Howard Dean’s assertion that Saddam Hussein’s capture doesn’t make Americans any safer is now creating a firestorm of criticism for the mainstream of the Democratic Party. Yesterday’s Washington Post editorial hammers Dean in a manner usually reserved for a Republican who embraces the Klan. Money graf:
Many will agree with the candidate that "the administration launched the war in the wrong way, at the wrong time, with inadequate planning, insufficient help and at unbelievable cost." But most Americans understand Saddam Hussein for what he was: a brutal dictator who stockpiled and used weapons of mass destruction, who plotted to seize oil supplies on which the United States depends, who hated the United States and once sought to assassinate a former president; whose continuing hold on power forced thousands of American troops to remain in the Persian Gulf region for a decade; who even in the months before his overthrow signed a deal to buy North Korean missiles he could have aimed at U.S. bases. The argument that this tyrant was not a danger to the United States is not just unfounded but ludicrous.
Watch this to get even uglier. The reality is that Howard Dean is the loose cannon on deck for the like of Democratic Leadership Committee flacks like Joe Lieberman and The Clintons. They (correctly) see his leadership of the Democratic Presidential Race as a direct threat to their powerbase. Dick Morris, that charming toe-sucker and avowed inventor of “triangulation” has been saying as much for a while. Mr. Morris has stated bluntly that the only reason Wesley Clark is in the race is so the Clintons can stop Howard Dean from taking over the Democratic Party. With Dr. Dean at the reins of the party (read “the Party Coffers”), the Clintons are frozen out and have to take care to create their party within the party. This they have already done in the form of the “Campaign for America’s Future”, a PAC designed to create a structured alternative within the Democratic Party that they control.
But that may not be necessary. Dr. Dean’s campaign has all the signs he’s ready to self-destruct at any minute. And watchers of this space already know my feelings about Ralph Nader’s impact on the Democratic Party as an institution should he toss his hat into the Presidential Ring. If Nader does enter the race, Dean’s anti-war base will split leaving even fewer Democrats remaining to vote for what’s left in the middle.
End game: Bush crushes the opposition in 2004 with coat tails that cover every state with an Interstate highway; the Clinton’s regain nominal control of the party for Hill’s run in 2008 with their “built from the ground up” apparatus already in place. Unless Mr. Bush decides to change his running mate for 2004 – pulling Condi Rice into the Veep’s slot and sending Dick Cheney over the NSA for a semi-retirement – the coast is clear for Hillary.
Heaven forbid.
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