A Sunday night special

An AP report from Saturday quoted Howard Dean saying "It's not necessary to tear down the other opponents," as he plead for relief from the questions his opponents have been raising about his consistency, veracity and positions. Of course, it's hard to take him very seriously when, during the same appearance, he levels a charge like this.

"There are five or six people running for president right now who have a chance at winning," Dean said. "I'm the only person who has done anything about trying to get health care."

That's certainly no different than the attacks his opponents have leveled at him, except in this case it's an attack that's simply untrue. In fact, Dean's platform calls for (almost) universal health insurance, not health care, and Dennis Kucinich will be glad to explain the difference.

Perhaps more importantly, not only have other candidates in this field "done anything about trying to get health care," the Congressional element of that field are among those who provided the funding which Howard Dean used to implement the programs he uses to bash his opponents with now. It's getting harder every day to believe anything he says.

First, let me say that I am, in the words of the late Sam Rayburn, "...a Democrat, without prefix, suffix, or apology." If Howard Dean is the nominee of my Party, I'll vote for him, given the alternative, and though I suspect he'd make a pretty lousy Democratic President, I don't imagine I'll ever experience a Dean adminstration. His own program of bash, bash, bash, and then whine, whine, whine when someone hits back may turn out to be an effective primary strategy, but he'll be at the top of a ticket that will have been disasterously impaired by his own words and actions.

What am I talking about? Well, here are a few examples that have been resting on my harddrive (emphasis all mine, links provided where I have 'em - but this stuff shouldn't be too challenging to find if you want to check up on me)...



Once upon a time Howard Dean's needling of fellow candidates was both endearing and, arguably, productive--since it may have spurred them to sharpen their attacks on the administration. But now that his rivals have learned to throw hard punches against Republicans, Dean's attacks are just plain boorish.

...this sniping is now hurting the party more than it is helping it...

New Republic 6/03/03


...Dean attacks Senators Kerry, John Edwards, and Joe Lieberman for supporting a $350 billion tax cut earlier this year. But these votes took place after a majority of the Senate had already decided to cut taxes by at least $350 billion. To vote against the $350 billion tax cut was to vote for the larger, $726 billion tax cut Bush had initially proposed.

Jonathan Chait New Republic 7/28

But he reserves his real fury for his own party. His face reddens and his voice raises when he delivers one of his biggest applause lines, that Democrats need to "stop apologizing for who we are." Why does this part of the speech make him so agitated?

Chris Suellentrop, Slate, 7/28/03

...Dean's energy is a negative one, directed more against his own party than against President Bush.
New Republic, 8/04/03

On numerous occasions, he has skewered his rivals for proposing to retain parts of the Bush tax cut--specifically, those benefiting primarily the middle class and lower income taxpayers....Dean's lashing of other candidates did, in retrospect, go a little overboard--just as his critics have complained.

New Republic, 8/22/03

"Yet when Dean says he will make voters proud to vote Democratic again, it almost sounds as if he's trying to make voters ashamed of their past support for party candidates.

Mary Lynn F. Jones, The American Prospect8/25/03

MONTROSE, Iowa, Oct. 14 -- Howard Dean, who is increasingly giving his presidential candidacy an anti-Washington cast, cranked up his rhetoric on Tuesday, saying that if he won, members of Congress were ''going to be scurrying for shelter, just like a giant flashlight on a bunch of cockroaches.''

His jab at Capitol Hill, institutional home to four of Dr. Dean's five main rivals for the nomination, came in response to a question about how he would handle Congress and the entrenched Beltway bureaucracy. The questioner mentioned Republicans and Democrats alike, and Dr. Dean made no distinction.

Jodi Wilgoren, New York Times


In New Ads, Dean Becomes First in Campaign to Attack Fellow Democrats

CRESCO, Iowa, Oct. 22 -- Howard Dean this week began running two new television advertisements that criticize his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination as ''Washington politicians'' who have failed to deliver prescription drug benefits and were inconsistent on the Iraq war.

Jodi Wilgoren & Jim Rutenberg, New York Times

Dean is continuing to feed the perception among some voters, campaign strategists and academics that he is angry, edgy and - a cardinal sin in politics - not cheerful.

USA Today, 11/11/03


Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean sparred with Sen. John Kerry over guns, the National Rifle Association and campaign financing yesterday, calling on Kerry to abandon attacks while struggling to explain why the former governor's criticisms of rivals for the Democratic nomination were any more justified.

Asked why it was legitimate for him to attack Kerry and other rivals for their votes on Iraq, as he has done for months, Dean responded, "All I'm willing to do is tell you what my positions are."

The Seattle Times

Last June, Dean told me that he understood he would have to grow as a candidate in order to succeed, that it was time to move his campaign beyond attacks and anger, to take a run at the vision thing. That lasted about a week.

Joe Klein, Time


HoHo. Bash, bash, bash. Whine, whine, whine.

And come November, lose, lose, lose.