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He blows. Either in anger, condescension, overexuberance, or an excessively cloying attempt to appear hip or otherwise ingratiate himself with his audience.

Let's review his greatest hits--

10) I'm a square. I like Wyclef Jean and everybody thinks I'm very hip, but I am really a square, as my kids will tell you. I don't even get to watch television. I've heard the term [metrosexual], but I don't know what it means.

(Dean, at a campaign breakfast in Colorado, after being called "handsome" by an attendee and pronouncing his metrosexuality)

9) I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks. We can't beat George Bush unless we appeal to a broad cross-section of Democrats.

(Dean later apologized for his entreaty to Confederate flag-sporting "guys," stating "I think it's time to move on.")

8) I've waffled before. I'll waffle again.

(a canny strategy from the man who at the time was running against stalwart John Kerry, and in his debut June 22, 2003 "Meet the Press," Dean waffled on a balanced budget amendment, cutting Social Security, raising the retirement age to 70, cutting defense spending, and the death penalty)

7) John Ashcroft is not a patriot, John Ashcroft is a descendant of Joseph McCarthy.

(Dean never did apologize for this unsolicited geneology)

6) We've gotten rid of him [Saddam], and I suppose that's a good thing.

(Dean made this remark before the Children's Defense Fund Forum in April 2003. He showed consistency in his charity to Saddam in December of that same year. After Saddam's capture, Dean remarked that it had not made America "safer").

5) Dean suggested that Democrats abandon Wyoming because of its anti-gay attitude.

(in a December 2004 speech at George Washington University, Dean stated "We cannot any longer be a Party that seeks the presidency by running an 18-state campaign. We can't be a party that cedes a single state, a single District, a single precinct, or even a single voter")

4) If Bill Clinton can be the first black president, I can be the first gay president.

(later, Dean clarified that he was a "square" and he didn't even know what the word "gay" meant)

3) The speech as it was portrayed in cable television shows 937 times in one week never happened.

(Dean, referring to his infamous guttural "scream" speech after the Iowa caucuses. Later review of the videotape does, in fact, show that while Dean appears to be moving his lips, he may not be saying "EEEEYYYYYYYAAAAAAAWWWWW" but rather "So, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart." Many suspect the work of famed Karl Rove operative

Senor Wences

2) 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.

(Dean later clarified his remarks. While he did not reject his "old-fashioned" notion of determining guilt by jury, he added ""As an American, I want to make sure [Osama] gets the death penalty he deserves.")

1) Caller: Once we get you in the White House, would you please make sure that there is a thorough investigation of 9/11 and not stonewalling?

Howard Dean: Yes there is a report which the president is suppressing evidence for, which is a thorough investigation of 9/11.

Diane Rehm: Why do you think he is suppressing that report?

Howard Dean: I don’t know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I’ve heard so far—which is nothing more than a theory, it can’t be proved—is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is? But the trouble is, by suppressing that kind of information, you lead to those kind of theories, whether they have any truth to them or not, and eventually, they get repeated as fact. So I think the president is taking a great risk by suppressing the key information that needs to go to the Kean Commission.