Dean Threatens to Go Nader; Methinks his Supporters Should Protest

Many commentators like to argue that Howard Dean is doing something called 'Rebuilding the Democratic Base" and that this is a good and necessary thing.

How, then, do they explain his continued threats that his supporters will bail if he doesn't win the nomination?

Howard Dean said Sunday that the hundreds of thousands of people drawn to politics by his campaign may stay home if he doesn't win the Democratic presidential nomination, dooming the Democratic Party in the fall campaign against President Bush.

"If I don't win the nomination, where do you think those million and a half people, half a million on the Internet, where do you think they're going to go?" he said during a meeting with reporters. "I don't know where they're going to go. They're certainly not going to vote for a conventional Washington politician."

Now, I thought the party base, by definition, was supposed to turn out to vote for the party. What good is it if it can't be depended upon to do that?

Further, I dispute the idea that Dean's got some kind of lock on the 'party base'. What am I, chopped liver?

Also, could he quit with that "conventional Washington insider" crap? As I've said before, he's as much as calling non-Dean Dems 'squares', blindly supporting the 'Establishment'. Insulting me isn't going to make me vote for you, Dr. Dean. And, as my father has pointed out, if the non-Dean party base (we do exist!) can't get it up for him, how are we going to convince those all-important swing and non-voters to do so?

In any case, the candidate I support is not a 'conventional Washington insider', even if he is assumed to be the Clinton favorite.

And finally, maybe Dean should let his supporters speak for themselves. They might not be as eager for another four years of Bush as he seems to believe....