As usual...

...the Carpetbagger Report says it about as well as it can be said...

I'm not prepared to blame Dean, but I believe it's up to him to make this situation better before it becomes an even greater distraction.

I don't think it's particularly useful for Democratic elected officials to distance themselves from the DNC Chair, but I don't think it's particularly useful for the Chair to put them in a position where the question would even arise.

That's one of the reasons I didn't support Dean's bid for the Chair. I didn't think that his reputation for, ahem, rhetorical flourish would serve him well in the position, and I thought that would ultimately be a disservice to all of us. It was the judgement of most of the voting members of the DNC that I was wrong.

So we've got what we've got, and we might as well get with the program. That doesn't mean a free pass for the Chairman. Unity doesn't require uniformity, and I'm sure that there will be times when Dean will deserve a woodshed session. It does mean, thought, that it's for Democrats to realize that we've got exactly what we bargained for. As the Carpetbagger says...

If anyone's surprised that Dean has a proclivity for provocative remarks about Republicans, they haven't been paying attention. His passion is what led so many people to like him in the Dem primaries in late 2003, and his aggressive style is exactly what helped him get the DNC chairmanship's job in the first place. We hired a pugilist; it's foolish to ask him to refrain from taking a swing now and then.

The question, of course, is how Dean should target those punches and what other Dems are going to do when a stray punch lands below the belt.

Ah. The question.

It's a good one.

Here's hoping Howard comes up with some good answers soon.