This kind of talk is what infuriates fly over america and Republicans in general.....but, when will the former middle of the road democrats wake up to these innane comments from the own party chief??????? Or is it now solely the party of the extreme left and ignorant (was Zell Miller the last to go?????)

"80% of Iraqis want us to leave, and it's their country."
- Howard Dean

Is this also the kind of talk is that infuriates fly over America ? Or is it what we all know when we are being honest and not some shills for a failed administration?

What the troops want is the truth and some real support. Neither of which they are not getting from the Bush regime.

I'll check back in an hour to see if this post is still up. In light of your history of shrinking away from common sense, I don't give it much of a chance.

You referring to common sense is like Michael Newdow giving confession. Your comment yesterday was deleted for its complete irrelevancy. As long as you stay on topic (and keep it clean), your comments will remain. Like on this post, for example. -- Admin.

Jason:

I can admit Tom Delay, a high ranking republcan, is a scumbag.

Why can't you do the same regarding democrats like Dean. It's apparent the doctor needs some kind of device that slows down his idiotic thoughts before they get to his mouth.

AJ -

Howard scares the bejeesus out of Republicans becuase he is not a typical ass-kissing-nancy-boy-Democrat. However, I don't think it is impossible to be both a Democrat and a scumbag.

How about I admit that Joe Lieberman is a scumbag? How about I admit that Joe Biden and Bill Clinton are scumbags? I have you know. Does that give me some street cred ?

By the way, In the months since I've been in the Delaware blogosphere, you are the first Republican to admit that Delay is a scumbag. You should get some kind of award. I have an extra copy of "Winning Back America" by Howard Dean. It is yours if you want it.

Heh heh, there are a lot of extra copies of Dean's book...in warehouses. I guess he didn't get the same deal as Hillary or Al Gore did, where the Democratic Party buys a whole bunch of your books to boost your sales numbers. Who was the former Dem speaker from Texas who got nailed for that? Anyway, Dean is a dangerous crank who's leading the disloyal opposition wing of the Dems over a cliff.

"Who was the former Dem speaker from Texas who got nailed for that?"

That was Jim Wright young man. He got a $3,000 advance as I recall. It is kind of quaint compared to our current Republican levels of corruption. Anyone care to join AJ in his assessment of Delay?

(awkward silence)

I didn't think so. Republicans simply cannot be trusted to govern.

I'm trying to take you lot seriously, but when try and make a scandal out of a Howard Dean quote while you bend over backwards to avoid the truly scandalous behavior of Bush and Delay you make it tough.

Ah yes, Jim Wright, the man whose unbelievable corruption helped Gingrich take the House, along with Tony Coelho. (Leslie Stahl tried to compare DeLay to Wright on CBS a while back, not even close)

Now Wright was a true scumbag, who used campaign money to pay off personal debts, who asked Sadat not to nationalize his friends' oil wells in Egypt, and who put the arm on the director of the Federal Home Loan board to spare another friend's S&L. Look up "influence peddling" in the dictionary, and you'll see Jim Wright's face.

Tom DeLay and TRMPAC don't even compare. If they're ever proved guilty of anything it will be for getting too creative in navigating the Byzantine web of campaign finance rules and regs.

You want me to acknowlege Republican scumbags? Try Duke Cunningham. The difference is that Republicans are upset over what Cunningham did; Dems are upset when their guys get caught. I mean, get "targeted by the Bush-Rove attack machine."

And don't call me young man. I'm 37. No, I'm not called Dennis.

G -

Hilarious. Someone's been googleing.

"(Wright) asked Sadat not to nationalize his friends' oil wells in Egypt."

Did you mean to include that one in your screed, or did you just get carried away ? I think you just got all carried away and included that one by mistake. Otherwise you seem to be making a statement about moral absolutes vs. moral relativism.

And we all know that someone who could write, "If they're ever proved guilty of anything it will be for getting too creative in navigating the Byzantine web of campaign finance rules and regs." would not have much faith, or interest in moral absolutes.

Then again internal logic and consistency (or morality for that matter) are not exactly hallmarks of today's 37 year old Republicans.

I'm late to the party, but I'll second AJ's assessment of Delay. He's a scumbag and so are most of the senior members of both parties. I firmly believe there is a direct correlation between # of terms and corruption. Like any system, if you stick around long enough you learn how to get around the rules. Term limits would go a long way to elminate the problem.

