Howard Dean Beginning To Unravel

January 14, 2004

The 2004 campaign is heating up. Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor, seems to be a shoe-in for the nomination. But will it be all for naught? A recent California poll shows Bush out ahead of Dean 51 percent to 35 percent. This is a state that went decidedly for the Democrats four years ago. But polls can change drastically. Between now and November you can bet the mainstream press will try to uncover every gaffe, every misspeak, every small stumble to make President Bush fit their mold of the idiot president.

 

For a moment, let's suppose this next little exchange happened between a reporter and President Bush. Everyone knows he's a religious man. He doesn't try to hide that fact. He wears his faith proudly. Let's suppose the president reflects on a story from the Bible and begins his point, “If you know much about the Bible — which I do.” Then, let's suppose a reporter, following the religious theme, asks him about his favorite New Testament book. What if President Bush answered, “Job,” then added, “But I don't like the way it ends . . . in some of the books of the New Testament, the ending of the Book of Job is different . . . there's one book where there's a more optimistic ending, which we believe was tacked on later.” Job, as most of you know, is in the Old Testament. You can imagine the mileage the press would get from such a blunder.

 

The fact is, that exact exchange happened recently between a reporter and Howard Dean yet you've probably heard little, if anything at all, about it.

 

Let's take another example. Let's suppose President Bush wrote in a letter, “I have reluctantly concluded that the efforts of the United Nations are a complete failure. If we ignore these behaviors our moral fiber as a people becomes weakened. We must take unilateral action.” Bush on Iraq? No, Dean on Bosnia except “the United States and NATO” was in place of “the United Nations.” Dean's letter, from July of 1995, urged then-President Clinton get involved in Bosnia yet he castigates the current president for getting involved in Iraq.

 

You know what really scares me about Dean's position on Iraq? He thinks it would have been a good idea to go in had the United Nations supported it. He said, “I think getting rid of Saddam Hussein is a wonderful thing but the question is, is it a good idea to send 135,000 troops unilaterally to do it?” Now, think about that for a moment. In Dean's mind, it was the right thing to do if the UN said it was okay but it's the wrong thing to do if the US says it's okay. Dean's not alone. Many appeasers of the American Neville Chamberlain Society feel the exact same way. They trust the UN more than their own country and that's where we have a fundamental problem.

 

Right is right and wrong is wrong. I don't need some toothless organization run by third-world powers, despots, communists and kings to help me discern which is which. Neither does President Bush but, apparently, Howard Dean does.

 

We didn't become the great nation we are by ceding our authority and destiny to the rest of world. We got where we are by leading the rest of the world, not following. The so-called progressives delight in the further erosion of our sovereignty. They find our obsession with that sovereignty old-fashioned and outmoded. They think Kofi Annan is a god and George W. Bush is an idiot. And you know what's really scary? Howard Dean is their hero.