It's hard to fight when he's finished.

Almost cruel, even. As a result, I get feedback from some quarters that it may be time to lighten up on Dean a bit. After all, he's a Democrat, he's pledged to support the nominee, and a continued assault on the Doc might alienate his supporters, the legions of new voters and disaffected youth that he claims to have attracted to the process.

Of course, they don't seem to vote for him, so I'm not sure we should count on them to vote for anyone else.

As far as his status as a Democrat goes, the voter registration card in Zell Miller's pocket has a 'D' on it, too. I'm somehow unimpressed.

And his pledge? Well, here's the way he describes the frontrunner for the nomination.

From the New York Times: "But for more than a week Dr. Dean has been portraying him as a "Washington insider" beholden to lobbyists."

And the AP: "What we now see is that John Kerry is part of the corrupt political culture in Washington."

And the absolute last straw, to Reuters: "Kerry "supports the kind of corrupt fund raising, politically corrupt fund raising mechanism, that George Bush has also employed...we find he is more like President Bush than we ever imagined. This is exactly what we don't need in Washington." (my emphasis)

There it is. Howard Dean describes John Kerry as "exactly what we don't need in Washington." And I'm supposed to play nice to impress the people who continue to finance his increasingly destructive role as a political bomb thrower?

I don't think so.

Howard Dean has lost the race for the nomination because voters in 14 states have rejected his persona and his program. It's way past polls and pundits. It's real, live Democrats who have cast ballots that have rejected his candidacy again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again.

This weekend, they'll reject him in Nevada and Hawaii.

And next week, they'll reject him again in Wisconsin.

And all he can do is throw mud at the man who has won 12 of those 14 contests, and who will win the next three, in a delusional, ego driven tantrum.

Enough. Bring it to and end.

Don't just quit, HoHo.

Disappear.