"Is that true for 100 percent of the middle class? No. There's some percentage of people it's not true for but a vast majority of middle-class people in this country it is absolutely true" that they did not get a tax cut.

When asked about his reputation for having a temper, he replied: "I have a sense of righteous indignation at times. I really try, but I don't like it when people bend the truth or make stuff up."

The interview came days before Tuesday's deadline for candidates to report their fund-raising totals since July 1. Campaign officials said Dean had raised about $12.5 million through Sunday and hoped to report a total of $15 million by Tuesday. That would be two to three times as much as any of the other candidates is expected to report.

Dean showed great affection for former President Clinton, saying that Clinton "had more political talent in his little finger than anybody since Franklin Roosevelt."

On foreign policy, Dean said one of his first goals as president would be to restore relations with France, Germany and other nations angered by the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

"I think it can be done reasonably quickly. There are some honest differences of opinion we're going to have with other countries," he said. "The trick is not to make it personal.'

Dean said Bush fell into that trap, a "dreadful mistake."

Making up with Germany will be easier than with the French, he said, "because of the traditional interesting relationship going all the way back to (former French President Charles) DeGaulle between the French and the United States."

On missile defense, Dean said he would keep part of the Bush administration's missile defense program but end construction of interceptor missile sites at Fort Greely, Alaska.

The interceptors, strongly backed by Bush, would be designed to smash into a missile headed toward the United States while the warhead was traveling through space.

"We're not going to develop things that aren't going to work, and the majority of the tests have failed for the intercept phase," Dean said.