Howard Dean: Women, Latinos "terrified" of GOP

(CBS News) Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean said Sunday that the policies promoted by the Republican Party have women and Latinos "terrified."

"Women are terrified of what the Republicans are talking about. They're talking about basically stripping away their ability to have insurance pay for their birth control pills," Dean said on "Face the Nation." "Latinos are terrified of the Republicans, because they seem to have a total tin ear when it comes to the basic needs of treating people with dignity.

"For Michele Bachmann to go on there and claim that women are going to vote for Mitt Romney is perfectly ridiculous," Dean said, referring to the Republican congresswoman who also appeared on "Face the Nation" Sunday.

Dean also suggested that "the average American thinks that Mitt Romney doesn't care about them. Here's a guy who's building, during a campaign, a mansion in Malibu with an elevator for his car," Dean said to Bob Schieffer. "He had a Swiss bank account and he invests in the Cayman Islands. I don't think we've ever elected a president who has invested in the Cayman Islands as a tax dodge before.

"This candidacy is a shipwreck", Dean said, "and for Michele Bachmann to go on there and claim that woman are going to vote for Mitt Romney is perfectly ridiculous."

Responding to Bachmann's charge that President Obama will be running on a record of "broken promises," Dean defended the president, saying he has been successful in both the economy and foreign policy.

"I think we've made some real progress," he said. "Osama Bin Laden is dead. We have our troops out of Iraq. Our troops are coming out of Afghanistan. These are things that are important to the United States."

The former governor added: "The fact of the matter is that Barack Obama has created jobs, 4 million of them since he became President. The economy is in much better shape than it was when he took office."

"I think that's a pretty good record for President Obama to run on."

New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, who also appeared on "Face the Nation," agreed, saying that the president's record on job creation and the economy will benefit him in November.

Pointing to a chart showing the jobs reports during President George W. Bush's presidency and during President Obama's, Schumer said, "The red shows job loss under the Bush policies - that's what Romney wants to go return to. The blue shows the steady hand the President has had on the tiller - reducing job loss, and then 25 months of job gain, 4 million new jobs gained, manufacturing jobs, exports up.

"And so I think when the contrast is joined," Schumer concluded, "the economy is going to be a net plus for the president."