Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt began his day in Nevada, where he launched an offensive against perceived front-runner Howard Dean. Gephardt called Dean a “fair-weather friend of the American worker” who Democrats cannot trust to follow through on his promises.Gephardt says the only way to beat George Bush is to “be clear about where we stand and to be completely truthful with the American people.” Gephardt says Democrats deserve better than what Dean is offering. According to Gephardt, it’s “become nearly impossible to know what Howard Dean really believes.” Gephardt says “there is no room for the cynical politics of manufactured anger and false conviction.” Gephardt says Dean was a supporter of the North American Free Trade Agreements until he found out it was unpopular with Democratic audiences. The Dean campaign has pointed to Gephardt’s changing stances on issues like abortion and the Reagan-era tax cuts. Dean campaigned today in New Hampshire; he’s due in Des Moines tonight for a rally where he’ll be joined by Martin Sheen, the actor who portrays the President on television’s “West Wing.”
