You’ve Had Your Say, Now Sit Down

Howard Dean, stumping in New York to be the Head of the Democratic National Committee, had this to say:

"I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for, but I admire their discipline and their organization.”

Well, we don’t like your tone Dr. Dean, you’ve had your say, now shut up and sit down!

The Democrats dodged a bullet when they wisely passed on Dean as their Presidential nominee last year. But we are beginning to believe they have a death wish. Hate and anger drove the Dean Presidential campaign in 2004 and in part John Kerry’s. And we see how well that worked. What makes them think it will work any better this go around? Declaring your hate for about half of your fellow citizens may turn off more than a few people.

Can you imagine a Republican leader making a similar remark – I hate the Democrats and everything they stand for? We can’t. The closest we can imagine is a Republican leader saying, I hate the terrorists and everything they stand for. Now be honest, don’t we have a good point?

While we’re on the subject, conventional wisdom has been that Dean lost his primary bid because of his “I have a Scream Speech”. We disagree. Dean lost the Iowa caucuses and then made the infamous speech. Had he won Iowa, we believe we would have taken New Hampshire. Dean lost Iowa because of his arrogant and angry demeanor and the tipping point in Iowa came with his “you sit down” rant.