Dean, Pelosi, and Reid Aren't Playing Well

The strategy of beefing up state parties that Howard Dean, M.D. is employing isn't sitting well with Capitol Hill Democrats. With the GOP at a low point going into this fall's Congressional elections and the Democrats at a financial disadvantage I can understand. Of course it would be nice for Rep. Pelosi and Sen. Reid if they had a positive agenda to run on.

"Democratic Leaders Question Whether Dean's Right on the Money"

Video Killed Dean's Star

The Political Teen has the GOP white flag video starring Howard Dean, M.D. and his gang of cut-and-runners.

As a bonus, an ordinary Democrat and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-SD) both want Dr. Dean to shut up.

UPDATE: Michael Reagan looks like a total fool for wanting Dr. Dean to be "hung for treason." The Vermont Lefty is a moron not a traitor.

Who is Dean Giving Thanks to?

Howard Dean, M.D.'s Thanksgiving statement is short so I'll quote it in full:

Today Americans across the country gather together with their families and loved ones to celebrate the tradition of Thanksgiving and to give thanks for the many blessings and gifts we have received throughout the year. As a nation, we also join together in sending our thoughts and prayers to our troops and their families, as we express our thanks for their brave service and the sacrifices they continue to make on our behalf.

As we give thanks, today is also a day to remember those who are less fortunate. In the aftermath of the recent hurricanes, we saw and continue to see tremendous acts of courage and heroism, of people coming together, opening their hearts and reaching out to help one another. That is our American community at its best. Today is also an opportunity for each one of us to reflect and to renew our commitment to helping those who are in need in whatever way we can.

Today, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we also celebrate our nation's diversity along with the belief that every American has the right to freedom, opportunity, and a chance to achieve the American Dream. On this day my family and I wish you a happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful holiday season.

Notice anything missing? Here are some portions from President Bush's Thanksgiving proclamation (emphasis mine):

We give thanks for the love of family and friends, and we ask God to continue to watch over America.

...

We ask God's special blessings on those who have lost loved ones in the line of duty.

...

May God bless and guide the United States of America as we move forward.

Dr. Dean doesn't mention God once. A 2003 Harris Interactive poll found 90% of Americans believed in God. A Newsweek poll last year found 82% believed Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Belief in God is ingrained in the American psyche. Earlier this year, Dr. Dean told Democrats, "We are definitely going to do religious outreach. Even in my campaign I was interested in reaching out to evangelicals." He's fumbled this pledge just like his Presidential campaign. Only without an embarassing scream.

Drudge, Get Original

Look at what I found on Drudge:

Howard the Duck! TAM gave Dr. Dean that moniker in 2003. Thief! Or else Matt has the good sense to be reading TAM.

At least he didn't take my first (and only) photoshop job.

Quacking South of the Border

We witness Dr. Howard Dean's "deep grasp" for foreign policy.

Howard Dean traveled south of the border to meet with Mexico's presidential contenders Monday, and lashed out at the Bush administration's policies on Mexico.

Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman, claimed President Bush "turned his back on Mexico'' after it refused to support the Iraq war.

The former Vermont governor told The Associated Press in an interview that "a strong Mexico and a strong Mexican economy fixes a lot of the problems between the two countries, particularly immigration and narcotics.''

"We ought to have a partnership with Mexico'' Dean said. "President Bush has lost ground in the relationship.''

...

Dean, who insisted he didn't have a favorite Mexican presidential candidate, argued that a lack of cooperation by the White House on immigration helped create the Minutemen, a civilian border patrol group that has been guarding the U.S.-Mexico frontier to discourage illegal immigration.

The notion that Mexico is being punished for not backing the Iraq War rejects reality. President Bush's inablility to get his guest worker/amnesty bill through Congress isn't due to lack of effort. It's because a large portion of the GOP base wants the feds to get serious about illegal immigration. Dr. Dean can't even offer one concrete example of the U.S. retaliating against Mexico because of the Iraq War.

As for the Minutemen, they don't care about cooperation. They care about the lack of adequate border patrol officers along the border. They decided since the government wasn't doing its job they would. Howard the Duck tries to reach out to disaffected conservatives and grasps air.

"Dean Slams Bush's Policies on Mexico"

Duck Hides the Salami

"Hide the salami." A Howard the Duck moment almost as good as the Dean Scream.

Duck Hunt: Postponed

My pickings are slim for a Duck Hunt so there isn't one this week. Please send me your best Howard Dean, M.D. posts for a future edition. Maybe Dr. Dean will really shoot off his mouth before then.

Duck Hunt #14

Howard Dean, M.D. did a good job keeping his mouth shut this week. I wish Vice President Dick Cheney did the same. (I try to be a little more consistent than Maryland Democrats.) It was tough finding posts. I'd say thanks to all of you who submitted something, but no one did. Let's go hunting.

• Kevin at Wizbang notes that the DNC under Dr. Dean isn't doing so hot in the fundraising game as compared to the RNC.
  

• Dave Weigel, one of the Kos horde, found a Howard Fineman article that looks beyond the raw numbers.
  

• Kos himself is fully behind Dr. Dean and his big bill mouth. To him defending Dean, M.D. is a fight for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party.
  

• One of those "insiders" Kos hates, Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. dissed Dr. Dean on Imus.
  

• ZenYenta, one of those "outsiders" thinks "Dean is trying to wake people up." We hear him. We all hear him. A little too much.
  

• Cranial Cavity writes:
  

  Dean has created his own little echo chamber of IPod carrying, MP3 playing, internet donors who were too damm lazy too put down their XBox long enough to bother voting for Dean in any great numbers.

  That led to the infamous “scream” and continous screeching since.

  
  

• We end this week's Duck Hunt with ScrappleFace who "reported," "Many Republicans probably voted for George Bush dozens, if not hundreds, of times in 2004, according to Democrat party Chairman Howard Dean."

Join in the fun by linking to the Duck Hunt. If you have an MT-powered weblog, just trackback to this post, and it will appear below. If your weblog software is incapable of trackbacks use Kevin's Trackback Form.

Looking for Duck Hunt Posts

I know they're out there. Howard Dean, M.D. posts. Send me your best posts on the DNC chairman for tomorrow's latest edition of the Duck Hunt.

Democratic Schism

We are witnessing fissures in the Democratic Party. The cause of the tremors is the rhetoric of DNC chairman Howard Dean, M.D. D.C. Democrats have been backing away from Dr. Dean. Today, the DNC executive committee stood firmly behind their leader. One member said, "I hope Governor Dean will remember that he didn't get elected to be a wimp." Another said, "Howard Dean is going to be much more aggressive, much more outspoken and much more of a risk-taker outside the Beltway than any chairman has been. We knew that."

Howard Dean, M.D. plays well to a Democratic base that has become more radicalized by the firey, reckless talk of Dr. Dean, MoveOn.org, Kos, and others. Dr. Dean can continue to say all the ridiculous things he's said. He will not be replaced or asked to step down because rank-and-file Democrats like what he's saying. Democrats want Dean to "stand up" for them. If that means alienated independents and burning bridges with Republicans so be it.

While the Democrats are in a little internal strife this actually plays well for Sen. Clinton. Should she use the same triagulation tactics as her husband, she could position herself more in the middle and appear to be not as reckless as rank-and-file Democrats or "white, Christian" Repubicans.

"Democratic Leaders Back Dean, Don't Want 'Wimp'"

The Return of the Duck Hunt

It's baaaack!!!!

The greatest, best, most stupendous (and only, I think) linkfest devoted to that former Vermont governor, failed Presidential candidate, and current DNC chairman Howard Dean, M.D. has returned for your reading pleasure. Thanks for the Duck Hunt's return must be given to Howard the Duck himself. His ability to embarass himself and his party while damaging the DNC as an institution is garnering plenty of talk in the blogosphere. The Duck Hunt will be a source for some of the best out there.

This Duck Hunt incarnation will be a little different than when Dr. Dean was running for President. Instead of me doing all the searching (hunting) for great posts I'm opening it up for submissions. Send your Howard Dean, M.D. posts to sean--at--this domain. I also want to turn the Duck Hunt into a traveling linkfest like the Carnival of the Vanities or Carnival of the Capitalists. So, if you're interested in hosting a future edition of the Duck Hunt e-mail me.

Without further ado the newly reincarnated Duck Hunt:

• For all the talk from Dean, M.D. about how weblogs could change politics he and his former campaign manager Joe Trippi were awfully silent about the FEC regulating weblogs.
  

• Dean, M.D. become DNC chairman and the GOP starts whupping him in fundraising.
  

• Before opening up his mouth Stephen Bainbridge recommends Dr. Dean open up a newspaper.
  

• Howard Dean, M.D.'s 100-day performance review: "extremely unsatisfactory."
  

• Howard the Duck came to a fork in the road. One path had him back away from calling Republicans "a white, Christian party." He went the other way.
  

• Democrats are engaged in a little infighting. Party leaders have denounced Dr. Dean while weblogging activists have raised money for their fine, feathered friend. [via Ankle Biting Pundits]
  

• La Shawn Barber prides herself with being "more polished than Dean."

• For Dean, M.D. quotes and "Dean Scream" remixes check out Lilly and Vance.
  

• Dean Esmay: "Why is it that every time Howard Dean opens his mouth, somewhere in the background I hear Karl Rove kicking his heels and giggling like a schoolgirl?"
  

• Karol at Alarming News: "I don't begrudge Howard Dean his craziness. It's nice that the DNC had reached out to people with mental illness, though in a surprising turn of events, I'm not sure they meant to put one in charge."
  

• The post is old, but this is a great pic.
  

Join in the fun by linking to the Duck Hunt. If you have an MT-powered weblog, just trackback to this post, and it will appear below. If your weblog software is incapable of trackbacks use Kevin's Trackback Form.

A Duck's B-Day

Yesterday was Donald Duck's birthday. Even though Donald isn't smart enough to wear pants in public he has to have more sense than his fowl friend running the DNC, Howard "the Duck" Dean, M.D. The way some Democrats are running away from the famous screamer they'd prefer the Disney character too.

Donors Ditch DNC's Dean

Howard Dean, M.D. has been a harm to DNC fundraising. As Robert Novak reports:

Democratic National Committee (DNC) fund raising under the chairmanship of Howard Dean shows a disappointing $16.7 million raised in the first quarter of 2005, compared with $34 million reported by the Republicans.

That tends to confirm dire predictions by old-line Democratic fund-raisers of a fall-off in money if Dean became chairman. He had promised to bring in heavy individual contributions, as he did in his 2004 campaign for president. But the DNC in the first quarter received only $13 million from individuals, compared to $31 million for the Republican National Committee (RNC).

This both surprises me and pleases me. It surprises me because I thought the Democrats were becoming ranting Bush haters. It pleases me because the U.S. can ill afford one dominant political party even if it's the GOP.

"No Romney in 2008?" [via Drudge]

Call Him Moneybags

Howard Dean, M.D. as DNC chairman gave the angry Left it's strong voice in American politics. Now, Dr. Dean's fundraising prowess is giving them the means to scream at all Americans.

The Associated Press notes that the DNC raised at least $3.4 million in his first three weeks. And Howard Dean says that is more than double the amount raised by the DNC during the same time in 2001 after President Bush was first elected.

We're just delighted the fund-raising is going better than we had dared to hope," Dean told the AP Monday in a phone interview. "We haven't put out an Internet solicitation yet." Dean then noted that soliciting money through the Internet "sooner rather than later" was next.

But Scribe Journal notes money was never the problem with Dean, M.D.,

The stage has changed, but the song remains the same. For Howard Dean and his fringe followers--it's not the money--it's the message.

"Howard Dean Brings in the Cash for the DNC"

A Hunting We Will Go

Dr. Dean's return to the political limelight means the Duck Hunt has risen from the grave. If you're a new TAM reader the Duck Hunt* is my periodic look at what the blogopshere is saying about Howard Dean, M.D. Early last year while Dean, M.D. was running for President I linked to people's views about all the wacky, liberal, "progressive" things coming from Dr. Dean's bill.

• Mark at Decision '08 writes, "In truth, the Democratic Party has reached the point of no return: the 'progressive' infestation has wormed its way into every crevice of the once-grand institution."
  

• Ed Moltzen chimes in that today's Howard Dean, M.D. Democrat would kick out legendary Democrats out of their party.
  

• Libertyblog thinks if Dean, M.D. could fold himself into the "relatively moderate governor of Vermont" he would make the "party politically tolerable again."
  

• Joe Gandelman thinks Dr. Dean as party chairman is historically different from those that have lead parties back into power.
  

• Jay Reding: "Howard Dean may try to reach out to red state voters, but he doesn’t even speak their language."

Join in the fun by linking to the Duck Hunt. If you have an MT-powered weblog, just trackback to this post, and it will appear below. If your weblog software is incapable of trackbacks use Kevin's Trackback Form.

*Why is it the Duck Hunt? Because I dubbed the good doctor "Howard the Duck" because like the waterfowl he's all wet. And if you want to shoot down a duck, you go on a duck hunt.

D-Day

Dr. Howard Dean is the new DNC chairman based solely on a voice vote. When all your opponents drop out that's what happens. This is a far cry--I mean scream--from last year's Democratic primaries. Instead of burning millions of dollars only to become the losing butt of jokers across the country, Dean, M.D. jumped to the front of the pack and never looked back. Saying caustic things like, "I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for" didn't hurt the good doctor. It may have actually helped. Democrats in general are still shellshocked and dismayed that President Bush won re-election. After pouring millions of dollars into Kerry Edwards, the DNC, and liberal 527s Bush won by a higher vote total and margin than he did in 2000. The closest the Dems could come to a Florida 2000 situation was Bush's win in Ohio. They insist it had to be tainted. Oddly, these people ignore the stench surrounding Milwaukee's election.

Dr. Dean's rise from the abyss to his party's Olympus proves the Democrats are (to use Glenn Reynolds' words) "trapped in a sort of 1972-style anger that can't possibly be good for its future or for the country."

I will add that an angry Democratic party on the path of its own marginalization is not good for Republicans or conservatives. Democrats negatively spin Republican ideas, but even their worst accusations contain a kernal of truth. This week, when we found the Medicare prescription drug plan is already balooning in cost it was Democrats making the loudest noise. The Christian Science Monitor reports:

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi called the new Medicare estimates "staggering." Meanwhile, House GOP conservatives, many of whom split with the White House and their own leadership over Medicare reform in 2003, are quietly considering whether and when to reopen the issue inside the Republican Party.

De facto one-party rule would create a flabby GOP full of hubris. That might not happen right away. Karl Rove and RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman know that energizing their base gave Bush his victory. They know a fickle base can lead to a tiny victory like that in 2000. But if the Democrats continue to become more radical in their temperment they will lose more political influence. Say Red America tops Blue America 55-45%. The GOP will be less inclined to listen to their grassroots. They'll be able to take social conservatives or gung-ho tax cutters for granted. That won't help advance the conservative cause.

In a twisted way conservatives need a strong Democratic Party. What we don't need is one that hopes to lessen America's world influence, seeks to expand the Welfare State, binds Americans in more regulations, or finds more reasons to tax us. Imagine a truly fiscally-conservative, pro-economic liberty (in favor of balanced budgets and tax cuts), pro-defense Democratic Party--something more akin to the original Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans. Imagine a Democratic Party understanding the economic idea that government spending means less freedom for its citizens. Imagine a Democratic Party not harping that Bush lied. Instead, they acknowledge the failings of the West's intellegence agencies who all thought Saddam's Iraq had WMD, then offering to expand intelligence agencies and the military to be better prepared to attack Iran, Syria, North Korea, or another future threat. Then together we could find a happy medium for scaling back the Welfare State and promoting freedom.

In Dr. Dean's campaign for chairman I've heard nothing about making his party relevant in the 21st Century. Instead he's touted how he'll listen to the grassroots and run Democratic candidates in every part of the country. To Dean the Democrats' problem isn't their message; it's how aggressive they've been in promoting it. The party agrees that they haven't been tough enough since they chose the most outspoken of all the candidates. This isn't Tim Roemer's or Zell Miller's Democratic Party. Dean's election shows that MoveOn.org was right. To paraphrase: "They bought it, they own it, and now they've taken it back."

