Gunga Dean

Part of the right-wingers talking points is to paint Howard Dean as a loonie. After all, the man yelled "Yeeeeeeaah!" at a rally, and we all know how nutty THAT is. Almost as nutty as torturing prisoners, saying "Go fuck yourself" on the Senate Floor, covering a statues boobs, or starting a war on a tissue of lies.

Anyway, the reason they do this to Howard Dean is because they are scared of him. He has a real strategy for winning back the country, and - most frightening for the right-wingers - he was actually right about Iraq. Dean was against the Iraqi Debacle LONG before the rest of the establishment. He saw it as a disaster with foresight, not hindsight. Yes, many of the rest of us ALSO knew it was bonkers from the get-go, but we aren't the establishment. The establishment Democrats were so GENUINELY weak that they were terrified of APPEARING weak. They thought that a lack of proper bellicosity would make them look bad. They helped Bush start a war because they were afraid of LOOKING bad. How weak is that?

Well, now they DO look bad, and the guy who WASN'T weak - Dean - looks good.

So if you hear some right-winger question Dean's sanity, point out that Dean was right and the right-winger was wrong. If Dean is nuts, how loonie are the maniacs who thought it would be a cakewalk?

"On Veteran's Day, a day to honor the sacrifices of Americans who have so bravely served our country, President Bush chose instead to deflect from the truth and resort to political attacks, even as more Americans now doubt his honesty and his ability to handle the war in Iraq.

"While the White House continues to shamefully stonewall and hide behind their attacks, Democrats will continue to press for the truth. The President ought to be ashamed of himself. With more than 2,000 brave Americans dead to date and tens of thousands more injured, the President ought to be telling the truth to the American people. Mr. President, the best way to honor our troops is to tell the truth about why they went to war and when they can come home.

"The fact remains that pre-war intelligence was manipulated and cherry-picked. Instead of trying to pass the buck to members of Congress, who like so many Americans were willing to trust their Commander-in-Chief, the President should tell the truth to our troops and their families about how they were sent to war. In a democracy, the truth is not withheld. In a democracy our leaders provide real leadership and do not hide behind political attacks.

"Democrats stand committed to our troops and their families. Americans deserve the truth and the answers to hard questions when it comes to the decision to go to war. We can no longer stay the course. Our troops and the American people need a comprehensive plan so that success can be achieved in Iraq and our troops can come home safely." - Howard Dean, November 11, 2005