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Jewish World Review May 24, 2005 / 15 Iyar, 5765 Howard the Horrible By Rich Lowry
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Howard Dean must be the product of a Karl Rove plot. How else to
explain the Democratic National Committee chairman who so often acts
as an unpaid agent of the Republican Party? Democratic governors and
senators run from him when he visits their states; he is badly
losing the fundraising race to the Republican National Committee;
and he routinely produces new gaffes. Dean's handlers have carefully
kept him off national TV, until they unleashed him on "Meet the
Press" this past weekend.
Dean was returning to the forum of one of his signature triumphs
in his presidential campaign. He appeared so ill-informed during a
"Meet the Press" performance in June 2003 that his supporters
rallied to him as a repudiation of politics as usual (boring,
conventional politicians try to avoid looking ill-informed). On
Sunday, Dean was every bit himself, nasty and shaky on the facts.
After three years of high-profile national politics, he is still
unfailingly able to project a sense that he doesn't know what he's
talking about.
Host Tim Russert asked him about his recent comment that Tom
DeLay should go to jail. Dean stood by it. DeLay's "crimes" are so
notorious that Dean had to bring a list of them on set to remind
himself of what they supposedly are. He couldn't correctly pronounce
the name of the lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, at the center of the
corruption that so outrages him. Of course, DeLay hasn't been
plausibly accused of any crimes, let alone indicted for one, and his
offenses are alleged violations of House rules, which don't carry
jail time.
"I don't think I'm prejudging him," Dean told Russert, then in
the same breath: "I think there's a reasonable chance that this may
end up in jail." He defended the DNC having a mug shot of DeLay on
its Web site, then in the same breath: "We're not going to stoop to
the kind of divisiveness [of] the Republicans." Later on the program
he intoned, hilariously, "We ought not to lecture each other about
our ethical shortcomings."
On Iraq, Dean dug deeper. He criticized President Bush for his
dishonesty in saying that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass
destruction. Reminded by Russert that he had said the same thing,
Dean allowed, "I thought there probably were." Russert pointed out
that Democrats like John Kerry also warned of Iraq's WMDs. "Because
they were told that by the president," Dean insisted. But Kerry and
others were warning about Saddam's weapons well before Bush took
office. Does Dean not know these things, or is he just dishonest?
He occasionally has the right, if futile, idea. Dean said
Democrats must not be portrayed as the pro-abortion party: "I don't
know anybody who thinks abortion is a good thing." He apparently
hasn't talked to many NARAL activists lately. Dean floated the idea
that state medical boards should set guidelines for abortion,
apparently not realizing that that would likely require overturning
Roe v. Wade and make him an "extremist" fit to be filibustered were
he nominated to the federal bench.
In a slip of the tongue, he attacked the insinuation "that Osama bin
Laden had something to do with supporting terrorists." He said "that
abortions have gone up 25 percent since George Bush was president."
According to The Alan Guttmacher Institute, abortions declined in
2001 and 2002, the latest years for which statistics are available.
Democrats used to be the party that took governing and politics
seriously. For a chunk of the 20th century, they ran rings around
Republicans in Congress, thanks to their superior knowledge and
determination. But for the left-wing MoveOn.org activists that Dean
so faithfully represents, politics is primarily a way to vent their
spleen and frustration.
As party chairman, Dean may be a disaster, but he is their
disaster, and that's all that matters.
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© 2005 King Features Syndicate |
Mitch Albom | |||||||||||