"We All Scream for Dean... But Maybe We Shouldn't"

Frost Leaves Dean Clear Path

Martin Frost dropped out of the running for DNC Chairman. The former Congressman was the one I thought would be the real challenge to Howard Dean, M.D. Frost couldn't get the support of the labor unions, something he needed to combat Dr. Dean's endorsements from state party leaders.

"Frost Quits Race for Democratic Chief"

Truth in Advertising

Soon-to-be DNC Chairman Howard Dean, M.D. inspired John Hawkins to make an ad for the Dems. I don't think this is what Oliver Willis had in mind.

"Howard Dean Supplies A New Motto For The Democratic Party"

Dean's Going to Win

Howard Dean, M.D. is in a strong position to become the next DNC Chairman. It is much stronger than he ever was as a Presidential candidate when glowing media coverage and a powerful internet presence resulted in few wins in Democratic primaries and caucuses. Unlike last year, endorsements for Dean are also votes for the man. Today, the Association of State Democratic Chairs endorsed Dr. Dean. Harold Ickes, who considered running against Dean, M.D., and Wellington Webb both endorsed the ex-Vermont governor.

What these people are endorsing is a man who told a New York City audience, "I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for, but I admire their discipline and their organization." [via Galley Slaves] Such a leader is good for the GOP and bad for the Democrats and the country.

"State Democrats Back Dean for DNC Post" [via Charlie Sykes]

UPDATE: Doug Ireland also thinks Dean, M.D. has sown things up. Then he asks, "Will Dean make much of a difference as DNC chair?"

The way he squandered all that money he raised, only to win just his home state, isn't encouraging in management terms. Worse, the scuttlebutt in Washington among those who've talked to Dean and his people is that he intends to keep on the DNC staff assembled by Terry "the bagman" McAuliffe, the outgoing DNC chair. That's deplored by party technicians who don't consider the McAuliffe staff up to snuff.

In any case, it will take more than a technical fix to right what's wrong with the national Democrats. A recent poll showed a 12-point drop in the party's favorability rating among Democrats since the election--reflecting the disillusionment of the party base with the party elites' centrist drift. In their weekly conference call, the mayvens who run the Democratic 527 extra-party groups are--our spies tell us--talking about planning for taking back state legislatures so they, and not the Republicans, will control the gerrymandering after the next census. There's little of "the vision thing' in such technocratic strategizing. Will Dean, who has ever proclaimed himself a "centrist" with a "healthy distrust' of the left as well as the right, be the man to steer the party to a new, moblizing course and message? I'm not holding my breath.

[via Hit & Run]

The title of this post probably means the death of Howard Dean, M.D.'s quest for the DNC Chairmanship.

Dean's in the Lead

The AP finally realizes Howard Dean, M.D. is the front-runner for the DNC Chairmanship. That's not a surprise since Dr. Dean is the only candidate running like he's after the Presidency. He had a rally in St. Louis last weekend, and now he's planning house parties. If they read TAM they'd have known this sooner.

But rank-and-file Democrats don't pick the DNC Chairman, power-broker activists do. Yet Dean is doing well on that front. Earlier this month, Rep. John Murtha, a pro-Iraq War Democrat endorsed Dean. The entire Florida delegation is backing the former Vermont governor.

The best possibility to stop Dean, M.D. is Martin Frost. He's an ex-Congressman so he has plenty of connections; he ran the Democrats' Congressional campaign committee; and he can raise money. It also doesn't hurt that Frost is from the Red State of Texas. Frost wouldn't have claim Dean, M.D. is too liberal. All he'd have to do is point out Dean's lack of Washington, D.C. links as well as his Presidential campaign flameout. It also wouldn't hurt to bring up the Kos-Teachout duel.

"Dean Gaining Early Momentum in DNC Race" [via Captain Ed]

Dean's a Rock Star

If grassroots Democrats could vote Howard Dean, M.D. would be a shoo-in for DNC Chairman. Last Friday in St. Louis, Dr. Dean had 400 come out for a rally. This is a sign the rank-and-file Democrats are not sobering up after their Presidential defeat.

"Howard Dean: He Still Has The Power" [via Steven Taylor]

Dean Wins Florida

Howard Dean, M.D. did something AlGore couldn't do: win Florida.

The Florida delegation to the Democratic National Committee has voted unanimously to endorse Howard Dean to be the party's next chairman, bucking an effort to orchestrate an endorsement of one candidate by all 50 state party leaders at the same time later this month.

The decision, announced yesterday by Scott Maddox, the Florida Democratic chairman, is a major lift for Dr. Dean, a former governor of Vermont, and it is a shift in a contest where most Democrats have been holding back from endorsing any candidate in the crowded field.

A Dean Scream moment may be the only thing that will stop him from running the RNC.

"Florida Democrats Back Dean as Leader" [via Burnt Orange Report]

UPDATE: Dr. Dean has said that if he's elected as the new DNC chairman he won't run for President in 2008. Now I have a dilemma: do I back Dean, M.D. now for the simple reason that I'll have him to kick around on TAM for four years; or do I hope he loses so I can mock him when/if he runs for President?

"Dean Among Candidates Who Visit Missouri Seeking to Head DNC"

Guilt by Association

Efficency is good. In this case I can post about Howard Dean, M.D. running for DNC chairman and the continuing discussion about Kos' payments from him during the last Presidential campaign. Patrick Hynes tries a little guilt by association by wondering aloud if Dr. Dean endorsed some of Kos' more colorful posts. Hynes concludes,

Lest this seem like too much guilt by association, consider that as chairman of the Democrat National (sic) Committee, Howard Dean would be given the authority to hire scores of employees, consultants, and advisers to rebuild his party and combat the Republicans. The hiring of Markos Moulitsas Zúniga shows Dean has neither the judgment nor the temperament to fill those positions responsibly.

"Howard Dean’s Shrill Shill"

Not Shocked

Howard Dean, M.D. wants to be the next DNC Chairman. I think he'd be a detrement to his party and would weaken the GOP. Emmett Tyrell has a different take:

He is no radical. Whereas earlier champions of the left in the Democratic Party were left-wing ideologues -- for instance, Sen. George McGovern -- Dean is simply a party-line Democrat who left the practice of medicine because he relishes the great game of politics.

To be sure, he has since his youth as a counter-culture fellow-traveler in the 1960s picked up some of the sentimental memorabilia of that era, but his record in Vermont was that of a practical politician who very much wanted to be re-elected. He has no grand ideological scheme for America, just re-election in mind.

"I'm Running"

"Dean, Defeated Presidential Candidate, Seeks to Lead Democrats"

"Howard Dean to Announce Candidacy for Democratic Party Chairman"

Dean Down South

Howard Dean, M.D. and other contenders for the DNC chairmanship were down in Atlanta this weekend to court support. Dr. Dean's strategy was to just show up. That's a lot better than talking about the confederate flag.

"Dean, other DNC Chair Candidates Campaign for South's Endorsement"

Iraq War Supporter Backs Dean

Pennsylvania Congressman, Vietnam war veteran, and Iraq War supporter John Murtha is lobbying his collegues to support Howard Dean, M.D. for DNC Chairman. In a race that appears to be among Dean, M.D., former Rep. Martin Frost, and former Rep. Tim Roemer Murtha's support may force Democratic Congressmen to, in the words of an unnamed senior lawmaker, "take a second look" at Dean, M.D.

"Murtha: Give Dean DNC Chair"

Wide Open for Dean

Now that Harold Ickes decided not to become the next DNC chairman Howard Dean, M.D. is the big frontrunner. Dr. Duck's chief opposition is Tim Roemer. I can't imagine Democratic activists picking a pro-life man to lead their party. Realize the Democratic Party is so beholden to the "right" to kill the unborn that they refused to let any pro-life speakers come before their convention. Captain Ed may be correct that Ickes dropping out is a signal of the weakness of a Hillary 2008 campaign, but more importantly, a Dean, M.D.-led party will guarantee many more years of bitter political fights.

"Ickes, Kirk Pull Out of DNC Chair Race"

Dean, M.D. and the Democrats' Future

It's deja vu all over again among the Democrats:

The race to be the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee is shaping up as a retread of January’s Iowa caucuses, with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean emerging as the early front-runner and the Democratic establishment furiously scrambling for a candidate to beat him.

As much as I'd like to see Howard Dean, M.D. running the DNC (the Duck Hunt could rise from the dead) it won't help the party better connect to all voters. Virulent anti-Bush tirades may satisfy a gloomy political base, but it's not the foundation for future electoral victory.

Ideally, I want to see a Democratic Party that takes Bill Clinton's "era of Big Government is over" line to heart and combine it with a muscular anti-Islamist policy. In essence, I want them to go to the right of the Republicans. Will it ever happen? Not in my lifetime, but the farther they move to the right the better it will be for human liberty.

"How to Stop Howard Dean, Part Two"

Vilsack Turns Down DNC

Steven Taylor is right about Dr. Dean running the DNC. Unfortunately for the Democrats he might just get the job by default.

"Vilsack: Thanks, but No Thanks"

Dr. Dean Goes to Washington

Howard Dean, M.D. has been campaigning for the chairmanship of the DNC. On Capital Hill those that like him talk about his grassroots style and energy. Those that aren't fond of him sound like Rep. Robert Matsui: "We need someone who is part of the Democratic establishment. Someone who is more of a known quantity. It’s extremely important that we don’t go through a debate about ideology."

"Members Hot, Cold on Dean"

Please, Oh Pretty Please

Let me be the first to fully support Howard Dean, M.D. as the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Giving Dr. Dean a platform to continue promoting conspiracy theories about the President as well as leading a loud, angry Democratic Party will only help the Right.

But seriously, are the Democrats this dumb? Dean, M.D. was the biggest flame out is modern Presidential election history. He found a way to raise vast amounts of money and build a community (some would day cult) around a candidate. He was lauded with endorsements. What was he left with? Zilch except for an unforgetable scream. How does one blow through $40 million and not win the nomination? Ask Howard Dean, M.D.

If we want the Democratic Party to get its act together so as to prevent the GOP from ossifing due to lack of competition then Dean should be denied.

Do realize this is against my own self-interest. I would like nothing more than to revive the Duck Hunt just to rip on the howls from the fowl. (I'd also like to get more mileage out of this graphic. I put a lot of work into it.)

"Dean Ponders Bid to Become DNC Chairman"

Poor Hawaii

Kerry Edwards is taking Hawaii for granted--and for good reason. Dick Cheney flew there Sunday while Kerry Edwards sent Howard Dean, M.D. and Alexandra Kerry. I have a feeling it didn't take much arm twisting to get them to go.

Hopefully Dr. Dean had a chance to interact with his fellow waterfowl (they're all wet) the endangered Laysan ducks. I wonder if these birds make a sound resembling a Dean Scream.

"VP's Weekend Takes Him all the Way to Hawaii"

UPDATE: I'm glad I'm not an islander. Then I'd have to endure Dennis Kucinich and AlGore.

[via Betsy's Page]

New Duck Sighting

I'm not surprised to see Howard Dean quacking away before Election Day.

"Holy Bat Thingies! Howard Dean Needs Me!"

Quacking Again

With Rathergate sucking up the blogosphere's attention Howard Dean tossed out some unnoticed zingers that made me wish he was the Democratic nominee. He told a Brown University audience, "The Republicans have the best propaganda out there since Lenin, and they just make stuff up and they keep repeating it, and hope people are going to believe it."

I guess the Bush Bashers have gotten tired of Bush=Hitler references. What next, Stalin? How about Castro or the Kaiser or Jefferson Davis or even King George? Oops! I think I gave them an idea.

Not only did Dean compare Bush to a communist thug he said there will be a draft if Bush is re-elected. Funny, the only candidate I've heard who's said he'd send more troops to Iraq is John Kerry. Just don't tell Howard the Duck. He just might scream.

"Dean Labels Bush 'Dishonest' in Speech in Providence"

Denying Reality

Dr. Howard Dean claims his Iowa scream "never happened," at least not how cable news made it appear. Sure, there was plenty of noise from his cult followers supporters but one has to be a little off his rocker to produce a comedic moment like this.

"Howard Dean: Scream 'Never Happened'"

[Added to OTB's Beltway Traffic Jam.]

Quack!

Here's a post about ducks, and it has nothing to do with Howard Dean.

"Caution -- Duck-Blogging Ahead!"

Syndicated Quacker

Howard Dean as columnist. A good column needs a catchy title. How about these suggestions for Howard the Duck?

• Flying Feathers
  
• Left in Iowa
  
• I'll Bill You
  
• Screaming to the Masses
  
• Waddling into the Sunset
  

On the positive side, maybe we'll finally find out the proper way to spell "YEEEEAAAHHH!!"

"Dean to Become a Columnist"

Duck's Back

No, Howard Dean, M.D. is not running for President again. He's now running Democracy for America. The weblog is still pumping away posts to satisfy the kool-aid drinkers. From his op/ed DfA is a rehash of his campaign platform except the person he wants you to vote for is Sen. Kerry, not Dean, M.D.

Part of me just wants him to go away, but another part salivates at the thought of more ridulous Deanisms that preach to his cult followers supporters.

"Dean Campaign Evolves, Refocuses"

Duck Wins! Duck Wins!

Howard Dean, M.D. won the Vermont primary. What does it mean to get your first (and only) primary victory after you dropped out of the race? And what does it say for Kerry that he lost two-to-one to a man who wasn't even campaigning?

Also bad in its timing is a new children's book that came out yesterday:

"Dean Wins at Last, But Too Late"

UPDATE: The Deaniacs are sucking down the kool-aid again. OxBlog points out [via InstaPundit] the Vermont win has provided inspiration to get Dr. Duck back in the race. Fat chance.

It's Over

Someone forgot to tell these Dr. Duck supporters that he's out of the race. Could someone get me a number for a good cult de-programmer? That lucky person would be in business for years.

Duck is "Nuts"

Just because the Duck Hunt is dead and gone doesn't mean I stopped posting on my favorite waterfowl. The head of AFSCME called Dr. Dean "nuts." And after reading this short NY Times story, you know there's much more we don't know about. For one, I'd like to know where that $40 million in campaign contributions went.

The Wall Street Journal editorial page named Dr. Duck "the most consequential loser since Barry Goldwater." However, if Gerald McEntee's are any indication, Dean, M.D. will have a hard time growing his "new initiative" beyond rabid, kool-aid drinking Deaniacs.

"Labor Supporter Says Dean Ignored His Entreaties to Quit" [via Drudge]

"Dean the Dream"

Duck Hunt #11

Sad to say, ladies and gentlemen, but this is the last Duck Hunt. Howard Dean, M.D. quit so the DH has run its course. This was a fun, but short-lived, gimmick. I had fun making the graphic. It was the best Photoshopping job I've ever done, and I didn't even use Photoshop. Dr. Duck and his raft gave me and other webloggers plenty of material to write about. Like Duck, M.D.'s campaign, the Duck Hunt has run its course, and it's time to move on. I want to thank everyone who linked to the DH. I especially want to thank Dean Esmay for some much-needed guidance. Let's get to the *sniff* *sniff* last entries.

• Josh Chafetz on Dr. Dean's "new initiative":
  

  Unfocused anger can keep a good number of people motivated for a good long time, but only rarely will it pay off in significant structural change ...

  
  
• Steven Taylor wonders how Dr. Dean can take so much credit for shaping the primary debate when he couldn't "get much more than 20% of the vote in a Democratic primary."
  
• Deacon at Power Line links to Mark Steyn's political obituary of Dean, M.D.
  
• Professor Bainbridge blames Dr. Duck's demise on the messenger, not his technology.
  
• Matt Bai on the NY Times campaign weblog takes on Dr. Dean's self-comparison to "Fighting" Bob LaFollette. Let's just say Howard the Duck's legacy is significantly smaller than LaFollette's.
  
