Up to my elbows in turkeys.

No, I haven't been watching Republicans defend the Medicare fiasco. I've been pitching in at a local foodbank for the holiday rush. As a result, I'm very grateful to the dedicated Americans that have been holding down the Dean bashing front while I'm otherwise occupied.

Like former Senator Max Cleland...

“Now, at a time when young Americans are being killed and wounded by President Bush’s failed policy in Iraq... Our country can not afford to have another leader who took the easy way out like George W. Bush who hid out in the Houston National Guard. We can not afford to have a leader who weaseled out of going to Vietnam on a medical deferment for a bad back and wound up on the ski slopes of Aspen like Howard Dean.”

and The New Republic...

"...he twisted convenient stories to give his ideas a human face, one that audiences can't refuse. For a candidate who's not a Washington insider, Dean's learning the tactics pretty quickly."

and (maybe especially this round), Dick Gephardt...

"Time after time, when faced with budget shortfalls, Gov. Dean's first and only instinct was to cut – cut education, cut prescription drug coverage, cut Medicaid funding, cut aid to the elderly, blind, disabled. Gov. Dean wears his bravado as a budget cutter like a badge of honor … There is no place for governance without compassion."