Not Very Presidential

Now, Howard Dean is running against the Washington Post. And he's sounding less pacifist and more, well, weird.

"For the past four days, the Washington Politics as Usual Club has taken every opportunity for attacks on me and my campaign that go far beyond questioning my position on the war," Dean said in a campaign stop. "The capture of one very bad man does not mean this president and the Washington Democrats can declare victory in the war on terror."

So now he wants to continue the war? I thought he wanted to get us out of Iraq sooner than possible. What I think now is that Saddam's capture has sucked the wind out of America's discomfort about being there, and running against the larger war no longer looks like a winner. The Democrats, and Dean himself, are doing everything they can to make the war a non-issue, since their real strength is domestic policy and the welfare state. I haven't heard any of the other Democrats declare victory. They're just all trying to find some way to neutralize an issue that none of them, with the exception of Joe Lieberman, really gives a damn about.

At a news conference after his speech, Dean was asked repeatedly about a Washington Post report that detailed instances in which his comments on a variety of subjects proved to be untrue or misleading. Dean did not address the article's specifics, but said voters can believe him "or they can believe The Washington Post."

Sorry, Howard. Maybe the reason the Clintons hate you so much is that you're trying out their style. But you have neither the charm nor the national complacency to pull it off. You may yet get the nomination, but a liberal trying to run against the Post would be like Tom DeLay claiming that Fox News was sabotaging his agenda.