Nation-Building >> Dean puts family first, takes time off from the campaign to deal with incident involving his son | return to front page

Straight from the official Dean blog:

"Early this morning, my 17 year-old son Paul and several friends were cited in court by the Burlington Police Department for attempting to steal alcoholic beverages from a local country club.

"When a child gets in trouble like this, it constitutes a family crisis, and I believe it's important that I be home. I have canceled my scheduled appearances tomorrow in Iowa so that I can return to Vermont and deal personally with what my family and I consider a very serious matter.

"I understand that this matter is being handled by the state's attorney and I hope the press and the public will respect the privacy of my family-- particularly of my son-- during this difficult time."


While the timing on this matter is certainly unfortunate, I'd like to point out that this is a private family matter. I respect the Governor for cancelling his Iowa trip in order to deal with this, because that gesture shows that above all, Dean's family comes first.

I'd like the press to back off of Dean and his son and allow them time to deal with this issue. Show some respect. You stayed away from Chelsea Clinton, and you are staying away from the Bush twins. Please show the same respect for Gov Dean and his family.

update Yes, I changed the tagline for this post. Why? Because I think it's an accurate statement, and it speaks to his character.