Howard Dean, Chairman of the DNC, made a less-than-effective appearance on Meet The Press yesterday, refusing to face GOP Chairman Ken Mehlman and refusing to apologize for his party's racial slurs against Maryland lieutenant governor Michael Steele, who has announced an intention to run for the US Senate.
Mary Katherine Ham at WizBang also notes this exchange between Dr. Dean and host Tim Russert:
MR. RUSSERT: But there's no Democratic plan on Social Security. There's no Democratic plan on the deficit problem. There's no specifics. They say, "Well, we want a strong Social Security. We want to reduce the deficit. We want health care for everyone," but there's no plan how to pay for it.
DR. DEAN: Right now it's not our job to give out specifics. We have no control in the House. We have no control in the Senate. It's our job is to stop this administration, this corrupt and incompetent administration, from doing more damage to America...
MR. RUSSERT: But is it enough for you to say to the country, "Trust us, the other guy's no good. We'll do better, but we're not going to tell you specifically how we're going to deal with Iraq."
DR. DEAN: We will. When the time comes, we will do that.
MR. RUSSERT: When's the time going to come?
DR. DEAN: The time is fast-approaching. And I outlined the broad outlines of our agenda. We're going to have specific plans in all of these areas.
MR. RUSSERT: This year?
DR. DEAN: In 2006.
Blogger Don Surber calls him "Coward Dean." Reading the whole transcript will reveal that Dean has the Dem talking points down pat: corruption, incompetence, lies, starving children -- about the only thing he failed to do was accuse Republicans of eating children.
Or provide a specific set of ideals and goals that the Democrats intend to pursue.
For someone whose job revolves around promoting the message of their party, this is a serious weakness. Perhaps Dr. Dean and the rest of the party believe that if they simply repeat "lied us into war" and "party of corruption" enough times, they can win back the Congressional majority during
next year's elections. But even if that happens, they will be in serious trouble if all they can accomplish is obstructionism.
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