Dean Continues To Hurt The Democrats

If you haven't heard, DNC Chairman Howard Dean continues to do wonders for the Democratic cause. Earlier this week he told a San Antonio radio station that the "idea that we're going to win this war [in Iraq] is an idea that unfortunately is just plain wrong." Way to go jackass. What in God's name does Dean think about before opening his mouth. On what planet would that sound like an appropriate thing to say. Oh, were you taken out of context, Mr. Chairman? NOBODY CARES. You said what you said, and in doing so just gave Republicans the soundbite they need to paint Democrats as the party of retreat/cut and run. More than one conservative commentators/talk show hosts have already called for Dean to be tried for treason. It doesn't matter that the mere notion of trying Dean with treason is absurd or that Dean's comments may have had more truth to them than most people would like to admit. He's the voice of the party; he has a tremendous amount of responsibility to make his party look good. Raise money, try to make your party look good, and SHUT UP. That's all you have to do Howie. You moron.

Congressional Democrats have been making progress (not coincidently when Dean's mouth has been shut) in recent weeks in sounding sensibly opposed to the current course in Iraq. Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee/Ranking Member of the Armed Services Emerging Threats Subcommittee/West Point Graduate/Retired Army Captain has been the Senate's point man on all matters related to Iraq in recent weeks. He was chosen by the leadership to give the official Democratic response to the President's speech at Annapolis last week (it became a joint press conference after John Kerry scheduled his own press conference and they were forced to combine the two - yeah, Kerry has an ego issue); Reed gave a similar official Democratic response to another of Bush's recent speeches (12/7?), classifying Bush's rhetoric as nothing more than "vague generalities." Reed is obviously a thoughtful man who actually knows what he's talking about (there's an idea). Contrast Reed's recent comments with the voice/face of the Democratic Party, Dean. Dean is an embarrassment to Democrats and has no business speaking....ever....about anything. But, I must say this - Democrats asked for these type of antics when they gave Dean the Chairmanship as a consolation prize for losing the 2004 primary.

For more of my thoughts on Dean, read here: http://the-last-polka.blogspot.com/2005/11/oh-howard.html (Notice how I was right...about pretty much everything).