Going over the cliff with Howard Dean

NY Daily News ^ | December 30 2003

[knighthawk]

The Democratic Party has an albatross, and his name is Howard Dean, the candidate most likely to succeed in the party's fast-approaching Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary as he drives toward a presidential nomination. The former Vermont governor has risen above the monotonal drone of his rivals by capitalizing on the rage that many Democrats harbor toward President Bush, notably over the war in Iraq. The difficulty is that fury does not a successful campaign make. It also blinds.

It is astonishing that Democrats cannot see the doom that awaits if they nominate a candidate who said this about Osama Bin Laden: "I've resisted pronouncing a sentence before guilt is found. I still have this old-fashioned notion that even with people like Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of executive power, not to prejudge jury trials."

Those 46 words reveal with laser-like eloquence that Dean fundamentally misunderstands what's at stake for the U.S. in the global war on terror and so does not have the mind-set to wage the battle effectively. While the country has been on a combat footing since 9/11, Dean is thinking about due-process rights for Bin Laden and, who knows, running him through the criminal justice system. What would President Dean have the Marines do? Read the Miranda rights to a terrorist and arraign him in Manhattan Criminal Court?

True to form, Dean changed his position after his remarks were published in a New Hampshire newspaper and were roundly condemned. Yes, he assured, he wants Bin Laden to get the death penalty. We say a summary execution on the battlefield would be more like it.

The Democrats would be well-advised to imagine the campaign ads that Bush's mastermind, Karl Rove, would cook up. He'd start with Bin Laden, move on to Dean's declaration that the U.S. was not safer with Saddam Hussein in custody and happily focus on Dean's irresponsibility in spreading the conspiracy theory that Bush knew about the 9/11 plot beforehand and did nothing to stop it.

Despite all that, Dean is giving Rep. Dick Gephardt from next-door Missouri a run for his money in the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses, has a double-digit lead over Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts in Jan. 27's New Hampshire primary and could have the nomination wrapped up by March 2. If so, he'll lead the party over a cliff like so many lemmings.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[Ingtar]

Hang in there Dean! Don't self-destruct too soon!

[Catspaw]

What would President Dean have the Marines do? Read the Miranda rights to a terrorist and arraign him in Manhattan Criminal Court?

Um.....yes.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I sincerely hope he doesn't peak too quickly. I'm thinking this could be a 49 state win for W.

[Cicero]

More talking points faxed from hillary's basement to her pimps at the Daily News. Sounds like she's getting desperate.

[elhombrelibre]

GO Dean. Get the nomination, Dean. Then prove you're an idiot every time you open your mouth.

[Humidston]

You reckon the Dims will accept GW's presidency after he wins his second term in a LANDSLIDE???

Naaaaaah.

[GSWarrior]

Heck, let's go for 50!

[Howlin]

[MizSterious]

Well...yes...but...

Didn't some of us say some of the same things about the goofy governor of Arkansas who was running against this President's father? Did anyone really think he was electable?

Groannn...I hope we're not getting overconfidant again.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.

"The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner"
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Dem ship rapidly taking water. I hope they don't toss the bird overboard.

[Dante3]

Many Democrats are worried that Dean is too far left. Didn't Lieberman call him "mad cow" or something? I heard that Susan Estrich tore into Dean who has a Jewish wife and riases his kids as Jews but went down South the praise Jesus.

[elhombrelibre]

The issues played better for Clinton than they will for Dean. Also, Clinton was a consumate liar. Dean just looks ridiculous when he lies.

[N. Theknow]

Voters voters everywhere, and all of them did think,
Voters voters everywhere that all the Dems doth stink.

[Zipporah]

"..Bush's mastermind, Karl Rove"

Bush's mastermind? Rove is the worst thing that could've happened to us.. Bush and company have masterminded the destruction of the US.

[Reagan Man]

"-US no safer w/Saddam in custody"
-"Bush knew about 9-11 beforehand"
-"most dangerous admin in his lifetime"
-"Bin Laden shouldn't be pre-judged"

With more outrageous statements like these, Dean will lose in a Dukakis-like, or may be even, a Mondale-like landslide. Anyway you cut it, Howie Dean is extremist leftwing ideologue and IMO, an unstable person.

[TheGeezer]

Add Zipporah to the last of crazies.

[meenie]

I don't think any of these statements can be attributed to Dean alone. Every one of them has been made by other Dem candidates. Conclusion: Every one of them is nuts!

[TheGeezer]

"Rev" Al Sharpton is now polling better than Kerry in New Hampshire. That also is a sign that the hard core left DemocRat party is careening off the political cliff.

Beware this party, with Soros leading the way to offshore money. American interests will be second to the desire for power, when madmen bark orders to troops.

Where will the Deanobunker be?