• On a similar theme, Kevin asks, "Other than opposing the war in Iraq, can anyone actually remember one of "his" issues?"
  
• Rich Lowry defends putting Dr. Dean on a memorable National Review cover that some Dems complain led to his demise.
  
• Matthew Stinson (all the way in China) wonders,
  

  at what point does Gov. Dean officially morph, in the public imagination, into one of those Japanese soldiers camped out on an island at the end of WWII, who never got the message that the war was over?

  
  
• Myria captures Dr. Duck in a moment of contemplation.
  
• ScrappleFace reports on Dean, M.D.'s newest staffer.
  

Join in by linking to the Duck Hunt. If you have an MT-powered weblog, just trackback to this post, and it will appear below. If your weblog software is incapable of trackbacks use Kevin's Trackback Form.

P.S. Jay, are you happy? It's over. It's finished. The DH is done, dead, kaput.

P.P.S. One last time for old time's sake: Dr. Duck's "I Have a Scream Speech."

Dean is Done

"I am no longer actively pursuing the presidency."

With those words, Howard Dean, M.D. threw in the towel...kind of. He'll still be on the ballot, people can still vote for him, and he'll still have delegates going into the Democratic convention.

As I predicted, Dr. Dean is converting his cult campaign into an advocacy organization. (An "an Internet-powered lefty version of the Christian Coalition.") He told his crowd,

We will, however, continue to build a new organization, using our enormous grassroots network, to continue the effort to transform the Democratic Party and to change our country.

And

Secondly, Dean for America will be converted into a new grassroots organization. We need everybody to stay involved. We are -- as we always have -- going to look at what you had to say about which directions we ought to be going in, and what we ought to continue to do together.

We are determined to keep this entire organization as vibrant as it has been through this campaign. There are a lot of ways to make change. We are leaving one track, but we are going on another track that will take back America for ordinary people again.

If you want to know why I opposed Dr. Duck, I offer this nugget from today's speech,

And what we set out to do was make the rest of the country more like Vermont. And so far we haven't succeeded, but we have a long way to go.

For a man whose followers claimed to favor decentralization his approach is one-size-fits-all. Arnold Kling has called this types, "Walden Puddle contingent on the Internet." But to be honest, the only decentralization was the campagin. Dr. Dean did proclaim last year that, as President, he would "re-regulate" utilities, large media companies and any business that offers stock options." That must be how it's done in Vermont.

I'm gathering weblog posts for the final Duck Hunt (*sniff* *sniff*) later tonight.

Dean Won't Quit

Dr. Duck has made a complete 180-degree turn. He now says he's going on to Super Tuesday whatever the results of today's primary. He's addicted to campaigning. He's addicted to taking part in debates--while barely attacking the front runner--he's addicted to shouting about how evil President Bush is to (dwindling) crowds. He knows he can't win, yet he continues. If he keeps this up his campaign will go full circle. He started as a former governor from a small state with as great a chance of getting the nomination as that loon Rep. Kucinich. If he continues, he'll end up as a former governor from a small state with as great a chance of getting the nomination as that loon Rep. Kucinich.

"Dean Insists Run Won't End in Wisconsin"

A Confused Duck

I don't think Dean, M.D. really knows what to do. Does he stay in the race while his staff scatters in thirteen different directions? It will be hard mounting a challenge to Sen. Kerry if its all run by volunteers. Or does he admit defeat and potentially betray the Deaniacs who placed so much psychic captial in his Internet-powered "revolution?"

I'd feel sorry for the guy, but then I remember how he's twisted and mischaracterized the Iraq War, propagated conspiracy theories, and put the darkest spin on everything President Bush has done. He's an angry man who vented publically for over a year and directed his fury at Bush. All the while, mesmerized followers fed off the anger and reinforced it with their own. This "echo chamber" was no revolution. Instead it was a visible and frightening hate cult.

"Dean Rejects Calls to Quit Presidential Campaign"

Duck Hunt #10

Will this be the last Duck Hunt with Dr. Dean still a candidate? It's not too clear. Steve Grossman, Dean, M.D.'s chairman told the NY Times that he'll back Kerry if Dr. Dean doesn't win Wisconsin, Tuesday. (He trails Kerry by 40 points.) But, ever the fighter, Dean, M.D. said, "We're not dropping out after Tuesday, period." The future of the Duck Hunt will be determined by what transpires in Burlington, VT later this week.

Now, on to the blogosphere. Some of these posts are a bit old, but I think they're still good and viable--unlike the Dr. Duck campaign.

• Steven Taylor offers up the possiblity that Dr. Dean might be quite visible at the Democratic convention. That might be the reason he'll "suspend" the campaign rather than officially drop out. Suggestion to Dems: Give Dean, M.D. a prime time slot for a speech. I want a Democratic version of Pat Buchanan in 1992.
• Michele places the Deaniacs right up with Tupperware and Mary Kay in the cult pantheon.
• Allah has declared Blog for America the "Saddest Place on the Internet." When god talks, we better listen.
• Glenn Reynolds gets his first DH links with a quick comment on who failed who in the Dean, M.D. campaign and for wondering who Joe Trippi really wants to blame for the biggest political flameout in my lifetime.
• By way of One Fine Jay, Gregory Markle offers up two Dr. Dean quotes. One has to do with dog urine.
• Professor Bainbridge notes The Economist named the Deaniacs the "pierced nipple wing of the party."

Join in by linking to the Duck Hunt. If you have an MT-powered weblog, just trackback to this post, and it will appear below. If your weblog software is incapable of trackbacks use Kevin's Trackback Form.

[NY Times story via Political Wire.]

Show Me the Money

Ed Cone seems to be the only reporter willing to ask the biggest question surrounding Howard Dean, M.D.'s campaign: Where did all that money go? Ex-campaign manager Joe Trippi doesn't know and wasn't responsible for knowing.

[via InstaPundit]

Duck's Done Wednesday

It looks like Howard Dean, M.D. will be ending his campaign after getting plucked here in Wisconsin. Wednesday, he goes back to Vermont to "regroup and assess his strategy" to use Reuters' words. Then there's this from the Boston Globe:

His calendar for next week is not booked beyond Wednesday, when he plans to return home to Burlington, Vt.

His staff, some of whom are already planning to leave his headquarters for good on Wednesday, has not sought a new contract with the main air charter company that has been flying him around the country, aides say.

Dean himself said yesterday he does not know whether he will continue campaigning in a manner resembling the appearances that have filled his calendar for the past two years.

One of Dr. Duck's staff, chief weblogger Matt Gross has left the campaign due to "family medical reasons." The American Prospect got him to answer a few questions, but I can't wait until when he talks about when and how the campaign collapsed. While Gross and I disagree most thinks political, I agree with him that the long-term effect of the Dean, M.D. campaign is to turn these operations into "their own media channels."

"Dean Bid Shows Signs of Ending"

"As Fortune Changes, So Has Dean's Campaign"

[via Political Wire]

That "Other" Duck Hunt

James Joyner clued me into this time waster.

Cheesey

Steven Taylor has his pre-Wisconsin Toast-O-Meter up. As for my man/duck Dr. Dean, it's looking really, really bad. Taylor has declared him "Burnt Limberger Cheese Toast." (Note: There is only one place left in America that makes limburger, and it's in Wisconsin. It's near Monroe to be exact.) Here's how bad it's gotten for Dean, M.D.:

Democrat Howard Dean faced scores of empty chairs in a half-empty hall on Saturday as he neared an anticipated defeat in Wisconsin's primary next week that could end his White House hopes.

In stark contrast to the massive crowds and stand-up passion he generated just months ago as the party's front-runner, the fading anti-war, anti-Washington maverick drew only a few hundred people who remained in their seats and applauded politely.

Maybe he can surprise us all with a dominating performance in tomorrow's debate, but the track record of these tame events makes me doubt it.

"Dean Faces Empty Seats as He Nears Possible End"

I Smell a Conspiracy

Not really, but it's very coincidental for Howard Dean, M.D. to be out of the state on the only day of the week I'm not working. He claims it's because of his son's hockey game. It's obvious he's dodging me. He fears the Duck Hunt, I just know it.

Alright, enough of my delusion of grandure. It's off to bed for me.

"Dean Bounces Across State Rallying Raucous Support"

Flying Past Wisconsin

Howard Dean, M.D. will not let a probable Wisconsin loss stop his pursuit of the nomination. That's what he told reporters in Green Bay today.

This announcement certainly deflates the importance of Wisconsin. The 02.17 primary just doesn't have the same "last stand" drama if Duck, M.D. says he'll continue even if he loses. Dean, M.D. knows it's not likely he'll get the nomination. If he really thinks he still has a shot then he's as delusional as some of his Deaniacs. Sure it's possible Sen. John Kerry could do something to blow up his smooth path to the nomination. Steven Taylor writes, "Kerry would probably have to shoot a man in Reno, just to watch him die, to lose the nomination at this point." Of course, he thought Dean, M.D. was going to get the nomination (heck, so did I).

What doesn't help is AFSCME dropping their support for Dr. Dean. That means fewer workers on the front lines calling voters and other get out the vote activities. It also doesn't help that 34% of poll respondents said they don't want Howard the Duck as the nominee.

Strangely, there is no mention of Dean, M.D. backing away from his make-or-break statement on the campaign website. It's like they don't think their supporters who read the weblog read any other news.

"Dean Now Says He Will Stay in Race After Wisconsin"

"Commanding Lead for Kerry"

"Major Union Withdraws Support for Dean" [via PoliBlog]

"Living in Wisconsin"

Oh, I love this:

We're pretty much going to be living in Wisconsin until February 17th.

Look's like I have a new neighbor. Monday's schedule is set, while Tuesday's is still to be determined.

UPDATE: In an interesting twist, the Duck, M.D. campaign is letting the raft pick a commerical to be run in the state. The two I watched (the first one, "Max," wasn't working for me) were kinda cute and reminded me of the winning ads run by Sen. Russ Feingold. Will they save Dean, M.D.'s campaign? Probably not.

UPDATE II: A poster at Daily Kos (possibly first and only link to that weblog) just rips on the ads calling them "the most disappointing, unprofessional, inept, lame move ever made by the spectacularly unsuccessful Dean media team, led by Steve McMahon."

Still Silence

As of this morning there's still no mention of Roy Neel's backpeddling from Dr. Dean's do-or-die Wisconsin statement on the Dean, M.D. weblog.

Dean's Last Stand: Wisconsin

Howard Dean, M.D.'s statement places Wisconsin at the center of his campaign. He told his followers, "[W]e must win Wisconsin." The response has been very, very good. He's raised over $700,000, enough to run ads here. (Oh, joy, I can't wait to see them.)

Most news reporters interpeted Dr. Duck's statement as meaning he's done if he loses on 02.17. Roy Neel, the campaign's CEO, begged to differ. He didn't read the message the "same way you [reporters] are interpreting it." It's interesting that Neel's version of Dr. Dean's statement isn't on the campaign's weblog.

Yes, Jay, I'm happy about this announcement. A win for Dean, M.D. means more issues of the Duck Hunt. A loss means I will have to think of something clever for Sen. Kerry. (And it won't be half as much fun picking on him.) If there wasn't a Republican U.S. Senate primary race and my belief that only Democrats should choose the Democratic Presidential nominee, I'd be really, really tempted to vote for Dean, M.D. just to keep him around.

I don't know what Dr. Dean's schedule is tomorrow. A "roundtable discussion on jobs and the economy" is planned for tomorrow, but I don't know where or when. And with this snowstorm who knows if anybody (including Duck, M.D.) will be able to attend.

"Dean Shifts Campaign Focus to Wisconsin"

"Wisconsin or Bust"

Like We Didn't Need Anymore Proof

Dr. Dean's operation is more cult than campaign. Here's a quote from one die-hard Deaniac, Jim Moore:

Giving is the sacrament that brings the Dean community together.

I'm glad Duck, M.D. is raking in the dough. That means he'll stay in the race longer, and that means the Duck Hunt still has a pulse.

"Right now DeanforAmerica.com Speeding Toward Campaign Daily Fundraising Record" [via InstaPundit]

Duck: Chocoholic

If Howard Dean, M.D. had much money left I'd be offering him some local product for his campaign. The AP reports he spent almost $7,000 on Vermont chocolate. I wonder how much Ben & Jerry's was purchased?

"Dean Campaign Spent $7, 000 on Chocolates" [via Political Wire]

Target: Wisconsin

In Dr. Duck's latest message to his believers supporters he writes,

We took a risk in Iowa by trying to win this race early. We were disappointed after a full assault by the other candidates and the special interest groups, but we picked ourselves up and got stronger. Now, as the field of candidates narrows, we continue to build toward a win in Wisconsin—setting up a clear choice for the voters.

Sounds like he's written off Washington State and Michigan. Dean, M.D. is coming back to Wisconsin on Friday (no details yet), and he's declared the state "up for grabs." He also said, "Let's pay all the taxes we had when Bill Clinton was president." Those tax cuts you've gotten the past few years, they'd vanish under a Duck, M.D. Presidency.

And Dean? For America? is sad.

"Message from Howard Dean"

[via Discount Blogger]

Duck Hunt #9

DH is back. Even though Dr. Dean lost New Hampshire, dumped his campaign manager-turned-rock star, Joe Trippi, and blew through $30 million with only a third and second place to show for it we here a DH HQ persevere. Jon Chait has stopped his Dean-bashing weblog, but since Dean, M.D hasn't thrown in the towel neither will TAM. Dean, M.D. has to come back just for sheer entertainment value, and so I have a reason to buy a Mean Dean talking doll [Thanks, James].

The most interesting Dr. Duck story today is the campaign started paying its workers again. Part of it is from raising $200,000 a day, and part of it is from laying off some of the staff. I hope those ex-employees got a good severence package. Yeah, right. At least they can have the satisfaction of knowing they're only a URL away from the campaign.

Now, on to the blogosphere:

• Dr. Dean put his foot in his mouth again, as Matthew Stinson points out.
  
• Alright, this isn't a weblog post, but James Lileks is a weblogger. Close enough. He writes about the hoopla surrounding Dean's Net strategy and how it failed:
  

  Lesson: Sometimes a bunch of kids sharing their enthusiasm on a Web page is just that, and little more.

  
  
• Rosemary found a Dr. Duck number problem.
  
• BushBlog points out how ticked Joe Trippi was last Tuesday night. His week only got worse.
  
• Dan Conley has little faith in Dean, M.D.'s fiscal acumen:
  

  Giving money to the Dean campaign today is like giving an IMF loan to Russia in 1993 ... you might as well throw your money down a well.

  
  
• D.C. Thornton doesn't trust Dean, M.D. with the federal budget since he blew through his campaign funds like he was Paris Hilton shopping on Rodeo Drive.
  
• Patterico describes Dr. Dean as a "Monday Morning Quarterback."
  
• Dean, M.D. sympathizer Dave Winer rips campaign CEO Roy Neel.
  
• Doc Searls, another Dean, M.D. sympathizer, wants the real story behind the campaign's flame out.
  
• Since Joe Trippi's campaign firm handles(handled?) Dr. Dean's ad buys and at least $7 million was spent on ads that adds up to a nice chunk of change. Clay Whittaker wonders "If someone could find an instance where Dean said he was for a cap on executive pay, this would be particularly ironic." I found something along that line. In an answer to a question on the AFL-CIO website, Dr. Duck said,
  

  As President, I will pursue policies that address the growing gap between executive pay and worker salaries. For example, I would explore proposals to limit the tax deductibility of grossly disproportionate executive compensation.

  
  I'm guessing Dean, M.D. didn't think Trippi's cut was "grossly disproportionate." [I'm not ripping on Trippi's commission. That may be standard practice in campaigns. I'm pointing out Dr. Dean's inconsistency. It's more evidence for why he's all wet.]
  

Join in by linking to the Duck Hunt. If you have an MT-powered weblog, just trackback to this post, and it will appear below. If your weblog software is incapable of trackbacks use Kevin's Trackback Form.

