« REMINDER: Carnival of Classiness. | WILLisms.com | Quotational Therapy: Part 11 -- Founding Fathers, On Private Property. »

Howard Dean Strikes (Yet) Again.

Captain Yeeeeargh has done it again.

Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Party, said yesterday that the US House majority leader, Tom DeLay, "ought to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence," referring to allegations of unethical conduct against the Republican leader.

Howard Dean: The Gift That Keeps On Giving.

Meanwhile, Barney Frank, one of the very most left-wing members of the House of Representatives, had to deliver the dose of sanity:

"That's just wrong. I think Howard Dean was out of line talking about DeLay. The man has not been indicted. I don't like him, I disagree with some of what he does, but I don't think you, in a political speech, talk about a man as a criminal or his jail sentence."

It's a weird political situation when a party chairman is the one making the inflammatory comments, while the party's controversial rank-and-file left-winger has to busily perform cleanup duty [Michelle Malkin suggests an appropriate term for a Democrat who breaks ranks from Chairman Howard Dean: "maverick"]. Meanwhile, you have Harry Reid, who was chosen to be the counterbalance to Dean, allegedly so nice and mild-mannered and moderate, whose foot-in-mouth disease is at least as bad as Chairman Dean's.

Here's a little prediction:

If DeLay were to "serve his jail sentence," you'll have at least a dozen, if not more, House Democrats doing the same.

In other words, it's not going to happen. But if, in the remote chance that DeLay does go down, he's not going down alone. He would (hypothetically) take many high ranking Democrats down with him.

These ethics allegations are not a matter of "everyone does it, therefore it's okay." They aren't a matter of "business as usual." The innuendoes, thus far, at least, are just plain bogus, part of a calculated and well-monied effort to take down an effective conservative leader.

UPDATE:

Ankle Biting Pundits (via Beltway Buzz) notes that Howard Dean favored not "prejudging" Osama Bin Laden, but he won't give that same courtesy to Tom DeLay.

Posted by Will Franklin · 16 May 2005 11:08 AM

Comments

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at May 16, 2005 01:39 PM