Yglesias gets it, too...

...and makes an important, if uncomfortable, point.

...there's simply too much bad blood between Dean and other important people in the party. Many centrist Democrats (and, frankly, non-centrist Democrats) are simply bitter about Dean's over-the-top "Republican-lite" rhetoric. Dean, too, is bitter about the over-the-top "Mondale-McGovernism" rhetoric that was directed at him. Neither side is blameless in this, and I don't really care to adjudicate who's more in the wrong. But that's the reality. The party could use a shake-up, but it certainly doesn't need a bitter, emotion-laden pissing match...

It's just true. Among Party regulars, 'important' and otherwise, there was a lot of resentment toward Howard Dean's implication that being a Democrat was something to be ashamed of. Folks who work year around, year in and year out, for the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates are generally proud of their work and their Party. Many of them, and I'm talking about the grassroots rank and file Party regulars, were offended by the tone of the Dean campaign, and they were I think, the biggest reason the Dean machine crashed and burned as soon as the pundits were replaced by the voters last winter and spring. They haven't gone away, and they won't (I certainly hope) be going away. Precinct captains tend to outlive Presidential candidates in the party organization, by years, sometimes decades.

Again, I'm largely over it. I don't have any great objections to a Dean chairmanship, at least not from the way he conducted his primary campaign. I think he aquitted himself admirably during the general election campaign and since. I question the depth of skill as a strategist and fundraiser he brings to the job. He's depended on hired guns for those services in the past, while the DNC Chair is a hired gun. A lot of folks, though, are no where near over it, and the overheated rhetoric that many of the hardcore Deaner's continue to throw at the Party regulars doesn't help a bit. I know the Deaniac fringe doesn't really speak for the Governor, but they don't seem to know it.

And there's just no getting around it. Other than the totally unacceptable Tim Roemer (sorry Nancy and Harry, but squeezing out a few more bucks for the Congressional campaign committees doesn't justify a bloody debate over key Democratic principles), there's just no more divisive figure in the DNC Chair race than Howard Dean. That might not be fair. It's probably not justified.

But it's true.