Duck in Milwaukee

Howard Dean, M.D. has found God outside the South. When attending a church in Milwaukee today, he told the congregation, "I am blessed, I am grateful and I thank you. Praise the Lord."

And here's the Meet the Press transcript of Duck, M.D. vs. Tim Russert. I haven't gotten through it yet. When something interesting pops out at me, I'll let you know.

"Dean Seeks Support at North Side Church"

Make or Break in Wisconsin

The Journal Sentinel reports on Howard Dean, M.D.'s Wisconsin-centered strategy. Dr. Duck will be in tomorrow, but sadly this weblogger will be working and unable to attend any events. :-(

"Dean Counts on Wisconsin"

Dean in Milwaukee

Howard Dean, M.D. will be spending a half-day in Brew City. First, he'll spend an hour answering questions from Tim Russert on Meet the Press. Then he'll be hosting a discussion with local black leaders. Then it's off to a church before flying to Michigan.

"Dean Swing through Milwaukee Aimed at Winning Black Support"

Is Duck, M.D. Reading TAM?

Probably not since I'm not part of the Deaniac echo chamber. Here's what Dr. Dean's new campaign manager, Roy Neel, posted to the campaign weblog:

Our goal for the next two and a half weeks is simple—become the last-standing alternative to John Kerry after the Wisconsin primary on February 17.

Why Wisconsin? First, it is a stand-alone primary where we believe we can run very strong. Second, it kicks off a two-week campaign for over 1,100 delegates on March 2, and the shift of the campaign that month to nearly every big state: California, New York, and Ohio on March 2, Texas and Florida on March 9, Illinois on March 16, and Pennsylvania on April 27.

It's similar to what I wrote Wednesday:

Look for Wisconsin, my home state, as a good chance for Duck, M.D.'s last stand. Madison, being a college town and all-around loopy Left area, should come out strong for the anti-war Dean, M.D. On February 17, there will also be a Republican Senate primary to choose Sen. Russ Feingold's opponent. That will keep Republicans from crossing over further concentrating the Left vote. If Duck, M.D. can't win in a situation like that, then stick a fork in him, he's done.

Advantage: TAM!

This makes Wisconsin's 02.17 primary and 02.15 Presidential debate very interesting. That assumes, of course, Sen. John Kerry doesn't run the table next week and be virtually unstoppable by winning Michigan and Washington a few days later.

A UW-Milwaukee poli-sci professor told the Journal Sentinel, "Given that he's for all practical purposes run out of money, it could be that Wisconsin will be his last stand. It could be kind of a Custer's last stand, too."

Dean, M.D. plans on being in Milwaukee Sunday. Even if the Packers aren't playing in the Super Bowl that day, campaigning then will be ignored by football-crazies. Since his money-problems have stopped him from buying campaign ads, Duck, M.D. will need lots of free media I'll give you details about the event when I get them.

Duck-Trippi Relationship

Here's a portion from a post from Howard Dean, M.D. himself:

Losing Joe [Trippi] is a blow, and I still hope that he will come back as a strategic advisor later, he is the best in the business.

Trippi is gone because Dr. Duck wanted a change. He felt he needed a change. If he still thought so highly of Trippi then he wouldn't have fired him. A GQ article may shed some light on the Dean, M.D.-Trippi relationship. When asked if Trippi liked Howard the Duck, he said,

"To tell you the truth," says Joe, "I respect him more than I like him, and I'm not sure he likes me very much. But I think he respects me."

"Joe Trippi's Wild Ride" [via Besty's Page]

Feathers Flying in Burlington

Call this "Duck's Last Stand." Howard Dean dumped his campaign manager Joe Trippi and is guiding the campaign down a cost-conscious path by asking staff to "defer their paychecks for two weeks." It seems to me Duck, M.D. was running his campaign like a dot com drunk with venture capital cash at the height of the Net bubble. The campaign raised $40 million and gave up matching federal funds. Now, it can't pay the staff. If this campaign is about decentralizing things, why isn't there any mention of the money trouble on the weblog? Do they not want to shock those in the echo chamber? Don't Dean, M.D. and his raft trust the followers to come up with some good ideas? Some revolution this is turning out to be.

Dr. Dean told reporters, "We had geared up for what we thought would be a front-runner's campaign. It's not going to be a front-runner's campaign. It's going to be a long, long war of attrition." I thought Dr. Duck preferred to be the insurgent instead of the front-runner. At least that's how Trippi was spinning it after their third-place finish in Iowa.

Dean, M.D. also fell into the "fatal echo chamber" of his own (and Trippi's) creation. Slate's William Saletan describes a rally in New Hampshire last Monday:

Dean makes light of his concession speech on caucus night in Iowa, in which he vented his emotions with a visceral roar. In the week since then, he has repeatedly explained that he wasn't trying to scare the television audience; he was just trying to mirror and affirm the enthusiasm of his supporters who were in that room in Iowa. But that's the problem. Dean wasn't talking to the country. He was talking to his movement. And when he capped that speech with a fiery litany of states that he would win after Iowa—Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina, Arkansas, Connecticut—he was exhorting his troops to vanquish the Democratic presidential candidates from those states. It was the speech of a crusader, not a president.

Replacing Trippi is Roy Neel. Neel is a "Washington insider" Duck, M.D. has been railing against for months. Neel used to work for AlGore and is a former head of the U.S. Telecom Association, something Dr. Duck would call a "special interest."

Howard the Duck's kool-aid kids must just love this. When Dean, M.D.'s done those followers will have quite the hangover.

"Dean Replaces Campaign Leader in Shake Up"

"I See Dean People" [via Power Line]

UPDATE: Oliver Willis reports [via Political Wire] that Dean, M.D. is down to $5 million. He writes,

What did they do, smoke all that money like cheap cigars? The whole idea of a decentralized campaign is to save money, not spend money like you're Pets.com reincarnated.

Nevermind that the ads they ran were crap.

It's safe to say we have witnessed one of the biggest flame-outs in Presidential campaign history.

"The Dean Bubble Pops - For Real?"

Duck Doomed

Howard Dean, M.D. received another shallacking by Sen. John Kerry. Just a few weeks ago, Dean, M.D. was beating Kerry by double digits. Between then and now, Democrats realized politics is about getting someone elected so they're rejecting a scream, angry doctor and putting a liberal, more Presidential-looking Senator in his place as front-runner. The numbers don't lie. Kerry beat Dean, M.D. by 13 points. The media's focus for next week is South Carolina, but Howard the Duck doesn't plan on spending much time there excpet for Thursday's debate. His insulting remarks towards Southerners probably doomed him from any chance of winning there even if he would have won Iowa and New Hampshire. The Duck, M.D. campaign is looking beyond next week's primaries and caucuses. Dean, M.D.'s eyes are targeted on Michigan, Washington, and Wisconsin. To keep the money coming in he's going to have to win somewhere. Mounting losses would only leave Duck, M.D. true believers to complain to one another on Dean, M.D.'s weblog about the conspiratorial, corporate media and the fact they're maxed out from "hitting the bat" anymore.

Look for Wisconsin, my home state, as a good chance for Duck, M.D.'s last stand. Madison, being a college town and all-around loopy Left area, should come out strong for the anti-war Dean, M.D. On February 17, there will also be a Republican Senate primary to choose Sen. Russ Feingold's opponent. That will keep Republicans from crossing over further concentrating the Left vote. If Duck, M.D. can't win in a situation like that, then stick a fork in him, he's done.

As for the Duck Hunt, it will go on as long a Howard Dean, M.D. is in the race. Whether it's tracking blogosphere reaction to his zany and ridiculous comments or covering a death march is up to Dean, M.D. and his band of kool-aid-drinking followers. Whether anyone will care is up to you.

"Kerry Wins New Hampshire As Dean's Rebound Falls Short"

"Where Do We Go From Here?"

UPDATE: Dr. Duck knows he's in trouble. Here's a bit of his conversation with Larry King last night:

Larry: Do you have to do -- do have you to win two or three states next week? Logically?

Dean: No, all we have to do is keep the support, the enormous support of the grassroots behind us. We've raised a lot of money this week over the internet, more than has been reported than the other candidates. We intend to change this country. We're not in this just to change presidents. We want to change America. I want to give America back to ordinary working families again from a power structure in Washington that's really taken is from them. George bush thinks corporations are more important than people and i don't.

Dean, M.D. knows that the game is about getting delegates. That means he has to do better than Sen. John Kerry. That means he has to win somewhere. Each time Kerry beats Duck, M.D. and wins more delegates he sets Dean, M.D. back twice as much. First, Kerry gets closer to that magical number of 2162 delegates needed for nomination. Plus Dean, M.D. is prevented from getting those delegates for himself since this is a zero-sum game.

Duck Hunt #8

After the "I Have a Scream" speech it's gotten harder to find critical posts on Howard Dean, M.D. It's Kerry this and Kerry that. Did you know he served in Vietnam? However, Howard Dean, M.D. is closing in on Sen. John Kerry. Like the Duck, M.D. campaign there may be some life left in this blatant attempt at web traffic. To my New Hampshire readers, if you want the Duck Hunt to continue go out and vote for Howard Dean, M.D. Go, Duck Go!

• Steven Taylor is going out on a limb by predicting a Duck, M.D. win in a "squeaker."
• Hugh Hewitt thinks Dean, M.D. will win New Hampshire because "All of these people and more have a stake in the New Hampshire primary's uniqueness, a uniqueness that diminishes in value if New Hampshire comes to be understood as a vote that ratifies the Iowa results, as opposed to upending them." [via Power Line]
• Captain's Quarters wonders how Howard the Duck can reconcile ripping President Bush on civil liberties while formerly calling for a national ID to get government services and access the Net.
• Cam Edwards points out the obvious. Iraqis are better off now that Saddam is gone despite Dr. Duck's assertion that "their [Iraqis'] living standard is a whole lot worse now than it was before." Monetarily they may be worse off but Cam writes what's now missing:

  No rape rooms. No more mass graves. No more children kidnapped from rest rooms for daring to write "Down With Saddam" on a bathroom wall.

• Venomous Kate has links that show Dean, M.D. is once again all wet. (Hence, the moniker.)
• Gregg Easterbrook is puzzled. Dean came off as weird after the "I Have a Scream" speech, but "there is absolutely nothing in Dean's record to suggest that he is, in fact, weird."
• Bill Hobbs found a New Republic article that looked at the reaction of Howard the Duck's followers to the Iowa loss. How about this description of the campaign:

  the campaign had become a kind of glorified Friendster network

• If you didn't see the NY Post front page last week, Steve Silver fixes that.
• Mike links the former Vermont governor to existentialist painting.
• Matthew Stinson has some lyrics and a picture for a candidate who thought he had it all only to see it vanish with a scream.
• The Commissar dug up an rock classic.

Join in by linking to the Duck Hunt. If you have an MT-powered weblog, just trackback to this post, and it will appear below. If your weblog software is incapable of trackbacks use Kevin's Trackback Form.

Did in by a Scream?

Partially inspired by mtpolitics' admission that he didn't think the "I Have a Scream" speech wasn't "that big of a deal" I wonder if Dr. Duck's campaign would be at the point of collapse if he wouldn't have released that UFW-inspired wail. Without the "YEEEAAAHHH!!!" television and radio shows wouldn't have had anything stunning to replay over and over. There may have been one or two remixes made mocking Dean, M.D.'s fine ability to list states, but not the plethora of interesting choices being created on computers across the globe. Without the scream, Howard the Duck wouldn't have felt the need to be interviewed by Diane Sawyer last night. If there was no scream some people wouldn't be having their first impression of Dr. Duck as a raving lunatic--which he isn't. The scream didn't cost him Iowa, but it may have prevented him from getting back into the race.

Scream Source

There's an explanation from Dave Winer as to why Dr. Duck screamed the way he did:

I was at Dean headquarters on the night of the Iowa caucuses, and I watched the Dean rant on TV in the office, with the other Web programmers. A few minutes before the speech they had a staff meeting in the conference room. Everyone was there except me and another guest. Not being a staffer, I didn't belong in the staff meeting. Several times during the meeting a loud crazy-sounding scream came from the room, everyone was doing it, and it was really frightening. The stuff of nightmares. This was before Howard Dean's rant. I asked Jim Moore what that was about, he said it's an Indian war yell or something like that, they used to do it in United Farm Workers rallies, and they adopted it at Dean For America. A few minutes later Dean let out the famous scream, it was the same scream I heard in the conference room.

My conclusion: the whole staff is looney. Passionate, yes, but quite weird.

"The Famous Dean Rant"

Duck Interview

I caught the Diane Sawyer interview with the Dr. Duck and his wife.

Here are some explanations from Dr. Duck for his very weird moment last Monday:

• He wanted to make his supporters "feel they did their work." [They didn't because Duck, M.D. lost...badly.]

• "I was having a great time."

• "I'm not a perfect person."

• "I do things that are a little nutty."

• "I am who I am." [Which is why he shouldn't be President.]
  

Dean, M.D. admits the scene "wasn't Presidential." His wife Dr. Judy Steinberg "thought it looked kind of silly."

Howard the Duck was self-deprecating. How could he not be and still appear to be in control of his faculties? He laughed and smiled about the incident.

I was disappointed at Diane Sawyer's emphasis on Dr. Steinberg not being on the campaign trail. That's not been an issue here at TAM, nor did I notice that concern in the zeitgeist of Dr. Duck.

Duck, M.D. blames the media for making his insurgent campaign more dominating than it really was. He told Sawyer, "I knew we were never the front-runner." He called the Dean "juggernaut" a "creation of the media." Funny, the campaign didn't try to play down things when Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News put him on their front covers. His was the campaign that bragged about how they are using the Internet to raise money and organize followers like no campaign did before. Duck, M.D. and his gang raised more money, faster than any other Democratic Presidential candidate in history. He was on such a roll he decided not to accept federal-matching funds to not stop the fundraising machine. These guys believed the hype, and they crashed down to reality last Monday.

I haven't seen tonight's debate, so I can't connect the effects from all of Dr. Duck's free media. Just from the Sawyer interview, I find the two Deans to be a happy couple. They appear to deeply love each other and their family. That's fine to know if they're your next-door neighbors. However, Dr. Duck wants to be President of the United States. Admiting you "do things that are a little nutty" and stating plainly, "I am who I am" probably won't engender confidence in primary voters.

UPDATE: The always good Betsy linked to the story on the ABC News website. It's not great damage control when the story is titled "'I’m a Human Being’". She also notes (along with Political Wire) that Duck, M.D. did David Letterman's Top Ten List tonight.

UPDATE II: Matthew Stinson wonders if the scream was Duck, M.D.'s "Gennifer Flowers moment."

Video Worse than Audio

I took California Yankee's advice and watched Dr. Duck's speech. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and not think he was over-the-top. My conclusion: he loved being the loose cannon. As he took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, he completely knew he wanted to rev up his followers. Then when he went into his state-by-state rant, his eyes went demonic. He was letting all his Bush and fellow Democrat hatred bubble up to the surface. Sure, he was playing to the crowd, but Howard Dean is running for President not carnival barker.

"Yowl, Yell or Yodel, Dean Painted As Demonic"

News from Duck's Weblog

Joe Trippi, campaign manager for Dr. Duck's campaign, is blaming the media for all the (bad) publicity over the "YEEEEAAAAHHH!!" speech Monday night. He writes,

The Governor looked out at the room and saw 3500 people who had come from all across the country because they believed in changing their country and he wanted them to know how proud he was of them and their efforts. And he wanted them to know that we’re going on no matter what.

He wasn’t thinking about the cameras. It was the people right in front of him who had done so much because they believe in a better America that he was speaking to.

That the press would report on his speech for one day is understandable. But what’s remarkable is that they could run it over and over for 48 hours and still call it journalism. The State of the union took place. The next day we find out that Bush plans to ask for $40 billion more for his war in Iraq. But what do they run over and over again?

