Dean Invokes Boston Tea Party, Rips 'King' George

Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean invoked Boston's revolutionary legacy on Tuesday as he urged Americans to dump their latter-day "king" -- George W. Bush -- whom he accused of threatening democracy and caring only for the very rich.

In a speech to thousands of supporters, Dean said next year's election was about protecting American democracy from "a narrow band of right-wing ideologues" who were trampling the U.S. Constitution.

"This democracy and the flag of the United States do not belong to Rush Limbaugh, and Jerry Falwell, and Tom DeLay, and John Ashcroft, and Dick Cheney," Dean said as he listed prominent conservatives. "This flag and this country belong to us and we want our country back."

The former Vermont governor accused Bush and his allies of subverting the democratic process in California -- where Republicans have forced a recall vote on Gov. Gray Davis -- and of damaging America's reputation around the world by mishandling the war against Iraq and of ignoring middle class Americans by giving tax cuts to the rich.

Dean drew parallels between his own grass-roots campaign for the White House and the Boston Tea Party, a protest against British tax policies 230 years ago that sowed the seeds of the American Revolutionary war.

He said that like King George III, the British monarch against whom American colonists rebelled, Bush had "forgotten his own people" and was listening only to special interests.

"George Bush doesn't represent us, he represents a small handful of people who have been taking from America and we want a president who will give back to America," Dean said to cheers from the crowd.