DNC Chairman Howard Dean on NBC Today Show

Washington, DC - This morning, DNC Chairman Howard Dean sat down with NBC's Katie Couric on the Today Show to discuss several important issues facing the American people and their priorities.

Fighting Terrorism and Protecting America
"Democrats support the idea that we ought to spy on terrorists. And, we support the idea that we need to eavesdrop from time to time. But we also believe that the President ought to obey the law. The law says that if you have an emergency reason to spy on Americans, you can go ahead and do it. But you've got to justify it with the court afterwards. We don't think this President, who has a habit of putting himself above the law, ought to be able to do this when he is spying on American."

"We all believe that we ought to be spying on Al-Qaeda, but we don't believe you ought to spy on American citizens without some kind of third party looking at this. That's what makes the difference between America and other countries like Iran, where the government can do anything they damn well please. We need to obey the law."

Supporting Our Troops
"He [President Bush] has made gross misjudgments in Iraq because he would not listen to General Shinseki and other military people who told him to do this differently. He wouldn't even listen to his own Secretary of State Colin Powell. This is a headstrong President who thinks he is above the law. We don't think that is right. We think we ought to be tough on defense. I'll tell you one thing. If we get back in power, we are going to make a real effort to go get Osama Bin Laden. We are not going to let him lollygag around for four years after the September 11th attack. And also we are going to equip our troops with the body armor that they deserve in order to fight this war. We need to do a better job on defense than this President is doing."

Democratic Priorities
"One, American jobs that will stay in America using energy independence to generate those jobs. Two, a strong national defense based on telling the truth to our citizens, our soldiers and our allies. Three, honesty and integrity to be restored to government. Four, a health care system that works for everybody just like they have 36 in other countries. And five, a strong public education system so we can have optimism and opportunity back in America."

Republican Abuse of Power
"The truth is the President and the Republicans are abusing their power in Congress. Just the other day, they stuck something in that gave HMO's 22-billion dollars of taxpayers' money. They stuck it in in the middle of the night. Nobody knew anything about it and it passed because nobody knew it was there. That is not the way to run Congress. We ought to have a real democracy in Congress where both sides get listened to and that is not the way it is right now"

Republican Culture of Corruption
"...Not one dime of Jack Abramoff's money ever went to any Democrat. We can show you the FEC reports. We would be happy to do it. There is a lot of stuff in the press that the Republican National Committee has been spinning that this is a bipartisan scandal. It is a Republican finance scandal. Not one dime of money from Jack Abramoff ever went to any Democrat, not one dime"