You know the speech (using that term loosely) is really hurting when the campaign manager has to make a public statement about it over two days later. If Trippi really wants to know who's responsible for the meltdown, all he has to do is look at his boss.

"The Real Story"

---

Now, registration is required to comment on weblog posts at Blog for America. It's probably wise to have some kind of gateway mechanism to keep the real trolls out (not just those who offer critical takes on the campaign), but the timing is awful. Duck, M.D. gets whupped on Monday, and early Thursday morning the Net response appears to be squelching of discussion. Nothing sinister may have up anyone's sleeve. The "upgrade" might just have been scheduled because the primary season has begun, and the campaign expects more traffic. It just looks like even the Internet campaign is as defensive as the meatspace one.

"Comment Registration Has Arrived"

A Tale of Two Politicians

This from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel media columnist Tim Cuprisin:

The contrast between two nights of television was stunning.

On Tuesday, it was President George W. Bush in control of the cameras, selling his agenda to the nation on the major networks and news channels. Calm and confident, the president laid out what he'll be running on this election year.

"We have come through recession and terrorist attack and corporate scandals and the uncertainties of war," he told Congress. "And because you acted to stimulate our economy with tax relief, this economy is strong and growing stronger."

The night before, it had been former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean out of control before the cameras, sounding more like he was annexing the Sudetenland than moving on to the New Hampshire primary. He ranted and raved, his eyes flashing like a madman's. Then he ended it with a weird New England war whoop.

"While Bush Stands Tall, Dean Takes a Tumble"

New Music Sensation

Ironically, the medium that lauched Howard the Duck is the same one that will immortalize his 01.10.04 Iowa concession speech. Expect these remixes to become the next craze in European discoteques.

"Howard Dean's Iowa Concession Speech Remixes" [via Wizbang!]

Net Users Reject Duck

Here's how bad Howard the Duck did in Iowa:

Voter surveys in Iowa Monday night held surprising news for the former Vermont governor, whose Internet-driven candidacy attracted scores of young supporters.

In Iowa, Dean underperformed among several groups that were supposed to be key to his success. Kerry beat him among young adults, liberals, heavy Internet users, those who strongly disapproved of the war with Iraq and first-time caucus-goers.

Dean couldn't even win the heave Net users. With his campaign ignited by innovative uses of the Net, he should have easily got this segment of the caucusers.

Remember, the Iowa results are from 100,000 people who were slathered with political ads, phone calls, and door knocking for months. Plus, New Hampshire is a different animal.

"Dean Looks to Revitalize His Campaign"

Duck Hunt #7

The post-Iowa dust has settled. The conventional wisdom is Dr. Duck is nuts, he'll lose New Hampshire, and then he'll return to Vermont to yell at Ben & Jerry's employees for mixing Cherry Garcia with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. I'll be generous is saying that Dean for America as well as the Duck Hunt are on life support. Howard, quit thinking about yourself and get competitive again. Don't do it for your cult following. Do it for this humble weblogger. Go, Duck, Go!

• Steven Taylor puts it gently: "Dean Looks Lost." [Does anyone know if there's a recording of Dr. Duck singing the National Anthem?]
• Dean Esmay tells us why he didn't buy the Net hype:

  this "Howard Dean's running a different kind of campaign" stuff is horse manure. Why? Because Pat Buchanan was doing all that in the early 1990s, virtually exactly the same way, in his attempt to win the Republican nomination. His only difference was web sites and internet listservs, rather than weblogs.

• Dean has another entry. Late, but powerful. He urges a closer look at the Dr. Duck's raft of weblog commenters who the campaign considers to be heart of the campaign.
• Michele covers Howard the Duck's public "Angry White Male" meltdown.
• Jon Chait posts two e-mails from Duck, M.D. defectors. I wonder how bummed he is that his Dean-bashing weblog might also die a quick death.
• Erick Erickson discovered Duck, M.D. was awfully strange before his Monday-night meltdown.
• Stephen Green found David Letterman's top-ten analysis for why Dean lost.
• The Duck, M.D. youth movement failed in Iowa. PunchtheBag writes, "Now we know how Gen-Xers got the nickname slackers."
• A guest poster at A Small Victory posted a good joke:

  Q: Why did Howard Dean cross the road?

  A: to get to California! And North Dakota! And New Mexico! And Texas! And New York! And New Hampshire! And South Carolina! And Coruscant! And Mordor! And Trantor! And Rhode Island! Yeeeaaagh!

  
  
• Duck, M.D.'s ranting quacking has become a blogosphere game. Michele, Tim Blair, and the Commissar all have their fun.
  
• ScrappleFace has fun with the scream, Dr. Duck's weblog hype, and his opinion of Iowans.
  Finally, we have a battle of the bands: James Lileks vs. a Deaniac from Georgia.
  

Join in by linking to the Duck Hunt. If you have an MT-powered weblog, just trackback to this post, and it will appear below. If your weblog software is incapable of trackbacks use Kevin's Trackback Form.

Roast Duck

Pragmatism is the theme from last night's Iowa caucuses. With Dean not winning it shows Iowa Democrats care more about defeating President Bush than making the election an anti-Bush temper tantrum. That's good for the continued viability of the Democratic Party as well as civilized political discourse. But it's bad for TAM's Duck Hunt.

Sen. John Kerry's victory salvaged his campaign. The win will give him a big boost in New Hampshire. We'll see how that plays when two other candidates (Clark and Lieberman) are duking it out.

I thought Dean would get the nomination. He still could do it, but I'm not very confident with my prediction. I fell into the Internet frenzy that catapulted Duck, M.D. to the head of the pack. I figured Dean's campaign tapped into something the other candidates didn't. All the while I was castigating the raft for thinking the Duck, M.D. campaign was revolutionary movement. I called it a "decentralized marketing campaign pushing a candidate as the product." Oops! If Howard the Duck would have stuck with Chris Suellentrop's suggestion not to be "a blunt, moderate Democrat and his policies" instead of becoming "a campaign about a messianic figure and his movement" he wouldn't have rose to the top or garnered such intense support (deep but not broad as Iowa showed).

Iowans appear to have been turned off by the swarm of Deaniacs who invaded their state both in person and through the mail. One Deaniac gave a possible explanation for Duck, M.D.'s thrashing:

How would you feel if you were bombarded by letters telling YOU which candidate to vote for? Yes, it keeps us grunts energized writing all those letters, but the irritation factor was probably high (and I bet the internal polls confirm this). Edwards' juvenile comment about not wanting "y'all" to tell US what to do, may have a message in it for us Dean supporters.

In Dean World where the special kool-aid is always flowing we have comments like, "If I could send you warm beams of confidence and peace from my keyboard, I would."

Dave in Wisconsin wrote,

The remarks read better than they watched, Burlington.

Regrettably, few will read them, and those who watch the speech will do so with the sound turned off and the punditry brigade on.

Enthusiasm is a wonderful thing, when enthusiasm projects a positive force.

I fear that the speech, without a doubt hard to make, did not do Dr. Dean credit.

Then there's the ever-present Bush hatred:

The Gov deserves our RESPECT and support for what he has done..to bring us all together against this Admin, which is RUINING OUR LIVES!

And this:

My little boys deserve a President who believes in them. And Heaven knows they're not safe under a Bush-Cheney-Wolfowitz administration.

If anyone writes anything critical about Dr. Duck they're labeled a "troll" and discounted. That's not the actions of people engaged in reasonable debate. It's quasi-cultism where any deliniation from the group's conventional wisdom is deemed apostasy.

The Deaniacs need to take Matt Stoller's post to heart:

Now Kucinich is viable. They took enough chunks from the Kerry/Edwards/Sharpton folk to get a delegate. What a disaster for the new politics. Dean could play in the new world, but as JFK showed in 1960, it wasn't enough to be great on TV. He had to win the machines first. Dean won the internet in July, but lost Iowa in February.

To go back to the theme of pragmatism, in order for any Democratic nominee to not be completely dominated in an air war by Bush/Cheney their only two choices are Dean and Kerry because both of them refused to take federal matching funds. Kerry has momentum, but just like Iowa changed quickly from Dean to Kerry, New Hampshire could fluctuate.

On to Howard the Duck's "consession" speech. It was filled with fury, and he loved it. He eyes were bright and penetrating reveling in the fury he could generate from the crowd. His fists were pumping as he called out all the states he was going to fight in. Then he ended it with some undescribable yell [via Drudge]. What was that noise? MSNBC's Keith Olbermann had this to say about the speech:

Suddenly Dean's in third place and worse yet, he called his own defeat long before any of the results were official. And then wound up the night with one of the weirdest interludes in recent political history: Not only did he play 'I can name all the states,' but he seemed to be doing some cross between wrestler Hulk Hogan... and jazz immortal Louie Armstrong.

Alan Simpson called him a "prairie dog on speed."

Is there some equivalent to Mad Cow Disease for ducks? If not, call the vets, I think I found the first case last night.

Howard the Duck's post-caucus speech was so unique it confused Al-Jazeera. Their story (which appears to be from the AFP wire) is titled "Dean Vows to Fight Every State." Maybe something was lost in translation. I'll let you be the judge.

One member of Dean's raft was so "confident" in his candidate that she bet a San Francisco Chronicle reporter that Duck, M.D. would get less than 30%. The woman won. Get me her number. I want her Super Bowl pick. Pats or Cats?

Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi had the best spin of the night when he told the LA Times, "It's kind of like we're back [to the position] where we're the best, where he's the insurgent." Trippi must be tripping out if he really thinks his man won by losing.

Jeff Jarvis revels in Dr. Duck's defeat. Of course, some would say his opinion doesn't count since he's not liberal enough.

Kos lists last night's winners and losers.

"Shattering Iowa Myths"

UPDATE: THE place to go in the blogosphere for Iowa coverage is The Command Post.

I'm Confused

How can Howard the Duck be leading in delegates while getting his clock cleaned in Iowa? And does the AP count included superdelegates?

"Delegate Count"

"Kerry Wins Big in Iowa, Gephardt Drops Out"

Duck Hunt #6

In less than five hours Iowa Democrats will head to their caucuses. These small groups of party die-hards will make or break years of hard campaigning. These last few weeks of traveling across the cold, wind-blown state has brought about fatigue and minor ailments. But Howard the Duck, M.D.'s wings have refused to stop flapping while his raft has flooded Iowa in what the campaign calls "The Perfect Storm."

Howard the Duck may have shown how much he really cares about the caucuses by zippin down to Georgia to invite himself to church with Jimmy Carter.

Back in college, Dr. Duck patronized some black classmates by insisting on a black roommate.

Now, let's go to the blogosphere:

• Jonathan Chait looks into an inventor of the Duck, M.D. campaign's "ignore-the-center" strategy.
• Captain's Quarters finds an interesting nugget I missed in the Drs. Dean People interview.
• David Hogberg tries to explain why the Dems' #1 waterfowl is faultering in Iowa. To quote Hogberg, "The problem is Dean has made the mistake of equating 'uneducated' with 'stupid.'"
• Orrin Judd reaffirms my justification for dubbing Dr. Dean, "Howard the Duck."
• Randall McElroy at Catallarchy.net hammers Duck, M.D.'s war hypocrisy after news of "Bosnia letter" came out.
• Frank J. imagines Dr. Duck with the bomb. And you though Dr. Stranglove was scarry.
• Finally, Cox & Forkum have one funny cartoon.

Join in by linking to the Duck Hunt. If you have an MT-powered weblog, just trackback to this post, and it will appear below. If your weblog software is incapable of trackbacks use Kevin's Trackback Form.

Deanisms

NRO's Byron York has started documenting wacky quacks from Dr. Duck. Here's the first "Deanism":

Here's a good one — highly qualified teachers, right? The president is going to decide who highly qualified teachers are! [crowd laughter] He had so many of them, right? [more laughter] I shouldn't have said that. It's not presidential."

Since Bush and Dean both went to Yale what does this tell us about Howard the Duck's high opinion of his alma matter? In this case, Dean isn't a duck, he's an ass.

[via Matthew Stinson]

People Interviews Drs. Duck

Other than the occasional campaign quips by Howard the Duck, the interview portrays the couple as pretty ordinary. They seem to be devoted to their children and each other. They both also seem to be pretty even-keeled, which makes me wonder if Duck, M.D.'s Bush Rage schtick is just a gimmick for his Bush-hating followers.

[via Drudge]

UPDATE: Stephen Green is really hard on the couple.

Quacking on Foreign Policy

The Council on Foreign Relations has a website devoted to foreign policy statements by the Presidential candidates. Guess which person I clicked on first? (You only get one.)

Last February Dr. Duck said in a speech,

Now, I am not among those who say that America should never use its armed forces unilaterally. In some circumstances, we have no choice. In Iraq, I would be prepared to go ahead without further Security Council backing if it were clear the threat posed to us by Saddam Hussein was imminent, and could neither be contained nor deterred.

Such nuance escapes Duck, M.D. now that the primary season is underway.

Then there's this quote from the same speech:

I believe that the President undercuts our long-term national security interests and the established international order when he seeks to replace decades of bipartisan consensus on the use of American force with a new doctrine justifying preemptive attacks against other nation states - not because of their current action or imminent threat, but to preempt a threat that could arise in the future.

It looks to me that back then Dean wasn't accusing the Bush administration of labeling Saddam's Iraq an imminent threat. Rather, he acknowledged that an argument for war was to remove a future threat. Why then does Dr. Duck make the "imminent threat" accusation other than to pander to his intensely anti-war, anti-Bush followers?

Let's compare the above quote from last February's speech with a quote from his statement on the one-year anniversary of Congress giving President Bush authority to invade Iraq:

I opposed the President's preemptive war because I thought the threat wasn't imminent and because I thought it would make us less safe here in America.

"The opinion polls were against me, but I knew I had to stand up for what I believed.

"Today we know the American people were badly misled over the past year. We've now learned that Saddam was not involved in the September 11th attacks, that there was no strong evidence Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction that presented an imminent threat to the United States, that Iraq did not try to purchase nuclear materials from Africa, that Saddam was nowhere near developing nuclear weapons, and that the Bush administration had no real plan for reconstruction once Saddam was gone.

In April, 2003 Dean made a back-handed accusation that Bush labeled Saddam's Iraq an imminent threat. It's the earliest mention of "imminent threat" I've found from Dr. Duck.

[via Daniel Drezner and Spinsanity]

Unilateral Howard and an Issue to Run On

It looks like Dr. Duck's standard for going to war are as warped as that of the Clinton administration. Going to war in Iraq on behalf of U.S. security interests is wrong and immoral, but going to war in Bosnia, a place of little U.S. concern is correct and right even if done unilaterally.

Hooray or USA Today for countering the standard Dean campaign rhetoric of an "imminent threat" with what President Bush actually said. A commenter linked to a Daniel Drezner debate over Iraq War rhetoric. He concluded that while the term "imminent threat" wasn't used the Bush administration made comments implying that that was exacty what Iraq had become. To the Deaniacs, unless the WMD were cocked and loaded or given to a terrorist group there was so significant threat to the U.S. That's quite different than this administrations approach. I quote from the 2002 National Security Strategy:

We must be prepared to stop rogue states and their terrorist clients before they are able to threaten or use weapons of mass destruction against the United States and our allies and friends. Our response must take full advantage of strengthened alliances, the establishment of new partnerships with former adversaries, innovation in the use of military forces, modern technologies, including the development of an effective missile defense system, and increased emphasis on intelligence collection and analysis.

Drezner concludes that the administration expanded the the definition of "imminent threat." So, both sides of this rhetorical argument have something to stand on. The President didn't use the word "imminent," and the anti-warriors can argue that that's what he implied. How about this: I'll stop claiming the anti-warriors are perpetuating a lie if they stop claiming Bush said Iraq was an imminent threat? The debate over a word doesn't change my opinion of the correctness of the Iraq War. Iraq as an imminent threat wasn't my reason for advocating war. It was the fact that Saddam's Iraq had ties to terrorists (Abu Nidal and possibly low-level contact with al-Qaeda), used chemical weapons in the past, and attempted to assassinate President George H. W. Bush. Eugene Volokh's blackmail scenerio deals with nuclear weapons, which Saddam didn't have, but it could still happen with chemical or biological weapons. The threat was there, and war was, unfortunately, the best way to deal with it.

