The Democrats' Old Faithful

Yep, Dr. Demented went off again.

Twice, actually.

First, he called all Republicans "corrupt":

Even though the biggest-money donors in the last election cycle were Democrats, DNC chairman Howard Dean complained this week that Republicans "have been utterly corrupted" by the process.

"The reason we need you to give money is because the political process on both sides - but particularly on the Republican side - has been utterly corrupted by people who give huge amounts of money from large corporations," Dean told a high school audience in Vancouver, Oregon.

The top Democrat made no mention of donors like George Soros or Peter Lewis, who spent upwards of $50 million between the two of them to defeat George Bush last year.

The wealthiest GOP donors, meanwhile, were only able to pony up a small fraction of that amount. [my emphasis]

Oh, did I mention that this event was supposed to be non-partisan?

Dean was on hand to address what was supposed to be a non-political forum dubbed: "Civic Engagement and Democracy in the 21st Century"

But according to the Oregonian, his rhetoric quickly turned partisan, with at least one blast at President Bush in the first 15 minutes.

That prompted Don Carlson, a former Republican state senator from Vancouver, to walk out.

"He was supposed to be here to talk about civil discourse. It was not supposed to be a Democratic event," Carlson complained.

I don't know if Ken Mehlman, Dean's GOP counterpart, was present at this function. If not, then one would have to question just how "non-political" it was really intended to be.

But in any case, Howie just couldn't help himself.

Don't believe me? Look what he says at political events:

"We're going to use Terri Schiavo later on," Dean said of the brain-damaged Floridian who died last month amid a swarm of political controversy after her feeding tube was removed.

"This is going to be an issue in 2006, and it's going to be an issue in 2008," Dean told about 200 people at a gay rights group's breakfast in West Hollywood, "because we're going to have an ad with a picture of Tom DeLay saying, 'Do you want this guy to decide whether you die or not? Or is that going to be up to your loved ones?'"

Although many Democrats voted for the measure [ordering the federal courts to review the facts in the Schiavo case], Dean said it provided an opportunity to showcase Republican "intrusiveness" in the lives of Americans.

You know, I really don't think that Dr. Demented says anything that most Democrats don't already think, with equal or even greater ferocity. Why else would they have elected him their party chairman? But it's that Dean actually blithers these crazy things in public. He regularly blurts before the entire world what no other so-called "political strategist" would utter even in private conversations with trusted confidantes. He's like a walking, living, breathing Nixon White House tape.

"We're going to use Terri Schiavo"? Man, it's just like I said a few weeks ago - a political version of Weekend at Bernie's. Only with not nearly as much taste.

Depicting Tom DeLay as the gatekeeper of this mortal coil will plumb the depths of silliness, and - given the Zogby poll showing that the public, when given the truth of the Schiavo case, sided with the Schindlers over the Three Horsemen by a margin of 79%-9% - play right into Republican hands.

Assuming, of course, that Republicans are willing to exploit that ignorant, heathen extremism to flense the carcasses of the red-state Dems up for re-election next year. If, on the other hand, GOP candidates flee for the tall grass, like they did impeachment in 1998 and are the filibuster showdown right now, all bets will be off.

It's really a kind of "irresistable force meeting immovable object" paradigm: which is the more potent - Elephantine cowardice or Deaniacal idiocy?

We may just find out.

But only if Chairman How can hit a rapidly receding target.

[Hat tip: GOP Bloggers]