and justify spending $12 billion a month in Iraq in the same breath.

McCain is like Bob Dole in 1996. This is an election that the GOP expects to lose, so they nominated an old party war horse to fall on the sword for them.

Read or listen to the Democratic Radio Address:

http://www.democrats.org/a/2008/04/governor_howard_1.php