Dean and the anti-warriors would be on much firmer ground if they argued that the intelligence system failed. It failed to prevent the Sep. 11th attacks and not (it can be argued) they failed to properly assess Saddam's WMD capabilities. However, by critiquing the intelligence system they have to indict other nations besides the U.S. During the war debate no nation, including France, stood up and claimed Saddam didn't have WMD. The argument wasn't if he had them or not, but how to deal with him. Last August, Francis Fukuyama wrote:

The inability to locate these weapons is vastly more consequential to American credibility than the fact that the White House staff failed to vet 16 words in a single speech. The missing weapons reflect a much more fundamental institutional intelligence failure.

The source of this failure does not lie in the political agenda of this administration. The Bush people are right in saying that their estimates of WMD stockpiles were no different from the conclusions of the Clinton administration. And the latter would say, if asked, that their assessment was drawn from Unscom, the U.N. weapons inspectors who operated in Iraq from 1991-98. The intelligence failure is thus ultimately traceable to Unscom, and deeply embedded in an intelligence process that in the 1990s was biased toward overestimation of threats.

Calling for a systematic analysis and reforming of the intelligence community would be a proactive issue for Dean to campaign on. I just don't see him taking that up because it wouldn't fit well with the Bush-hating of his devoted followers.

"Dean Urged Clinton to Take Unilateral Action in Bosnia"

[I've linked this post to OTB's Beltway Jam]

Liar, Liar

The Dean campaign continues to perpetuate the Iraq-as-imminent-threat lie. Read last year's State of the Union speech and show me where President Bush makes that claim. You can't because he didn't do it. Instead, he said,

Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option.

"Dean Calls War "Strategic Error"; Cites Army War College Report, Secretary O'Neill Statements, Carnegie Endowment"

Duck Hunt #5

Let's begin this edition of the Duck Hunt with the Ed Koch's endorsement of President Bush. Here's the portion on Howard the Duck:

The Democrat now leading in the race, former governor Howard Dean, is a disgrace. His willingness to publicly entertain the slander that President Bush had advance warning of the September 11 attacks and his statement that America is no safer as a result of the capture of Saddam Hussein should have been sufficient to end his candidacy. But the radicals who dominate the primaries love the red meat that is thrown to them, even when it comes from a mad cow.

"Democratic Defection" [via Drumwaster's Rants]

"Dean's Wife Shuns Politics"

---

Let's see what the blogosphere is thinking:

• Hoystory.com comments on Dr. Duck's confrontation with an Iowan. I don't care if Mr. Ungerer is a registered Republican. Howard the Duck didn't have to treat him so distainfully. But his "George Bush is not my neighbor" quip and the resulting applause by his followers proves again that his campaign is built on anger.
• One Fine Jay and A Small Victory comment on the absense of Mrs. Duck, M.D. on the campaign trail. I have nothing against Dr. Steinberg. In fact, I find it refreshing to not see a candidate's spouse trotted around like an ornament.
• Howard the Duck was wrong. Capturing Saddam made Americans safer. Attacks in Iraq are down since the dictator's capture, as Bill Hobbs notes.
• Then there's James' discovery of a new anti-Duck bumper sticker. I got a mild chuckle out of it, but to paraphrase Mr. Ungerer Deaniacs are our neighbors too. It's not their fault. It's just the techno-utopian socialism in the kool-aid Duck, M.D.'s campaign doles out.

Now it's your turn. If you have an MT-powered weblog, just trackback to this post, and it will appear below. If your weblog software is incapable of trackbacks use Kevin's Trackback Form. Also, if you find a weblog post you think would be good for a future issue of the Duck Hunt, e-mail me.

Reality TV

The Duck, M.D. campaign as reality TV fodder. Yeah, just what I want to watch: angry Dr. Duck and his gang of merry webloggers sneering in response to everything "wrong" President Bush does. All the while passing out cups of their secret-recipe kool-aid that makes Dean's raft believe they're on the cusp of techno-democratic utopia. Watching it would be more painful than Paris Hilton's and Nichole Richie's The Simple Life.

I have to admit, I own the Clinton campaign documentary, The War Room because it's a great view of how a Presidential campaign operates. While I disagree with James Carville's and George Stephanopolus' politics, they certainly know how to win elections. And how can you not like watching Carville rambling on over a 1 1/2 hour movie? [Note: That doesn't mean I can stand him 2 1/2 hours a week on Crossfire.]

Now, if you want good reality TV filled with characters and oodles of drama, catch ESPN's World Series of Poker. Binion's in Las Vegas is closed up, so this might be the your only chance to see something quite like it.

[via Dave at Deinonychus antirhopus]

Duck or Thumb

Damn! Before the "Howard the Duck" meme can really sink in Jeff Jarvis runs with comment that Dean looks like a thumb. The meme has already infected Matthew Stinson who thought up the moniker "Thumb-Powered Howard." If this catches on my Duck Hunt will go the way of Nintendo's light gun.

So, I'll ask my audience: Howard the Duck or Thumb-Powered Howard? To vote leave a comment or trackback this post on your weblog.

Duck Hunt #4

With possible chemical weapons found in Iraq I can't wait to see Howard the Duck's response. Is America still not safer with Saddam captured? As for the mortar rounds Blaster writes that they're the real deal because "No other liquids would be contained in a mortar round."

"Found Shells Contain Blister Agent, Tests Show"

---

On to the posts:

• Randall McElroy at Catallarchy.net found some hypocrisy, Duck, M.D.-style.
• Captain's Quarters goes into politics, religion, and how Dean is doing nothing more than pandering. Howard the Duck's new-found faith has inspired a song. [via Rosemary]
• Slings and Arrows senses a Duck, M.D. primary victory but an landslide general election defeat. While Deaniacs are passionate and monetarily generous they just don't have the numbers for Dr. Dean to beat Bush. [via Jay Solo]

Join in. If you have an MT-powered weblog, just trackback to this post, and it will appear below. If your weblog software is incapable of trackbacks use Kevin's Trackback Form.

Duck Hunt #3

There may be some confusion as to why this linkfest is titled "The Duck Hunt" and why I refer to Howard Dean, M.D. as "Howard the Duck" and "Duck, M.D." Back last July, Dean supported sending U.S. troops to Liberia, but opposed the Iraq War. I dubbed him "Howard the Duck" because he was all wet. Today, he still is. So we go from one of the biggest movie bombs of the 1980s (and black mark on George Lucas' film career) to a Nintendo classic. Now, if I could only find my light gun.

• Deacon at Power Line sees Duck, M.D. as vulnerable, but will still get the nomination.
• Even when Duck, M.D. gets the nomination he has a really tall mountain to climb (or is that fly over?). Robert Musil has the numbers, and they don't look good.
• Moxie has a great quip in connection with Duck, M.D.'s God and homosexuality remark. [via ShortDaddy]
• Rosemary links to a Club for Growth calculator so you can find out how much a Dean Presidency would cost you in higher taxes. [via resurrectionsong]
• Steven's post is a few days old (dogs years in the blogosphere), but I don't care. It's good because it provides a possible explanation for Howard the Duck's prickly personality.
• And to be nice to Cam Edwards. Here's his "No war for queso!" post.

Join in. If you have an MT-powered weblog, just trackback to this post, and it will appear below. If your weblog software is incapable of trackbacks use Kevin's Trackback Form.

UPDATE: When pinging to the Duck Hunt please link to the post. Links both ways help readers find more good weblogs.

The Dean Tapes

When are these shows coming out of DVD? I want them.

I especially want to capture that moment when he called Republicans opposed to affirmative action "racists." I want to watch it over and over on Election Night when Duck, M.D. loses.

"Tale of the Tape on Howard Dean" [via Wizbang]

Duck Hunt #2

With the Iowa caucuses in only a few weeks, things are starting to get nasty or desparate. Dick Gephardt's campaign is accusing Howard the Duck's campaign of planning to sneak in non-Iowans into the caucuses.

"Gephardt Aide Accuses Dean of Caucus Fraud Plan"

---

Howard the Duck insists on being 5'8 3/4". Dean the oddly explains that "The reason I don't tell anybody about the three-quarters is that it sounds like I'm very sensitive about my height. And I'm not." Yeah, Duck, M.D. doesn't tell anybody about the three-quarters unless it's a writer for the New Republic. This guy is turning into the oddest Presidential candidate I've ever witnessed.

"The Cutest Little Baby Face"

---

Now, onto the posts:

• Steve Verdon writes that Duck, M.D. is flip-flopping on repealing President Bush's tax cuts. He notes that Dean has little choice, or he'll end up like Paul Tsongas, Michael Dukakis, and Walter Mondale. Duck, M.D.'s rhetorical pattern matches pretty well with how he's approached winning the peace in Iraq.
• Staying on the evolving Duck, M.D. tax plan, Jonathan Chiat blasts Dean, M.D.:

  So, having pocketed the gains from demagoguing his opponents, Dean can now make the same calculation they did. Now he will be able to tell middle-class voters they'll come out even under his plan.

  And that's from an admitted Bush-hater.
• Rosemary shows that Howard Dean, M.D. has a tall order to fill after getting Bill Bradley's endorsement.
• There's plenty of talk about Duck, M.D.'s remark that "if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would have not created gay people." Orrin Judd writes,

  This effectively obviates the very concept of sin, because God wouldn't have created murderers, paedophiles, necrophiliacs, genocidists, etc., etc., etc. if their actions were sinful. In Mr. Dean's bizarro world, the very commission of a sin makes it unsinful.

• C-Log found a glaring inconsistency in Dean, M.D.'s reason for sealing some of his records while not sealing others.

Join in. If you have an MT-powered weblog, just trackback to this post, and it will appear below. If your weblog software is incapable of trackbacks use Kevin's Trackback Form.

Scary

Imagine going to the doctor's office in Vermont. You're just there for your yearly physical so you're not nervous about the doctor finding anything seriously wrong. The nurse takes you to the exam room and tells you to undress and wait for the doctor. You take off your clothes, put on the paper gown, and sit on the cold exam table waiting. After a few minutes of your eyes wandering around the room looking at all the medical instruments that might be used in your exam, the door opens. Fright falls upon you as you look at this sight.

Yeah, I'd want to wake up from that bad dream too.

Duck Hunt #1

The new year brings a gimick to TAM. Kevin started a weekly bonfire, there are a couple of carnivals floating around the blogosphere, James gives you a daily D.C. traffic report, Kate does her best Sesame Street impersonation, and Steven lets us know which Democratic candidates have gone past "golden brown" to "burnt to a crisp." My creation is the Duck Hunt. A quick glance at the graphic above should make it obvious that this is all about the Democratic candidate I most love to pick on: Howard Dean, M.D. This is where I'll be collecting other webloggers' posts on the former governor of Vermont.

In this issue we have:

• Steven pointing out that Duck, M.D. has a big lead in the "superdelegate" race.
  
• Matthew Stinson links to the pretty lame Duck-as-Hitler reference in an NY Post column.
  
• Kevin Whited has an interesting post on Duck, M.D. and abortion.
  
• Stephen Green had invented a new acronym for Howard the Duck's new tax plan.
  

Now that you get the drift of what the Duck Hunt is all about, you can join in. If you have an MT-powered weblog, just trackback to this post, and it will appear below. If your weblog software is incapable of trackbacks (shame, shame) use Kevin's Trackback Form.

Now, let's go hunting!

In With the Good Air. Out With the Bad Air

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

[via Betsy's Blog]

Letter to Dean, M.D.

Dear Dr. Duck,

Please refrain from wearing a Green Bay Packers hat on the campaign trail. They're my favorite sports team and I don't appreciate you jumping on their playoff bandwagon just so you can pad your lead in Wisconsin. Also, they have a winning tradition which you won't know much about after you're defeated next November.

Please ignore Jonah Goldberg's ignorant comment implying the Packers are some kind of quasi-socialist organization. While they are own by shareholders, they are still a private entity. They are a great example of a community-supported enterprise that seldom needed government help. Currently, the team does receive tax-payer support for the remodeling of Lambeau Field so they wouldn't make too many libertarians happy. Let it be noted that the Packers aren't a good example of the socialistic tendencies inherent in your campaign platform.

If by some gift from God (he does work in mysterious ways) you become the next President of the United States and the Packers win a Super Bowl during your term, feel free to wear a hat with a big "G" on it. For now, stick with one of these or, more fitting, one of these.

Sincerely,

Sean Hackbarth

Sore Winner

It's not enough for Duck, M.D. to be the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. He also demands to be treated with kid gloves. If not then he threatens to keep his supporters away from the polls if he doesn't get to face President Bush next year.

Then there's also the hypocrisy where it's ok for Duck, M.D. to bash "conventional Washington politicians," but they can't try to clip his wings.

"Dean: Dems Doomed if He Loses Nomination" [via Hoystory]

TAM Labels Dean "Twit"

Keeping quacking Dr. Duck. He has to be speaking only to his Net heads because calling the Bush White House "the most dangerous administration in my lifetime" will do nothing to win over conservative and swing voters.

"Dean Labels Bush 'Reckless'" [via Drudge]

I'll Stop the World and Melt for You

Sen. Joe Lieberman said Howard the Duck would "melt in a minute once the Republicans start going after him." Was he trying to make a funny? Remember some of the best ice cream is made in Duck, M.D.'s Vermont. (My tastebuds transcend ideology.)

"Lieberman: Dean Will 'Melt' Under GOP Attacks" [via Drudge]

---

I know nothing about the book, but just by its title alone I'm declaring Enslaved by Ducks the official book for Deaniacs.

---

And then there's this great Cox and Forkum cartoon. [via Steve Verdon]

Pluck Duck

I've got two posts that again demonstrate that Howard the Duck is the perfect name for Gov. Dean, M.D. First, Jim writes about Duck, M.D.'s hypocracy for criticizing Vice President Cheney's secret talks with energy executives while doing the same thing when he was running Vermont's government.

Second, at Jonathan Chait's Diary of a Dean-o-phobe he thinks Dr. Duck's newfound religous talk comes "across as forced and awkward, like Michael Dukakis in a tank." Chalk one up for Chait for making the first specific Dean-Dukakis link in this election.

In both cases, he's all wet.

Duck's to Lose

James Joyner links to some polls and other than New Hampshire, Arizona, and Wisconsin, Howard the Duck has no big lead anywhere. What he is doing is holding his own in Iowa (with Gephardt), crushing John Kerry in New Hampshire, and "dominating the money primary." I'd say my prediction of Duck, M.D. getting the nomination is threatened, but the ABD (Anybody But Dean) voters are all spread out among the other candidates and none of them appear willing to drop out until its too late.

Then go read Stephen Green's thoughts on the primary season.

"The Horse Race"

Bush: Lord of Plagues

Some Deaniacs think President Bush is behind Mad Cow Disease arriving in the U.S. As one person wrote on Duck, M.D.'s "Forum For America,

The questionable beef comes from the Pacific Northwest, typically a Democratic stronghold. Who would most benefit from the Pac NW losing so much agricultural business? How about the Midwest and Southest, i.e. Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska - hated RED states!!

Could Bush's plan be to implement a plan that would screw over the Pac NW in an effort to further strengthen his power base?

The supposed Dunce-in-Chief is also a diabolical political mastermind. Amazing!

It's too easy to call these extreme members of Dean's raft crazy. I just think it's amazing that Duck, M.D. and his politicos give them such an open forum to embarass themselves and the campaign. All candidates have their wacked-out supporters. If you head over to Free Republic, I'm sure you'll find some "interesting" Bush-backers. But unlike Duck, M.D., President Bush doesn't give his kooks a soapbox. Sure, it's not as open, but the goal of a campaign is to win the election, not to give every tin foil-wearer a voice--especially when anyone can easily start a weblog and mumble to himself.

