Some reporters...

...are idiots. Or worse. Political Wire points to an offering by today's nominees, Peter Savodnik and Elizabeth Fulk of The Hill, who write under the headline "Some red-state Democrats facing balancing act with Dean."

"Some..." As in...

Some Democrats in Republican-dominated states already look to be putting distance between themselves and incoming Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean, the Vermont firebrand.

Now, apart from introducing the mildly perjorative descriptor 'firebrand' in their lede, Savodnik and Fulk have an interesting, if hardly unusual point. Some Democrats in Republican-dominated states have run away from the national Party for years, regardless of who the Chair was, so some would doubtless back away from a Chair whose political identity is as vivid as Dean's (even if the record that underlies that identity sometimes belies it.) Should be simple enough, then, to find a few elected officials willing to back away on the record, right?

Well, apparently not. Savodnik and Fulk did find Jason Schulte, exec director of the South Dakota Democrats, who allowed as how...

"Representative Herseth and Senator Johnson don’t have to line up behind Howard Dean on every issue."

True enough. Of course, it's also true that Herseth and Johnson don't have to line up behind Howard Dean, or any DNC Chair, on any issue. They line up (one fervently hopes) behind their caucus leaderships in the House and Senate, each of which has already set their agendas. Howard Dean's job as Chair will be, in part, to support those agendas, not direct them.

But Schulte didn't say anything about distance, he just stated the facts on the ground. In fact, 'some' Democrats, as usual, seem to be some Democrats in Savodnik and Fulks' fevered imaginations. They sure don't seem to be in the US House or Senate.

"Some..."

Hmmpf.