Look, I'm very impressed by and grateful for the work and sacrifices these guys have done in the past. But their current behavior is atrocious.
No, they don't have to march in lockstep to Howard Dean.
No, they don't have to agree with him on anything if that's their position.
But if they're at all concerned about the future and public image of the Democratic party - NO, they should NOT go publicly blasting anyone with a shot at becoming Bush's opponent - which in the final analysis doesn't seem to be either Lieberman or Kerry.
In implementing the poorest judgement in recent political history, they're killin' us. They've forgotten the fine art of letting their own ideologies speak for themselves, and instead have embarked on desperate and ugly smear campaigns against Dean. To make matters worse, they've actually taken to siding with Bush in a lot of their rhetoric.
Didn't these guys stand for something? Don't they understand that (and DAMN I'm tired of saying this) capturing Saddam Hussein was not the mission? That the mission was to DISARM him of WMDs? Instead of asking why we went in there, they're using the capture of Hussein as a gotcha on Dean.
Moreover, Dean is being accused by both Dems and wingnuts of wanting to do a wholesale pull out of Iraq. I wish to hell someone would find the quote where Dean said that. They can't. Because it's Dennis Kucinich who said that. Dean's position - in all the times I've heard/seen him speak - is that we're there and we have to finish the job. But Dean would rather do it with the help of repaired ties with what once were our allies. What a silly silly man, huh?
CNN reported today that Lieberman campaign workers are going to be asked to take a voluntary pay deferment because the money hasn't been rolling in as solidly as Joe claims. There's got to be a reason for that. Not only does the emperor have no clothes, the closet's empty, too.
Let me ask these guys one simple but important question: Would a Lieberman or a Kerry presidency fare any better than Dean vis a vis Saddam?
NO. They know it. And we know it. And the more they make an issue of it, the more they're making themselves and the Democrats look petty and ridiculous.
It's time for them to shut up. Karl Rove couldn't possibly have planned this implosion any better. End of this discussion.
(Well, not quite. Don't completely blame me for the pictures of Joe and John here. This is exactly how CNN is portraying them at their website. Perception is everything.)