[via Jessica's Well]

---

TAM has made the Google top 20 for the term "Howard the Duck." If you want to do something to counter the "miserable failure" Googlebomb copy this link: Howard the Duck. It's lame and juvenille, but when has that ever stopped anyone on the Net?

What's Missing?

Here's Howard the Duck's Christmas message:

Today, for just a single day out of the year, much of the world recognizes a day of peace. It is a day when we set aside our differences and come together to celebrate an ideal of a world free from hate, free from want and free from war.

"Over the 3,500 years of recorded human history, we have seen thirteen years of war for every year of peace. Today, as we gather with families and friends, we must remember the hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers separated from their families, serving overseas. We must remember the people of Africa who have seen too much war, destruction and want this year, and we must remember all of the other humanitarian crises that escape our notice on other days of the year.

"On this day more than most, we must resolve to continue our work and to redouble our efforts to ensure that someday soon world peace can be something we celebrate more than just once a year.

"The United States was founded on an ideal that we would serve as a peaceful and moral beacon for the rest of the world. Thomas Jefferson once wrote, 'Peace with all nations, and the right which that gives us with respect to all nations, are our object.' The biggest roadblock to achieving that is our own doubt that it can be accomplished. Franklin D. Roosevelt told us that 'The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.' May today bring peace on Earth and goodwill toward everyone.

To find out what's missing, read Matt's post at Hoystory where I found this bit of Duck, M.D. quacking.

Devoted Duck Watchers

Add the Question Dean Blog to the list of Duck, M.D. watchers. It's filled with plenty of satire as well as tough criticism.

For even more Duck hunting, Captain's Quarters has an entire category devoted to our favorite political waterfowl.

I will be making an announcement soon regarding TAM and Dr. Duck.

"Contradictions on Foreign Policy"

On Thursday, the Washington Post was pretty harsh on Howard the Duck. The editorial said,

The former Vermont governor has compiled a disturbing record of misstatements and contradictions on foreign policy; maybe he will shift yet again, this time toward more responsible positions.

It goes on to say,

His most serious departure from the Democratic mainstream is not his opposition to the war. It is his apparent readiness to shrink U.S. ambitions, in Iraq and elsewhere, at a time when the safety of Americans is very much at stake.

When Duck, M.D.does get the nomination will the Post bend over backwards to offer some kind of reason to endorse him over President Bush? If the paper ends up backing Bush then a Bush-Dean race could be the landslide many Democrats fear.

This does benefit Duck, M.D. in his claim that he's challenging the "Washington Democrats."

"Beyond the Mainstream" [via Fredrik Norman]

Duck's Mouth Hurts Him Again

Will Duck's, M.D. (is this the correct grammer?) raft realize their candidate and cult leader is a baffoon for shooting his mouth off. He could make a case (albeit, a weak one) that Saddam's capture doesn't make American safer, but he didn't stop there. Duck, M.D. went on to claim "We are no safer today than the day the planes struck the World Trade Center." Al Qaeda was blasted in Afghanistan, bin Laden is in hiding, Iraq's not funding terrorism, Libya has given up its WMD, and there has been no attacks on the U.S. mainland since Sep. 11. In what way are we less safe?

Howard Dean's strategy may be to demonstrate that he isn't the wacked-out Lefty the Right thinks he is; but his ridiculous statements make him appear to be an ignorant fool.

"Dean Stands by His 'We're No Safer' Bit" [via Matthew Stinson]

Anti-Duck Weblog

How Jonathon Chiat got away with running an anti-Dean weblog for almost a week and I not knowing just goes to show you how mentally draining working in retail during Christmas is. Diary of a Dean-o-Phobe will be a fun daily read for all us anti-Duckers even if Chiat's dislike for the man has little rational basis (like his Bush hatred). Now, I just have to get Chiat to call him "Howard the Duck" just once (and/or get a link).

Still Wrong on Saddam

For Howard the Duck, capturing Saddam didn't make America safer, but Taegan Goddard found this quote from Duck, M.D. last year:

There's no question that Saddam Hussein is a threat to the United States and to our allies.

I'll even offer the context of the quote (to satisfy Unfogged):

Not quite yet. There's no question that Saddam Hussein is a threat to the United States and to our allies. The question is, is he an immediate threat? The president has not yet made the case for that.

I think it may very well be, particularly with the news that we've had over the weekend; that we are going to end up in Iraq. But I think it's got to be gone about in a very different way. It really is important to involve our allies, to bring other people into the coalition, to get a decent resolution out of the U.N. Security Council.

And if Saddam persists in thumbing his nose at the inspectors, we are clearly going to have to do something about it. But I'm not convinced yet and the president has not yet made the case, nor has he ever said, this is an immediate threat.

In fact, the only intelligence that has been put out there is the British intelligence report, which says he is a threat but not an immediate one.

Dean stuck with the idea that Saddam had to be an immediate threat to justify war. Let's go to President Bush's State of the Union speech. He shot down this argument that could make for a pretty good commerical contrasting Bush and Duck, M.D.:

Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option.

Removing and capturing Saddam eliminated a threat (even if not imminent or immediate). That, by definition, makes America safer.

Read It and Weep

Yesterday, Howard Dean, M.D. gave his foreign policy speech that was suppose to fill in the holes of his most glaring weakness. Oh, what a lurch to the center. actually had the gall to call the current administration "radical." Much of it sounds like it was taken from President Bush's speeches. However, Dean's speech contains a significant falsehood.

The difficulties and tragedies we have faced in Iraq show that the administration launched the war in the wrong way, at the wrong time, with inadequate planning, insufficient help, and at unbelievable cost. An administration prepared to work with others in true partnership might have been able, if it found no alternative to Saddam's ouster, to then rebuild Iraq with far less cost and risk.

Dean continues the canard that the U.S. went into the Iraq War alone. If that's the case, then what are those British, Polish, Italian, and Spanish soldiers doing hanging around Iraq? Did they come for a ring-side seat at a guerilla resistance movement? Later on Dean wacks the Bush administration for choosing "unilateral action as our weapon of first resort." If that's what happened then the U.S. would have toppled Saddam much sooner instead of taking time to bend over backwards to please the French.

Seriously, the blame for other nations not joining the "Coalition of the Willing" lie with France, Germany, Russia, and those that refused to join. Months and months of diplomacy both across the globe and at the U.N. were tried to convince unwilling countries that finally dealing seriously with Saddam was critical to the security of the free world. The "Coalition of the Unwilling" wasn't convinced. Some of the resistance was due to those countries not particularly liking President Bush. Much of the resistance was animosity toward the U.S. France and other coutries saw Iraq as an opportunity to knock the United States' global stature down a notch. They fear the continued American Century more than the Islamist threat.

As for less cost and risk, if the coalition were bigger, Dean has made a point, but only a slight one. A larger coalition would have spread out the cost of the war and rebuilding as well as risk to soldiers across more nations. So the U.S.'s relative costs and risks would have been less, but the total costs and risks would still be the same.

Dean's theme in this speech is that the U.S. shouldn't have gone into Iraq until it convinced more countries to help fight. But what about what actually happened? France, Germany, and Russia said, "No." They weren't going to help free Iraq. German President Gerhardt Schroeder used anti-American and anti-war fervor to win a narrow re-election while France claimed that oodles of U.N. resolutions should be ignored because it finally found a way to stymie American "hyperpower." In his speech, Dean said, "America should never be afraid to act alone when necessary." Fine words, but doesn't answer this question: If no other country was willing to invade Iraq, would you have sent in U.S. forces? A related question is this: How long would you have tried to build a larger coalition knowing that Saddam was in possession of WMD (at least that was the conventional wisdom that not even war opponents denied)?

But wait, there's more:

The Iraq war diverted critical intelligence and military resources, undermined diplomatic support for our fight against terror, and created a new rallying cry for terrorist recruits.

If it wasn't Iraq, something else would have been Islamist terrorist recruiters' ralling cry. If Osama bin Laden was under siege in Pakistan, Islamists would be encouraging people to march upon the location to aid with the monster's last stand as well as calling for attacks upon the U.S. to try and break the will of the American public. Dean is critical, but he really hasn't thought this through at all. Knee-jerk Bush bashing helps pump up his followers and gets them to "hit the bat"--his nickname for donating to the campaign.

Here's an example of sloppy thinking on Dean's part:

We have, rightly, paid much attention to finding and eliminating the worst people, but we need just as vigorous an effort to eliminate the worst weapons. Just as important as finding bin Laden is finding and eliminating sleeper cells of nuclear, chemical, and biological terror.

The problem with WMD isn't that they exist. It's that the wrong people have them or are trying to get them. Great Britain, France, and Russia all have nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons yet the U.S. isn't planning on invading them to make sure they don't fall into terrorists' hands.

Let's finish this up with another example of Duck, M.D.'s loose lips. In the speech, he said, "[T]he capture of Saddam has not made America safer." An Iraq without Saddam was the whole key to the war. Saddam's Iraq in possession of WMD (at least in the past) threatened his neighbors and the U.S. Saddam' links to terrorism (housing Abu Nidal, funding Palestinian homicide bombers) only made him that more threatening. Now that he's been captured, it's assured he will never have the controls of a state to use for his evil intentions. That makes America safer. Dean can't see that and exemplifies Sen. Joe Lieberman's hard-hitting attack on him.

The speech was filled with lots of what was bad about President Bush's foreign policy and vague notions of what Howard Dean would do as President. What Duck, M.D. displayed was how unsophisticated his thinking is. The ideas sound like they came out of the mouth of a undergraduate foreign relations student. Yesterday, along with this important speech, Dean announced his foreign policy advisors. Many of them have extensive foreign policy experience. Unfortunately for Duck, M.D., none of them impressed any wisdom upon him.

He Doesn't Like Duck

Alex Knapp has some good reasons not to vote for Howard the Duck:

After 9/11, he said that we needed to erode civil liberties to catch terrorists. Now he lambasts the PATRIOT Act.

In 1998, he was okay with unilateral action. Now opposition to the Iraq war is the center of his campaign.

Originally, he was going to keep with campaign finance restrictions to receive federal funding. Then he changed his mind.

These and more events like these, coupled with Howard Dean's record in Vermont, make me deeply suspicious of the type of President he would make.

In Alex's words, "I think that evidence is mounting that Howard Dean is, like most politicians, just a naked opportunist who sticks his finger in the wind to decide where he wants to go." It's too late for his followers to listen. They've already drank too much of his kool-aid and will stick with him until the bitter end.

"Howard Dean--Naked Opportunist"

Quacking About Foreign Policy

A response to Howard the Duck, M.D.'s foreign policy speech will have to wait until I'm done with work late tonight. My first impression is that Dean's attempt to move toward the center is filled with as much serious policy thinking as that of a college student studying foreign relations.

Until then, chew over this Washington Post story on Duck, M.D.'s move to the center on foreign policy. Here's an interesting quote I noticed on Instapundit:

Though Dean has repeatedly criticized Bush for failing to win international support for the Iraq war, for instance, in June 1998 he defended Clinton's bombing of Iraq by arguing on the Canadian program, "I don't think we could have built an international coalition to invade or have a substantial bombing of Saddam."

During another 1998 appearance on the show, "The Editors," Dean said it was not worth trying to woo French support on foreign policy initiatives. "The French will always do exactly the opposite on what the United States wants regardless of what happens, so we're never going to have a consistent policy," he said.

Asked about the comment, Dean said he now thinks that because the French "have seen how bad things can get with the United States, they might respond to a new president who's willing to offer them respect again."

"Dean Working to Be Seen as Foreign Policy Centrist"

Zombyboy Attacks Raft

Zombyboy goes off on Duck, M.D. commenters. If you didn't get enough of my selections, check his out.

"Disgusting" [via VodkaPundit]

Target: Dean

Rosemary, "Good" Dean's wife, just had a field day with Howard the Duck's take on foreign policy and right-to-work laws. The more Duck, M.D. talks, the more polarizing he is. What this does is make his base (followers) just go crazy with passion. They eat this stuff up. At the same time, Bush backers get reved up too. Such excited political bases mean next year's election won't be a Goldwater or McGovern-like landslide. Bush will win, but that's as firm a prediction as I'm going to make.

Raft's Reaction*

The reactions from Howard Dean's followers are wide-ranging. There are many who are proud of the efforts of our troops in capturing Saddam. Some don't want this victory politicized by anyone. There are some almost neo-isolationists like a commentor named "turn" who wrote,

HEY GUYS WAKE UP!!!
THERE IS NO SUCCESS EXISTS IN THE UNJUSTIFIED WAR WHOEVER WAS CAPTURED!!!
IT IS ONLY A DANGEROUS ILLUSION OF SUCCESS WHICH MAY LEAD ONLY TO THE NEXT WRONG JUGMENT AND NEXT WRONG DECISION SUCH AS A NEXT WAR!!!

Term “success” in this war should be applied only in the light of bringing international community IN and USA OUT.
If that capture will help with it, then it is a “success”, otherwise – not.

There's the conspiratorial such as one commentor quoting a comment from another post that reads, "It seems the capture of Saddam is some huge success--ignoring the real motivation for invading Iraq, which was not to protect us, but to protect Bush's financial interests, etc." "Pat_K" thinks Saddam's trial is already rigged:

Whether an Iraqi court or world court, given that no weapons of mass destruction have been found, won't the legitimacy of the U.S. "pre-emptive" invasion come into question as part of any war crimes trial of Saddam? Or is the notion that this question can be avoided by "keeping it local" (in the hands of the Iraqis...largely under the control of the U.S.).

"REAL DEM" thinks this:

Some have said that a live Saddam might be a problem for Bush because he'll tell the truth about Republican support of his regime in the 1980's when he's put on trial.

This may be true.

But this fails to take into account what I consider a far more likely possibility:

They tell Saddam: "You say you had Al Queda connections, that you were involved in 9/11, and that you were six months away from a nuclear weapon, and we won't slowly torture you to death before we kill you".

THAT seems like the most likely possibility to me. Bush and co. will NEVER relinquish power if they can find a way to hang on, and NOTHING is beneath them.

"Anamericanabroad" believes "In this administration there are no coincidences, this just shows how frightened the DNC/DLC and the GOP are of keeping their jobs."

There's the display of historical ignorance:

The capture of Sadam is a victorie for the Iraqi people and the coalition forces. On this occassion I would like to thank the American armed forces: good work.

For Dean, I hope he will give a good statement concerning Iraq and that the American people will not leave the people of iraq now that Sadam is gone.

Finish the job with Dean in the White House and democracy will rule on[ce] more in the Middle East.

Democracy has never been the norm in the Middle East. Turkey and Israel are the only free democracies in the region.

There's the eerily cultish comment:

Don't forget--Dean has us--and that's what will carry him through this media rapture with Hussein's capture.

Then there's the cynical, political analysis like this from "Carrie B":

I can't believe this. I'm crying here. I feel that we now don't have a chance in this election.

Here's one from "gg" (don't these people have real names?):

I am feeling pretty upset as well. I think our chances are dropping fast.

But mostly it's the feeling that they're still right in opposing the war. Here's Silhouette's (who actually has a weblog) comment:

It is a trimuph for human rights that Saddam Hussein was captured. We should thank the troops and the intelligence gathering that we have caught him.

But do not lose sight that this was a war that we did not need to fight, justified with reasons that were either uncertain or downright fraudulent, and goaded into a conflict by a man who wanted regional influence, control of natural resources, and revenge.

The fact that we did not need to do all this still weighs heavily on my mind.

[via a small victory]

*According to this bird web page a group of ducks is called a "raft." I've never heard the word used that way before.

To Democratic Supporters who Oppose Howard the Duck:

Please continue to make ads like this one. President Bush may be a campaign fundraising machine, but it's nice to see attacks on his soon-to-be opponent without having it cost him a dime.

Please make this Democratic race as ugly and bloody as possible. It will be great entertainment for us Right-wing political junkies, plus it will help the President get re-elected.

