As a southerner born and bred, I can’t get enough of Dr. Dean in Dixie. Sho’ nuf! You get the feeling from the WaPo Style piece on Dean’s swing to South Carolina that he’s worried we southerners will find him weird. He keeps saying things such as that he’s ‘not from ’round here.’ He even has picked up a hint of a southern accent! Note to Dr. Dean: It’s not Southerners who are parochial. It’s you. We often go up north, and some of us have actually laid our po’ eyes on Park Avenue. Many of us do not eat peas with a knife, go barefooted, or have ringworm. Dr. Dean thinks we think he’s strange and exotic, but we don’t. (Well, let me rephrase that: We don’t think he’s strange because he grew up in New York, a place many of us have visited in our pickups). Who thinks who’s strange? Dr. Dean thinks we’re strange. He also thinks we’re stupid. Here’s a quote: ‘It doesn’t matter if you are a northerner or a southerner. If you are from a rural state and need a job you’re an American.’ Gosh, thanks, Howie.
She’s not even a southerner, but Marjorie Williams has her Howard Dean Condescension Geiger Counter up and running: If you missed Marjorie’s WaPo column on Howard Dean and The Doctor Factor over the holidays, you really should read it.