Kerry to Dean: Please stop abusing the elderly

Kerry wrote a letter to Dean that I think does more to make Kerry look bad than to hurt Dean–the tone is basically “Dear Howard Dean, won’t your please reconsider your position on this issue, as the result of your policy will be to starve children and the elderly”. That is, it’s not a letter to Dean at all, but rather a press release attacking Dean that is prefaced by “Dear Governor Dean” and followed by “Sincerely [sic], John Kerry”.

In any event, the letter has this allegation:

Medicare is not, as you have said, “one of the worst things that ever happened and a bureaucratic disaster and one of the worst federal programs ever.” It is a lifeline for seniors and people with disabilities. It is a compact between generations and an American value.

I’d like to know the context–Googling, it was from 1993, which makes me think Dean was advocating Medicare Manged Care, a program that at the time many were in favor of trying (it didn’t turn out well, but the experiment was worthwhile). I also found another website that has the quote as “[Medicare is] one of the worst things that ever happened… a bureaucratic disaster…,” suggesting that Mr. Kerry neglected to include some pertinent elipses in his Dean quote. But I can’t find the un-elided quote anywhere. Any Deaniacs care to fill me in?

AB