Dean's Secret Revealed

RealClearPolitics.com ^ | 12/19/03 | Tom Bevan

[NYC Republican]

Over in Deanland, the front-runner is starting to take some serious heat. The New York Times wins the award for today's most obvious headline with, "Some Democrats Uneasy About Dean as Nominee." That's some scoop.

It's clear, however, the split in the seams of the Democratic party is growing wider by the day, and Howard Dean is the one who is doing the pulling.

Yesterday he not only repeated his widely criticized remark that America is no safer after Saddam's capture, but he went one whopper further, saying the country is no safer today than it was on Sept. 10, 2001.

The statement is demonstrably false by any measure and wildly out of touch with reality. I'd be willing to bet that 90% or more of all Americans would disagree with it.

But here's the real genius behind Dean's strategy and his hold on the nomination: to refute this lie one must give at least tacit credit to the Bush administration for making the country safer. That's something the hard left of the party base is not willing to do.

When any one of Dean's rivals try to hammer him for making such ridiculous statements Dean strikes back hard, as he did yesterday, leveraging the Bush-hating emotion in the party to bludgeon his opponents:

After several days of brushing off his rivals with a few glib asides, Dean responded with a denunciation that lumped Bush together with his Democratic opponents — or, as he called them, the "Washington politics-as-usual club."

"I think the Democratic Party has to offer a clear alternative to the American people," Dean said in remarks hastily tacked onto the beginning of a long-planned speech on domestic policy at the Manchester City Library. "We must make it clear the capture of one very bad man does not mean that this president — or the Washington Democrats — can declare victory in the war on terror."

Dean's campaign has been so resilient to this point because he now embodies the anti-Bush rage of the left with an almost Messianic completeness. To now disagree with Dean - even when he tell such a monstrous, laughable lie - is to be a heretic.

DEAN TELLS IT LIKE IT IS - AND LIKE IT ISN'T: One other Dean note. Follow the logic from this story in Newsday, where Dean responds to criticisms of his "George Bush knew about 9/11" remarks:

Bush called the comment "an absurd insinuation" Monday.

One of Dean's rivals, Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.), yesterday likened the comment to rumor mongering. "If you are unsure about a rumor, you shouldn't be spreading it," he said.

Dean defended his comment Tuesday, saying it was no different from what the Bush administration did during the run-up to the Iraq war.

"The difference is that I acknowledged that I did not believe the theory that I was putting out," he said.

In recent days, Gephardt and Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) have said Dean lacks credibility and experience.

Rivals have been especially critical of Dean's assertion Monday that the capture of Saddam Hussein had not made America safer.

On the plane, Dean said he personally wrote that line. "If I think something is true, I say it," he said.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave.

[ChuckShick]

Remember, we don't want the lefties to out Dean with all his warts so he can be defeated in the primaries. It's better if he wins the nomination then when they realize what they've done, it will be too late.

[Burf]

The Clinton wing of the Dems are not going to give up their power without a fight. Look at the track record of Bill, Hill, McAuliffe, et al over the last dozen years and you'll get an idea of what is to come. It is gonna be humorous to see Dean on the grill being cooked by the true professionals of character assasination. An indicator to their success will be Deans moving his travel arraignments to the Wellstone travel agency.

[monocle]

And the media is silent when the Democrats act as you point out whereas when the Republicans refer to prior statements the media become pit bulls barking "negative campaigning". Negative campaigning, like racism, has become a one way street.

[cousair]

Agree!!!!

[Billthedrill]

Some people say - it's only a rumor and I don't believe it myself, but you know where there's smoke there's usually fire - some people say that Howard Dean sacrifices newborn kittens to Satan.

[mrtoby]

Hey, maybe Dean's really one of us, put out there to destroy the Democrat pary! If so, it's working :)

[randog]

I hope that the GOP is carefully recording Dean's very word to use them against him next fall.

No can do. The dems dictate what Bush can and can't do in his campaign. For example, they've said that he can't (a) use footage from the famous carrier landing; (b) use his Baghdad Thanksgiving goodwill visit as campaign fodder; (c) gloat over Saddam's capture.

"I think the Democratic Party has to offer a clear alternative to the American people," Dean said

Alternatives are great, like the menu at a restaurant, but when the primary choice is prime rib you'd best not be offering up sh!t sandwiches.

[marty60]

It is amazing how Dean sounds a lot like Saddamn. No wonder he likes the "lovable" dictator so much. As Saddamn is being pulled from his open grave, he tells 19 year old Soldiers,"I'm the Pres of Iraq, and I want to negociate" Then sits in custody totally out of touch with reality. Dean stand up in front of cameras and just spouts totally irrational garbage. If the Saddamn lovers want compassion for him because he is obviously"dilusional" Should the American people seriously consider a Dilusional Candidate for Pres. Maybe we should demand a psyche evaluation for Dean.

[tbpiper]

"The difference is that I acknowledged that I did not believe the theory that I was putting out,"

!

[Ditto]

"...they called Dean a master of the big LIE."

He's just playing to his audience. The activist Dems will believe absolutly anything that is anti-Bush. They don't care if it's a lie. They want to hear it anyway.

[bert]

....surely America will see this imposter for what he is......

After he is nominated I hope.

In the words of DFU, "Go, Dean, Go!"

[cars for sale]

an observation here: it's always Karl Rove here, Karl Rove
there. Karl Rove did, Karl Rove didn't. Truth be told,
a monkey with a note in his mouth could beat a democrat
right now. Kudos to Karl but get some bananas for that
monkey too.

[randog]

The activist Dems will believe absolutly anything that is anti-Bush. They don't care if it's a lie.

To be fair, there were and are plenty of freepers who fall into that category re. Clinton. The difference is that the GOP didn't base their entire political platform on it.

[sweetliberty]

"But here's the real genius behind Dean's strategy and his hold on the nomination: to refute this lie one must give at least tacit credit to the Bush administration for making the country safer. That's something the hard left of the party base is not willing to do."

ROTFL! I just love the irony. Better lay in LOTS of popcorn. I don't think there are going to be too many intermissions.

[ChuckShick]

I just love to mention the name Karl Rove to my leftie friends. They think he's the devil incarnate that they start to melt.

[b4its2late]

The Clinton wing of the Dems are not going to give up their power without a fight.

Sounds like the mafia.

[Zack Nguyen]

Yesterday he not only repeated his widely criticized remark that America is no safer after Saddam's capture, but he went one whopper further, saying the country is no safer today than it was on Sept. 10, 2001.

That spits in the face of every family member who's had a soldier killed or maimed in the War on Terror.

[cars for sale]

wouldn't you love to see a documentary done by
Rove detailing what socialism , communism, marxism,
secular humanism is.....One in a thousand serious libers and abortion lovers would keel over dead with heart attacks. Rove would be charged with war crimes by
the International Criminal Court ,of course.

[Ditto]

Good point.

[NYC Republican]

Excellent! The plan is working