The new Democratic attack on Howard Dean is a mistake, and a nasty one, at that -- all the more so because, although the attack ads themselves are funded by Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values, funding for the group is a mystery and will stay one for as long as the group can legally hold out.
Among the pointlessly divisive things the ads say is that “Howard Dean has no military or foreign policy experience. And Howard Dean just cannot compete with George Bush on foreign policy. It’s time for Democrats to think about that -- and think about it now.”
First, whether you’re a Democrat, Republican or any other flavor of political being, pause to savor this hack work: “It’s time for Democrats to think about that -- and think about it now.”
Yes, it’s time to savor it -- and savor it now. It’s not time to do it later. Now.
Right.
Beyond the junior high quality of the writing, the logic behind the ad also suffers from a certain idiocy. Saying Dean “can’t compete with George Bush on foreign policy” is not exactly a criticism.
Bush ran as a governor with minimal foreign policy experience (does occasionally rousing himself to fly a plane in Texas during wartime count as military experience?) who vowed to stay out of such pesky world affairs as Israeli-Palestinian relations. Since then he’s alienated our allies, enraged our enemies and even betrayed his friends, notably Mexican president Vicente Fox, backed down to the World Trade Organization and even helped spur opium production and Al Qaeda membership. He’s bumbled away world sympathy since 9/11 and turned it into outright fear and loathing.
So one must ask: Is Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values secretly funded by a very smart Howard Dean? Or by truly stupid Democratic opponents?
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