Jason,
You think the troops need truth from Howard Dean? Or the Bush Administration? They're the only ones getting the truth on the ground. Tell someone from the engineering battalions that they are losing and ineffective and so on. They'll tell you about the countless public works projects they've completed. Tell the Marines they can't win and they'll tell you about Fallujah. The terrorists made grave tactical errors when they killed the Shia with carbombs and more recently, the sunni tribal leaders (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq_Tribal_Feuds.html) They're hated in Iraq by everybody as well as Jordan.

Why is Joe Liberman a scumbag? Because he's not stridently anti-war?

"Someone's been Googling"

Hilarious, but not so surprising coming from someone who shoots his mouth off (like Dr. Dean) without a command of the facts, and prefers cherry picking and generalities like, "...current Republican levels of corruption."

(Source for the Sadat story is National Review, 10/23/87 by Cort Kirkwood, by way of highbeam.com, but I haven't yet been able to determine what happened to the Neptune wells in question.)

Yeah Duffy, I was curious about that too. Why is Lieberman a scumbag?

Why is Joe Lieberman a scumbag? Because he's not stridently anti-war?

Well, no. But now that you mention it, that is a good reason to not like him. I had a feeling that guys were pro-war. Nobody has been as open about it as you Duffy. Most rational people want to avoid war. They at least act like it is a last resort, but not you. What is it about war that gets you off? I’ll bet it is the "we kick ass" country songs that go along with it. Why don't you join up if you love war so much? You are between 18 and 40 right? I have a feeling that you would not be so eager to swallow the RNC talking points if you gave it a try.

Anyway, I digress. Lieberman earned his scumbag credentials for me when he was a terrible VP candidate, his being a Republican is just icing on the yellow cake.

G-

What are you saying? You were for moral absolutes before you were against them? That sounds familiar.

Ah yes, out comes the chickenhawk accusation, same old playbook. Shall I show you my jump wings and my DD-214? Maybe I'd be over there now if I'd gone in for Farsi or Arabic instead of Chinese at DLI.

Oh, and I guess Adlai Stevenson was a scumbag too, by your criteria.

Oops. I got distracted by all of this Jim Wright nonsense. Now then, who thinks, "80% of Iraqis want us to leave, and it's their country." is the kind of wild talk is that infuriates fly over America ?

I'm still curious about how deep your hatred for Dean is, and how much it trumps your meager abilities to reason.

G -

Duffy is the chickenhawk. I knew you were a tough guy from the get go, so don't get all huffy. I accused you of inconsistency and not having a moral compass, and I only did that because your Delay defense exposed you as an inconsistent person when it comes to questions of morality.

As far as Adlai Stevenson is concerned, I am prevented by a court order from discussing our relationship. 'Nuff said.

Thanks for that link Rhodey. Capt. Ed is a hoot.

"First, from these comments Dean makes clear that he has no idea of the difference between a strategic redeployment and running away."

Here is the difference. When Democrats do it, it is running away. When Republicans do it, it is a strategic redeployment. Duh !

Since we're getting back to the point, "the idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong." is the infuriating and borderline treasonous comment, the 80% comment is just typical cherry picking.

I'd be willing to bet 100% of Iraqis would like to be able to run their own country without us, but also a high percentage who realize things would be much worse if we pulled out too soon. The insurgents/terrorists want us out so they can bring back the Baathist regime, and there's also a good percentage of Shiites who'd like us out of the way so they can get some serious payback.

Dean's declaration of surrender is obnoxious, and reveals that his definition of victory is that Bush is proved wrong, not that the Iraqi people have a stable government and society.

For historic relevance, General Vo Nguyen Giap was pleasantly surprised when he heard Cronkite similarly declare that we couldn't win in Vietnam.

Jason, your chickenhawk arguement holds no credibility. Our military is under civilian control hence the citizens make decisions about what the military does. Would you rather have it the other way around? If I cannot comment in favor of the war in any fashion because I do not/did not serve, then you may not comment on it either unless you did. Did you serve? If not, are you between 18-40? If you are, then you have to enlist and serve before criticizing any aspect of the war or it's execution.

Lieberman is a scumbag for being a terrible VP candidate? How odd. I guess he didn't make enough of an impression on me one way or another to remember.

I am not "pro-war" in the broad sense. War is a horrible thing but sometimes it's unavoidable. I much prefer peacable trade. However, we have committed ourselves here and have to finish what we started. Pulling out now would be horrendous. If we don't do this right, we'll be back again inside a decade. We did a half-assed job the first time around and now we're back. I don't want to see our troops in another shooting war in Iraq in 10 years because democrats insisted we pull out before the job was done.