"When Democrats Attack Democrats" [via Oliver Willis]

Duck Starts Flying to the Center

Duck, M.D. actually has a foreign policy that goes beyond his typical opposition to the Iraq War. These interviews on foreign policy issues is a sure sign Dean even thinks the Democratic nomination is his to lose. Not a single primary or caucus has been held and he's already moving to the center. Here's an interesting quote from the Washington Post story:

Indeed, Dean suggested that on some issues, the difference between Bush and himself was more of tone and temperament.

Will this bother his anti-war, anti-Bush followers? We'll have to watch for any cries of "sellout" from Duck, M.D.'s flock.

"Dean Working to Be Seen as Foreign Policy Centrist" [via OTB]

Duck Sighting

Matthew Stinson has a picture of Howard the Duck, M.D. and is looking for some captions.

Quack Quack Quack

How can I not respond to the nasty, uncivil Dean rally in NYC Monday night. It won't be hard for the GOP to alienate Duck, M.D. from the public because he's doing well on his own. We shouldn't be surprised Duck, M.D. hangs around these types. He let the foul-mouthed Elaine Cho post some dreadful rap on his official weblog.

Then notice that Duck, M.D. was giddy the Supreme Court made it legal for Congress to restrict political speech despite the clear words of the First Amendment.

"GOP Hopes to Paint Dean as the New McGovern"

"Howie Pals Show True 'Blue' Colors" [via The Blog from the Core]

Heil Duck

Separated at birth?

UPDATE: Howard Dean is no Hitler. I just thought it was a funny contrast. Sometimes I forget that some jokes (no matter how lame) don't transfer well through the written word.

AlGore Waddles with Duck

AlGore endorses Duck, M.D. The tree backs the waterfowl. I give it a "ho hum" because I already thought Dean had the nomination in hand. Steven Taylor agrees with me:

What, precisely has been remade? Prior to the Gore announcement everyone was saying that it's Dean's to lose, and that he was the prohibitive favorite. The polls in Iowa, NH, SC and MA were all looking good for him (to name a few key ones). So how does Gore's endorement "remake" or "rock" anything aside from Lieberman's ego?

I do think this is good for Dean, but only as another brick in a wall that was already 3/4th complete.

It was pretty classless for AlGore to not even bother to give his former running mate, Sen. Joe Lieberman a call letting him know his was endorsing Duck, M.D.

Michael Van Winkle notes that Duck, M.D.'s big issues are "polarizing issues" with nothing to go after the middle with.

Oliver Willis spotted Duck, M.D. waddling on the Charles River.

With Dean sure to have the nomination wrapped up after the South Carolina primary this will make for an extremely long Presidential race. Maybe the longest in U.S. history. Will the public even pay attention to the shots Duck, M.D. makes at President Bush and vice versa? Or will they just go about their business and start focusing around Labor Day? This may be great for political webloggers and professional pundits, but besides us, will anyone be listening?

[This is a late entry to the Beltway Jam. Traffic was really bad here in Wisconsin, ok?]

Taxing the Duck Campaign

Joe Trippi, Duck, M.D.'s campaign manager, is in a tizzy (that's the closest you'll get to Snoop Dog here at TAM) over a Club for Growth ad attacking Dean as a typical Democratic tax-hiker. Trippi called the ad a "bald-faced lie." Why? What part of the ad was incorrect, the AP story doesn't say. Presumably, Trippi didn't have an answer. What really got my wings flapping was his claim that Bush's tax cuts "threaten this country's economic well-being." They seem to be doing alright for the economy so far. The problem is with runaway spending that Bush is facilitating to the shagrin of many on the Right. Also, as Steve Verdon pointed out Duck, M.D.'s budget wouldn't be fiscially sound.

"Conservative Group Targets Dean; Gephardt Airs Ad in South Carolina" [via Right Wing News]

Like Shooting Ducks in a Barrel

Playing the role of tech geek diverted my attention from my daily Duck, M.D. hunting. Thankfully, Steve Verdon has some killer posts on Howard Dean's economic hypocracy how he'd deal with Iran and North Korea.

Dean: Fiscally Irresponsible

Steven Taylor has joined the party and declared Howard the Duck, M.D. will be the Democratic nominee.

Steven's column let's me go off on Duck, M.D.'s flippant remark about last week's great GDP numbers. He stated, "[the] Bush administration’s fiscally irresponsible house of cards upon which this ‘growth’ is built cannot continue forever" (emphasis mine).

Duck, M.D., donning his economist cap, wants to be "fiscally responsible" by giving states and municipalities $100 billion over two years to "prime the pump" of job creation, pay for special education, and cover anti-terrorism costs to police and fire departments. That may all be well and good (except for their constitutionality), but does Duck, M.D. promise that the "Fund to Restore America" will dry up after its planned two years? Or will that just ossify into existing government spending to make it impossible to ever end?

But creating an entitlement to state and local government isn't Duck, M.D.'s only example of fiscal responsiblity. He also wants to spend $200 million to start a "Welcome Baby" program to "connect families and their children to the resources and services available to help them raise healthy, successful children" (government services most likely).

Then there's Duck, M.D.'s big budget item: universal health care. Based on an analysis by a health care consulting firm, it would cost $88.3 billion a year. Always be wary of estimates on the cost of government programs. Because the government doesn't opperate with the profit incentive, it's less inclined to control costs.

Dean's health care plan would be paid for by recinding some of President Bush's tax cuts. Since most economists think those tax cuts helped bring the economy out of recession, raising taxes might not be so good for the economy and subsequently the budget deficit.

So Duck, M.D. will subsidize state and local governments, welcome babies into the world, and provide health coverage for every American. While doing all this (and more) he'll balance the budget. How will he do this? By using the political bromide, "tough decisions."

"Dean Riding Steady Course to Party Crown"

Cleland Goes Duck Hunting

Here's more evidence of Duck, M.D.'s Southern problem. This from former Georgia Senator, Max Cleland:

Now, at a time when young Americans are being killed and wounded by President Bush’s failed policy in Iraq... Our country can not afford to have another leader who took the easy way out like George W. Bush who hid out in the Houston National Guard. We can not afford to have a leader who weaseled out of going to Vietnam on a medical deferment for a bad back and wound up on the ski slopes of Aspen like Howard Dean.

Ouch!

Call and Response

Professor Bainbridge links to the responses to Howard Dean's call for "re-regulation." Sen. Joe Lieberman responded in a statement,

He would give us a treacherous trifecta of policies that turn back the economic clock: new trade barriers, a larger tax burden on our middle class and now bigger bureaucracy. Either he doesn't know how to turn the economy around, or this is another reckless mistake.

Weasley Clark showed why the nickname I've given him fits. The general scolded Duck, M.D.'s ideas, calling them an abandonment of "proven policies that were the cornerstone of our party's success." He then went on to say, "I agree that we need far stronger protections for workers, consumers and our environment going beyond where the Clinton administration went in several respects, as times and circumstances have changed, too." It seems Clark has never come to a political fork in the road that he hasn't taken.

The Duck, M.D. campaign's response sounded even more populist than AlGore's in 2000:

If Democrats in this race want to side with big corporations over regular people, that's their choice. Howard Dean is going to grow the economy and reestablish the trust of the American people.

We know how well this strategy worked in 2000. No wonder many Democrats are scared.

"Opponents Assail Dean's Economic Proposal"

All Wet on Economics

Democrats may claim President Bush has had the worst economic record since Hoover, but Howard Dean, M.D. sounds like he wants to recreate FDR's massive New Deal regulation. That means "re-regulating" (to use Duck, M.D.'s term) "utilities, large media companies and any business that offers stock options." His two prime examples are Enron and the California energy crisis. On Enron, Dean said in a speech, "those at the top enriched themselves by deceiving everyone else and robbing ordinary people of the future they'd earned." The result was the company going into bankruptcy and its executives undergoing criminal investigations. The Enron scam was going on way before Bush came into office. Unless we want a government regulator watching over every action done by a private company (maybe that's what Duck, M.D. wants) fraud will take place.

On the Golden State's energy crisis, I'll steal Steve Verdon's words:

Great, just great. I figured this would be the possible reaction to the California Energy crisis. Never mind that the roots of the crisis are to be found in the blundering and ineptitude of government.

Duck, M.D. is maintaining his appearance as a "decentralized paternalist."

"Dean Calls For New Controls on Business"

Cult Duck

Here's something that won't be mentioned on Howard the Duck's weblog. This is a comment from Joe Klein on Howard Dean's performance at last weekend's big Iowa Democratic rally:

He seemed more like a cult leader than a candidate for president.

Judging by the dreamy, utopian vibe you get from his followers, Klein is right on the money. Guru Howard plays to his base very well, but all will do is scare everyone else.

Southern Dem Primaries

Michael Van Winkle argues that Howard the Duck, M.D. should abandon the Iowa caucuses and worry about Weasley Clark in South Carolina. His scenerio is plausible, but I just don't see any buzz from the Clark campaign. He lost all his momentum with his ridiculous waverings on Iraq and his campaign's rejection of the grassroots movement that gave him so much buzz in the first place.

For Clark to stop Howard Dean in the South, you have to assume Duck, M.D.'s confederate flag remark alienated Southern Democrats, not just average voters. I just don't think there are that many Zell Millers left down there. Over the past 20+ years those Southern conservative Democrats have switched parties. By default, those left are more liberal which should help Duck, M.D.

"Forget Iowa: A New Strategy For Howard Dean"

UPDATE: Duck, M.D. isn't taking Van Winkle's advice. His campaign started running ads aimed at Gephardt.

Dean's N.H. Support Grows

Duck, M.D. expands his lead in New Hampshire. Sen. John Kerry, who by the way served in Vietnam, continues to look like a Republican version of Phil Graham.

"Dean Continues to Surge in NH; Clark Sputters"

Duck Can't Win South

It may be obvious to any serious political watcher, but Duck, M.D.'s followers are too drunk with their "emergent democracy" to realize this: Howard the Duck can't win the South. Without the South, he has a slim chance of beating Bush.

James Joyner then comments on an article telling the Democrats to forget about the South. Joyner doesn't see victory in that strategy.

"Dixie Democrats Consider Dean 'Too Liberal' to Win"

Getting Plucked at Dartmouth

The conservative student newspaper, The Dartmouth Review, covered Duck, M.D.'s bad day at the school. I have a good feeling Dean will turn the dial ever "Rebel Yell" comes on the radio.

"Rebel Without a Cause" [via Dartlog.net]

Let Me at Him! Let Me at Him!

If Tacitus can volunteer to be a "warblogger in the war" by going to Iraq, TAM volunteers to cover Duck, M.D.'s campaign from his headquarters in Burlington, VT. Let's see how open Duck, M.D.'s followers are to that.

Duck's Dealing Out Goodies

Mark Pierce catches Howard the Duck, M.D. in the act as a tax-and-spend Democrat.

"College Kids Would Like a "Dean" Like This"

Duck's Stable

Few people are as highly critical of Howard the Duck, M.D., but even I don't buy what this Princeton prof. is selling:

Character, whether you mean it as moral fiber or psychological soundness, is really the bottom line in an office in which the incumbent is never more than a couple of dozen feet away from the nuclear button. You want to be very comfortable with the personal wiring of your chief executive.

It's easy to feel uneasy about Dean in the Oval Office.

Policywise, the Duck's all wet (that's how I gave him his nickname). He's also good at manipulating his followers to make it appear his campaign is more voter-centric than it really is. But if a solar flare made Air Force One to crash killing President Bush and fry Dick Cheney's pacemaker so Duck, M.D. found his way to the Oval Office I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be so rash as to launch nuclear weapons in a state of rage. I accept Duck, M.D.'s explanation about his tempter:

I hardly think not backing down to (rival) Al Sharpton is equivalent to having your finger on the button and not thinking about it. That would be a very silly conclusion.

Many liberals have become Bush backers in the Islamist War because they feel he grew into the role History gave him. Something like that would happen to the Duck, M.D.

"As Dean Forges Ahead, his Temperament Gets Closer Look" [via Political Wire]

Graham on Duck's Short List

From the Tallahassee Democrat:

He [Howard Dean, M.D.] said Sen. Bob Graham, who announced on Monday that he won't run for re-election, is on his "short list" for vice president - if he wins the Democratic nomination to face President Bush next November.

Howard the Duck, M.D. running with the numerical illiterate. Oh the fun I would have with that Democratic ticket. Since Graham is known for his obsessive notetaking habit, he sure would had some spice to Duck, M.D.'s weblog:

6:30 A.M.: Woke up.
6:45 A.M.: Got out of bed.
6:50 A.M.: Looking for Geritol pills.
7:00 A.M.: Still looking for Geritol pills.
7:02 A.M.: Found pills; opening bottle.
7:03 A.M.: Damn child-proof caps!
...
7:15 A.M.: Turned on computer to read comments on campaign weblog.
7:25 A.M.: Asked wife what "HTTP 404" means.
7:26 A.M.: Wife didn't know. Told me to call grandson.

This is award-winning stuff. Duck M.D.'s followers would just eat this up. Duck, M.D., please, pretty please pick Sen. Graham.

"Howard Dean Campaigns in Tallahassee" [via The Chicago Report]

Grumbling about Dean-Bush Race

Matthew Yglesias writes that the Duck's nomination is "locked up" (welcome to the party). He doesn't like the prospects of a Dean-Bush fight:

A Dean-Bush campaign, on the other hand, will probably be an ugly, culturally-charged battle of innuendos not unlike the vapid races we saw in 2000 or (worse) 1988. Dean's a much savvier politician than Dukakis or Gore, so he might well win out in a struggle like this, but it's not going to be pretty. The main upside, on the other hand, of a Dean nomination is that win or lose it should breath new life into the increasingly-ineffectual Democratic Party apparat, shake some things up that could use some shaking, etc.

In retrospect, though, Dean really looks to me more like the nominee we needed in 2000, than the man of the hour.

"Meet Your Nominee"

No Public Funds for Dean

Howard Dean won't take matching campaign funds during the Democratic primaries. His followers "told him" it was ok.

Duck's chief weblogger, Matthew Gross writes,

You have made history. Never before has such a monumental decision been turned over to the supporters of a campaign-- and you stepped forward and voted, showing again that you are restoring a politics of participation in America.

Your vote on this decision marks one more way you are reviving our democracy.

If Gross and the Duck's flock want to believe President Bush lied his way into the Iraq War, then fine. I'll believe that this whole participatory campaign is a sham. Any thinking person should realize that the Duck wouldn't have let his followers make this important decision if he didn't already know what their answer would be. About 85% supported Dean's decision. No re-count need here. I have to give the Duck some credit. He finds ways to manipulate his grass-roots, Internet-powered supporters to generate plenty of free media. However, I do find it rather disgusting for Dean to compare his rejection of "special interest" contributions to the Founding Fathers' rejection of British imperial rule. He's equating contributors' free speech to the British army. Very taudry.

Also, why did the Duck have to show off his tech cred by signing his Declaration on a tablet PC?

"Democrat Dean Will Not Take Public Funds"

A Duck's Waddle

GOP operative Joe Gaylord backs my theory on why Howard the Duck is letting his followers decide the matching-funds issue:

Howard Dean is saying to his supports, 'Oh, please tell me what to do,' when he is just looking for an easy out and a why to put more money into his race. He used to think the existing system was great until he figured out how to get around it to his advantage.

"Analysis: Dean May Bust Campaign Limits"

Joyner Goes Duck Hunting

James Joyner responds to Howard the Duck's southern bashing:

Dean has a rather stereotypical view of the average Southerner. Yes, there are a lot of men in the South driving pickup trucks with a gun rack, a pinch of Copenhagen between their cheek and gums, who are quite culturally conservative. Of course, there are a fair number of people like that in Vermont, too. (I suspect they didn't vote for Howard Dean, either.) But just as everyone in Vermont isn't a fat socialist who makes overpriced ice cream, neither is every Southerner an unthinking redneck. Considering that it's virtually impossible to get elected president without winning a Southern state or too, Dean might want to get down there a little more and talk to some people.

"Dean and Southerners" [via PoliBlog]