Who Has The Guts

The uproar over Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean's dismissal of the Republican Party as "pretty much a white, Christian party" is only the latest controversy to dog the former Vermont governor. Previously, he made headlines by declaring that Tom DeLay should return to Houston so he could serve a jail sentence and saying that many Republicans "never made an honest living in their lives."

What is remarkable is the extent to which no leading Democrat has used Dr. Dean's diarrhea of the mouth to score a "Sister Souljah" moment the way Bill Clinton did in 1992 to prove his credentials as a truth-talking moderate. Mr. Clinton zeroed in on controversial statements by the rap singer Sister Souljah to denounce extremism. Most observers say it was a stroke of political genius.

But, so far, most leading Democrats are either defending Dr. Dean (Ted Kennedy) or muting their criticism (Senators Joe Biden and Joe Lieberman). Hillary Clinton also missed the chance to emulate her husband's bold move. She shrugged her shoulders and continued walking into the Senate chamber when a reporter asked about Dr. Dean. When it comes to making moves to the center, she clearly favors symbolic gestures that have been cleared by her allies on the left to direct criticism of someone like Howard Dean, who remains a hero to the grassroots left wingers who dominate the party's activist base.
-- John Fund, Political Diary