Say Anything Blog

From the New York Times via the Drudge Report:

Complaining about the torrent of attacks raining down on him from his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, Howard Dean on Sunday criticized his party's national chairman, Terry McAuliffe, for not intervening to tone down the debate.

"If we had strong leadership in the Democratic Party, they would be calling those other candidates and saying, `Hey look, somebody's going to have to win here,' " Dr. Dean, the former governor of Vermont, told reporters trailing him as he campaigned through central Iowa. Referring to one of Mr. McAuliffe's predecessors, he added, "If Ron Brown were the chairman, this wouldn't be happening."

Dr. Dean also implied that many of his supporters, particularly young people, might stay home in November if another Democrat's name ends up on the ballot.

"I don't know where they're going to go, but they're certainly not going to vote for a conventional Washington politician," he said.

Though Dr. Dean has repeatedly said he would back whichever Democrat wins the nomination, he said Sunday that support was "not transferable anymore" and that endorsements, including his own, "don't guarantee anything."

I have to agree with Dean on this one, I think the Democratic candidates have crossed a line. How can the Democratic candidates possibly turn around and endorse the candidate who finally wins the nomination after they've engaged in such dirty, lambasting attacks? Wouldn't it seem a little hippocritical for Gephardt to start stumping for Dean after he savaged him during the nomination process? It does to me.

Dean essentially telling other Democrats that his supporters won't vote for them seems like a veiled threat. Dean has a lot of supporters. Loss of those votes would be devastating to any other candidate.

The Democrats aren't going to win next November and this ugly nomination process is the reason why.