Seems that it’s really going to happen–the Democrats are about to make Howard “Dr. Scream” Dean chairman of the party. This is a move that I entirely endorse. Early last year as the presidential primaries revved up, The Other Charlotte and I formed the Committee to Nominate Howard Dean, knowing that the wack physician and former Vermont governor was just the man to guarantee an easy reelection race to George W. Bush. We begged and begged the Democrats to listen to us, but Dean tanked in one primary after another–drat! Now, the Dems finally appear to be morphing into Deaniacs as we told them to, and we say: Take him, please! (See TOC’s Partying With Dr. Dean–It’s a Scream!, Feb. 10.)
As the Wall Street Journal’s John Harwood reports:
“…Mr. Dean accumulated plenty of baggage on the way, for his attacks on President Bush and provocative stances on issues such as the war and gay rights. His shouted exhortation to supporters after losing the Iowa caucuses — replayed countless times on television and as comic remixes on a number of Web sites — came to symbolize what critics considered a politically fatal lack of discipline….
“In last month’s Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, nearly eight in 10 Americans knew his name; 22% expressed a favorable view, 24% unfavorable, and 32% were neutral. Mr. Dean’s prominence ‘creates some obstacles he’ll have to overcome,’ says Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, a former Republican national chairman.
Indeed.
As Harwood writes:
“‘Voters don’t vote on candidates based on who the party chair is,’ says [Mary Beth] Malcolm, the former Texas party chairwoman. But other Democrats still wince at Mr. Dean’s inability to hold his tongue, as in his recent comment, ‘I hate the Republicans,’ and his criticism of Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid for making favorable remarks about conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
“Republicans, for their part, have been muted. Invoking a phrase attributed to Napoleon, Mr. Barbour says, ‘Never interfere with your enemy while he’s in the process of destroying himself.'”