The Washington journalistic establishment just doesn’t like Howard Dean. He’s rough around the edges, and he doesn’t play by the rules, especially the rule casting Democrats as perennially weak and apologetic . And reporters didn’t have to look too hard to find Democrats who would go on record about their displeasure with Dean...
Everyone now agrees that Howard Dean needs to be careful about what he says. But there may be no way for him to win. Consider the last of Dean’srecent“controversial” comments, his statement that the GOP is “pretty much a white Christian party.” In other shocking news, the sky is blue and the sun rises in the east. According to the 2004 exit polls, 87 percent of Bush voters were white and 89 percent were Christian (by comparison, Kerry voters were 66 percent white and 71 percent Christian). If as mundane an observation as that can be twisted into the question, “Does Howard Dean hate white Christians?” (as Fox News did), no amount of care on Dean’s part will stop Republicans and the press from turning what he says into a “controversy."
Does it ever once occur to a member that because we are ostensibly working for the same causes, are members of the same political party and are faced with the ever-growing dominance of a common opposition, that it might be nice to show unity? How are we ever to convince an undecided voter that Democrats can provide a functional, beneficial alternative to a Republican-dominated government if we can't even keep talking points straight?
Pelosi, Biden and Co. might not especially care for their new chair, but it would be in their and their party's best interest if they could learn to save their snippy sound bites for attacking Republicans instead of fellow Democrats. Priorities, people, priorities. If you want to make your party appear strong and groundbreaking (to say nothing of actually being stong and groundbreaking), perchance 'twould be unwise to trash thy leader at his debutante ball.
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