Howard Dean: Those Who See ‘American Sniper’ Are ‘Very Angry’ People
Former Vermont Governor and one-time presidential candidate Howard Dean is the latest to make a controversial statement on the Clint Eastwood-directed drama American Sniper.
During a panel discussion on the January 23 episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, Dean gave his opinion on why he thinks so many people are going to see the movie.
“There’s a lot of anger in this country, and the people who go see this movie are very angry. And this guy basically says, ‘I’m going to fight on your side.'”
Howard Dean continued by saying that the majority of those who are going to see American Sniper most likely belong to the Tea Party.
“I bet you if you looked at a cross section of the Tea Party and people who go to see this movie, there’s a lot of intersection.”
And his comments haven’t been received well. On Twitter, many called out Howard Dean for what he said on Maher’s show.
Howard Dean says angry people are the ones going to #AmericanSniper.Yep nothing ticks us off more than than the left destroying our country.
— suzanne54 (@suzanne54) January 25, 2015
Howard Dean says people going to see American Sniper are angry tea partiers. Wow, who knew there were that many angry people out there. — Terri (@CantBelieve10) January 25, 2015
Howard Dean said only “angry, tea party people” are going to see American Sniper. Ok. That’s why it’s doing so well? http://t.co/bDkk6xmHwl
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) January 24, 2015
That wasn’t the only controversial statement Dean made on Maher’s show. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Maher brought up a comment Dean made, in which he said, “ISIS is about as Islamic as I am.” Howard Dean then went on to explain what he meant by that.
“Here’s why I don’t call ISIS Islamic terrorists. It empowers them to do it. What they are is a group of thugs who are murderers and sub-human that do horrible things. They want us to call them Islamic terrorists because it connects them with a billion people.”
That’s when Maher stepped in and went after Dean.
“We’re not saying that all Muslims are thugs and murderers. But this idea that they’re not connected to the religion… Tom Friedman wrote about it this week. He said, ‘If you don’t call things by their real name, we get in trouble.'”
But Howard Dean continued to explain why he made the comment.
“This is not about political correctness. This is about depriving them of a propaganda victory which they seek. And for every time we use the word ‘Islamic’ in conjunction with their behavior, we are making it easier for them to recruit, and that is a mistake.”
How do you feel about Howard Dean’s views on American Sniper and his comment about Islamic terrorists?
[Image via YouTube screencap]
