News

Reiner stumps for Dean as NH showdown nears
By Elizabeth Prata

Actor-Director Rob Reiner was in New Hampshire Friday stumping for former Vermont Governor and Presidential candidate Dr. Howard Dean (D). As the Tuesday NH Primary draws closer, the rhetoric promoting Dean intensifies, some of it to specifically answer innumerable questions about the rambling but impassioned speech Dean gave at the Iowa Caucus last week.

Reiner answered questions on a conference call with reporters, including The Monument, Friday.

"I met Howard Dean about ten years ago, and I was immediately impressed with him," Reiner said. Reiner met up with Dean again at a National Governor's meeting seven years ago, and "we hit it off right away."

The Monument: Some celebrities are content to endorse a candidate. You are going out of your way to actively campaign for Dr. Dean. What makes this race so important to you?

Reiner: This race is so important to the United States. The Democrats won the election last time, but the Supreme Court decided. We all accept that and move on. But what that means is that 500,000 more people voted for Al Gore than for George Bush. This means that more people liked Al Gore's ideas more than George Bush's. So George Bush with all his hubris is dragging this country to the extreme right when he actually got a mandate the other way. He's decimated the environment, not funded No Child Left Behind, alienated this country with his pre-emptive war policy. We need him out of there. Dean can stand up to Bush on all these issues and exemplifies the Democratic ideals that so many people voted for last time.

The Monument: Some have said his showing in Iowa makes him unelectable. Others say that he is a much more human candidate now and has enough heart to take on President Bush. How would you describe Dr. Dean?

Reiner: I would hope that the New Hampshire voters and others are fair-minded enough not to judge Howard on the basis of one speech and whether he can govern. It's not like he was in a horrible scandal or was arrested for drunk driving or something. He just got a little overexuberant. He is who he is. He does lead with his heart but at the end of the day he makes a reasoned decision, one that you can trust.

Howard Dean has balanced eleven budgets in Vermont. He's actively delivered health care. There is a big difference between passing legislation about health care and actively delivering the health care to sick people. Howard Dean is the only candidate that has been able to do that. Would you rather have $300 one time for a tax cut or health care for you and your family forever? It's all about the money. At the end of the day you have to sit down and say 'do I have more money today or less?' Even under Bush's tax cuts, we now have less. Vote for Howard.

When asked by another reporter about the electability of a northern Liberal Democrat as opposed to the Southern Moderates, Reiner said, "With Carter and Clinton, yes, the country had elected southern moderate democrats, you could make that argument. But whether you're a southern moderate or a northern liberal, you need health care. Better education as much as the people in the north. Howard is the only one that can stand up to George Bush.