Santorum may be a bigot, but Howard Dean is an opportunistic moron- and once again, Democrats prove why they can not be trusted with National Security matters. Apparently, Dean can’t decide if the Iraqi people are better off without Saddam:
BLITZER: But governor, nobody — nobody disagrees there are going to be problems. But aren’t the people of Iraq so much better off now without Saddam Hussein on their back?
DEAN: We don’t know that yet. We don’t know that yet, Wolf. We still have a country whose city is mostly without electricity. We have tumultuous occasions in the south where there is no clear governance. We have a major city without clear governance. We don’t know yet, and until we do…
Note to Democrats- Hussein was a bad man and the Iraqi people are better off. I am sure Carville and Shrum will remember to get that in the next talking points.
MommaBear
Governor Deanie-Weenie, as he was known in VT, never makes a statement that doesn’t have a HUGE amount of wiggle-room; that bit is no surprise to those who know him.
Mike the Analyst
Dean’s increasing popularity won’t be enough to get the Dem. nomination, but I’m betting he’ll be too good to stay out of the race.
3rd Party Candidacy anyone? I’m betting Green first, but Nader may have a mortal lock on that. Maybe, perhaps the remaining ruins of the Reform party?
Dean
Naaah.
Expect him to parlay his handful of primary wins (and buncha delegates) into a prime time speech slot. This would be in keeping w/ Clinton’s ’88 performance.
The thing is, if Dean is serious about running for Prez again, this would make him a bigger name w/ fund-raisers for ’08, assuming, of course, that Dubya wins in ’04.
‘Course, if he says stuff like this, who knows how THAT will affect the Dem Party’s chances….
JKC
Granted, kids, what Dean said was either plain dumb, or at best poorly phrased.
But if anarchy is allowed to reign in Iraq, or if the tyranny of Saddam is replaced by a fundamentalist Islamic government, then it’ll be hard to say that the average, innocent Iraqi will end up much better off.
John Cole
I agree, JKC, that if those are the long term results, they will not be ideal- but I still think it it would be better off than the systematic repression by a brutal tyrant. At least right now, they have a chance- which makes them better off. Dean just can’t even give this administration credit for that, which is what is so vexxing.
JKC
Good point, John, except that fundamentalist Islamic regimes tend to be very unfriendly to women (like the Taliban.) Evil bastard though he was, Saddam didn’t kick all the girls out of school and deny them access to medical care.
That said, I’m still glad he’s gone, and I wish Jay Garner well in rebuilding Iraq. The consequences of failure are too grim to think about.
John Cole
I dunno. At least with the Taliban, you know where you stand. It is the absolute fear of the randomness that makes people like Hitler, Hussein, Amin, and all the other great murderers so frightening. You just never know when it will be you. The fear must be something awful.
IN the upcoming rebirth of Iraq, I would opt for neither.
JKC
Agreed. We may disagree on the road to take, but I think we’re trying to get to the same place.
John
Are we going to start comparing verbal gaffes and questionable stands between Dean and W. Bush?
Dean made a reasonable point that we have yet to demonstrate that the Iraqis are truly better off now than before. W Bush is the man who mocked women on death row on national television.
Dean is going to win; all signs point to it at this point.
russ
Dean was the governor of a state where the largest city is less than 40,000 people – he is utterly unqualified for the Presidency. Look who is supporting him most strongly so far – antiwar types who sat down in traffic and disrupted our cities; hollywood liberals in the entertainment industry who have fed us sex, violence, immorality, and their political brainwashing for decades, disguised as ‘entertainment’ and ‘art’. Dean has a big mouth but tiny credentials, and he would serve us all better by going back to practicing medicine.
wayneforamerica
Last April (quotes from above):
BLITZER: But governor, nobody — nobody disagrees there are going to be problems. But aren’t the people of Iraq so much better off now without Saddam Hussein on their back?
DEAN: We don’t know that yet. We don’t know that yet, Wolf. We still have a country whose city is mostly without electricity. We have tumultuous occasions in the south where there is no clear governance. We have a major city without clear governance. We don’t know yet, and until we do…
Doesn’t know Jack Shit huh?