Dean Takes Limbaugh's Advice on Clinton Insult

In a move urged by the Democrats' talk radio nemesis Rush Limbaugh, presidential front-runner Howard Dean called former President Bill Clinton on Friday to clarify remarks that fans of the former president found insulting.

Speaking to a Manchester, N.H., audience on Thursday, Dean had complained, "When Bill Clinton said the era of big government is over, I believe that we must enter a new era for the Democratic Party – not one where we join Republicans and aim to simply limit the damage they inflict on working families."

The remark outraged more than a few Democrats, including Bruce Reed, a Clinton adviser and president of the Democratic Leadership Council.

Reed fumed to the Kansas City Star:

"For Governor Dean to suggest that all the Democrats did under Bill Clinton during the 1990s was damage control is an affront to President Clinton. ... One day Dean says Americans are no better off with Saddam [Hussein] out of power. Now he seems to be saying Democrats are better off with Bill Clinton out of power."

Commenting on Dean's break with the former president, Limbaugh noted Friday, "This is a dangerous strategery for Dean. He's challenging the Godfather of the Democrat Party."

The top talker then warned: "That kind of thing will get you dumped in Fort Marcy Park. I would recommend [Dean] call Bob Torricelli or Andrew Cuomo and find out what happens when you cross Don Clintleone."

Before Cuomo and Torricelli decided to end their election campaigns last year, they were urged to do so in phone calls by the former president.

It's not clear whether Dean heard Limbaugh's warning, but later that same day he called Clinton directly, bypassing Torricelli and Cuomo.

After assuring the former president that he hadn't really meant that it was time for Democrats to leave him behind, Dean told reporters: "We're not going to turn our backs on Clinton. We're not that crazy."

At a Burlington, Vt., town hall meeting later in the day, Dean said that he wanted to make America the kind of country it was under Harry Truman, Franklin Roosevelt and Bill Clinton.

Editor's note:
Get NewsMax’s special report on Howard Dean – Click here now

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
2004 Elections