Revenge of the Demented

According to the American Spectator's Washington Prowler, DNC Chairman Howard Dean's seeming gaffe the other day about "Abramoff Democrats," of which Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is public enemy #1, was not an accident:

According to knowledgeable DNC sources, Dean about ten days ago was shown opposition research documents generated by the Republican National Committee more than three years ago, which laid out facts regarding Reid and his family's lobbying and ethical conflicts.

Dean, according to the sources, was fascinated by the details, and asked that his staff research and independently confirm everything on the documents. "Basically he oppo'd a member of his own party," says a DNC source loyal to Dean.

"Basically, we were looking at three- or four-page documents that made Jack Abramoff's lobbying work look like that of a rank amateur," says the DNC source. "Between the minority leader's past in Nevada and here in Washington, and the activities of his sons and son-in-law, there probably isn't anyone in this town with more conflicts. The Reid family is the symbol of what's wrong with Washington; it's their behavior that enabled the culture that spawned people like Abramoff."

Dean then went public over the weekend, saying that Democrats with an Abramoff problem would be in trouble, not only with voters, but with the Democrat Party. But why attack a senior member of his own party?

According to Democrat Party watchers and DNC staff, Dean has grown increasingly frustrated at how he is treated by the likes of Reid, Senator Dick Durbin, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Representative Rahm Emanuel, who leads the House Democrat candidate recruitment effort. "They treat him like a lackey, not as an equal," says another DNC employee. "...What this comes down to a fight for the soul of our party, and if the chairman has to draw a long knife on a few of his colleagues, he's more than willing to do so."

Y'know how Rush Limbaugh is always going on and on about how the Democrats are "imploding"? Ordinarily I just relegate that to the realm of hyperbole, but combine this with the intra-Donk fallout from their Alamo-like last stand on Justice Alito's nomination, and it starts looking like El Rushbo is on to something yet again....